This is the fifth video in a series on how to process pigs on your homestead.

In this video we show your the process of how to take a side belly and convert it to bacon! From brining to smoking. To slicing and wrapping. This video will walk you through how you can do it on you own!

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This is the fourth video in a series on how to process pigs on your homestead.

In this video we cut halved pig into primals (Ham, Loin, Belly, Shoulder). We cut chops out the the loin and set the belly aside for bacon (Part 5). Our plan is to ground as much pork for ground pork and sausage as possible, so we are cutting a cutting party to cube up the shoulders and hams. The theme for today was definitely, "It'll grind!"

This is the third video in a series on how to process pigs on your homestead.

In this video we demonstrate how to skin and gut a pig and prepare it for overnight chilling.

WARNING--- This video is about the humane dispatching (killing) of pigs for on farm consumption. You are about to see pigs shot and hanged. This is for demonstration and education purposes.

In this video you we show you our method of building a temporary corral and dispatching the pig and cutting their main artery to bleed out. Then we install gambrels and hang them to be further processed in future videos.

Click on the video thumbnail below to watch the video.

This is the first video in a series showing the processing of 4 pigs on our homestead.

In this video, we show the different setups we use to corral the pigs for dispatch and our rig for hanging dispatched pigs for skinning and gutting. We also discuss the big picture of how and why are choosing this method for processing our pigs on the homestead.

Tonight Elizabeth and Noah take a break and share about all the fun they have been having around the farm on Spring Break!

Topics include:

Getting a Mini Donkey!

Guests from NYC!

Pig Processing!

Importance of play in a relationship.

Game Night!

Links for games mentioned in the episode:

Bicycle Cards- https://amzn.to/4aYRXww

Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza- https://amzn.to/4aVF6eo

Disney Meme- https://amzn.to/4aWioD6

Sequence- https://amzn.to/3EO9Z8w

Racko- https://amzn.to/42QvpvN

Wingspan- https://amzn.to/4b0a98R

*Note these links may lead to a commission on any purchases. You will pay the same price regardless of clicking on these links or not, but if you decide to click these links we may earn a small commission.

All of these pale in comparison with THE big question in life…What cordless tool system will I choose?

What are cordless tool systems?

In the old days, you bought a cordless drill and it came with a battery and charger. Then later you decide you need a cordless leaf blower. It came with its own different style battery and charging system. Over time you have an arsenal of different tools which is great, but having lots of different styles of batteries and chargers is not so great.

In the early 2010s, large cordless tool companies started rolling out lines of high quality lithium batteries with a line of high quality cordless tools that were all compatible with the battery system. The incentive was for the customer to invest in their battery system, and that battery could power any number of tools in the brand line.

Another benefit to investing in a battery system instead of just the tool, is companies started to offer tools without batteries and this made tools more affordable! If I have 6 batteries already, why would I need another one when I buy the tool? It sheds $50-$75 off the retail price by just selling the tool alone.

Does the brand matter?

There are lots of tool brands out there. Below is a picture that represents the landscape of power tools.

Every individual has different factors as to which tool system they should commit to.

• What are the tools being used for? Professional trades or DIY Weekend Warriors?

• Are the tool systems sold near me? For example, I love Menards for building materials, but they only carry their own line of tools called Masterforce and Bosch in my market. Luckily I have a Lowes nearby that carries DeWALT, Craftsman, Kobalt, Milwaukee, and a few other lines. I don’t have a Home Depot in my market.

• Does the line carry all the tools I would want? Smaller tool lines like Ryobi, Kobalt, Craftsman, and others may not branch out into tools you may eventually want/need such as landscaping, roofing, plumbing, electrical, or ancillary equipment like radios or lights.

• Affordability? There are definitely tiers of tool lines. Of the tool lines that are available to me in my area, Milwaukee and Bosch tend to run the most expensive followed by DeWALT and Rigid, then the bottom tier includes names like Ryobi, Stanley, Flex, Kobalt, and others.

As for me and my house… we will choose DeWALT!

