Do You Have Any Bacon?

By Cher King

On our farm we raise our own meat, something that was important to us. We have raised pigs in the past, which would give us an abundance of bacon. We have ours sliced thick. It is a luxury after buying the thinly sliced stuff from the store. There is a menu board on the wall of my farm stand where items are listed with a price. If I am sold out of an item, it is labeled in bright red marker "sold out". It is very bright in color and hard to miss. I usually tend to have out-of-state city people that camp in the surrounding area. I have to remember they do not always understand farming and how things are in nature. A certain out-of-state couple stopped and looked over the menu board. They asked for bacon. I looked at the board which has the bright red message of "sold out" right beside it.

"Sorry we are sold out," I said.

"When are you going to get more" they ask.

This is the part I dread because no matter how bluntly I say what I am about to say they are not really listening.

I start my little speech as follows:

"When it says sold out, it means for a whole year we will not have any bacon at all because there is no more. Wait, I'm not finished," I say because if you pause you're opening up for questions. "You see it takes about six months to get my pig up to 400 to 600 pounds so I will have plenty of bacon. This is fall; I will not get a pig until spring because I do not like raising pigs in the winter, so that is another six months of waiting. So to answer your question, No pork now until next September."

I wait for confirmation that they understand the process, no pig, no bacon.

They seem to understand what I had told them and they left. Finally someone had actually listened, that is until I saw them drive in my yard the following week. Usually the only reason they stop is for bacon. They know I do not have any because I gave them the circle of life story. So I wait for them to come in and they stand there and ask for bacon. I point to the sign where it says, "sold out". I ask them if they remember the whole story I told them how bacon is made and how we have no pigs.

"Oh, are you saying you have no bacon?" they ask.

"Yes that is what I am saying, no pig, and no bacon," I say as politely as possible.

So they leave again empty handed and I think ok, they got it now. They cannot be that thick. Right?

The next week comes around and they show up. I was thinking to myself, they seriously couldn't be here to ask for bacon. They came into the store and boldly asked for bacon.

"That is it. What part of I have no bacon do you not get?" I ask.

I have not even taken a breath yet and I still have more in me that has been building up for the past three weeks.

"I explained to you that I have no pork, if I did have one right now, it would go to the butcher. He would take a week to cut the meat. Then if I want ham or bacon, the butcher sends it to a smoker. That's what gives bacon and ham that wonderful flavor. He keeps that for a month and gives it back to the butcher and it takes another week for him to slice it and call me up for pick up. So I told you I am not going to buy a pig until spring and it is September now. So I will count for you, so 6 to 7 months until spring. If I kept the pig until August I still wouldn't have bacon until near the end of September. No bacon, don't make me tap the sign where it says in bright red letters "sold out"." I said.

"Oh you don't buy it from someplace else" they ask.

"What would be the point in that of advertising organic and we raise our own meat, why the heck would I buy outside meat?" I said.

"Oh I thought you could get it for us?" they stammered.

This is the point where I understand they really weren't listening the three other times that I had explained in full detail on how we process our meat.

Ok, I make our own cheese and we raise our own meat, I do not buy it from a wholesaler. To me having a farm stand means I personally raised or made the products I sell here, that is my niche. Now you have other pork products to choose from for breakfast, sausage and ham steaks. You would probably like the ham steaks since it has been smoked and closer to bacon, right?

Oh, I thought you bought items from a bigger store and sold them here, she said. Well I guess we could try the ham.

Why was that so hard? I really am not sure since I had explained why I did not have the bacon available. They should have understood the process better. I guess people are not interested in the process but whether I have the product or not.