Shades of Green Farm

Processing on the Farm-- 3 hens and a duck

Last fall we incubated over 2 dozen duck eggs from our foursome of khakis and mongrels and another couple dozen from a friend who gave us khaki campbell eggs. We raised them in the brooder where they made an incredible mess and I concluded I'll never do that again... brood on pasture, if I do it at all. We ended up with over half of them being drakes (males) and given that the purpose was to increase duck egg production, we planned to eliminate all but 2 of the drakes.

When I told my foodie friend Sonya that we could cook a young drake when she came to visit, she was thrilled. She also said she'd like to "do the whole thing" and start with slaughter. So, when Martha the chef (a new friend met at a farmer rights conference) called about having a class on working with the whole chicken, I told her about our plan to process some drakes here on the farm. I said we could add a few of our older hens to the day's work so that she and I could figure out how to set up the day for folks attending. And given that neither of us had ever slaughtered or eviserated poultry, it seemed like a really good idea for her to join us. Finally, Rachel (another foodie friend who has cooked with Sonya before) was happy to be invited to join the crew, work with us, and make Sonya's traditional roasted duck recipe that evening.

Sonya and I spent Friday scrounging around and we put together a fine slaughter station using an old feed and water sled for pastured broilers, an etched glass shower door panel whose swan image inserted a bit of grandeur to the set up (thanks to Rachel for her bulk trash pickings),  a couple 'found' traffic cones and a brand new fillet knife that was sharp sharp. This and the propane burner and pot (thanks to John) and several buckets to hold feathers and clean up water, and we were ready. We also searched out and organized several helpful YouTube videos on every step of processing, eliminating the gross and unhelpful clips which were sadly abundant and frequently upsetting. We also caught up 4 drakes and 4 hens and put them in a pasture pen nearby with water but no feed... however, there was a fair amount of grass in the pen, which later showed up in the crops of the hens.

Saturday morning Rachel and Martha arrived and we toured them through our set-up, then watched the videos carefully, hoping to gain the readiness to kill along with the skills to do it right. We were ready to start... as ready as we could be given our various natures and lack of experience. Rachel had done this once before, but chopped the head off instead of bleeding out... and a couple of decades had gone by since. She killed the first bird, a hen that hadn't been laying for awhile and didn't seem to be feeling very well ever since her last molt. I brought her over from the holding pen (as I did in each case) and put her in the cone. Rachel's hand was sure and swift and that hen bled out just fine. Our propane powered scalding pot was ready to go, the dipping arrangement worked well after a couple alterations, the plucking not too hard. The eviseration was a whole other thing, with us not knowing exactly what we were looking for, the scooping out process not at all the single movement described in the videos, and all of us concerned about the gall bladder (which by the way, we never nicked or broke this day). We were eventually done and that hen was put in ice water to cool and I went off for the next hen.

Our plan was to each of us do each task, taking turns. I confess I did not kill, although I got pretty comfortable eviserating, feeling for the innards and finding them... never in one scoop however. We all watched as life ebbed from the 3 hens and the 1 drake we processed that day. Sue joined in periodically when she wasn't doing chores or errands, took a few pictures, and was witness to life passing.We learned a lot, shared laughter and a solemn respect for life and the gift of meat given. That evening we enjoyed a scrumptious meal featuring Tuscan baked duck.

I came away knowing that I could kill and that I needed to work with someone who really knew how to make the kill smoothly, and teach me the movement. I learned the set-up and the respectful gratitude has always been there... I just need to learn how to kill... and I will.

Left to right: Martha, Sonja, Rachel and jules... and the killing and eviseration table.

Farming in the Freeze

 

Well, well, the second hard freeze lasting more than a day, and this one following the last by only a week. Ch Ch Ch Changes... to be sure.

For our farming, persistent freezing temps mean breaking the surface of frozen water troughs several times a day (with the large cattle trough building up ice over an inch thick). In one day, the small poultry troughs were frozen solid, at which point we switched to rubber pans we can crack the 'cube' out of them each day to fill again... and again. It means carrying water in buckets to water troughs several times a day. It means adding extra hay and tarps to keep chickens in pastures warm enough and for one flock, it's looking like some of them are catching a cold, so that means adding garlic-infusion and vitamin E to their drinking water and kelp meal to their feed. It means we collect eggs 3 times a day and any eggs found in the nests cold in the morning are not sold but cracked and checked before use... and most are indeed frozen.

It also means having one source of unfrozen water for all of our needs... and oh boy-howdy, are we grateful that line hasn't broken or frozen solid! To keep the one pipe that remains open unfrozen, we have to run the faucet constantly, at more than a drip... but at least we now have a well that provides good water, which is another source of gratitude in our lives.

And so it goes. Put all your warm layers on, go out and work, come in, take off most layers and get warm inside and out. Go out.... yep, farming.

:-)

Our Friend Jeff Visits

After four years, we finally got Jeff to come down from St. Louis and spend a couple days. This oh-so-city person turned to me after we finished feeding hens and collecting eggs and said "OK, I get it. It's not how I would live but I can see why you would. It's lovely." Only Jeff would describe an experience that included chicken poop and dust masks as 'lovely'. We love him for that and his helpful suggestions around the house.

Here we are, ready to head off to do chores on a blustery but warm winter day.

And here we are showing off our loot of eggs, some very fresh from under a hen still in the nest. Jeff really loved the softness and murmers of hens letting him gently lift out the eggs the had under them. It was a very sweet experience for me as well!

Global warming vs. climate change-- our big freeze

Ah, to those who say we can't be having global warming because it's so darn cold I say extreme weather conditions reflect the changing climate caused by the warming... and the proof is in the weather. We're in our third day of freezing temps, which is not what is 'supposed' to happen here in central Texas. Freeze at night, sure... then thaw by late morning. Not constant freezing temps for days on end!

Check out the photo album for pictures of the farm in snow!