We needlessly waste our food scraps by throwing them into the trash or flushing them with a garbage disposal system.
Rather, it would be good to have a boar under your sink. You simply drop the scraps into the oubliette and the boar eats them. There is also a door from this chamber to the outside world so that the boar may enjoy the mountains. Please employ a fence to prevent straying.
When this semi-domesticated hog becomes sufficiently plump, it may be eaten.
I suggest a boar rather than a regular pig because a boar has more flavorful meat. Further, you can get pork at any supermarket, but boar meat is not easily procured. Second, at the time of slaughter, a male boar's tusks may be kept for their valuable ivory. Third, a boar is a much better object of polite conversation than a pig. Your friends, neighbors, and relatives will admire you. The boar could also become a beloved family pet.-- Vance, Feb 07 2001 Urban Pig Farming in Irregular Settlements in Uruguay http://www.ruaf.org/1-2/29-31.htmlYou have *no* *idea* how rarely I get to refer to this link. [Uncle Nutsy, Feb 07 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004] City Farms http://journey_to_f...om/CD/cityfarm.html"In Mexico City many families keep pigs -- urban pig farmers recycle up to 4,000 tons of the city's food wastes per day." [Uncle Nutsy, Feb 07 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004] Self-sufficiency book http://www.google.c...search?q=0751364428John Seymour, New Complete Self-sufficiency: The Classic Guide for Realists and Dreamers [bibliotaphist, Apr 13 2007] Cosh i Pi's chickens http://www.devianta...deviation/34920904/Sometimes try to gore him to death [Cosh i Pi, Apr 17 2007] this was baked half a boar's life prior to the boar itself. except it was a pig. i think the tusked hairy ones are dangerous.
how do you domesticate it? do you pet it when it's small and has tusks like pheasant ribs?-- gnormal, Feb 07 2001 The boar will likely only become semi-domesticated.-- Vance, Feb 07 2001 This sounds like something that might have been baked on The Flintstones, but I don't recall it specifically.-- beauxeault, Feb 07 2001 Or a Boer, but I do not live in South Africa, but rather in Japan.
Gee, I guess this does sound like Flintstone-esque technology, but I really think that it would be a good, practical system.-- Vance, Feb 08 2001 Raising a pig on household waste for later consumption was not uncommon in urban America around the middle of the 19th century, and still happens today in parts of the third world. See attached links.-- Uncle Nutsy, Feb 08 2001 Doesn't the boar generate waste of its own? What do you do with that?-- rmutt, Feb 08 2001 Pigs aren't very picky. Recycle.-- StarChaser, Feb 08 2001 Right, or you could just toss the boar crap out into your tomato plants. They will now grow better!
The problem with throwing scraps to your dog is that you can't eat your dog.-- Vance, Feb 13 2001 I just don't get why you would have to eat your dog to make feeding the table scraps to the dog meaningful.....??? I have a kennel, and I can say that nothing (but chicken bones) goes to waste around here (they especially like spaghetti with mushrooms). On top of this, the dogs are useful for killing mice, ground squirrels, possums, coons, chucks, and other such rodents. They also protect the property as an alarm system, they can learn tricks, they can be affectionate, and I make a lot of pocket money from selling the pups.... how again would a boar be better? There is a reason that dogs were domesticated instead of boars.-- Susen, Feb 14 2001 Very good comments.
First off, what I mean by saying one "can't" eat one's dog is that, if it is a pet, one probably wouldn't want to. Further, it is probably illegal in many Western locales to eat dogs; it can be considered cruelty to animals. I heard of one chap in the US who barbequed a stray and got into trouble for it.
I agree fully that scraps can be given to dogs and that this can be a good use for such food waste. Nevertheless, I would hesitate to feed many things to a beloved dog that I would readily toss to a boar.
The idea is that a boar can eat the extra scraps (certainly the choicest could go to a dog) and provide food to the family as well.-- Vance, Feb 14 2001 Rinse out the under-sink area...-- StarChaser, Sep 24 2001 It used to be common in many parts of britain for farmers to collect people's leftover food to feed to their pigs. however, this was stopped for health reasons, since any contaminated food would infect the pig and from that other pigs and the resultant meat. This might be less of an issue in a domestic situation, but I still wouldn't give it your left-over bacon.-- pottedstu, Sep 24 2001 Chickens would also work well for this. Chickens are small, will eat almost anything, rarely gore you to death, and produce fresh eggs. Plus, since chickens are less closely related to humans than pigs are, there's less of a chance of sharing a disease with them.
Seattle's municipal code allows you to own up to three fowl --- perhaps other cities are similar.-- wiml, Sep 25 2001 Redworms will eat vegetable scraps and egg shells.
Human food shortens the lives of dogs and cats.
I do not think anyone would like to have a kitchen that smelled like a barnyard. If you have to use a boar, take the scrap outside.-- sonsy800, Nov 12 2002 // boar is a kind of hog that will // // a boar rather than a regular pig // //a boar is a much better object of polite conversation than a pig//
Um... "boar" means male pig. "Sow" means female pig. Pig means swine animal, male or female.
Not sure why you're considering them different.
Obviously wild or feral pigs are somewhat different, but I assure you that wild pigs are very very close to the domesticated kind, only a few generations away. A wild pig raised in captivity will taste very much like a farmed one.-- Custardguts, Apr 13 2007 This isn't at all unusual in self-sufficiency circles [link]. My parents used to keep a pig or two for this very purpose. Now they're into sheep. In a healthy, farming way, you understand. They're not "into" sheep.
The idea that needs expanding upon here is surely the design of the under-sink piggery itself. I echo: what about the smell? Would mwchyn have enough headroom?
I too favour the chicken. I don't eat meat, but I do do eggs, and they're a useful trading device. 50p a half-dozen (what - about 99 cents U.S.?) is a good going rate round 'ere.
Chicken waste --> compost heap --> garden --> vegetables --> kitchen scraps --> chickens --> eggs --> etc.
And my neighbours just love the sound of cockerels all day.-- bibliotaphist, Apr 13 2007 Shirley you can train the animals to use the toilet like everyone else. Cats can do it.
Havilg lived near a "cokerel" area, I highly encourage the new garbage disposal unit to be installed in a sound-proofed oubilette.-- ye_river_xiv, Apr 14 2007 //Chickens are small, will eat almost anything, rarely gore you to death//
Personally, I'd rather not be gored to death even once. Well, not before my time, anyway.
However, we do keep chickens. One of them would like to gore me to death, and has tried, so far with limited success. (link) Click on the image for a bigger version.-- Cosh i Pi, Apr 17 2007 What a very Flintstonian idea!-- Noexit, Apr 18 2007 random, halfbakery