Saturday, November 22, 2008

Giving Thanks Early

Today was the day that we processed the 50 meat birds that we bought 10 weeks ago. If you go to Stephanie's blog you can see how fast and big they grow in those 10 weeks. It was a lot of work to get through all 50 birds but with the four of us working hard we got it done. However, it only got into the high 40's today with mostly cloudy skies - it was cold! I never thought that I would actually look forward to putting my freezing cold hands into a dead but warm chicken. My hands are finally warming up and feeling back to normal. I'm sure Steph will post something about today too so be sure to visit her blog also.

One last shot before we begin and a thank you to the chickens for becoming our future meals.

To deal with all of the "fun" stuff going on we tend to make a lot of jokes, wise cracks, etc. In this case John wanted me to make sure that I photographed his "thin side." You got it John, now get back to work!

Joel spent more time at the butchering table this time around and he got pretty darn good at it.

A friend of ours stopped by to watch. I think it was out of curiosity at first but we finally got her to try her hand at butchering one.
See that little bit of sunshine on them? It didn't last long.

Another couple, who had raised two turkeys named Bonnie and Clyde (because Bonnie and Clyde die in the end) stopped by and they too were given a quick lesson in butchering. They used their new found skills to process their turkeys. In this picture, Bonnie had just come out of the plucker.

7 comments:

Janet said...

This is really educational!! I'm going to share this with the girls, so that they KNOW where their food comes from! It sure doesnt look that cold, looking at the guys...or were they just trying to be "cool"??? How cold is it there? We are at 12 degrees right now! ; (

Anonymous said...

Hey Tiffany, ask your Mother-in-law about her days of the chicken business !! Bruce & Blaine helped, well at least they were there for comedy relief.!! They were our neighors then.

Suz... said...

I just think this is so cool...I laughed at the part about putting your cold hands in the warm chicken. I get that, though...when you are in pain you'll do whatever it takes! That was a quick 10 weeks!

Elite Stitches said...

You guys must have been working from sun-up to sun-down to process all 50 birds in one day...that's a lot of work! And in the cold, too! (Maybe an extra incentive to finish quickly??) Good job!

Johnson Family said...

Hey Janet, I have some different and more graphic pictures if you really want to show the girls where their food comes from. =) Or check out this blog,http://www.butcherachicken.blogspot.com/, I studied this blog until I couldn't see straight before we did our first batch of chickens. The guys are always trying to be "cool" it was in the high 40's yesterday, down to the mid-high 30's at night. It was cold, you don't move much standing at the butchering table plus you are constantly rinsing in fresh cold water and then putting them into ice water. We'll do it earlier in the year next time.

Oh yes, Grandma Ricki has told me a little bit about days in the chicken business. Someone who can totally appreciate what we did yesterday.

I laughed too when I realized that I was getting antsy for the next bird for just that reason!

Johnson Family said...

It actually took us a little over 5 hours to do the birds and that wasn't busting right through them. We chatted a bit, took a break here and there, trained a few people. I bet if we would have really focused and didn't get side tracked at all we could have done it in about 4 hours.

Janet said...

OK THANKS A LOT YOU GUYS!!!
NOW I KEEP THINKING ABOUT "CHICKEN MITTENS"!!!! JUST GREAT!!

ok Ricki, how 'bout whipping us all up a pair! This could be a new item for your blog... ; )

GROSS!!! oh HA...NO PUN INTENDED!