I purchased my first set of DeWALT drill and driver combos probably around 2015 and have become more of a fan of theirs as time goes by. I really like how they are the perfect brand for do-it-all DIYers like me. Whether I’m building a house, animal structures, pens, fencing, or making something fun for the kids, DeWALT has the tools I need that make my life easier!

Let’s Talk Power.

I’ve been a fan of DeWALT even before they came out with their 20v Max line of cordless tools. I had the old 18 volt Nicad battery. They were very good, but the battery life faded with time. Since the rollout of the 20v Max Lithium batteries (and now 60v) their batteries stay strong and I have only had to replace 1 battery in over a decade.

Batteries are measured in AH or Amp Hours. An Amp Hour is a unit of electric charge that measures how much current flows over time. It's often used to describe the capacity of batteries. It does not necessarily mean if you buy a 1 AH battery it will last for 1 hour of running time, but it helps you gauge to ensure you have a big enough battery to complete a task.

If you buy a tool that comes with a battery it will generally come with either a 20v Max 1AH or 2AH battery, or sometimes they come with a 1 or 2 AH Powerstack battery. The Max batteries are the standard batteries that if you were to tear the battery case apart are simply multiple rechargeable AA batteries soldered together in a circuit that hold power. The Power Stack is a unique battery which is a small stack of Lithium Battery Plates. These batteries are usually more expensive because they are lighter and more powerful than the Max batteries. I have additionally bought multiples of 3,4,5 AH Max batteries as well as a 9AH 20/60 Felxvolt battery.

The 20/60 Felxvolt battery. Is very unique because it is very powerful, and can run either as a 20 volt battery or a 60 volt battery. DeWALT has come out with larger cordless tools (like my skill saw) that require more power. These tools are as large as push mowers, table saws, miter saws, and propane powered heaters. This flexvolt is my nicest battery and it costs a good bit more than my others.

When you buy a battery, you generally get a charger with it. All of my 20 Max, Powerstack, and Flexvolt batteries are totally interchangeable on the chargers I have acquired throughout the years. This is sooo handy! I can keep some on the job site, in the car, or in the garage to ensure I always have a backup battery ready when I need it.

Enough about the batteries, on with the tools!

Here is a list of all the DeWALT tools (powered and non powered) that I have owned in the last decade:

2 Drills- 20V Max Brushless. Perfect for drill bits, paint stirrers, tulip bulb augers, and of course screwing. However I find that I have moved to using the impact drill for most of my screwing.

2 Impact Drills- 20 V Max Brushless- At first I did not see the need for this type of tool. It came in a combo pack with my drill and I didn’t use it all for the first year. Then I would be doing a woodworking project and it was so handy to have my pilot hole bit in my drill and use the impact to drive the actual screw. I also noticed I loved that it was more compact in size than the drill, meaning I could get it into tighter areas easier. Now it is my go to tool for running screws. I bet I put 5000 2-3 inch screws in when we remodeled our house and always used my impacts.

Brushless Reciprocating Saw- XR 20V Max Variable - The XR line of tools is built a little more rugged than the standard 20V Max tools. This Reciprocating saw is compact enough that I could get into a 16” wall cavity and came in very handy doing demolition and cutting in windows. I like that it does not need a chuck to release the saw blade.

DeWALT FLEXVOLT 60V Max Brushless Cordless Circular Saw with Brake- This was the most expensive cordless tool I have bought, but it is such a beast! I use this to break down full sheets of plywood and it has power to spare! This is the saw that requires my 20/60V 9AH battery. I can run this saw all day and still have battery left to spare. It does not run on the 20V batteries I have, which is a bummer, but I’m glad that I upgraded to the heavier duty circular saw.

