Bacon is not meant to be lean, which is why it is cut from the belly instead of the loin. Pork loin is a wonder all it's own and should be allowed to maintain that identity. As for getting the fresh cut over the mass packaged stuff, I couldn't agreed more. Just make sure if what you want is bacon that it has been cured, because it can be pork belly that is sliced like bacon and just be fatty pork. Much like a ham is just pork unless it has been cured.
For those of us who like wild hog, it is important to note that the bacon will be far too lean to resemble what we are used to. It can be cured and will be awesome, but it will be lean. A wild hog ham, properly brined (my recipe is a wet brine that takes 3 weeks) is indiscernible from a domestic ham. If you want something like traditional bacon from a wild hog, you cure the hog jowls and slice them. I'm talking actual wild hog descendant from european hogs, not domestics that have gone wild. Those will be a little leaner and not as gamey as a true wild hog, but it only takes about 3 or 4 months off the farm for a domestic to become wild.
As an interesting (to me anyway) side note, pot belly pigs are different from both domestics and wild varieties, even as far as key anatomical differences. For instance a pot bellied pig has it's nuts inside the body cavity (makes sense, they are pretty low to the ground) and a retracted penis that is located further forward than it is on other pigs. You see, when you butcher a pig you want to tie off the penis and around the anus (after you cut around it) to prevent contamination of the meat. The overgrown pot belly we were given a couple of months ago was supposed to be female according to the owner. It was not. Another interesting thing about pigs is that it is quite difficult to convince them that they are dead, even when it is quite clear that they are. When we trap them we prefer to kill them with a pistol shot straight down thru the frontal cortex. The pig is dead for all intents and purposes. There is no breathing, no pain response and no eye movement or pupil response, but the heart will continue to beat. This is particularly handy, because you can "kill" one, then cut it's throat and the heart will pump the majority of the blood out before you start skinning.
