So The Gentleman Farmer has helped cure hams before (see original post of this blog), but never made his own. The other day, my friend and I built a box for my hams. 
Uncle ordered the hams and brought them from the grocer. Each one has to be trimmed up so that the edges are neat. This year we are curing most of the hams in the way that Uncle has taught us, and trying a new process. 
The "traditional" way is to coat the surfaces of each ham with a salt cure mix, turning them over in the box and re-salting about every two weeks from mid-January until about the time we quit having frost. 
The "new" way we are trying is very different. Uncle was polite, but I know he was skeptical. These hams (two of the sixteen we are curing this year) are "glazed" with a fine layer of salt over the skin, and the hock and meaty sides are packed with a pre-measured amount of cure mix. The ham and cure are wrapped in brown paper, wrapped again in cheesecloth, and then hung hock side down from the roof of the shed. These hams won't be disturbed at all until the last frost. The reason I want to try curing hams this way is because it feels like there is more control over how much salt is used and absorbed into the meat. Now that we started them, they definitely have that country ham look. 
When the job was done, good luck and tradition demanded that we each partake in a splash of vodka. The Gentleman Farmer is not one to go against good luck or tradition.
I'm so excited for spring to start here. Upcoming chores and projects will include maintaining the fence and adding a string of barbwire to the top of it, planting a heckuva garden, stocking the farm with goats and bees, and clearing more of the back forty for projects to be determined.
