NoobieChickenLady's Journal - SS Score and Mah Kitteh is HOME!! Yay!

[Beekissed]

Noobie, they call it the golfball method, but rednecks don't have golf balls, so we always used a hammer.

You hang by the neck, peel your cape down a little, enough to fit the hammer under it. Cut off legs and split the hide up the inside of the front legs. Fold the cape down over the hammer(the fur side will be touching the hammer head and the rope will be tied around the goo side and the hammer head), tie a rope securely around the hammer head and hide, apply firm but consant pressure with a motorized vehicle of some sorts~4 wheeler, lawn mower, truck~on the other end of your rope. It will peel your deer like a banana...even skin the tail out most of the time. Don't go too fast, as this tends to let your deer swing like a pendulum and thump the meat against your tree when the hide comes off....might bruise your meat, so steady it when it comes back towards you.

This method is so handy if the deer has to hang a little before you get to yank the hide. You know how hard it is to do it by hand if the hide has time to set. Then its slice, slice, pull! Repeat. Time consuming and hard to not lose some meat and even slice a hand.

We found this method in the 70s and have been using it ever since on hundreds of deer. If its a bambi and still warm, a person could just yank it down easier by just their body weight, but if the deer is any size at all, this is a great method. We tend to have mostly big deer, so we are thankful to know this little trick.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Wow! Thanks for the details! I the whole time I read your post, just from thinking about what it must look like from outside, but it sure does sound easier. I'll have to try it next hunting season.

And yes, it is soo much tougher to skin one that has aged a bit. Plus you run the risk of knifing up the hide when you slice. Harder to tan properly.

I gathered an interesting "label" last night. One of my neighbors said I am a crunchy redneck. "Its weird, you're like some strange love child between a redneck and a hippy "

Which isn't technically true, my dad is a redneck but my mom never wore bellbottoms. hehe

Swimming tonight! Woo Hoo!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

I didn't get to go by the farmer's market last night when i got off, so maybe today at lunch break. I did get my new copy of Backyard Homestead that so many people have recomended. I've just skimmed around in it so far, but DH, who usually won't pick up a gardening book, even though he wants a huge garden, picked it up and thumbed through it for almost an hour.
I was especially impressed by the sample plot layouts they had in the front of the book. I want that yard!

I looked over my spices & herbs last night and I really need to make a trip to Jackson and stock up at the whole foods store. OS much cheaper and you actually get to smell or sample the herbs before you purchase. Easier to get fresh stuff.

Ha! The last time I went, I took DH with me. I had about 15 different baggies with a couple of ounces in each. He was following me around nervously so I asked what was wrong. The price on the jar is for a lb. of the product, he was thinking it was going to end up costing us an arm and a leg just to do a fill in shop. We got to the checkout and the total was less than the per lb cost of any of the jars. The look on his face was priceless

ETA: Almost forgot, I'm trying the no-knead bread recipe. We'll see what the dough looks like when I get home. It should be timed just right to do the shaping, then a couple hours before bedtime it will go in the oven in my heavy stainless steel pot.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Well, the bread turned out tasting okay, pretty good actually, the texture left much to be desired. I just have this thing about bread, I've gotten one decent loaf out of most of the recipes I've tried, but I can't duplicate it. I've tried dozens of recipes dozens of times, followed them to the letter and gotten nowhere. My mom never learned how to bake loves of bread. She does a credible banana nut & awesome cornbread, but loaves just never interested her. Plus, she got tired of the country life too quick and decided to become citified, pity... I'm going to try the recipe in Backyard Homestead tonight though. Its much more detailed than many of the other recipes I've tried, in that it actually explains what the dough should look like & feel like, exactly how to knead, that you need to use butter instead of oil to grease your rising bowl.

Local supermarket had wild caught alaskan salmon on sale! Woo hoo! Mmmm, fresh baked pattypan squash stuffed with onions & cheese, grilled lemon pepper salmon and a salad clipped from the plant only minutes before eating. And a carrot cake with fresh carrots & homemade cream cheese frosting. That was truly an awesome meal. DD was very pleased with her birthday weekend.

Got the bright idea to slice some bacon for breakfast sunday morning so I hauled out the meat slicer and started cranking. I messed up and got distracted by a conversation in the LR between DH & new neighbors and almost sliced off a chunk of my index finger!!! OWW!! At least I know its sharp, eh?
Thankfully, no stitches were needed and its not terribly painful, just a little sore. And its not my mouse hand, so I can still work fine.
After I was all cleaned up and bandaged, DH gave me a little bop on the back of head and stage whispered, "It has a safety guide, you know". Yes, I know it has one, but why should I use it when I seem fairly competent to SLICE OFF MY FINGER!!! Lol

On the upside, my hair looks awesome! I'm really glad I took Aidenbaby up on the no-poo challenge. I've done water only, as I haven't gotten really grungy, its been a little over 1 week and I'm really happy with the way my hair looks & feels. We'll see if it continues.

