Friday, July 2, 2010

Butchering Chickens!!

Yesterday was the day we butchered our 20 broilers!! Of course we just had to choose the first 94 degree day of the summer to do it!! :-) Here are some pictures we took to share with you how we did it (WARNING: this is not for the faint of heart!!). This was our very first time butchering a bunch of chickens at once (and using the right tools!) so we learned a lot. It sure feels good to have 18 home grown chickens in the freezer . . . and 2 cooking for supper!! YUM!!

  Caleb was the official "killer." :-)
He caught the chicken and brought it over to be slaughtered.
He slit it's neck and let the blood drain out . . .
 . . . and brought it over to Daniel, who dipped it in the boiling water.
Then Daniel threw the chicken in the "whizbang," a machine that spins around and plucks all the feathers off.
 
Tada!! Isn't that handy?!

After that, dad would take it and . . . DAD, stop playing with the chicken and pretending it's alive!! You're scaring Ethan!! :-)
Anyway, so Daniel had the knives all sharpened . . .
 . . . for dad to cut the legs and head off and get all the guts out.
Then one of us would bring the finished chicken up to the house . . .
Where mom, Lydia, and I vacuum sealed each one for the freezer!


 
Was it gross? A little bit . . .
 . . . but not too bad!!!
Our garden is doing GREAT this year (compared to other years, that is)!! This picture is only part of the garden. If anyone loves buttercup squash, we hope to sell lots of it this fall! :-)
We got our first raspberry last week!! You haven't lived until you've had a raspberry fresh from the garden . . .
 
 . . . OR a fresh green sweet pea!! YUM YUM!!
Who knows what kind of plant this is? Clue: it's two words.
This year we actually got some juicy, tart cherries!! We also have several apple trees that we make into applesauce in the fall.

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It's hard work living on a farm and growing/raising your own food . . . but it's SO good and SO worth it!!!

More long-overdue-posts coming soon!! :-)

4 comments:

Lynn Bartlett said...

Congratulations to everyone for a job well done! Did you say you were coming up in a little over a week to help us butcher??

Joy said...

Oh, you're lucky to be able to grow cherries!! Looks like your garden is doing really well-we haven't had any peas yet, hopefully we will soon! :)

Hannah said...

Thank you Mrs. Bartlett!! We'll come help you butcher if you come to the SAICFF with us!! ha ha :-)

Hayley - yes, this is our first year growing cherries, so it was fun to find out that they were edible the other day!! Gardening can be fun (except for the weeding)!! :-)

Lulu said...

What a lovely looking garden! Our garden is doing great-oh yes, and I can relate with loving raspberries..we have a good-sized patch and I enjoy eating them!
May the Lord abundantly bless you as you diligently serve Him!