endings & beginnings



From farm to table

  The last couple of weeks have been rather eventful here at the mini farm. After an almost two year (and not so productive) stay, I decided it was time for the hens to go. Into the freezer that is. I know what some of you are thinking (and saying for that matter), "How can you butcher animals that you raised from cute fuzzy babies?". Well the truth of the matter is, I never viewed my chickens as pets. I knew they would end up on the table someday, and acted accordingly. I am a staunch believer in fully accepting that those pristine packages of wrapped "pork" or "beef" or "boneless skinless breasts" are in fact pigs, and cows, and chickens. I also believe in treating my living food with respect, and giving it everything it could ever want while it is here.
  Unfortunately, the local wildlife doesn't agree with my philosophies. A couple of days before the Big Day, a opossum visited the coop. Now I will be the first to admit that I had gotten incredibly complacent with our security, and the raid was my fault. Having never had any issues, I grew lazy. I awoke to a yard covered in feathers, a dead chicken that was split wide open, another still living but missing it's rump, and several remaining panicked hens. I was kicking myself for having let it happen, and cursing the opossum for stealing two of my chicken dinners that he didn't even eat himself.
  He returned the following night, which was a bad move on his part, because this time I was there to take care of it. And no, I didn't stew him. Although it did cross my mind...for a second. He must have told some friends though, because the following night, there was another attack. This time it was one of my beloved ducks. The ducks have never been one for sleeping indoors at night, so they were quite literally "sitting ducks". I do tend to view my ducks more as pets because they are so comical and social. I also love roasted duck, so this is a moral bridge I will have to cross at some point.
  Following all of the mayhem, I butchered the seven remaining hens. I won't go into harvesting details, you can read all about that on one of my previous posts. The last harvest I did was accompanied by several people, this one was me by my lonesome. I was actually pretty thankful for that, because it gave me a true opportunity to connect with where my food was really coming from. Killing an animal is never a fun task. I can't say that I ever enjoy that aspect, but I could never disrespect something I was going to eat by pretending their death didn't happen.
  After looking each one in the eye, thanking it, and talking calmly to it as it expired, I had several beers. Kind of a butchering day must to calm the nerves. After that, the fun did begin. Plucking a chicken has to be one of my favorite things to do. It was interesting to see how each different breed dressed out, and how lovely and yellow the fat was. I can tell you that I will be getting Wyandottes again in the future. After the cleaning was finished, I packed them in bags and labeled each one by breed. Then it will be time to compare each breeds' flavor, starting this Friday. ;)
  Several days later, five baby chicks arrived on the farm. Yay chick time! Having had an Easter egg assortment of chicken breeds last time, I opted for all Rhode Island Reds this time, and a much smaller flock. Rhode Island Reds are a classic heritage chicken. With beautiful mahogany red feathers, a constant supply of extra large brown eggs, and nice big carcasses, they should make a great addition. I will miss my blue, pink, and speckled eggs, but for now I just need consistency.
  Stay tuned for more fuzzy arrivals next week. Never a dull moment!




New Whiskey Chickens



A Day in the Life of: Whiskey Chickens

  

•    Breakfast: The most important meal of the day...

By your's truly

•    A morning bath...

With dust, please

  

•    A little singin'...

Mi Mi Mi La La La

  

•    A little dancin'...

-wattle wattle-

•    Always take time to strike a pose...

Striking a Pose

•    Followed by an evening stroll...

   = A perfect day: Completed.

Movers & Shakers

Chicken Butchering 2010



Chicken what?