DeWALT XR 20V Max Brushless Drywall Screw Gun- I did not know if I needed this tool or not because I had a corded version of it. If you don’t know, a drywall gun is unique in that you can place a screw on the head of the gun and until you press the gun into the drywall the screw will not fall or spin. It is on some sort of a clutch that doesn’t engage until the pressure is applied to the wall. This makes installing screws much faster. I used the corded drills for most of the first floor and it was awful. It was heavy and I only had 1 outlet that worked in the house so I had extension cords stretched everywhere. It was always a tangled mess that slowed me down. I decided to buy this cordless tool and it made life so much easier! First it is much lighter than the corded version and I was installing drywall over my head most of the time. Second, it came as a package deal with 2 small 2AH Powerstack Lithium batteries and between those two they lasted me like all day! The biggest selling point was that on this cordless version there was a new setting that the drill did not engage at all unless the pressure was being applied to the wall. This is different from the corded version. The old one was constantly on, but not spinning the screw. It was loud and stripped many screws. I didn’t even have to pull the trigger on the cordless version! It was ergonomically different from most drills to help you get good pressure going towards the wall. Owning this tool was the deciding factor between me doing the second floor drywall myself for $1800 vs paying a contractor $6500.

DeWALT XR 1 Speed Cutting Cordless Rotary Tool- Again, I had a corded version of this but owning this cordless version made me go much faster and did not have all the headaches of cord management. This tool looks like drill bit spinning and you use it to cut out electrical boxes and light boxes from behind the drywall. This tool was a luxury and I was glad to have it!

DeWALT XR 20V Max Brushless Oscillating Multi Tool- This is the tool that I use the least, but am glad I have it when I need it. This tool is used to cut in very tight spaces like trim, door bottoms, around outlets, or to sand or grind small areas.

DeWALT Framing Hammer- I have had several hammers over the years and most of them were the old trusty Estwing framing hammers with the metal tops and blue grips. These are great tools. However, my children kept running off with them while I was building the house and one day I found myself hammerless. So I ran to where everybody know my name…Ace Hardware… and to my surprise found a DeWALT framing hammer. I bought it out of brand loyalty and am glad I did! It is a great length, has nice grip, and is lighter than my Estwing hammers. Another nice thing is that I can spot it in the room because the yellow handle sticks out more than the blue of and Estwing.

DeWALT Bluetooth Radio and Headphones- I was originally going to say that these were just toys or luxuries, but if you are going to be by yourself all day it is important to keep yourself engaged and protected. The Bluetooth Speaker is powered by any of my batteries and connects to my phone. I am an audio book fiend! So when I was building the house I listened to more than 20 books! The DeWALT Jobsite Wireless Earphones have been my best find yet! At less than $40 they are super high quality, comfortable headphones. They are bluetooth and are charged on USB C cables same as most phones and chromebooks nowadays. The battery on these lasts over 20 hours! I really liked how they could take phone calls easily with just a tap of a button. These are also loud enough I can hear the audio over the work I was doing.

I also have a Leaf Blower, Weed Eater, and Extension Saw for outdoor use that all run off of any of my DeWALT batteries. I love the leaf blower and use it often. It is hand held and does a great job. The Weed Eater is okay. It is a little weak for some of the big areas of weed eating that we have, but that can be a good thing. I feel comfortable turning my 12, 10, or 7 year olds loose to weed eat around the house knowing there is little they cause any damage. Finally, my Extension Pole Saw works great… I just no longer have any trees on my property to put it to work.

68,000 BTU Cordless Portable Forced Air Propane Heater- My final DeWALT tool is the only one I have ever had any issues with. Last winter the kitchen and master bathroom pipes froze in the wall so I went to Ace and purchased this heater to put in the crawl space. It worked great! It was so cool that it could be powered off of an extension cord or you could use a 20v battery. It hooked up to propane and was very nice. However when I went to use it this winter (the coldest freakin winter in recent memory) I could not get the unit to power up. I have been messing with it all winter and still cannot get it working. I’m hoping DeWALT will come through and help me resolve this problem but so far I have had no luck.

Final Thoughts

Today’s article is not to flex about all the cool tools that I have, but rather to help you understand that picking a brand and battery system should be the core of investing in your tools for the future. I can honestly say that DeWALT helped make building my homestead and remodelling my home an easier and more enjoyable experience because of the joy of using their tools. DeWALT has always been a great product for us and I strongly endorse their products.

When you have 5 kids, shopping for Christmas gifts can be quite an orchestration. Does everyone have equal money spent? Does everyone have a fair amount to open? Do I remember everyone’s name?

