Now comes my tale of how the story went. Took two days recouperating from it, smiling. Kidding.
Ya, so some time ago, I mentioned to Uno, when Farmchiq and her and I were having breakfast at the Howard Johnson Inn, our favourite breaky haunt, something. I was telling my friends that there is a time coming in my life that I would love to learn how to process my own chickens. I knew that I had two cockerels that were going to require death soon. Neither were appropriate by any means to be in a breeding pool, a couple of pretty bad faults, and that brings the hammer down. So....lil’ ol’ Uno told me that something was going to happen in the next while. A friend of theirs up on the mountain where they live was raising some meat birds, and the requirement to have them processed in the near distance future was coming about. Uno’s Husband had offered (or did she offer him, not sure) to teach that fellow how to process his birds, from the start to the finish. She asked if I might want to get in on the action too, and learn. Well, ya, rock my socks!! Perfect opportunity to learn a new skill – and I believe this is a very important skill. Who knows, if that day ever came and we were so hungry, with no food for ourselves, that I could go and take a chicken and make that a dinner for our table. Yes. I felt a need to learn how to take care of my own, should that arise. I have no clue why I think that I could perform this kind of thing now, only knows, a year ago even, I could not ever even begin to think that I could. So yes. I’m in. Let me know when the event is occurring.
She did. She let me know that Sunday last, was the day for learning a new skill. That morning I packed up the two boys and off and up the mountain we went. To the friend’s home, where he was raising the meaties. Way up the mountain, bush, open bush though and a very beautiful place. When I asked Uno for the directions to get to the home (which was just a bit beyond her home, up the mountain, did you get, this is up a mountain, smiling), one thing that struck me kind of funny and made me laugh was....”when you get to the place that had the home builder’s sign, looking for crying children, weeping woman and her Husband passed out in the snow”. What the heck? How do you look for something like that, particularly her Husband passed out in the snow. This was a joke. As I have heard that one time when Uno was performing crop surgery on one of her birds, poor Hubby fainted. Yep, grown men do faint. I know mine does when he has blood taken for tests, yep, he faints. So I had visions of seeing all kinds of kids all over the snowy place, lots of women weeping and poor Husband fallen over in the snow. Now I know that she was just kidding, as this is Uno-style, just like Gangnem style, this is Uno style. So I got a kick out of how she said I would find the place. I found it, but did not find any of the three things that she said I might.
What an interesting event. To say the least, and it was enjoyable. Can you picture that? Enjoyable, well it was. I was with good people and we all had an agenda on that well below zero, snowy day. A common goal and we were going to accomplish. I was only going to accomplish part of the goal, as I was only interested in having my own two birds worked on, I had no intention of helping to take care of the other fellow’s birds.
Oh boy, I think this post is going to be longer than I had thought it would be, but that’s OK, let the fingers fly...
So yep, get there and there was nice parking. I could see way off yonder three people, way over there, near a very nice building. The building looked like a kid’s playhouse, but I knew it wasn’t cause I could see other buildings that looked like kids’ playhouses, well I think there was a couple anyways. I presumed this was where the process was going to take place. I could see stuff going on, not sure what, but human activity. I was greeted by hellos and waves as I neared. Birds in tow, in the pet carrier.
Wow. Now I really mean wow when I say this. Someone had worked very, very, very hard to have an area set up perfectly, all ready for an event. I suspect that Uno had a huge hand in this and I was beyond impressed.
Let me describe what I saw. I saw a tree with a metal cone attached to it and below that was a small log. I think that the log was there to break the splash of dripping blood, so it did not splatter everywhere. We know that this cone was for the beheading.
As I looked below the tarp covered area, I saw two propane tanks, one was hooked up to an enormous cauldron, filled with hot water. That water was pretty hot, I could see that. To the left of the water pot was a table, at the back of the area was another table. Right up against the playhouse (well, I guess actually chicken house) was another table with an oblong metal, think it was porcelain or enamel, probably enamel, pan, quite deep and quite long, to the right of that was a very large, looked like a half barrel, full of ice cold water. Did I mention that all this water, other than the hot water was ice cold? Yes, right from the hose, very, very cold.
Things were near ready. There were some very sharp knives on the eviscerating table, some nice pieces of white plastic stuff too, so that the birds did not sit on wood to be worked on. Did I mention that this set up was so perfectly set up, and looked so clean, that I felt very good. Oh yes. There was a garbage can with a black bag in it. That was for the unwanted parts, like feet and guts.
