We normally eat lots of beef; when you are beef farmers you have very little choice, it seems. My husband was raised on a steady diet of hamburger, steaks, roasts, etc, now don't get me wrong beef has it's place,but I like chicken, pork and especially fish (which if I serve more that once every couple of weeks, I get a look like "where is the beef?). This winter we have taken steps to vary our meat diet by adding 20 chickens (big ones, like 3 meals per chicken, so 60 meals of chicken to all you groaning beef men) We have wonderful friends who raise sheep and chickens for eggs, they also raise chickens for themselves in the summer and this year offered to raise some for us, if we would help with the butchering. Great I thought how hard can that be.
Now the thought of cutting up a dead chicken really doesn't bother me at all, what does make me a bit, ah, nervous is alive chickens. They flap and peck uuhhh, and I hadn't really thought much about the in between alive and dead. Turns out all my nervousness was for naught we ended up finding someone not far from here who was willing to do all the dirty work for us for $2 a bird, of course we took the easy way out and opted for someone else to do the whole death and dismemberment part. Heather and I spent the afternoon cutting up the birds into meal size portions, all in all it was quite a pleasant experience, and I do look forward to eating more chicken this year.
the white ones in the back are going in the freezer,
the brown ones up front provide us with the most delicious eggs
chicken rodeo
trying to escape
Heather is super tough she was feeding both Matt and Ben with Chickens (I on the other hand was counting and taking pictures, not touching chickens)
yummy!
all tucked in and ready for their trip to the butcher
I am glad it is over and maybe sometime I will actually touch a live chicken and maybe even kill it but for now I am thankful for a freezer full of potential curries, stir frys, stews, and roasting birds.
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