Kids Breaking Down a Hog...

[sns2]

Started a thread a few weeks ago asking where I could get a whole hog around Edmonton for my junior high foods classes to break down and process into sausage. I always have my grade 7 students put on a big show for our school open house. Two years ago it was a five course Italian tasting menu; last year it was homemade mini donairs, vietnamese lettuce wraps, and neapolitan pizza with homemade salsiccia neapolitana (italian sausage). This year I am going to have the kids break down a hog and make mennonite sausage with homemade mustard, vietnamese sausage, italian sausage, and likely spicy lamb merguez sausage (as we have a large number of muslim students). I will have a big BBQ setup at the front doors, grilling the sausages as parents and children come in, and they will get to see a video of the kids doing the work right from unloading the hog, all the way to stuffing and grilling the sausage. A number of posters commented positively, so I thought I'd share a few pics, and will update with more after our one house in 10 days. I have blotted out student faces for privacy purposes, but left the big smiles

[2 Tollers]

Thanks for putting that up. What a great idea and great job by you and the students. Excellent to see and at the open house.

[Spidey]

Now that's how you add value to a junior high foods class!! Well done, teacher! If you ask me, they should also be teaching that in high school CALM classes. If you ask me, a major life skill is knowing where your food comes from and how it gets processed and to the table.

[eric2381]

I think this is really great. I've been showing my kids this stuff too, and it's part of life around our place.

[RandyBoBandy]

Outstanding effort!! This will live with students forever !! Well done

[waterninja]

That really is quite the project, esp. for grade 7. I would have been concerned about the sharp knifes and other equipement they had to handle, but it looks like it all went off well. Well done.

[JULIUS]

This is awesome to see. Great job. I wish all teachers showed this kind of enthusiasm for the kids they teach. Teachers for the most part are a dedicated lot and we do not get to see their work often enough.

[rosh]

Nice job! Needs to be more teachers like you.

[waiting41]

I dont think u even know what u have done to these kids!
90% of the kids these days think meat is raised at sobeys. I am almost 50 years old now, and can still remember very clearly, beef, pork, and wild meat being killed and butchered when i was a kid. Got away from it for a few years but, moved back to the country when i was about 30......never forgot the skills i was taught, and the experiences i gained as a kid. They gave me the interest, to now to go from start to finish with an animal.... including sausage, jerky, ect.
An experience like this for kids is something they will remember their entire lives, even if they dont realize it now. A day of hunting or making some sausage or jerky ect...is much beter than most of the alternatives these days....of course, just one guys opinion.
You should feel proud of yourself for putting in the time!!!!!

[Dick284]

I'm going to wager that these kids have garnered a far more rewarding life lesson through this class, than any school organized ski trip ever will.

Props to you SNS2

[Rio56]

good project , where the rubber meets the road...

[Lefty-Canuck]

Nice job!

LC

[bb356]

Cool ... Thank's !!!

[Kurt505]

Nice!
My smoker will fit 80-90 rings of sausage in one batch.... Wink wink nudge nudge.

[leo]

Two thumbs up! 👍👍

[buckbrush]

Good job. This is amazing!!!
Like previously stated, the impact this will have on the kids will be kept for ever.

So much of the process is hidden from most people they grow up never thinking about where their meat comes from.

I wish I had known you needed a hog for something like this.

[Astrocyte]

Wow that looks like an amazing afternoon for those kids.

I remember my grade 10 foods class made an awful baked Alaska and red velvet cake. That's it. Grade 7 it was cookies galore and nothing more. For those interested in anatomy and biology this would have been a highlight day of their year. Fantastic job getting these kids exposed to real product.

I bet some of them go home and say hey dad can we bbq a pig I learned how to cut it up in class!

[hayseed]

Outstanding experience for sure, I do have a question, how did the parents feel about this, as in any negative response at all??

Like such as, nope not my kid, we aint havin no part of this kinda thing.

Just curious is all....

[drhu22]

Its good to see kids learning/understanding where their food actually comes from... Im sure there are a lot that dont. Extra credit for them doing all that blindfolded!

[dodger]

Originally Posted by Dick284

I'm going to wager that these kids have garnered a far more rewarding life lesson through this class, than any school organized ski trip ever will.

Props to you SNS2

This says it all.

Dodger.

[catnthehat]

Tremendous, simply tremendous!
Job well done to all involved!
Cat

[Newf]

Very well done! What a great lesson!

[Hoopi]

Hi: Nice Job, great lesson. I remember cleaning a few pike for a kindergarten class my daughter attended. It turned out very positive. The next year when my other daughter attended, parents showed up to watch. LOL

Sometimes, when you grow up "urban" you miss the experience of killing and preparing your own food.

Great job Teacher,

Hoopi

[KWO]

Good work!

[Hunter1602]

Great to see!

[Accurateshot]

Awesome!

[jkav]

Wow - awesome! Well done. We need more of this in schools.

[Passthru]

This is just great. These kids probably have a new appreciation for pork. Good job. Wish my teachers were this cool when I was younger

[dmcbride]

Good stuff.

[drhu22]

They look happier and healthier for having learned that.