Today was even more hectic than usual in the chicken-processing world because as we were finishing..

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Today was even more hectic than usual in the chicken-processing world because as we were finishing our setup and were about to kill the first chicken, B-I-L got a distressed phone call.

There’s another farm, staffed by an alum of this farm back before my sis and her guy bought it, about 25 miles away. That farm is owned by a young couple, similar in age and other things to my sister and her dude– b-i-l was a former physics teacher, these guys were former math teachers– and the woman of this couple is due to give birth, uh, tomorrow.

We’d already been in contact with them, knowing they were processing chickens today too, and we’d said, you know, we’re good on staff, we could send someone? 

No, no, they said; she hasn’t started labor yet, we’ll be fine. Next time for sure though!

But in the morning, two of their staff scratched at the last minute, leaving them critically short-handed.

Earlier, hearing how few people they had to help them, and the mom-to-be’s condition, I’d said in horror “oh my gosh I’ll go!” but my sister had said, no, with some warning, I’ll be able to go, so I’ll do that.

But on no notice, well– so, I went. I dried off my hands, and hopped in my car, and drove across the border to massachusets, where I hopped out of the car and eviscerated chickens for six hours without pause. 

Outdoors. Nobody’d warned me, they do fewer birds than us so they’ve got the kind of license that allows for an outdoor facility. I had no hat. I had no sunscreen. I fucking dealt with it and I’ll pay tomorrow. I stayed out of direct sunlight but that doesn’t seem to have really saved me. Oh well. (I am literally too white to live. This is bullshit.)

It was interesting and a lot of fun. We have a totally different process to accomplish the same thing. 

The pregnant lady sat on a stool and did an astonishing amount of work, but we did get her to take a lot of breaks, and at the end I was the last eviscerator left and did the last five birds completely solo while everyone else cleaned up around me. They have a very similar farm to this one, but with a much smaller staff. At the moment, it is too small a staff, and they’re really under water. I told them I wished i had time to stay an extra day and help them catch up, but I really didn’t– I didn’t even stay for packaging, but came back because I was worried B-I-L would be stuck late cutting up chickens because of the day’s strange workload. But I arrived back at the farm just in time for everyone to be being dismissed for the day, and all was well.

I am going to pay for this tomorrow, though. 
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missbuster replied to your post “unicornduke

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missbuster replied to your post “unicornduke replied to your post “ugh it’s so hot! it’s so hot.  I…”

The only other thing I could think of was extending the shade edge of the pens by using a tarp/tent pegs and some rope.

We were going to replace the tarps with shade cloth, or stretch a length of shade cloth above the enclosure, or even just go pitch an EZ-Up or similar tent up there to cast a shadow. But as it happens, we think it was just that the waterers were in the sun and the chickens were genuinely unwilling to walk in the sun. 

The gross and brutal truth of it is that we killed all the survivors today anyway so it doesn’t matter; the smaller chickens are light enough to endure the heat, and it’s not likely to be a problem again this summer, or next. We don’t get heat waves like this often. 

But we sure won’t forget this lesson. It’s actually worse than the time we had an entire batch of chicks get eaten at 3 days of age by rats in the brooder, because we’d spent eight weeks of feed and work on these guys, but it’s similar in impact. A couple grand of income, lost. However, it’s not too late to up future orders of chicks from the hatchery to make up the shortfall over the course of the rest of the season, and because of the timing, we had very few fresh customers for this batch. (Usually we have like 80 preorders of fresh chickens, but because of the holiday, we had precisely 11 this time.) So it happened at a fortunate time, anyway, if it was going to happen.
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Iced Tisane Recipe

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torrilin replied to your post “Today was even more hectic than usual in the chicken-processing world…”

*sends ice and soothing cold tea and time for a cold shower*

Ha ha, thank you.

I did icepack myself and found that once I wasn’t exerting myself, the heat in my skin mostly went away. I dunno. Maybe I’ll live.

I should take this fleeting five minute break and talk about iced tea recipes!!

