Most days on the farm start early and this one did too. Just enough time to wolf down a bagel from the train ride covered in brother John's gift of homemade marmalade and coffee.
The main chore today was processing chickens which I haven't done before. Rowan and I gathered up all 50 of the young chickens that have been raised as meat birds. Now they are grown a few were trying to crow this morning. We took them to a nearby farm where Mike and Linda specialize in raising goats, chickens, and pigs they process for others. They have all the tools and special equipment needed to process chickens and make them available in exchange for farm produce, in-kind trade or cash and they provide that service to Rowan and Katie once a year when they need it. Fiddlehead worker Thane joined in on the processing for some of the meat for personal use.
The entire job took about three hours for the four of us with expert help from Linda. They have a clean and humane operation and special equipment that makes it easier to pluck and clean and store the birds until it's time to take them home. I've worked with game animals before but there are steps in an operation like this that were new to me. I should mention these are range fed, non-GMO birds. We had the remaining one from last year as part of a delicious meal this evening.
We spent time relaxing in the afternoon with baby Ella and lunch from yesterday's dinner leftovers and even got in a short nap before evening chores including picking up the processed chickens for bagging and home storage. Bagging and freezing the chickens went smoothly later in the dark and there will be more feasts ahead.
It is very dry here too at the end of summer and the cars collected ash from a nearby fire. We also watched planes pass overhead that are being used to control that fire. Another reminder of our rapidly changing climate. I can't help but think Rowan, Katie, Ella, Joe, Kathy and Charlie are in the best place and doing the right things for us all. We've picked out a possible location for the tiny house we might move into some day on a part time basis.
Baby Ella showing Nama her new kissing skills
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