  
   As I mentioned previously, the "farm" saw 15 new chicks last summer. Of those chicks, 6 turned out to be boys. Now, I have nothing against roosters. Turns out they are quite useful. Mine is a fine and handsome example of what a rooster should be. He spends all of his time protecting his ladies, breaking up squabbles, finding tasty treats to share with the harem, and (most importantly) being sweet to me. However, 6 roosters is 5 too many. Roosters don't like to share, especially when it comes to hens. And they also have a thing for crowing, a lot.
   So come September, it was time to figure out what to do with them. I knew I wanted to keep one in the hopes of hatching out more cute and fluffy chicks, so the most gentle of the lot was spared. There is no place for mean roosters in this hen house. Selling them was a waste of time, heck it's hard to even give roosters away. So, since I happen to be a huge fan of all roasted, fried, and barbecued chicken, a good old-fashioned chicken harvest was in order. I am a big believer in respecting the animals I consume, hence one of many reasons why I always seek out non-industrial humanely raised meat. And if I do not feel comfortable with the thought of killing the animal I wish to consume, I do not consume that animal.
   There are a million different ways to kill a chicken, so I won't go into great detail about it here, although I do suggest using a killing cone, which is a very easy and less stressful (for you and the bird) way to get the job done. What I want to give you here is an idea of how easy it is to process your own meat in your own backyard. I unfortunately do not have step-by-step photos to guide you through it, so instead go here for a fantastic tutorial by Herrick Kimball, which is what I used.

Step 1: Pluck the Chicken

   For this I used your standard turkey fryer. Fill it with water and heat until hot, but not boiling. Take the chicken by the feet (already dead please) and plunge it into the hot water. Swish it up and down for a few seconds to ensure all of the feathers are getting saturated, then take it back out of the water so it doesn't begin to cook. Do this a few more times, and then test readiness by pulling on one of the large wing or tail feathers. If it slides out easily, it's good to go. Now if you do all of the plucking by hand, it will take awhile, but it is very easy. I was amazed at how easily the feathers just slide right out. If they don't, you need to scald some more. You can also buy/make a plucker, but I recommend doing it by hand the first time for the experience. It took me roughly an hour and a half with the help of a friend to finish plucking 5 roosters.

Step 2: Remove the Feet and Head

   After you finish plucking, give the chicken a good rinse, and grab a sharp boning knife or kitchen shears (the shears were my best friend during all of this). For the feet, start the cut in between the joint right above where the yellow stops.
   For the head, slice directly under the head into the neck and through the esophagus and trachea. You can save both of these to make stock with, or as a weird treat for the dogs!

Step 3: Loosen the Crop

  The crop of a chicken is a little sac that holds all of the food the chicken has eaten before it is carried into the gullet to be ground up. Depending on when the chicken last ate, the crop will vary in size. To find it, loosen some of the skin around the neck and peel it down close to the breast. Get under the skin and feel for a small fleshy sac. It will be tight against the skin and the breast. Carefully peel it away from the skin, but you do not have to remove it, it will come out with the rest of the guts later. Yum!

Step 4: Remove the Neck

   Pull away the excess skin from the neck. Hold the neck firmly, and make several cuts into the very base of the neck. Slowly twist the neck until it pops off. See, I told you this would be easy.

Step 5: Remove the Oil Gland

   Flip the chicken over so it is resting on its' stomach. There is a little oil gland right on the top of its' tail. It is common to slice this off, as it supposedly taints the taste of the meat when cooking. To do this, start slicing right above the gland (it looks like a little lump on the tail) and slice under it. It is yellow in color, so if you see any yellow left, just keeping slicing until you remove it all.

Step 6: Open 'Er Up!

   Flip the chicken back over onto its' back. Make a very small slice right above the vent (er, where the bird takes care of "business"). Be careful not to cut too deep as not to puncture any organs and make a mess. Use your fingers to tear the hole open large enough to fit your hand inside.

Step 7: Remove the Viscera (Guts!)

   Woo! Here is the fun part! No really, it is! Take your hand and slowly plunge it into the hole you just made. Keep your hand high up against the breastbone. When you reach the top, lightly grasp all of the squishy goodness and sloooowly pull. Make sure to do it gingerly so you don't go breaking the gall bladder. Keep pulling until all of the junk is on the outside of the cavity, but still connected to the vent. Cut the skin around the vent to free everything from the bird. You will probably have to go back in and feel for the lungs, which are tight against the ribcage on either side of the backbone. Honestly, I was not sure if I had removed them or not.

