In the Freezer

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Hubby and I with the help of our youngest daughter, spent Saturday morning butchering meat birds.  Scott and a buddy a work designed and made a chicken plucker and we have been anxious to try it out.  It took the three of us (Bek's broken hand and all) about three hours to completely butcher 23 birds.  Hubby has a little tweaking to do on the plucker, but it worked amazingly well!  Our freezer is full of meat that has been free-ranged and well cared for.  We are tempted to do another batch before summer is through.

My grandparents raised chickens for butchering, for many years.  I have many childhood memories of butchering chickens at their farm.  My grandma and Mom often talked about how every Sunday was chicken dinner because they always had it in the freezer.  It is so neat to learn these "lost skills" and continue them with our own children (ok, only one, but she loves it!)  I was teasing Bek that she had better find a "farm boy" to marry, cuz a city boy won't put up with this kind of stuff!

I am amazed at how many people are grossed out when we tell them we butchered chickens that we fed, free ranged, and took care of, but they think nothing of getting chicken nuggets at the local fast food restaurant or in a box on a grocery shelf and not blink an eye.  I am thinking about getting copies of the movie "Food Inc." and passing it around to those people who question us and see which they would rather eat:))