By the time Christmas morning arrives, the kids have usually been through 2 or 3 grandparents celebrations and they have received more stuff than we can haul in our 15 passenger van! They are truly blessed.

A few years back Elizabeth and I made a change that we have found to be super helpful. Santa usually brings the kids the same thing every year which includes new shoes, socks, and a Hallmark dancing snowman. The kids buy a gift for each sibling from a local toy store. And our recent change is that instead of buying each kid stuff, we give each kid gets a experience. This experience usually requires travel and of course everyone gets to go. Here was our experiences from Christmas 2022:

Henry-Chicago, Museum of Science and Industry

Elliott- Springfield Illinois, Abraham Lincoln Museum/Library/Home

Benjamin-Chicago, Shedd Aquarium

Amelia-Indiana University Bloomington, Traveling Production of the musical Annie.

Arthur- Rantoul Illinois, Half Century of Farm Progress Tractor Show

By giving experiences we are able to tailor trips/events to each child’s personality. It has been a fantastic way to make memories and give a gift that will last a lifetime.

For Christmas 2023, Elizabeth and I decided to do a group experience gift. On Christmas morning after opening Santa and sibling gifts we gave each child a wrapped box with a clue in it. The first box had newspaper clipping of the business stock section. The second box had sleep masks in it. The third were cutouts of the classic theater faces. The fourth box had apples. Finally, the fifth box was a puzzle of NYC.

That’s right, this years group experience was a spring break trip to the Big Apple!

We left as soon as I got of school on Friday on our journey. Our trip was actually a two parter 1) We were going to Ithaca New York for the first weekend to see our dear friends Maggie and Jeremy and their children Ella and Owen 2) Then travel through the Catskills to our Destination in Brooklyn.

The first night we made it as far as Cleveland. It was late but we were still able to swim for 30 minutes before the pool closed for the night. We took off after breakfast and made our way up towards the finger lakes. I was not prepared for the geography of northern New York. The last hour was some of the biggest hills I have ever climbed in a vehicle. Ithaca is a giant bowl and it was beautiful! We met up with our friends, ate some delicious food, and played a board game that they turned us onto last time we were together called Wingspan.

The next day we toured Ithaca including some gorgeous waterfalls, Carl Sagan’s home, a lakeside restaurant, and my first time in the glorious wonderland of Wegmans Food Market! After a night of visiting over Wingspan it was time for us to say our goodbyes and hit the road.

My personal favorite part of the trip was the 5 hour drive from Ithaca to Brooklyn. We traveled through the Catskill Mountains and it was gorgeous! It felt like an honest to goodness Bob Ross painting. White snow crest mountain tops, that transitioned to lush green trees, leading to the river valley down below. I could have been happy to stay there the rest of the trip.

We came into NYC from the North and crossed the George Washington Bridge. Driving in this area was not difficult as long as you kept up with traffic and made your lane decisions early. Luckily when we arrived at our destination, Elizabeth’s cousin Katie was camping out a perfect parking spot on the street right in front of her building! From our front door to hers was exactly 999.9 miles.

It was wonderful to spend time with Katie! She is a lawyer who lives in Brooklyn and works in Manhattan. She was the perfect Sacagawea for us country bumpkins! She opened her third story apartment to us and made us feel so welcomed. I know I keep saying this line a lot, but “my favorite part of the trip,” was the precious time Elizabeth, Katie, and I stayed up late laughing and sharing stories. We will forever be grateful for her hospitality and we miss her so much ( ohh she’s very much still alive, I just mean… well you know what I mean)!

In a moment I want to share all the tips and tricks we have to share with you on how to enjoy New York City, but I want to share a few standout moments from the trip that stand out.

After settling our luggage in, Katie called for Uber cars and we travelled to the Staten Island Ferry. This was the Coley’s first experience Ubering and we loved it with the only exception that since we are a giant family we had to take 2 cars. The Staten Island Ferry is totally free and it travels right past the Statue of Liberty. It was incredible to see Lady Liberty in person! Elizabeth said it best, “It’s like all your life you’ve heard about it, read about it, and seen pictures. But when you see it, it’s like a sensation of WOW this is actually real!”

