Greg Gunthorp drove 600 miles from LaGrange, Indiana to Spruce Pine, North Carolina towing a big black custom-made metal smoker he’d welded and a hog he’d raised on his farm and recently slaughtered for our first-ever Rural Revival Project. Arrival was around midnight on the border of Friday and Saturday. Instead of staying in the swanky hotel we booked for him, he opted to start the charcoals going in the smoker, throw the pig over the coals, and sleep in the bed of his pickup truck in downtown Spruce Pine to make sure everything kept cooking properly.
Thank you for sharing. What an awesome time and what a powerhouse of talent and love of Rural Revival is being showcased. Blessings to Greg and yourself and all who are contributing to this amazing cause. God is surely working through it all.
I grew up rural, not just the country, but the bush, im not just a hick, I’m backwoods.
My parents moved to a pop up mill Town in central bc in the late 70’s. There was no developed housing so these city kids who became lumber graders and kiln engineers (3 mills employed the whole town) bought bare land and built cabins, walled in airstreams. We all had plywood floors and tarped lean too’s. Mud roads and power outages if you had power at all. Everyone has a bonfire running most evenings and all weekends. Lots of beer, Mac jackets and gumboots and endless timber. Every reason to celebrate was a pig roast! There was pride in it and quickly certain people were known for their own version of the Firepit and pig on spit. All night parties rain or shine. I grew up in a one room log cabin, double seater outhouse, wood heat. I remember the shock when I learned that some people had a dial on the wall… that there was no wood to stack. I moved back home a few years ago, a ghost town, all three mills silent and still. The pig economy a distant memory. As kids everyone raised a pig or two one for the freezer the other for their annual birthday roast.
As a kid always Ankle deep in mud, hanging over the log built pig pen, we bet on what pig would be fattest. Only to laugh with the grown ups when we all watched Charlie or Stinky seer and leak juices. Paper plates and potato chips, devilled eggs and cans of grape soda and a chunk of pig pulled by our own fingers fresh from the fire.
I had a dream about this pig and Oliver Anthony. We were eating it off the fire and chatting when we realized we were both arch angels. I think he was Raphael and he called me Metatron. And now a few days later I see this. Weird
It was very nice to meet you in Inez, Graham! Hog Roast will be great in Oct! Or in Indiana with some fresh sweet corn in Aug 😊 Small farmers need our support. Government overregulation strains budgets. Of course their meats cost more, and their profit margin isn't huge even at that. It's important to me to know where the meat comes from, who it comes from, and most importantly HOW it came to be in that package. I would rather pay more for a smaller amount of local meat and use it more creatively. I feel that many people would never eat meat if they toured a commercial farm and slaughterhouse/processing plant AS A FLY ON THE WALL. 👀. Meat processing in small facilities or even at home is a skill. Happy to say there is a burgeoning interest in raising, butchering, rendering lard or tallow, making stock, and REALLY connecting with where our food comes from.
Thank you for sharing. What an awesome time and what a powerhouse of talent and love of Rural Revival is being showcased. Blessings to Greg and yourself and all who are contributing to this amazing cause. God is surely working through it all.
Thanks for writing this up. This is what matters.
Sounds like a good time topped off with smoked pork.
Thank yall for what yall do for others. Alot of people talk the talk but yall walk it also so thanks for being true to the cause.
I grew up rural, not just the country, but the bush, im not just a hick, I’m backwoods.
My parents moved to a pop up mill Town in central bc in the late 70’s. There was no developed housing so these city kids who became lumber graders and kiln engineers (3 mills employed the whole town) bought bare land and built cabins, walled in airstreams. We all had plywood floors and tarped lean too’s. Mud roads and power outages if you had power at all. Everyone has a bonfire running most evenings and all weekends. Lots of beer, Mac jackets and gumboots and endless timber. Every reason to celebrate was a pig roast! There was pride in it and quickly certain people were known for their own version of the Firepit and pig on spit. All night parties rain or shine. I grew up in a one room log cabin, double seater outhouse, wood heat. I remember the shock when I learned that some people had a dial on the wall… that there was no wood to stack. I moved back home a few years ago, a ghost town, all three mills silent and still. The pig economy a distant memory. As kids everyone raised a pig or two one for the freezer the other for their annual birthday roast.
As a kid always Ankle deep in mud, hanging over the log built pig pen, we bet on what pig would be fattest. Only to laugh with the grown ups when we all watched Charlie or Stinky seer and leak juices. Paper plates and potato chips, devilled eggs and cans of grape soda and a chunk of pig pulled by our own fingers fresh from the fire.
What a beautiful memory, thanks for sharing
I had a dream about this pig and Oliver Anthony. We were eating it off the fire and chatting when we realized we were both arch angels. I think he was Raphael and he called me Metatron. And now a few days later I see this. Weird
It was very nice to meet you in Inez, Graham! Hog Roast will be great in Oct! Or in Indiana with some fresh sweet corn in Aug 😊 Small farmers need our support. Government overregulation strains budgets. Of course their meats cost more, and their profit margin isn't huge even at that. It's important to me to know where the meat comes from, who it comes from, and most importantly HOW it came to be in that package. I would rather pay more for a smaller amount of local meat and use it more creatively. I feel that many people would never eat meat if they toured a commercial farm and slaughterhouse/processing plant AS A FLY ON THE WALL. 👀. Meat processing in small facilities or even at home is a skill. Happy to say there is a burgeoning interest in raising, butchering, rendering lard or tallow, making stock, and REALLY connecting with where our food comes from.
Great to meet you Karen im Inez