The farmer's market had a nice selection, those pattypan squash were there, plus they had these HUGE cabbages from Smith county. It seems like Smith county is the best place to go if you want huuuuge veggies or watermelons. Zuchinni, green beans, mashed potatoes and deer tenderloin tonight. Plus leftover carrot cake YUM!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

DH and I worked until dark last night, weeding the garden, adding mulch in the thin spots (those grass clippings break down quick!), spot watering. We definately still have deer in the vicinity, cause 3 of our corn plants were eaten to stumps. What kept them away for the longest time was a bit of raccoon offal around the post at the far corner of the fence, right beside the path they use to come into our field. Its far enough away from most of the garden that the scent isn't bad at all. The blood smell spooked them. I really need electric fencing though. The solar chargers are so darn expensive and I'm worried about the electric bill.
We also did a little more concrete work around the coop, not much longer and I'll be able to do some planting around it.
I went and scoped out the erosion happening at the creek bed by flashlight. The county is really going to have to do something. They dug the ditch that is causing the erosion. It seems to have slowed down a bit since the water level has gone back down, but it still may end up being a problem.
Berries! Berries! Berries! I think I need some deterent there too so the deer won't pick them over, and some netting for the birds and squirrels and neighbors.
Have to get a fan shroud for the Jimmy we bought from my uncle. 88 model, he had it sitting under a pine tree and wanted it gone. Got it for $250 bucks WOOHOO
He thought there was an oil leak and it turned out to be a crack in the oil pan gasket. New oil pan gasket, new fan shroud and that puppy is in business. Tires are even still good. Maybe I won't have to haul stuff in my little bitty car so often.
Took a ramble through the backroads on the way to work this morning, chores went by so quickly that I had time to leave early and smell the roses. There's a dirty little dump area where everyone puts junk, lawn mowers, water heaters, carpet, you name it. There is usually something that is still useable, like cinderblocks. Who the heck throws away perfectly good cinderblocks??? I've picked up several just from the edges. I try to get stuff from here as often as possible to help clean it up a bit, although I'm pretty sure I'm the only person hauling stuff away, as its always slightly larger than the last time I went. Well, I spotted this gleam of metal through the trees and there is a huge metal washtub. From what I can see, its in decent condition. Even if it has some holes, its large enough to use for a lettuce planter. But it won't fit in my car, so I have to wait on the jimmy to be fixed.

 

[Blackbird]

Yay for looking through junk in the woods! I do it all the time. I need more junk piles to search through now though.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

There are tons of junk piles around here. (blatant semi-joking generalization of a group I consider myself to be part of here) Rednecks don't know the different between a ravine and a dump. Bleh. But yes, Free rules and sometimes you find the most interesting stuff! I saw on your journal that you had found lots of cool stuff poking around the woods. I like junk piles and old house sites. There are almost always some edibles around old houses, apple trees, blackberries, plums, grapes and usually a lot of flowers that you can transplant a few of. At least my mom is able to transplant them, I have killed all my real flowers
I learned very quickly not to tell anyone at school that such and such cool toy came from the trash. I got new stuff at christmas and birthdays, oh I can be honest, I was spoiled as an only child. But my dad found any number of great toys that we really wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise. I've found bows (shooting, not decorative) windows, doors, hinges, bed frames, heck my dad once found a perfectly good tv sitting on the side of the road. I think its still working actually. Brand new comforter set. I think the bed skirt had a rip. It didn't have the tags on it, but was in one of those big plastic zip bags and was still folded along its original creases. Didn't look like it had even been unfolded. You can use all wool or all cotton carpet to mulch, did you know that? If you cover it with grass clippings or wood shavings it doesn't look so hillbilly

 

[noobiechickenlady]

OH! OH! I forgot, I went to the auto salvage yard and found the fan shroud for the Jimmy!! WOO HOO!!!!
Priced at the dealership for $85 new - ick
Priced online new oem $65 with shipping - ick
At the junkyard? It was, get this, EIGHT bucks.

 

[keljonma]

Wow, its taking over my yard at the moment, or it was before I mowed. Still have all the little creeper parts the mower couldn't get. I'm waaay down south though, central Mississippi

Its edible (in salads) and chickens love it too!

ETA: did you know that purslane is one of those weeds that says - "Hey, This Soil Is Fertile!"

 

[Blackbird]

I love old house sites too, I actually dug up a couple ferns from one when I was supposed to be deer hunting the other year.. bad idea cause the deer snuck up on me when I was on my hands and knees digging, but hey.. I got those ferns.. found an old piano in the same house, was missing most of the keys, but the ones that were there worked.

We use carpet for mulching too.

Congratz on your deal!