Hog butchering time brings back fond memories of spending time at my grandparent's house when I was a child.

My grandparents had a large cast iron kettle that had been passed down through the family for generations. On hog butchering day we would haul it out of the barn, hang it from a tripod, and build a fire under it. The kid's job was to fill it with 100 gallons of water, and feed the fire with slab wood from the saw mill.

The uncles would kill the pig and hoist it on the hog hoist to collect the blood. The aunts would start processing parts. Us kids would run away in terror. That night there would be a big dinner for everyone with t e best parts of the hog, plenty for everyone.

My suggestion is to get busy and have a lot of children by any means in order to have help hauling and heating the water.