Do you have SS friends? Or do your friends think you are weird?

[Quail_Antwerp]

EXCUSE ME.....EHHMMM, QA, SS remember.......I think you are supposed to process (can) that meat, LOL

Er, ah, um...yea you caught me! red handed LOL

It is on my list of things to learn! I have never canned ANYTHING! EVER! and I have no canning supplies, period. I have been stocking up on canned foods from the grocery.

My Aunt has plans to can their deer meat this year, and I have asked her if she will teach me.

 

[Dace]

QA I learned to can this summer...yeah my friends and family think I am odd....but I have top tell you the satisfaction of hearing those jars 'suck' shut and seeing all the lovely colors on your shelves is addicting!!

TanksHill I have a bunny for fertilizer, but have to admit, I am not a fan of rabbit meat. Is there anywhere nearby that processes chickens or do you need to do it yourself? I guess it is no different that cleaning fish and yet it seems oh so different. I hope that once I am in a position to have chickens I will be brave enough to take care of business and do what needs to be done!

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

My husband says if I learn to can, he will build me a root cellar. I countered with, "You build me a root cellar, I'll learn to can."

Now I want to learn root cellar or not!

 

[Beekissed]

I will tell you, girls, I've killed a lot of animals in my time....but rabbits are the hardest for me! I can't tell you why, because we never had any that were affectionate and they mostly didn't have personalities. Something about the fur, the cleanness, the whole stuffed-animalness of them really gives me the willies at killin' time.

P-girl, I understand completely about the loneliness...and its more than just not having anyone with shared interests. Its not knowing anyone with the same values or common sense about life and the living of it. It is lonely, to say the least.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I will tell you, girls, I've killed a lot of animals in my time....but rabbits are the hardest for me! I can't tell you why, because we never had any that were affectionate and they mostly didn't have personalities. Something about the fur, the cleanness, the whole stuffed-animalness of them really gives me the willies at killin' time.

I have a feeling that dh will be doing alot of the dispatching, i will clean them . I do think they will be harder to kill, i do think it is the cuddle factor

 

[Henrietta23]

I have a few friends who understand our efforts. To our acquaintences we probably just look cheap. Most people I know don't have 13 chickens in their backyard. Most of my friends have come to terms with that. They get the whole fresh egg thing. Most of them that is. Now we have 4 ducks and 6 quail and that just makes me weird. I'm called Noah by church friends and my son's classmates' parents tease me about running a petting zoo. I confess I don't go around telling people I make my own laundry detergent and kitchen cleansers etc. Nor do I brag about the clothes I get at Salvation Army. We're a far cry from SS here but even what we are doing is looked upon as odd. My son's school collects Soup Labels and Boxtops for Education. They make it a competition between classrooms. And how many each student contributes is charted. I don't buy prepackaged foods very often and my son suffers for it at school. If I stand up and ask why I should compromise my standards and buy into some marketing scheme I'm considered a snob or worse. (Sorry to those of you who have listened to that particular rant on BYC before!)

 

[TanksHill]

QA I learned to can this summer...yeah my friends and family think I am odd....but I have top tell you the satisfaction of hearing those jars 'suck' shut and seeing all the lovely colors on your shelves is addicting!!

TanksHill I have a bunny for fertilizer, but have to admit, I am not a fan of rabbit meat. Is there anywhere nearby that processes chickens or do you need to do it yourself? I guess it is no different that cleaning fish and yet it seems oh so different. I hope that once I am in a position to have chickens I will be brave enough to take care of business and do what needs to be done!

I know of a butcher shop that will come and do the pig/cow thing. They then take it back to he shop age and package it for you. I thought about seeing if they would do turkeys. I can't imagine poultry of any kind being cost efffective though.

As for the bunniy thing. At this point I want one for fertalizer and to pair up with my worm farm. I guess I was just thinking ahead.... I did have a friend though. When I was a yong girl in a reular neighborhood in a big southern Ca. town. Her dad had white rabbits in the back yard. Allways having babbies and then ending up in he freezer. He actually tanned the hides and sold them for profit. I ate dinner at their home many a times growing up. They were a kind Mormon family with 8 kids that didn't mind feeding one more. I think my friends mom rubbed off on me some. She cooked, sewed clothes for her kids, had ample food reserves and ran a tight ship. All while being a substatute teacher. Wow, sorry for the trip down memmory lane ....

I just think in the future rabbits would be a way for me as a house wife and mother to provide for my family. Between chickens, garden, fishing etc... It seems rabbit would round off the menu. That is until I learn to use a crossbow and bag me a 10 pointer. Wow I do live in a dream world. But we have to have dreams right?

 

[miss_thenorth]

I hear ya on all that except bagging a 10 pointer. I can shoot small game, but I have jimmy legs, and could not sit in a tree stand for too long.

 

[RTRChick]

Just wanted to say im there with you, its really hard for me because im young in college still and none of my friends get it, my family doesnt think im odd though, because my parents are pretty self sufficient, they garden, raise cows and such... my hubby is a down home country boy so he understands... it's just hard cause my friends and neighbors think I'm crazy cause i grow vegetables in pots outside my apartment, but I'm getting a house in the country again soon and super excited about it.

Anyways, who cares what other people think. You enjoy knowing you can survive when times get rough and other people will appreciate your wisdom if times ever do get hard.

 

[roosmom]

RTRChick that is great. growing vegies on the patio. I cant grow vegies in containers, prob cuz I am basically lazy (I hide it well) so they dont get watered enough.
QA, you know i was teasing.