The pork belly is sitting in a ziplock bag at the bottom of the fridge marinating in salt, maple syrup and pepper. The recipe called for brown sugar, but since I had some maple syrup I thought - why not? In two weeks time it will be ready to be smoked. If Judy has not yet found her smoker, it occurred to me I can do it in the barbecue with the lid down. Or failing that, I can simply bake it in the oven for an hour and that will finish it off ready to be bacon of my own making.

The bones cooked in the stock pot all night and when i removed them this morning I was able to pick off a couple of cups of meat in all. This has gone through the mincer with some apple, garlic, thyme and S&P and made into patties which will be tonight's dinner with gravy and mash.

The cumberland sausages will also be made into patties once the dishwasher has cleaned the various bits of the grinder for me as it occurred to me it might be a bit tricky making them into sausage shape and keeping them that way while they cooked (cumberland sausages do not include breadcrumbs).

The dogs are replete on various bits I found in the freezer that I decided deserved to be discarded and both are stretched in front of the fire.

In addition to freezing the rest of the pork (I put some bits in this morning to get them started and added to them incrementally while the rest stayed in the fridge), and the stock etc, I have cut a load of firewood as it seems to be getting cooler already and will be a chilly night. Last night got chilly quite late, so I ended up waking at 2 feeling too hot and shed all the blankets. They were incrementally added as the thermometer plunged.