The process began very shortly after I got there. The first bird, taken care of, taken to the hot water, dipped by holding onto the feet, and squished around for maybe 30 seconds, I would say not much longer. The test to see if the feathers were warmed enough to take off were by taking some wing feathers and pulling, the feathers came out easily. I watched the plucking of the bird. It was amazing to me how easily the feathers came off and I would way that it was about a two to three minute job to remove all feathers. That bird was dipped into an ice cold bucket of water and then taken to the eviscerating table. This demonstrator (remember this is Uno’s Husband) was wonderful. He took his time and showed and told why certain things were done in a certain order. It looked so easy, smiling. Didn’t have the guts to get my hands in the gut of the bird, but I watched. I watched four birds, that was, including two of my own and I did not watch any more. It was interesting to watch. I did not find much of an odour and it was not revolting, by any stretch of the imagination, as I thought it might be. The birds looked to me like they were clean as a whistle and as nice as any store bought bird. Well, that was the meat birds, they were huge, I would say roaster size, and round and plump, and well, boy oh boy, that was some nice birds. Now my two fellows, looked kind of dumb beside those massive fleshed bodies. But that is OK, one was immature, one was mature, but just did not have a nice carcass. I was still pleased and thought of the food these two boys would provide to us. Next, those eviscerated birds were placed into the deep pan that Uno had her hands in. Oh that poor girl. She had the worst part I think, cause her hands were immersed in freezing cold water, as she cleaned and cleaned and pulled out any little feathers (which were few actually, the hot water had done such a good job) and any blood and mess on the birds. Her did an incredibly picky job and the birds were well cleaned up. Then they were put into an ice cold half barrel of water to sit and cool. I can’t imagine how cold her hands must have been seriously. Yes, heard that she put her hands into warm chicken body cavities to warm up. Don’t blame her, her hands were almost blue from being so cold, that bothered me.
I was so impressed with the method that was used, so impressed with how things were set up in a perfect order for working from one part of the job to the next and the cleanliness. Seriously....very impressed.
What impressed me most was that these two souls that went out of their way, even long after I had left, to help out people. Not only me, but that fellow that only had himself to do the job, as his Wife had the two little ones and she needed to be looking after the children.
Gone the extra mile? Yes. I am so grateful to know people such as this and them to be a part of my life. People that honestly, expected nothing in return for something they have done. Just wanted to help some other people. And this they did. I learned some very important stuff that day. As did the young fellow that learned that day how to take care of his own birds. Now he knows. Now I know. And I know that I am ever grateful for the two people that took a day that was their time off, Husband has weekends off from his job, but took one day to do this kind of work, and it was work. Uno’s Husband had even opted to not go out sledding on the mountain with his buddies, as he had committed to something such as this. To be that teacher, that person who has helped another on their way to self-sustainability. Hats off to both these wonderful souls, and we all know what Lady Karma is all about....those good things return, one day, in one form or another. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.
Ya, so some time ago, I mentioned to Uno, when Farmchiq and her and I were having breakfast at the Howard Johnson Inn, our favourite breaky haunt, something. I was telling my friends that there is a time coming in my life that I would love to learn how to process my own chickens. I knew that I had two cockerels that were going to require death soon. Neither were appropriate by any means to be in a breeding pool, a couple of pretty bad faults, and that brings the hammer down. So....lil’ ol’ Uno told me that something was going to happen in the next while. A friend of theirs up on the mountain where they live was raising some meat birds, and the requirement to have them processed in the near distance future was coming about. Uno’s Husband had offered (or did she offer him, not sure) to teach that fellow how to process his birds, from the start to the finish. She asked if I might want to get in on the action too, and learn. Well, ya, rock my socks!! Perfect opportunity to learn a new skill – and I believe this is a very important skill. Who knows, if that day ever came and we were so hungry, with no food for ourselves, that I could go and take a chicken and make that a dinner for our table. Yes. I felt a need to learn how to take care of my own, should that arise. I have no clue why I think that I could perform this kind of thing now, only knows, a year ago even, I could not ever even begin to think that I could. So yes. I’m in. Let me know when the event is occurring.
She did. She let me know that Sunday last, was the day for learning a new skill. That morning I packed up the two boys and off and up the mountain we went. To the friend’s home, where he was raising the meaties. Way up the mountain, bush, open bush though and a very beautiful place. When I asked Uno for the directions to get to the home (which was just a bit beyond her home, up the mountain, did you get, this is up a mountain, smiling), one thing that struck me kind of funny and made me laugh was....”when you get to the place that had the home builder’s sign, looking for crying children, weeping woman and her Husband passed out in the snow”. What the heck? How do you look for something like that, particularly her Husband passed out in the snow. This was a joke. As I have heard that one time when Uno was performing crop surgery on one of her birds, poor Hubby fainted. Yep, grown men do faint. I know mine does when he has blood taken for tests, yep, he faints. So I had visions of seeing all kinds of kids all over the snowy place, lots of women weeping and poor Husband fallen over in the snow. Now I know that she was just kidding, as this is Uno-style, just like Gangnem style, this is Uno style. So I got a kick out of how she said I would find the place. I found it, but did not find any of the three things that she said I might.
