Family Bonding.

I believe it was the great philosopher Plato who once said, "A family who kills together stays together."  Oh wait....I think that was Play-doh not Plato who once said that.  My bad.  This weekend we took this wonderful quote literally when we butchered 29 of the chickens at the farm.

Now, I know some of you are super sad right now thinking of a poor defenseless chickens who had no idea that Saturday was Reckoning Day and I used to be with you.  But really once you've killed one, you really don't feel that bad.  They aren't the nicest of animals.  They just kinda peck around and don't interact or give a rip about you.  And really, that's what it's all about....how they make us feel, right?  Just kidding.  But anyways these suckers were ready to give their lives so that we could eat.  You should have seen them.  They were big.  I have learned that as long as you don't get emotionally attached to them and just look at them as a food source, you're good to go.

(It's a requirement that you don't look good when you kill chickens.  You don't want them to feel bad.  I mean, I don't look good...Mom, you look lovely!)

It definitely ended up being a family affair.  All hands on deck.   Thankfully the two younger boys decided that this would be a great time for both of them to take a coordinating 3 hour nap.  Here's how the breakdown went.  Sara's hired hand who we call "Tractor Man" (not to his face, btw) did the killing.  I won't tell you the method that we killed them because I don't want to scar anyone, but let's just say they all ended up dead.  So, then they were hung upside down by their feet and dipped in hot water for about a minute and then dipped in cold water.  This helps to release their feathers and make them easier to pluck.  Good in theory, but they were still pretty hard to pluck.  Wes, my mom and dad and I were on plucking duty.  Then the chickens headed over to the chopping block where they were dissected by my sister the resident surgical nurse and Tractor man, the person who probably had the strongest stomach.  They cut off the feet and the heads and took out all of the insides.  Boy am I glad that wasn't my job. 

The whole affair took us about 4-5 hours and we ended up with some beautiful chickens that look exactly like what you would see in the store.  Some of them are even bigger than what you would see.  Now a word of caution.  Sometimes I read people's blogs and they are describing something and they make it sound so easy....well this was not easy.  The payoff was great, but the work, not so great.  So, just wanted to let you know! 

(Like I said, a family affair...though we did shield him from the killing!)

Now off to plan my menu for the week, I'm thinking chicken parmesan, chicken nuggets, grilled chicken, chicken quesadillas....