This morning was a perfect Saturday morning - thundering, lightening, intermittent rain with no hail. We slept in 'til 7:00 enjoying it.
When it stopped we butchered the chickens. Here is how you butcher a chicken at our house:
Step 1:
 |
| Choose a chicken. |
Step 2:
 |
| Bleed the chicken (I spared you that photo) and then scald him in 145 degree water until his feathers begin to pull easily from his body. |
Step 3:
 |
| Put the whole scalded chicken into the whizzbang chicken plucker. Twenty seconds later the chicken is plucked clean. (Calvin made this plucker and it's amazing.) |
Step 4:
 |
| Eviscerate the chicken and cut it up. We left half of our birds whole for roasting and half cut up as fryers. (Calvin is good at butchering. He's meticulous and a real stickler for handling and cleaning it properly. It makes it harder to eat store-bought meat.) |
Step 5:
 |
| Put the chickens in cold water |
Step 6:
 |
| Eat a picnic while the chickens cool. |
Step 7:
 |
| Bag the meat and put it in the freezer. |
Step 8:
 |
| Sterilize the whizzbang and get it ready for the next time. |
Step 9:
 |
| Start another project such as cutting down a dead tree. (I was sad when it died because it had the kids' initials in it. We'll have to grow another one.) |
Step 10:
 |
| Be grateful you live where you do when you do and that you have so many good things in life. |
And that is life in our world.
9 comments:
My dad made a whizzbang plucker a few years ago. I think it works as well, but it certainly isn't as nice looking.
Looks like a great Saturday...minus the chicken killing! :)
Calvin's inventions always impress me and the Whizzbang is no different. Very cool.
I spy your cute mug in the picnic photo.
I would be sad about that tree too. I have no doubts you'll grow a new one just as great. I love where you live because you two define the phrase making a house into a home. It's such a comfortable place to visit.
Were you emotionally attached to the chickens? I think I would have a hard time with that.
We could use some rain around here!!
Whiz Bang is a real beaut. I loved the picnic too. Wish you would have waited till we got there... maybe we can find another chicken or a quail or dove to pluck when we come.
You know, to my city-grown girl self, those yellow feet against the fleshy raw chicken look especially strange. I love the whizzbang! Very handy, your hubby is! Life in your world looks pretty nice! (PS, Life in my world includes a blog server that is down for now. :( Hopefully it'll be up and running again soon!
I wish I was there too! That is truly amazing. As someone who's a participant in your life, I think life in your world is pretty grand. I just love our home.
Cali wanting to find a quail to pluck just cracked me up!
Wish we could have been there too.
If we ever move back closer to home, I'm making Bo come with me to your house so we can learn first hand all your awesome tricks. :)
Post a Comment