Potter's Garden

I promised you all I’d report the happenings of the demise of the chickens.  The great transition is complete: from the beautiful Idaho outdoors to the confines of a chest freezer in our basement.  It is kinda quiet out there…

In the past, every time I ever handled and prepared raw chicken there was an overall feeling of squeamishness.  A feeling that invokes images of contamination and sickness.  But last night while cooking my freshly killed meat those feelings dissipated as wonderful smells wafted through the house, a prelude to a tasty meal.

Earlier in the day and with my old convictions firmly in tact, I imagined the slaughtering and butchering of chickens would not only be  gross but down right nasty.

Not really. The only time they flap around wildly and squawk at you is when you capture them from the safety of their pen. Otherwise the chickens become quite calm as soon as you flip them upside down by holding their legs while lowering them into the metal killing cones. They settle down in that position. Their heads poke out of the cone’s opening. That’s when you make the slit.

It is a bit macabre cutting the throat and bleeding them out as their dead bodies flutter in a few final throes.  In reality it takes only 5-10 seconds for them to die. A heck of a lot better death than being torn apart by some predator.

A handful of guts

Then into a scalder where a good dunking in 150-degree water for almost a minute will loosen their feathers.  Then onto the Wiz Bang Plucker and half a minute later this rubber fingered washing machine has plucked the entire bird clean – saving a ton of time. We built the plucker with our neighbors using the Wiz Bang Plucker plans we purchased. This machine is an amazing and modern invention that makes the whole process a lot easier and faster.

Then to the table for some head and feet removal followed by a good clean handful of innards.  There are a few steps here that help all those guts come out cleanly and as the day went on we all got better at this. Our neighbor Hans and his wife, Suzanne, helped from beginning to end. By the end, we were a well-oiled machine of chicken butchers. (Melissa was nowhere to be found, in fact, using “I gotta go to work” as an excuse.)

After a short layover in an ice bath the chicken is ready for a shrink bag and then the chest freezer.

Holding the fresh raw chickens did not stir up that usual queasiness.  It’s hard to explain but they just exuded a fresh and clean essence.  Real food baby.

It’s an amazing arrangement that a few species have made with us humans.  I’ll give you a great life, feed you and care  about you and give you a proper death and in return you will give me nourishment on your way out.  What is so hard about that?

Instead we’ve left corporate farms in charge of our sacred pact.  Raising these birds and beasts on a feed lot and treating them like commodities will only bring contamination and sickness.  When we honor the arrangement it brings  happiness and contentment as well as a great meal.  Can’t wait to do it again.

Thanks for tuning in. I wish I could share my Papa Fred’s BBQ smothered chicken with you all. (Papa Fred’s BBQ Sauce is lovingly made by another neighbor, Fred Frank, who sells his sauce to the world at large.) Also a huge Thank You to my awesome neighbors for helping out. (without them I’d still be elbow deep in chicken guts).