What an interesting event. To say the least, and it was enjoyable. Can you picture that? Enjoyable, well it was. I was with good people and we all had an agenda on that well below zero, snowy day. A common goal and we were going to accomplish. I was only going to accomplish part of the goal, as I was only interested in having my own two birds worked on, I had no intention of helping to take care of the other fellow’s birds.
Oh boy, I think this post is going to be longer than I had thought it would be, but that’s OK, let the fingers fly...
So yep, get there and there was nice parking. I could see way off yonder three people, way over there, near a very nice building. The building looked like a kid’s playhouse, but I knew it wasn’t cause I could see other buildings that looked like kids’ playhouses, well I think there was a couple anyways. I presumed this was where the process was going to take place. I could see stuff going on, not sure what, but human activity. I was greeted by hellos and waves as I neared. Birds in tow, in the pet carrier.
Wow. Now I really mean wow when I say this. Someone had worked very, very, very hard to have an area set up perfectly, all ready for an event. I suspect that Uno had a huge hand in this and I was beyond impressed.
Let me describe what I saw. I saw a tree with a metal cone attached to it and below that was a small log. I think that the log was there to break the splash of dripping blood, so it did not splatter everywhere. We know that this cone was for the beheading.
As I looked below the tarp covered area, I saw two propane tanks, one was hooked up to an enormous cauldron, filled with hot water. That water was pretty hot, I could see that. To the left of the water pot was a table, at the back of the area was another table. Right up against the playhouse (well, I guess actually chicken house) was another table with an oblong metal, think it was porcelain or enamel, probably enamel, pan, quite deep and quite long, to the right of that was a very large, looked like a half barrel, full of ice cold water. Did I mention that all this water, other than the hot water was ice cold? Yes, right from the hose, very, very cold.
Things were near ready. There were some very sharp knives on the eviscerating table, some nice pieces of white plastic stuff too, so that the birds did not sit on wood to be worked on. Did I mention that this set up was so perfectly set up, and looked so clean, that I felt very good. Oh yes. There was a garbage can with a black bag in it. That was for the unwanted parts, like feet and guts.
The process began very shortly after I got there. The first bird, taken care of, taken to the hot water, dipped by holding onto the feet, and squished around for maybe 30 seconds, I would say not much longer. The test to see if the feathers were warmed enough to take off were by taking some wing feathers and pulling, the feathers came out easily. I watched the plucking of the bird. It was amazing to me how easily the feathers came off and I would way that it was about a two to three minute job to remove all feathers. That bird was dipped into an ice cold bucket of water and then taken to the eviscerating table. This demonstrator (remember this is Uno’s Husband) was wonderful. He took his time and showed and told why certain things were done in a certain order. It looked so easy, smiling. Didn’t have the guts to get my hands in the gut of the bird, but I watched. I watched four birds, that was, including two of my own and I did not watch any more. It was interesting to watch. I did not find much of an odour and it was not revolting, by any stretch of the imagination, as I thought it might be. The birds looked to me like they were clean as a whistle and as nice as any store bought bird. Well, that was the meat birds, they were huge, I would say roaster size, and round and plump, and well, boy oh boy, that was some nice birds. Now my two fellows, looked kind of dumb beside those massive fleshed bodies. But that is OK, one was immature, one was mature, but just did not have a nice carcass. I was still pleased and thought of the food these two boys would provide to us. Next, those eviscerated birds were placed into the deep pan that Uno had her hands in. Oh that poor girl. She had the worst part I think, cause her hands were immersed in freezing cold water, as she cleaned and cleaned and pulled out any little feathers (which were few actually, the hot water had done such a good job) and any blood and mess on the birds. Her did an incredibly picky job and the birds were well cleaned up. Then they were put into an ice cold half barrel of water to sit and cool. I can’t imagine how cold her hands must have been seriously. Yes, heard that she put her hands into warm chicken body cavities to warm up. Don’t blame her, her hands were almost blue from being so cold, that bothered me.
I was so impressed with the method that was used, so impressed with how things were set up in a perfect order for working from one part of the job to the next and the cleanliness. Seriously....very impressed.
What impressed me most was that these two souls that went out of their way, even long after I had left, to help out people. Not only me, but that fellow that only had himself to do the job, as his Wife had the two little ones and she needed to be looking after the children.
Gone the extra mile? Yes. I am so grateful to know people such as this and them to be a part of my life. People that honestly, expected nothing in return for something they have done. Just wanted to help some other people. And this they did. I learned some very important stuff that day. As did the young fellow that learned that day how to take care of his own birds. Now he knows. Now I know. And I know that I am ever grateful for the two people that took a day that was their time off, Husband has weekends off from his job, but took one day to do this kind of work, and it was work. Uno’s Husband had even opted to not go out sledding on the mountain with his buddies, as he had committed to something such as this. To be that teacher, that person who has helped another on their way to self-sustainability. Hats off to both these wonderful souls, and we all know what Lady Karma is all about....those good things return, one day, in one form or another. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.
