Finishing the Meat Birds

Anna and I right before we were about to start

All along we thought we would be sending the meat chickens out for butchering. We could wave good bye when we dropped them off and come back to retrieve the perfectly packaged chicken ready for our freezer. Well, when we realized the cost was a lot higher than we initially thought, the plans changed and we decided that we as a family could finish what we started. We prepped the kids mentally this past week and set the day for Sunday. All week it sort of loomed. I even wore black to church yesterday. On our way home, I grabbed fun and easy things for lunch and dinner as well as some cherries and freeze pops. We were going to need some treats to help us get this done. Adam and I prepped and thought it through a bit that morning and the evening before. 20 birds. I didn't really second guess my kids involvement in is because I have vivid memories of doing this at my grandparents house at probably 6 or 7 years old. It is good to know where your food comes from and what is involved in that process. Plus I was excited that we could figure this out together as a family and finish this together. We started about 1:00 and didn't get done until about 10:00 last night. The kids did great and we really did need them. We all started out very tentatively with gloves and by the end of the day we just got right in there and did what needed to be done. I vacuum sealed them all and now there are 20 packaged birds one freezer and I am actually glad that we just didn't go and pick them up that way.