Hello friends!
Gary, Garrison, Simon and I had the amazing opportunity to go to our friend's farm on Saturday and butcher chickens. Yes, that is what we did. Yes, it was amazing, and fun, and difficult, and tiring, and very very satisfying. The Mulders were wonderful hosts. Not only did they raise the chickens, they also had all the supplies ready to go and even provided lunch for the crew. All we had to bring was a knife and a willingness to learn. Several came and watched children. Several came and just watched. Most of us participated in every aspect of butchering. Both Gary and I were so blessed to learn something new. We loved working with others. I thanked the chickens for giving their lives so that I can feed my family. I remember watching my Grandpa Koeman butcher chickens was I was little. It seemed to be a little chaotic in my little head. This was very peaceful. We all worked together, put all the cleaned chickens together, and then divided them up in the end. It was a wonderful morning. Feel free to look at the pictures that follow but beware: there are dead chickens. If it bugs you, you might want to stop here. I will be talking some about how we killed them and the like. So seriously, I'm fine if you want to pass on this blog post. :) I'll put captions underneath the pictures.
We'll be eating our first bird tomorrow night. I'll let you know how it tastes. Enjoy!
Simon checks out the chickens before we get started. There were about 50.
Gary was the first to go, so we all watched how it went. We put the head of the chicken through a cut off top of a milk carton. This calmed them and kept them from flopping so crazy after they were dead. Then, we slit one of its arteries in the neck. It died very quickly.
Simon was very interested in how everything worked.
After dunking the chicken in hot water, the feathers came off quite easily. Gary is almost done plucking this one.
Then the bird was blow-torched to kill any salmonella and to take care of any random hairs.
Simon kept asking if he could get a chicken skull. He settled for a chicken foot instead.
I'm getting ready to do it for the first time. Notice how I dressed up for the big event. :)
Gary did a great job of teaching me how to gut the bird.
No gloves for this kid--Simon loved seeing all of the intestines and learning about how everything works inside of a chicken's body--and inside of his own.
Look at all of the birds that we've done!
Garrison wasn't as fond of the butchering, but he loved being out on the farm. He took many many MANY pictures of the chickens, cows, hay bales, squash, caterpillars, and trees. Love digital cameras! Love my boys!
Though it wasn't for everyone, I'm blessed to have had this experience. I hope that we are able to do it again sometime. Feel free to ask any questions--I love talking about it.
2 comments:
You are a better woman than me Shanda. Show us a picture of one cooked please ;)
I remember watching Grandpa Koeman butcher chickens as well. I didn't like seeing them "flop" around after he slit their neck. Your way seemed better. Interesting farm stuff! Love your blog!
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