framing fowl -daily living

[framing fowl]

Today was a wonderful day. It was an adventure in sausage making which I've never done before.

Lessons learned:
~use well-trimmed meat or you will be forever taking the head apart to clean the knife and plate...

~when using natural casings, they're not all the same size! Some can't take as much stuffing as others or they explode...

~it takes 100 revolutions to crank out 8"...

~when you are trying to stuff sausage by yourself, it takes one hand on the horn, one to put the meat in and one to crank leaving you half a body short on the labor end of things so it is better to put it all back in the fridge and go out and buy a Christmas tree and decorate it! Then go back to sausage when DH gets home and make him crank!

~don't do sausage when you are super tired or your brain will forget to signal your right hand to quit cranking when your left hand gets into the auger and that makes it hurts worse just because you're tired.

~I've never been so excited for breakfast in my life!

 

[pioneergirl]

I loved reading this! Great tips all the way around....somehow the alcohol is missing? HAHA just kidding, love the 'go out and buy a Christmas tree and decorate' part!

I'll be getting loads of deer meat this week, so this was a great read, thanx!

 

[framing fowl]

Thanks Pioneer! We taste tested the brats this morning and they were delish, but not enough fat, was like gumming sawdust... so I'll just have to remember which ones they were and add more oil when I'm cooking them.

Tomorrow I hope to have pics up of our weekend, the tree and lights and all of the sausage.

Tonight we stuffed 20 lbs of summer sausage. Hopefully tomorrow we'll get the smaller snack sticks done and then Wednesday into the neighbor's smoker... Guess what our friends and family are getting for Christmas???

Today we also butchered 4 roosters and a hen that never laid eggs. This was my first time butchering chickens so it was a real education! I could never understand what people were talking about when mentioning how ugly black chickens looked when plucked... Yup, ugly.

The hen that didn't lay was the only hen we butchered so I didn't have anything to compare it with but Larry, who was the Master of Ceremonies today, said that her egg production area was messed up. Another interesting thing was that her liver was mottled light pink and greyish. It was definately not right. Not sure what it means but confirmed that it was a good decision to not keep her.

 

[framing fowl]

Forgot to say that the 5 chickens came to 15 pounds on the nose. The 4 roosters were Barnevelders and were 18 weeks old.

 

[framing fowl]

Got the summer sausages smoked, 1/2 of the snack sticks are stuffed, gotta get the rest done this weekend and into the smoker and then we're done!

Drove MyT Man (formerly known as DH) to work this morning due to the ice on the roads. Did the last of my Christmas shopping for him there at Home Depot. He's getting a box of welding rod, a smaller t-square, a new magnetic driver holder, and a 95 pc set of drill bits/drivers that was on sale for 50% off!

My Christmas present from my folks arrived yesterday! We got a 5' x 5' greenhouse! It amounts to an oversized tent with a cheap tarp over it but still should do pretty well for us. We're thinking of setting it up on our cement pad right out the back door next to the house. I've got 3 books reserved on green house gardening because I know nothing about it so any advice is greatly appreciated!

Urban foraging this week netted us 4) 2x6's for another raised bed, 2 bushel basket containers with dead mums, 4) 3gallon containers with dead mums, 15 aluminum studs for scrap, 2 bicycle rims for scrap, and 2) 3'x3' pieces of poly flute for the yet to be constructed coldframe.

 

[Farmfresh]

Looks yummy! How long does it need to smoke? After that how do you store it?

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

The sausage looks great!

Congrats on your greenhouse!!! That's a great present!!

 

[framing fowl]

We used an Eastman outdoors kit to do everything and they had a pack of cure that went in with the meat before stuffing. Then their directions were 180F for 2 hours and then 225 until the internal temp got to 158. Then I'm storing in the pantry. The brats and such that didn't have the cure are in the fridge for immediate eating and some are in the freezer.

 

[framing fowl]

Our Merry Christmas started off in the hen house this morning. Naughty Nancy has started jumping over the fence into the neighbors, so everyone had their wings clipped before breakfast!

We had one of our Merriest Christmas's ever. I've worked retail for the past ten years and there is nothing like hearing Rudoph twenty times a day and helping harried customers worried about buying things they can't afford for people who won't appreciate it to turn me into somewhat of a grinch.

For the first time in many years I felt like celebrating the true meaning of Christmas. I think the last time I even put up a tree was 6 or so years ago. We were both stressed with the long hours and let other people's attitudes drag us down. This year we got a live tree and put lights on it and didn't worry that the ornaments remained tucked in storage. It was easier to be kind and understanding toward other people this year.

It was a quiet day with just the two of us because MyT Man's family is in Oregon and mine is in Montana. Our best gifts were good health for the year, the business that I work for is remaining open for at least another year, the shared laughs over the Great Chicken Adventure, the time together the last few weeks on the Great Sausage Adventure, good neighbors, a live Christmas Tree with lights, my brother turning his life around, a greenhouse from my parents which will be another adventure next year, and the realization of just how far we've come in the past year.

We have been so abundantly blessed and my heart is so full that I just can't sleep right now. That knowledge is backed by the fact that when our next trials come, we will be led through to the banquet table on the other side.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

 

[Farmfresh]

For the first time in many years I felt like celebrating the true meaning of Christmas. I think the last time I even put up a tree was 6 or so years ago. We were both stressed with the long hours and let other people's attitudes drag us down. This year we got a live tree and put lights on it and didn't worry that the ornaments remained tucked in storage.

It was a quiet day with just the two of us because MyT Man's family is in Oregon and mine is in Montana. Our best gifts were good health for the year, the business that I work for is remaining open for at least another year, the shared laughs over the Great Chicken Adventure, the time together the last few weeks on the Great Sausage Adventure, good neighbors, a live Christmas Tree with lights, my brother turning his life around, a greenhouse from my parents which will be another adventure next year, and the realization of just how far we've come in the past year.

We have been so abundantly blessed and my heart is so full that I just can't sleep right now. That knowledge is backed by the fact that when our next trials come, we will be led through to the banquet table on the other side.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Sounds like a wonderful blessed Christmas! By the way I had the "Live tree with only lights" this year as well. I put the lights on the night I got the tree and just could not bear to put ornaments on it. The simple beauty was enough. I might do that again next year as well!