This weekend mom and I were asked to do a quilting demo/quilt show at the County Fair. It went really well on Saturday and I think those that attended learned a lot. We did two different demos, Quilting for the Clueless and Bags, Bags, Bags. After the demos, we shopped in the variety store and found some great fabrics we don't have at the shop. It's always fun to go there as I got fabric and Paul got fishing lures. The store has everything! We had supper and then headed for my parents place. We got changed and loaded up the pickups met up with a cousin, my bro, and my niece and we headed for the river to go fishing. We left about 7PM and it was the perfect evening. There was no wind, it was cool, and there was a full, bright moon. We caught about 10 and they cleaned them about 10:30... but then we caught 5 more and it was about 12:30 before they cleaned the next batch. I caught a 1.6 pound catfish! By 1AM we left for my parents. By the time we got to bed it was nearly 2! My bro asked if we'd help butcher chickens the next morning and I said sure if I got one. Dad and I headed down to my bros at 9 on Sun. morning. I've included a few pictures of the process, but it may be a bit grose, so procede with caution!
We were greeted by the roosters and a few hens. My bro caught the hens. Dad and I held them by the legs to carry them out of the barn.
Holding 2 roosters in my hand.
Then my bro hung them up and cut the throats.
Then he scalded them to get the feathers to come loose.
Dad, SIL, and I picked the feathers from the birds. We did 10 total birds.
This is the first bird I cleaned myself. It's a big roaster bird! It's about the size of a small turkey.
We cleaned them and brazed the hair off and then put them in the cooler. We put them in water and froze the birds to eat over the course of the next year. It was an interesting experience and I learned a lot. It was really hot, 90, but with a breeze it wasn't so bad in the shade. It got to 102 in the afternoon. We got done about 1PM and then went back to my parents where Dad, Paul, and fixed lunch for my mom's birthday. Mom and I had a very enjoyable time visiting and pulling out a few UFO's to work on. We came home early as we knew we would have to deal with the biker traffic. The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally started today and there are a ton of bikers out and about in the area.
5 comments:
Ooh-wee! Glad it was you and not me. I love chicken and I know that someone has to butcher them. But I would just rather cook and eat them. My mom always told us about how she had to do all that when she was growing up. I would not make a very good farmer girl!
You go girl! What a woman! I'm impressed!
Oh, you are brave! Looking forward to sewing with you tonight!!
The size of turkeys!! That is what I miss about butchering my own chickens. That is the only thing I miss. :-)
My cousin had a fryer farm--40,000! chickens each batch. They got to keep out 100 for their personal use. I helped butcher for half the chickens. We ate a lot of chicken!
Thanks for the memories.
Holy Crap! Seriously I thought I was going to die laughing when you sent me the text with a naked chicken in it!
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