The completely recycled pig

In October the community recycling committee held their first meetings about cutting out the waste that was being trucked to the dump. Bottles, cans and carboard bins were set up by the community palapa (service center) and a green cone was dug into the ground for green waste.

This left the problem of what to do with food waste, which could be recycled with we had some animals to do it. Our management offered to buy two pigs, which could be fed with the food waste. One would belong to the security guard and the other would be fattened for a community pig roast sometime in the spring.

The idea was that the food waste would be left at several drop off spots in the community and it would be picked up daily by the security guard for the pigs.

Amazingly, this worked. The security guard had the insentive of fattening his own pig at the same time he was fattening the community pig. Since the pigs were small, there also had to be a dog to guard the pig hutch, so the coyotes wouldn’t eat them during the night.

The pigs were not given names so they would not become pets of the community, however people would regularly walk over to the pig hutch which was about a quarter mile from the community itself, on the other side of the highway. Fortunately this was winter weather here in Mexico, so the intense heat of the summer would not become a problem.

The people collected their food left overs and the security guard picked them up and fed the pigs. It worked like clock work.

After six months the pigs were now over 150 pounds each. The official day of the pig roast was set and the community was notified to prepare side dishes for the major event. Even the floor of the palapa was repainted and retiled for the day which was late in March.

The best  barbecue man in the area Russ from Anna’s restaurtant was invited to be the chef and he brought with him his own pig roasting over. It was a well designed affair with a big rack with adjustable rods so it could hold almost any size pig.

The fire was started in the morning, but it took half the day to get the heat adjusted. Meanwhile the beer was poured and the stories of great pig roast were told.

Everyone stopped bye to talk to the chef as the preparations were underway. The dinner was set early on that day, around 4 p.m. and people were making bets the pig would not be ready by then. However true to his time piece, the chef was pulling the well cooked pig out of the oven as the clock struck 4 p.m.

Atleast forty people has assembled in the palapa, bringing dishware, chairs, tables and their favorite

side dish. A keg of beer had been purchased by one of the residents. The management had set up the PA system with music and the party was on.

Now the chef and his helpers were slicing up the pig. He had a crowd in attendance and the pay off was to get first licks on some of the trimmings. The roast pig looked perfectly cooked, not underdone and certainly not overdone.

There were a few comments by the management and others who claimed the recycling effort was such a success that they wanted to do it next year. The line was forming at the food table and the ones who always got to the head of the line were there waiting with knife and fork.

It was one of those events where everyone was a winner, well perhaps with the exception of the pig. And when we last talked to the security guard, he said he had decided not to roast his pig this year, he would wait until it had a litter of piglets and then there would be enough for next year’s recycling program.

Now that’s what we call a completely recycled pig.