K is for Keeping the Farm

We are back for another week of Blogging Through the Alphabet with my friend, Marcy at Ben and Me!  If you have not popped over to check out the others who are on this journey with us, I would love to encourage you to do so.  There you will find word studies, favorite books, women of the Bible, animals and more.  Each week, I love reading what others have picked for their letter topic!

This week is K and was a no brainer for me!

Yep, we got to "keep" the farm for our friends while they went on a mini vacation.  You may have read about said friends in our butchering the cow post or the butchering chickens post.  Can you believe that in a few months we will even get to share with you about butchering a pig?  But even more than that- can you even believe that they trusted us enough to leave the farm in our care for a few days?

It was so fun.  It was actually the most relaxing thing I have done all summer.  Seriously.

Now, let it be said, I know it is not always fun for them.  Or any farmer.  When it is your land, your garden, and your animals, it can be a lot more stress and most certainly a lot more responsibility.

But when you are just keeping the farm, pretending it is yours for a few days, well, it is kind of like watching Little House on the Prairie.  You can hum the tune and pretend.  Not that I did that or anything ;)

First, the chickens.  A few in this batch are destined to become dinner for someone, but most are their layers.  Yep, fresh eggs.  How cool is that?  Of course, someone needs to tell those chickens it is time to get laying.  Just saying.

Because Farmer Dan built those spoiled chickens a really cool coop, there was not much for us to do.  They can go out and roam the farm all day and get safely shut inside at night due a motorized, automatic door, so they are not going to go hungry when the family  is away  We just made sure their water was full and clean and fed the smaller chicks that have not earned the privilege of being outside yet.  Don't know if you can really tell from the pictures (those things will not stand still and pose!) but the newest set of chicks are fancy dancy.  A few have cute tufts of hair on their heads and make me want to just name them all and snuggle with them.

Next the cows.  Have I mentioned before that these cows are not just your ordinary cows?  They look like big 'ole teddy bears.  I am pretty sure they would not want you to cuddle with them, but I sure would like to try!

 Again, they are in the pasture and do not need babysitting, but we needed to keep an eye on them anyway.  One, they have been know to let themselves out of their own field and wander.  Of course, not sure what I was going to do if that had happened on my watch!  While they may know Farmer Dan and follow him around, I am pretty sure they not only do not know me, but could care less about following me around.  My youngest, well, that may have been the ticket.  He fed them and they were his new best friends.  It was actually comical.  The second time we went, they about fell over each other to get back to the barn where he was.  His comment- "they like me best, Mom!"  Yes, yes, they do.

And the second reason for watching them-  three of the cows were pregnant and due to give birth at anytime.  We were assured that they would give birth at night without any need of us (good thing) but we should keep our eyes out  "just in case".  hmmmmmm, let's just say I may have prayed for NO "just in cases"  My only consolation prize  would be we could name a baby if it was born on our watch.  And guess what...those darn cows waited until the night our friends came home to give birth.  I kid you not.  They are not my favorites anymore.  The cows, not our friends!  For the record, the baby was born on the 4th so his name would have been Patriot, or Cuatro or Independence, or something really cool.  Now, he can be Dinner for all I care. ;)

See him? Not, even one day old!

And then there was the garden.  My dream garden.  I could just go stand right in the middle of it and sing a song.  Of course, I have not planted, weeded and watered it, nor sweated it out every time there was bad weather.

Again, the "keeping the farm" is a much easier job than owning the farm.  Instead, I got to harvest a few extras that would not make it long enough to keep them for their owners.

Like cabbage,

 And broccoli,

Some spinach,

and the most beautiful purple cauliflower I have ever seen.  Did you even know it came in that color?  For the record (so you will not be disappointed) it still tastes exactly the same.  Some nameless folks in my family were hoping the pretty purple had changed the original taste.  Nope!

Once cooked it turns deep purple!

Oh, and there is a pool to swim in, which we did not.  Either the wind was blowing hard enough to carry off little people or the temps were too cool, but I did learn how to test the PH and chlorine levels.  Let's just say I am not very good at it and it just may have made me reconsider the pool option at our next location.  If there was ever a pool option ;)

So pool, maybe not, but farm- YES, I still want one.  Even if I have to do more than babysit it!

Thank you to Farmer Dan and his beautiful family for entrusting us with your place and giving us the opportunity to live our dream for a few days.  It was a joy!

Blessings,

 

Also linking up with Jenna at Called Home!

G is for Good Eats!

Yep, there is nothing like a fresh chicken that says GOOD EATS!

You knew this post was coming right?

Yes, we helped butcher 40 chickens.  Yes, it was hard work.  Yes, it was our first time.  And yes, we will do it again in the fall hopefully.

And yes, I am going to show a few pictures for those that want to see them.  I will try hard not to offend so if  it will make you not like me anymore, feel free to go back and reread F is for Friends or wait for next week's letter H!  (which for the record, has no topic yet.  Waiting for the inspiration to hit me, but open to ideas!  Seriously!)

So Farmer Dan's lovely wife, who happens to be my buddy and resident homesteader expert, actually named this post.  The kids wanted to call it G-O-N-E, Gone!  but the farmer's wife said Good Eats was nicer.  And sounded more appetizing.  She won out!  I am a good friend like that! ;)

Let's start with a picture of our Good Eats, just in hopes of winning you over!

 And now the process-

Two kiddos in the group were the chicken wranglers.  Their jobs: catch a victim, I mean chicken, and bring it to the block.

Yep, just a block of wood.  There it was my hubby's turn to kill it.  I won't go into details, as everyone does it differently and honestly this was the part I stayed the furthest from, but let's just say he got pretty efficient with it by chicken number 40.