   This is the only picture I have from the big day.

Guts are fun!

   From here you can pick through the pile of fun to save delicious treats such as the liver, kidneys, heart, and gizzard, which I did. You can compost what you don't use. Now you want to give the chicken a good hose down, and chill it as quickly as possible. Keep the chicken in the refrigerator for 3 days before cooking or freezing. You want to make sure the rigor mortis has subsided so you don't bite into shoe leather at dinner time.
And that is all there is to it....chicken butchering made easy!




Fresh from the smoker

 

An unceremonious start

Well, after months of contemplating blog post #1, today seems as good a day as any to finally just get down to it and write something. It's just after Christmas mayhem, I'm sitting on my sofa in sweats with a cold, and don't have a clue where to begin. What does liquor and poultry have to do with anything? Who knows...I enjoy them both and that's all that matters really.
Instead of rambling about who I am or what the point of all of this is (ask me again later), I think I will simply begin by listing some of the big changes and accomplishments that have been made here on the tiny farmette this year. Being that the New Year is less than a week away, it seems fitting.

1. In addition to two bumbling dogs and a not so farmish fish, we now have chickens! This spring (ok, it was more like summer) we added a flock of 15! It almost feels like a real homestead! Since I am incapable of making up my mind (restaurant menus are hell for me), I have a mix of quite a few different breeds, some of which I ordered from the awesome My Pet Chicken, while others I picked up locally. Breeds include: Buff Orpington, Easter Egger, Barnevelder, Wyandotte, Blue Copper Marans, Barred Rock, Salmon Faverolle, and Welsummer.

2. We killed roosters! Like I mentioned, I picked some chicks up locally and since it's very difficult to sex them that young, we had roosters. Lots of roosters. Six crowing in unison every morning was a bit much. So in September we "harvested" a few, or 5. The handsome cockerel pictured up top was the lucky one who was spared. Of course I have no pictures of the big day, I will work on this photo documenting thing. But I plan to blog all about it soon.

3. I brewed my first batch of cider! Hard pear cider to be exact. Actually Perry to be more exact. The backyard is home to 2 huge heirloom trees that grace the yard with truckloads of stinking rotting pears every year (yellow jackets love them). And even after all of the canning, and pickling, and the pear butter, and pies and tarts are made, it barely makes a dent. So this year I tried something new and brewed a slightly larger dent into cider. I will be posting more in depth about it after the new year, as that is when I will be having my first glass. Wish me luck!

4. A mini orchard was added. Even with the pear killing fields in the backyard, I still managed to plant 2 apple trees, 2 peach trees, and 2 fig trees. While I didn't get around to getting a decent garden in this year, I did get 7 lovely peaches from my tree. More to be added in Spring!

Georgia Belle Peaches

 5. Eggs! Finally! After what seemed like a small eternity, those chickens are finally paying rent laying! Even though they have started laying during winter, I have been getting on average about 4-5 eggs a day. Every day is Easter now, esp. when the eggs are stunning hues of brown, green, and pink!

Happy Easter! wait...

 6. I joined a local CSA. For those of you who are not familiar with a CSA (which stands for Community Supported Agriculture), it is a fantastic way to get fresh produce from a local farm every week while supporting that farm for the season in advance when farms really need it. You pay a share up front which helps the farm get off to a good start early in the growing season and also helps them plan how much they need to grow, and you get a weekly (or biweekly) box of farm fresh produce and get the chance to meet your farmers and see where your food comes from. Sounded like a cool concept to me, and it was. Some of the items I received I had never heard of using or had not used before, i.e.: onion flowers, sunchokes, perpetual spinach, and kohlrabi. My CSA was with Serenbe Farms, Paige and all of the interns were awesome!

7. Oh, and I started this thing after almost a full 12 months of procrastination!


Those are the major events of the year. Goals for the next? Add on to the orchard, plant/not kill a garden, add a beehive and rabbits, brew beer, make an aged cheese, and slaughter more chickens!

Happy New Year!