9/11 Memorial Museum was on the top of our list. We went to see it starting with the Reflecting Pool. It has twin waterfall pools surrounded by the names of all of the victims from the 9/11 attacks. In addition, there are yellow roses placed on names of individuals on their birthday. Outside there is also a pear tree that is known as the Survivor Tree. It was discovered by recovery workers severely damaged at Ground Zero. It was nursed back to health and returned. Inside the museum there are sites of remaining structures, items from recovery workers, audio of calls made that day, news coverage, found items from victims, and more. It was extremely sobering and you leave there emotionally drained, yet encouraged with human spirit.

We bit the bullet and purchased Broadway tickets to see Wicked. We saw Wicked several years ago for our 1-year wedding anniversary, but none of our children had not seen it. Knowing that the Wicked movie was coming to theatres November 2024, we wanted them to see the stage performance. Thinking about a Broadway show, I thought the theatres would be these large overcoming buildings. It was quite the opposite. The theatres were stunningly beautiful, seats were intimate with perfect views of the stage, and the feeling was nothing short of magical.

We wanted to see 30 Rock and Rockefeller area to see some of the shopping and to see those “movie moment” spots. To do this, we decided to utilize the hop on-hop off tour bus. While we were waiting for our bus we noted that the bus times were slower than scheduled. Oh well, we hopped on and headed to Rockefeller area. We hopped off and went to the Lego Store and then started our way to FAO Shwarz. There wasn’t ANYONE around. Elizabeth even said, “Wow! There are not crowds today. We are going to be able to see everything today.” We walked into FAO Shwarz and came out 15 minutes later to a locked down city. What in the heck?! Well, unbeknownst to us, there was a major fundraiser on that city block featuring 4 of the US Presidents. President Clinton, President Bush, President Obama, and President Trump were all right there within that city block. The first thought was “How neat is it that we are within a city block to all of these US leaders.”… very quickly we realized we were not going to be doing any sightseeing the rest of the day. NYPD (thank you for your service!) were everywhere, about every city block was barricaded, demonstrations of protesters were being bussed to approved locations, sanitation trucks parked for additional barricades, and the city was stopped. We hopped back on the bus and made it… not very far. We decided that we had had enough and quickly abandoned that plan. So, if you are going to be focused on sightseeing and doing the hop on-hop off bus, maybe double check that the 4 presidents aren’t arriving that same moment.

Travelling to NYC is one our family will always treasure and enjoy. There is so much more we could write and share. I believe we could spend a month in NYC and still not see it all. Special thanks to our dear cousin Katie for being our personal NYC concierge. Also, special thanks to our cousins Megan, Josh, and Charlie for spending a morning with us and sharing their NYC.

Below are travel trips for NYC and then also general travel trips with families.

NYC Travelling Tips:

1. Driving: Opt to drive on interstate and avoid to drive downtown. It isn’t because there are bad drivers but the the sheer amount of pedestrians and bikes. We drove our 15-passenger van into NYC. Anywhere you drive, there is traffic. When we arrived, we parked and left our van put.

2. Getting around NYC: Utilize the metro! Midwesterners, we promise, it will be okay! You can do it! You can swipe your metrocard and open the side gate to let your whole family in. WE PROMISE IT ISN’T STEALING!

   Download Citymapper app to plan your trip. There are local subways and express subways. Express subways do not stop at every stop and can make your commute quicker.

   Uber helped us considerably! Especially when the weather was questionable or it was late in the night. We did have to order two cars each time to fit everyone, but it was an extremely safe option.

   If you have a day you want to try and see several sites, consider a ‘Hop on hop off’ tour. You can purchase a full day pass or even an afternoon-evening pass to rest and see it all. Tickets were considerably cheaper if you purchased from the ticket salesman versus purchasing online on the website. We were able to haggle the ticket price to half-price in person. There was also an option of $19 tickets for 6pm or later. *A hop on hop off tour is a bus that you can ride around the city and do just that… hop on and then hop back on another bus.

