Sunday, May 5, 2013

I Chased a Chicken!

A few months ago we bought 25 chickens for the sole purpose of raising them for meat. Sadly we lost 5 but that wasn't so bad, we still got plenty of meat. We started at 12pm one afternoon and went all the way til 4:30pm! It was a lot of work, but with so many helpers we had a nice little assembly line.

Our set up was a 5 gallon bucket cut in half with the bottom cut out of it hung around the tree in the back of the photo. Then the chicken was brought to the boiler where it was heated for about 2 minutes to make the feathers easier to pull off. After that there's a drum, not seen, that spins the chicken while spraying water on it to remove the feathers without much human pulling. From there it went to the table to be gutted then cut up. The ladder was used to hold up a hose to clean off meat and the work area. The final process outside was the "pink water" or the ice coolers.


The Boiler

All our knives used during the day.

Victor was ready for his first Chicken Butchering!

Poor chickens didn't know what was coming.


 Lucca was our official boiler and dad and I (Gabby) were the killers.
Malachi "Yup, it's dead!"
Victor "Are you sure it's dead?" 
 Dad showing how to properly cut up a chicken. Malachi looks thrilled....
 Our little cook preping her own dinner.

Anything that is left (like tid bits of blood) on the
chicken is washed in the pink water.

This is the plucker, the water shoots on it while it gets spun
around and the "fingers" push on the body tearing the fingers out. 
 Alyse and Dad finishing up some of the whole chickens. It was so nice to decide what chickens we wanted to keep whole and they came out so nice and clean! It was a great experience and we hope to do more in late summer/early fall. The home grown chicken is delicious!

Gabby .V. 

Sunday, April 28, 2013

David & Jennifer Vist the Farm!

Wow, this is too overdue! Our amazing friend David came up to the farm awhile back and spent a great night and half day with us. He brought along with him Jennifer, who was such fun to meet! Thank you both for coming and we hope you come back soon! Here are the memories from your stay with the Venturinis!


 David trying his hand at milking....just for fun! 


Hey piggy piggy.





Braiding Maya's hair...it seems to be an occuring thing when we get together.









David looked so pretty that morning.

 So many lovely people in the kitchen! 


                                             Our beautiful table and fruit...

Oh those yummy biscuits!! Thanks Jennifer!












Gabby .V. 

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Room or Stall?

Maya has been wanting a horse since we've moved back to the country and since she can't have Mr. Lonely. So an artist we know made this beautiful picture on a huge canvas and then dad made it like an actual stall door in Maya's room. Totally cool right?! It looks great and Maya loves it. There's even plans maybe in the future to make it like the door can open and then have shallow shelves in there (her room is on an outer corner so we can't make an actual small closet thing like we wanted). Always creative around our house. Can't wait to do the upstairs and share the photos with y'all!  


Gabby .V. 

Mamma had a Cow

Mom went around the house waking everyone up this morning saying that we had a calf, the only thing I hesitated for was the camera. The long awaited moment came. Our beautiful Jersey mamma, Mollie, just had her calf this morning. Oh it's so sweet and beautiful! It is a bull, at least that's what we can tell. Dad picked him up to see his weight, and he's about 35-40lbs. Healthy, and big. He has big brown eyes, he's light brown, and sooo soft. There were 9 people watching him stumble around, hear his first noises, and then watching him milk, and all 9 were going "awwww!" I can't believe that Mollie finally dropped him! We were so excited. Because he is a bull then we have pre-decided to sale him, but until then I'm sure that all 9 will make a bond with him - his name is already Sanders- Dad held him while we all got to touch and feel the little one, luckily Mollie wasn't too over protective. (That is a huge change if you have seen the very first post about her!)
Enough talk, here's the precious photos!


Isn't he precious?! 



 All the Family watching Baby Sanders.





Venturini Family