Traditions

The wet season invokes great memories for me...most revolving around my Dad as it was the only time he was home for weeks at a time. The rest of the year he was always around but spent a lot of time out in the stock camps - mustering cattle over vast country, all unfenced. It is a world away from our little farms today.

There are many memories but one in particular remains and is now firmly entrenched as a family tradition - smoking ham and bacon.

I had the most amazing childhood - a day away from civilisation meant we were isolated and away from what many consider necessities. Cold meat for us for all year was either left over corned meat or roast beef (or on a very odd occasion tinned corn meat which we called bully beef). But at the start of the "wet", a fat pig would be slaughtered and then Dad would set about curing bacon and ham. A few days before Christmas he would then smoulder over smoke for a few days eventually ending up as the centre piece of our Christmas. It was (and is) such a treat to eat genuinely smoked ham.

Despite us now owning a butcher shop and selling hundreds of hams (all year round) Dad still smokes his own ham and bacon for Christmas. This year he passed the tradition down to Claudia and Haydn who followed the process every step of the way. Check out the photos below.

PNG Move - well still no house...no I am not fretting or anxious just simply beside myself and trying my best to appear cool, calm and collected. "Stay Calm and Carry On" is my 2011 motto.