3. Shoes: Bring two pair of good shoes. You will be doing a A LOT of walking. And if you get hit with a rainy day, you do not want soggy shoes the rest of your time. This is not the time to try out new shoes either. Wear your trusty shoes that are comfortable and reliable.

4. Pizza: Need a snack? There is 99c NY Pizza everywhere. It is the perfect and inexpensive snack!

5. Staten Island Ferry: GO AND SEE IT! This is a non-negotiable. If possible, make it your first stop of NYC. The Staten Island Ferry is a commuter ferry and is free. It takes you right by the Statue of Liberty. There are seating options inside and outside.

6. New Yorkers: If you are worried about New Yorkers… don’t be. New Yorkers are NOT how they have been portrayed!

7. NYPD: Bravo to the NYPD! They were ON IT in the subway. There was one situation where someone was getting heated. The NYPD were calm, did not make a scene, and kept things moving. They had a positive presence everywhere we saw them.

8. Broadway: Go see a show! The theatres are intimate and powerful. When buying tickets, go to the show’s actual site. There are less fees and tickets are not price gauged. If they are sold out, then go to stubhub. If you are not particular about what show you see, TKTS at Times Square is a place to try and score inexpensive tickets.

9. Backpacks: NYC is an extremely backpack friendly city!

10. Public Restrooms: Public restrooms are not everywhere. Most restaurants you go through kitchen as a paying patron.

General Travelling Tips:

1. Hotels: Find a hotel chain you like and can utilize. We have a Marriott credit card and run our monthly budget payments through it. In return, we earn ‘free rooms’. What is great about Marriott for our family is they have rooms large enough for our family. Also, there is a substantial continental breakfast which is an additional cost savings for our family.

2. Packing: It can be daunting when you are traveling for multiple days and multiple people. On trips like this, we have found it easier to pack each day’s clothes in a reusable grocery bag. The bag is then labeled for what day they are needed. After those clothes are used, they go back in the same bag and are a dirty clothes bag now. After all of our bags are packed, they are put in a tote or laundry basket. That makes it easier to carry everything and packs easier in the vehicle.

3. Food: If we don’t plan ahead on food, this can become a quick money pit. Eating out, gas station snacks, drive through drinks, $! Yikes! We pack snacks, plan meals we can make, pack some on-the-road meals (sandwich level), everyone has a reusable cup and we have a water jug, we also make a carafe of coffee or hot tea for the adults. With that said, we do plan for fun meals out. One part of travelling is exploring the local eatery. So we plan for some of our meals out in our travel budget. Also, we love a London Fog, so finding a local coffee shop to see who has the best London Fog is a fun adventure too. What do we use to pack food? Cooler(s) for the cold food. Any food that can be frozen, we freeze it to double as an ice pack and then pack down with ice. Non-refrigerated food goes in a tote to keep it from being crushed. Snacks go in a bag in the front to easily pass out.

4. Car Ride Entertainment: This might shock people, but… we pack san handheld electronics. I know! I know! Even for our 12 hours trips… we make it work. How???? A few things. Each trip it is common for the kids to get new paper sketch pads, a lined notebook, colored pencils (ONLY COLORED PENCILS IN THE CAR!), and pencils. This gives them something to do for a lot of the trip. We listen to a lot of podcasts, audio books, and music. Speaking of music, sometimes listening to a broadway soundtrack gives a story versus just song after song and it makes time go by smoother. We let each kid pack a backpack and in the backpack they can put books, small toys, games, etc.

5. Inexpensive Site Entertainment: For the last several years we have held a Terre Haute Children’s Museum pass. Our museum is part of the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) Program. There is an extensive list with partnering programs in each state. When we prepare to travel we look at that list and see if there are any sites we can visit with our pass.

   If there are other places we want to visit that are not on our pass program, I call the site and ask about a discount. This discount might be a ‘homeschool’ discount, it might be a ‘group rate’ discount, or it might simply be a discount they offer because I asked. There isn’t always a discount, but it never hurts to ask!