Notice Farmer Dan is in these pictures...he led us through each step before turning us loose!

At that point I took it to the boiling water to loosen the feathers (or partially cook it unintentionally.  Gotta watch that temperature! oops!)

Notice two of my kids standing in the FAR distance!

 And then on to this contraption that Farmer Dan built.  Think washing machine/dryer to defeatherer.  They say it saves a ton of time.  I believe them!  It also takes some practice as too much time in there can beat the chicken up pretty well.  (oops, again!)

I then took the chickens to Farmer Dan where he gutted them (the real word- eviscerate). Learn something new everyday don't ya!  Actually he and his lovely daughter did that together.  She is my new hero and such a good sport.  You should see that kid with a knife!

The next stop was the farmer's wife who did a lot of extra cleaning them up so they were pretty.  She had some help from our oldest as well.  Seems both are into the small details.  To include getting rid of the extra feathers I missed in the washer/dryer contraption.   (oops, again!)

Then the chickens went into ice water until all were done.

At that point we bagged whole chickens to freeze and Farmer Dan cut up some into parts.  Have I mentioned he is also a chef and is good at those things?  Kind of handy to have around, don't ya think?

Here is a quick video! It isn't too graphic and if you have been fine with this post you will probably be alright with it, but if this post has been too much, definitely don't watch it! The password is the word "chicken"

Took until late afternoon.  We may or may not have gone home exhausted.  And we may or may not have ordered pizza for dinner.  But, I hear we weren't the only ones! ;)

Our thoughts?
I am proud of my family.  Seriously sounds lame but I am not going to delete it.  Going into these things with lots of book knowledge (OK, not lots, but some) and youtube videos does not prepare you for what it really FEELS like.  Just like when we butchered the cow, we just weren't sure how we would feel and if we could stomach the whole thing.  But we survived.  And far better than we thought.

Were we much help?  I hope so.  We did ask a lot of questions but tried to be helpful at the same time.   Our sweet friends are gracious enough to say we saved them a lot of time.  I  think we just entertained them a lot with our cluelessness.  (Is that even a word?)

Anyway, it was a fun learning experience and worth every minute.

Eating chicken that you know where it was raised, how it was raised, and what it has consumed is a novel idea, but one we love!  And could get used to!

Do you have a chicken story to share?  We would love to hear from you!

Blessings,

This post is part of a weekly linky with my friend, Marcy, from Ben and Me!  Pop over to meet others joining in on the fun!

C is for Chicks and Coops

Remember the chicks?  They were so cute and cuddly at first.

But now they getting bigger and luckily for me, the broilers, you know the ones that we will eat, are getting uglier, as promised.  They also have out grown out that little box, so our farming friend built a coop for them all.

Yes, I know, that is an apartment!  His idea of coop and mine are two very different things.  I was thinking that little thing you buy at Lowes and wheel around for fun.  I could move into this coop!  It is huge!  Which is why he has a farm and I do not.  Yet.  It is cool let me tell you. Complete with roosting boxes, an automatic door on a timer to open and shut morning and night, and a tunnel that leads to a open field for foraging.  Told you it was cool!  So is farmer Dan!  He has to be- he puts up with not only our crazy family, but my insistence to blog about our HIS, adventures!  He and his wonderful wife even let us pretend to be a part of things.  I am sure they laugh a lot when we are not around.  Or roll their eyes.  hmmm, let's just hope they laugh!

So for your viewing pleasure, the below pictures are of the coop. That's Farmer Dan in the brown with my boys, the homemade door opener on a timer with bricks and bicycle wheel parts (genius, I tell you!) a beautiful brown hen that will be one of their layers, and then the UGLY white chickens (stick with me, it makes me feel better to call them that) that will be dinner in a few weeks.

A few weeks!  Maybe C should be for countdown!  Shhhhh- don't tell the chickens.  Friday is coming quick!

Blessings,

First the cow, now the chicken...

Buds on the trees.  Flowers poking their shoots though the snow.  Green grass and birds.  All beautiful signs of spring.  Not that we've seen many of those here in South Dakota as of yet.

As a matter of fact, just this morning it snowed.  So, ummm, I KNOW spring is coming -sometime- but I'm just not seeing it so far.

Just one more reason to be fascinated with chicks.  Chicken chicks that is.

Soft and sweet and cuddly.

And dinner.

Sorry, but that is the reality of a farm.

Not to worry, our friends tell us the cute ones will stay cute and will be their laying hens.  Those we can fawn over.  The ones we are going to process (that's farm talk for kill) are supposed to get ugly so we will not feel bad.  I sure hope so, because the last time I saw them I just wanted to kiss them.  Pretty sure one of my sons did!

But in just a few shorts weeks, those chickens will be ugly (I am counting on that friends!) and ready to process.  And yes, we are going to be a part of that processing...process.

Remember - we have friends that actually KNOW something about farm life and have decided to let us be a part of their journey - like when we butchered the cow.  Quite frankly, they may either be crazy or just entertained by us city folks.  Either way, they are teaching us how to process chickens. And I cannot wait.  I think.

You see, in my head it is amazing.  You know, back to basics, fresh organic meat on the table for my family, no pesticides, I know where it came from, pipe in the Little House on the Prairie music, and on and on.

But of course, to get to that point is hard work.  Almost all of which we are not involved in because we do not live on a farm and so far our friends have not invited us to live with them.  They are not THAT crazy.

But for a few hours we will join them for the hard work.  And hopefully not make it harder.

Stay tuned!

Blessings,