Flame On

In April 2011 Ron and his family were visiting at the Farm and Ron was going to cook a bunch of pig in the ground, Samoan style, as he had done many times before. The plan was to start cooking the pig on Saturday evening, cover the pit, and let the meat cook all night long so it would be nice and tender in the morning. A bunch of the extended family was all going to come over on Sunday for a big lunch of juicy Polynesian pork.

Things started off normal as Ron got the pit all ready to go and turned into a giant oven. The technique involves covering the meat with layers and layers of damp cardboard and all other kinds of insulation to keep it hot inside as it cooks "low and slow" for the next several hours.

Like a moth to the flame, the little boys couldn't stay away and came to enjoy the big fire until it was hot enough to put out and let the meat cook. But as soon as it was tamed down and everything was safe and secure, everyone went home and called it a night as they anticipated their delicious lunch that was coming the next day.

Sometime around midnight, Ron was woken up by Grandpa Farns, who was calling to him,

 "Ron! Is your pit supposed to be on fire?!"

Ron scrambled out of bed as fast as he could, throwing on a jacket as he ran outside to see his once calm pit now blazing brightly in the midnight sky. Those who were sleeping at Grandma and Grandpa's also rushed outside to see what was happening. Grandpa located the nearest hose he could find and he and Ron beat the flames down until there were no flames left, just a smoldering heap of wet cardboard and the remains of the insulation that Ron had pieced together with items around the Farm. 

They dug out the meat and hurried to get it into the house ovens in the hopes that it would at least make it out fine for lunch the next afternoon.

 Grandpa just gave Ron a hug and said, "You're awesome!"

The next morning was the moment of truth as Ron went out to survey the damage. Grandpa also discovered a mystery - one of his feet had been extra cold as they were out in the middle of the night. He realized that in his haste to get outside to do some fire fighting, he had only put one sock on!

  Ron dug through the rubble and found scraps of a tarp, a giant, rubber wheelbarrow that had melted almost completely, a few burned tree stumps, and the very end of (Grandma's favorite) shovel with only a piece of the handle sticking out of the end of the actual shovel itself.

As the rest of the Farm slowly woke up and got going, word spread like - well, wild fire - that something might possibly have gone wrong with the pork. For example, Brian had been out and about on the Farm Saturday morning and when he went back inside he started rummaging around the kitchen for some food.

Lisa told him, "Don't get too full. Remember that we're having a big pork lunch pretty soon."

Brian casually said, "I'm not so sure we are. Judging by the pieces of burned tarp all over the Farm and the melted wheelbarrow, something tells me we might not be having pork for lunch. Looks like we might have to start calling Ron 'Flame On'."

Meanwhile back in the kitchen at Grandma's, Ron was praying (and probably swearing) under his breath as he opened up the tinfoil packets of pork to see if the fire damage had reached the food. Despite the burned smell that lingered over everything, the pork was miraculously spared from any real danger. As luck would have it, the lunch was still on and there was enough for seconds!

And as a poetic tribute to the events of the weekend, the family mortician, Dave was also able to provide his services for those who were lost in the fire....