What would you do if...while you were unloading your meat chickens at the butcher, you noticed that one in particular was not doing so well? In the 92 degree heat, Josh and I did our best to revive the poor thing, to no avail. Our schedule for the evening was full, but it was hard to imagine wasting a perfectly good, pasture-raised chicken. So...we brought it home for yet another "Charlotte Mason" teaching moment!
Those children who were interested gathered around while Josh and I made our best attempt at skinning the big guy and removing the "viscera".That is a fun word, isn't it? Much more noble than "guts". We did pretty well, I have to say, then ran the bird inside to place in cold water. Right now, he's in the freezer and will soon be roasting in the crock pot.
So, would I quit my day job to butcher chickens? Meh...not so much. But the best part is painting the toe nails bright red and pulling on the tendons after the foot is cut off. Go ahead...try it:)
12 comments:
I'm not sure I"ll try that anytime soon. I'm doing to use chicken from the meat counter, instead of processed :( Well, I do see a really nice chicken dinner in your future :) :)
Oh, I posted your blog button my the sidebar of my blog :) :) Thanks for letting me borrow it..it looks so pretty :) :)
Hugs from Oregon, Heather :)
You are too funny!!! Mmmmmmm.....did you really paint the toenails???
Enjoy the picture, Heather!
And yes, Linda, we've actually painted them! We were inspired by a book we read many years ago...I can't remember the title, but the author was Tomy de Paola. It was about his grandpa, the butcher. Too cute!
First off, I LOVE your blog background! Matches the cheery farmhouse so well!
And, we actually HAVE butchered a couple of our own. (I say "we" very loosely, as it was really my husband who did it all!) Nasty roosters, they was! But, ours are not really meat birds, and they were kind of tough. No matter, they made great stock!
When we lost a chicken a few weeks ago, I had very briefly contemplated butchering her, but she was dead when we found her, and not sure how long she was laying there. So, we gave her a decent funeral and had no chicken dinner the next day:(
Butchering chickens lend to great teaching moments. And those tendons are something else! We've done
'a few' ourselves in the last couple of years! Get to do it again this year :)
Great idea!:)
I went to an agricultural high school and we learnewd this eviserating process by hand as well! Not my idea of fun.:? But good to know how to do for sure!:)
I love your posts! You are a great mom and teacher! Keep it up!
how funny that you would actually paint it's toenails... We currently have a young rooster caged up waiting to be butchered tomorrow morning!He was an extra out of our straight run chicks we got from the feed store this spring. According to my Grandpa's theory, if you keep a chicken caged for a few days before you butcher it, the meat will be tender... I've never tried it before but we thought we'd give it a shot this time! He grew up eating the chickens that ran all over his farm, so he must know what he is talking about!
Rachel
This my friend, is why I LOVE you guys!!! Well, this is one reason of many! ;-)
Being a city girl, this is an experience I've never had. My mom tells me about butchering chickens while growing up on a farm. I don't think they ever painted the toenails though :-)
Blessings,
Marcia
Oh my goodness. Best blog ever!! So glad I found you today. :D
LOVE your blog. And the chickens...? Too funny! My husband is not YET ready for us to get chickens. One day!
We slaughter our chickens and also do CM homeschooling...so I got a good chuckle from this post.
Thanks for sharing.
Connie
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