Hello all,
I am relatively new to this forum, but just a quick intro. My name is Colt, and I am the state livestock specialist for the University of Maine. I teach, work with farmers, and conduct applied livestock research. Part of my educational outreach is trying to connect livestock producers with their local consumers by educating them on new and exciting ways to prepare their products. I have hosted workshops all over the state teaching folks how to smoke pasture raised chickens, properly preparing lamb( one of favorites is smoked leg of lamb), meat cutting schools and I have even started offering BBQ 101 classes to introduce the Yankees up here to southern style BBQ.
We have a tremendous amount of homesteaders and DIY type farmers here in Maine, and so I wanted to start sharing information on food preservation. To do so, I built a smoke house to start hosting educational seminars and producing some literature to hand out.
I grew up in West Virginia, and spent a lot of time in Kentucky when I was working on my undergraduate degree. When I was kid, every farm still had remnants of smoke houses and hog sheds, but most folks had gone away from the old ways. However, I always wanted my own, so here I am now, building one scaled down for my needs. Deep in the heart of Appalachia, smoke houses served as both root cellars, curing house, and smokers. I wish I had the skills to build a big sand stone block smoke house into the side of mountain like back home, so I am settling for a small wooden one instead.
Step one - select a good place out of the wind and water to pour a nice concrete pad.
Step two was to build the foundation and firebox. The blocks are filled with sandy gravel.
I am no stone mason, but I was happy with the results
The masonry took forever to dry in the cold damp Maine climate, but the wood frame came along quickly.
The University of Maine Forestry Dept. donated the lumber (white pine) for the sheathing and batoning. My buddy said the back looks like a sad cartoon character of a chinese guy.
I am relatively new to this forum, but just a quick intro. My name is Colt, and I am the state livestock specialist for the University of Maine. I teach, work with farmers, and conduct applied livestock research. Part of my educational outreach is trying to connect livestock producers with their local consumers by educating them on new and exciting ways to prepare their products. I have hosted workshops all over the state teaching folks how to smoke pasture raised chickens, properly preparing lamb( one of favorites is smoked leg of lamb), meat cutting schools and I have even started offering BBQ 101 classes to introduce the Yankees up here to southern style BBQ.
We have a tremendous amount of homesteaders and DIY type farmers here in Maine, and so I wanted to start sharing information on food preservation. To do so, I built a smoke house to start hosting educational seminars and producing some literature to hand out.
I grew up in West Virginia, and spent a lot of time in Kentucky when I was working on my undergraduate degree. When I was kid, every farm still had remnants of smoke houses and hog sheds, but most folks had gone away from the old ways. However, I always wanted my own, so here I am now, building one scaled down for my needs. Deep in the heart of Appalachia, smoke houses served as both root cellars, curing house, and smokers. I wish I had the skills to build a big sand stone block smoke house into the side of mountain like back home, so I am settling for a small wooden one instead.
Step one - select a good place out of the wind and water to pour a nice concrete pad.
Step two was to build the foundation and firebox. The blocks are filled with sandy gravel.
I am no stone mason, but I was happy with the results
The masonry took forever to dry in the cold damp Maine climate, but the wood frame came along quickly.
The University of Maine Forestry Dept. donated the lumber (white pine) for the sheathing and batoning. My buddy said the back looks like a sad cartoon character of a chinese guy.
