Some families would opt to enclose the pigs into a small pig pen.  Doing this would caloric intake requirements down by half since the pig didn't move.  These pigs would often eat whatever scraps the families had left over.  Extra milk from the cow would go to the pigs, squash bug infested squash would go to the pigs, a cracked chicken egg would go to the pigs, etc.  However, this method of raising pigs resulted in meat with less and less flavor and nutrition.  Some farmers would add a ~12 inch jump between the pig pen area and the feeding area to force the pigs to move even a little bit to improve the quality of the meat.

             During World War II, the country shifted a little more towards high production and lower quality.  Genetic tampering also shot into high gear after the war.  The resulting high yield pigs were closed up in factories and not allowed to move, which created a lot of meat.  But the meat was white now that the pig grew so fast and couldn't move.  Thus, the marketing teams got to work and declared the slogan "Pork, the other white meat."

             This pork is what has occupied grocery store coolers ever since the 1950s.  Most likely, if you've only had supermarket pork, you've never actually had pork.

             At Taste of the Old Farm, we try to duplicate the original pork experience as much as we are able to on our small 7.5 acre farm.  The pigs are rotated around the property to allow the land to have disturbance and regeneration.  Just before they leave a paddock, new seeds are thrown down in order to generate growth in that paddock for when they return.  We are currently experimenting with this process to see what will grow into good, diverse forage for them.  Goats will be used in the future to control the overstory to allow more sunlight to reach the forest floor for additional growth.

             Our hogs are given some ration of pig feed, and they are free to forage throughout the year on whatever they find.  Seasonally, that can vary greatly.  In the spring they have new sprouts.  In the summer they have grasses, rejected peaches from our orchard, wild blackberries and raspberries, and vegetable scraps from our garden.  In the fall, they have acorns, walnuts, hickory nuts, reject apples from the orchard, fallen Pawpaw fruits from the forest, and more vegetable scraps.  There is a sweet spot in the fall where sometimes the pigs won't be seen for days.  They are so busy vacuuming up every acorn that falls that they simply don't care about food from us.  Year round they enjoy an occasional egg from our chickens and kitchen scraps.

             The end result is a dark red meat in every oxygenated part of the muscle tissues.  This is very similar to the dark meat and white meat on chickens.  The legs and wings on a chicken are darker because those are the muscle groups that work the hardest and are oxygenated.  The meat is juicy and flavorful.  The muscles of the chicken breast aren't used as much, hence why it is more white and has a different flavor profile.  On a hog, the tenderloin and loin are the least exercised areas of the hog.  Compared to supermarket pork which might have "color added" or be a ghost white color in comparison, our hogs produce juicy dark meat that rivals beef.  Since they are free to roam the forests and burn the fat to stay warm, they also are more lean than other hogs.

             All of these culminate into the end product: Premium pork from pigs which lived the way your ancestors knew them.