Last week, I boiled one of the chickens from the second butchering at the farm. The chickens were tough and not really good for anything but canning and soup. After a few hours in the pot, I ladled a few gallons of stock into mason jars and picked the meat off of the bones.
The stock will go into the freezer. Aaron and I will use the meat in sweet and sour chicken and BBQ dishes. The bones I gave to my cat…and whatever she didn’t eat off of went into the chicken pen at the farm. That’s a lot of bones for one cat and Alley has a habit of disappointing me when I give her something I think she will really like.
Aaron and I had a good Valentine’s Day. I woke up at around 9:30 due to the fact that Aaron put a Styrofoam board under our memory foam mattress, needless to say I slept quite well. We watched Mutiny On The Bounty. I walked on the tread mill, while he worked on trim. Then went out to eat at Ponderosa.
After that we drove around the countryside, through Oil City and back up M 20. We went nice and slow. I like it when Aaron takes me for rides. He checks out what the farmers are doing and I comment on the houses and people’s gardens. We went by a place that had work horses and I exclaimed “Oh!” when I saw a few geese nibbling at the ground, at the edge of a fence.
Lately, I have been reading up on different livestock. Ducks, Geese, Chickens, Pigs , Goats and Cows. I have read a little bit on sheep but I don’t think I will really get into sheep. They are pretty, but I read and heard about how they can get sick very easily and that they are so batty that they could die of a heart attack from just hearing thunder. Plus, Aaron hates sheep.
If it were up to me, I would probably get some type of fowl and maybe a pig or cow, if I thought I were able to handle raising something for slaughter. Aaron has been kicking around the idea of getting a few steers to raise for meat. Whenever I find myself thinking that I might not be able to handle it, I try to think about Genesis and how man is supposed to rule over and care for the beasts.
When Tuxedo died I was heart-broken for a few reasons, one was because he was my pet. But livestock are different, you make a living by them, one way or another. I was reminded of that when I was watching Sarah, Plain and Tall on DVD and Sarah was upset because a coyote killed a lamb, and after a bad storm Jacob said that they might have to sell the sheep.
A few weeks ago , Mom Cook asked me what color calf I would like. I didn’t think it would be wise to choose a color I liked if it was going to get slaughtered anyway, but if I were to pick one for milking I probably would pick a Jersey because of their big eyes or one with a unique coloring and I would probably give it some stylish old lady name. I would ask Betsy about stylish old lady names because she works at a local nursing home.
That seems to be the habit with me, whenever I think of getting animals someday it goes like this…
What are they going to be used for? If for slaughter, then I would get a breed suited for that, give them no names, etc. Like, if I were to get chickens- If I wanted eggs I would get the black and white barred kind because they are so pretty, but if I wanted meat I would probably get the white ones like what Libby had.
Like most of my musings I have this all written down. Where else would I be able to keep track of all the ideas I get? These all aren’t immediate plans just notions I get and store away for later. And like some, I don’t like to share, sometimes I think my ideas are impractical, consider yourself fortunate that I posted this much. J
From Suburb To Country 