It used to be the case that every cottage in the countryside had a pig in the back garden and every farm kept a few pigs. Pig sties were a feature of most farmyards. The pigs were fed on swill, which is boiled up waste food, and were allowed to roam around in the orchard and farmyard for what they could find.
Pigs were very useful for clearing land of scrubby vegetation. With their keen interest in rooting for food with their noses, they break up the ground, and provide manure to improve the soil at the same time.

The family’s pigs were an important source of meat to see the family through the winter and so making their own bacon and ham was a regular event every autumn. Salting the meat was the best way of preserving it in the days before refrigeration.