I have, at the farm, the incredible luxury of an enormous herb garden intended for 110 CSA family memberships plus the farm staff’s use. So I have basically everything one ever wanted in large quantity, if one ever wanted to make herbal tisanes for any purpose.

So I’ll share my summertime Herbal Iced Tea recipe For Crew Lunches with some notes, because I might as well.

Step 1: Put the kettle on to boil. Fill a half-gallon mason jar or equivalent pitcher about halfway with water and put it into the fridge.

Step 2: Retrieve kitchen shears, flip-flops, and a hat. Go out into the herb garden and contemplate.

Choosing herbs: I like to pair things, or combine them. I have found that basil, as a category, is fantastic in a sweet tea. We have several kinds of basil– lemon basil is the absolute star, thai basil is a little trickier to mix, and red basil works great and also dyes the liquid unpredictable colors that sometimes react with lemon juice to do truly weird stuff. I also enjoy lemon balm. Things like mint are great, peppermints and spearmints; I prefer spearmints but my sister hates the plants  and killed mine, so I make do with peppermint. A recent discovery is that mountain mint is a peppermint! but do take care, there’s one variety that’s toxic, so make sure you know what’s in your garden.

(PAUSE FOR A PSA: HERBS ARE CHEMICALS. PLEASE TAKE CARE. Some herbs have medicinal uses, which means they can heal you, but just like any medicine, they can hurt you too. Please at least do a quick Google of anything you want to consume, and find out if it’s contraindicated for something you’ve got. ESPECIALLY pregnancy oh my GOD. It’s astonishing how many abortifacients we blithely grow in our gardens.)

Anyhow– lavender is great but like mint, sometimes tastes like soap. Combine judiciously.

My favorite combos: Mint and Sage, Lemon basil and lemon balm, basil and strawberries (!!!), etc.

Step 3: Put the herbs and a big schmooey of honey (like half a cup, really) in a bowl. Pour boiling water over the bowl. You want to wind up with like, a quart of liquid, so the bowl can be a bit bigger than that to allow for the herbs.

Step 4: let that steep for 5-10 minutes, stirring well to make sure the honey dissolves.

Step 5: If you left the herbs in big pieces, fish them out with whatever you were stirring with. if not, find a strainer. Retrieve your container of water from the fridge, and pour your herbal tisane/syrup into the container of water. Stir well, and let chill an hour or so, or enjoy over ice.

Lasts like a week in the fridge. Optional: Add lemon or lime juice for flavor, or if you want to make a switchel, you can add a whole bunch of apple cider vinegar and maybe a pinch of salt– those are fantastic for really hot days. (I use like, ½-¾ cup of vinegar, and I increase the amount of honey too, switchels ought to be intense but then dilute over ice, that’s how I like them anyway.)

Tip: Anything you put in boiling water is going to wind up discolored and wilted and gross. Strain that out before you let the tea sit. But for looks, you can totally save out a pretty sprig or two of your chosen herb, and put that into the pitcher to kind of “label” it in the fridge, or save some for garnish. This goes quadruple for strawberries, or any kind of berry you’re lucky enough to have for this use. Save some out to put in after it’s cold. Berries will only stay nice a few hours in the liquid so add them a little while before you intend to consume the beverage.
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Oh, and the lady from the farm I helped out at yesterday had her baby today! A boy, born on the...

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Oh, and the lady from the farm I helped out at yesterday had her baby today! A boy, born on the fourth of July. Hurrah!
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morethanonepage: “Let America be America again.

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morethanonepage:

“Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed— Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above. (It never was America to me.) O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe. (There’s never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars? I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek— And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak. I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one’s own greed! I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean— Hungry yet today despite the dream. Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers! I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years. Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That’s made America the land it has become. O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home— For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore, And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came To build a “homeland of the free.” The free? Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike? The millions who have nothing for our pay? For all the dreams we’ve dreamed And all the songs we’ve sung And all the hopes we’ve held And all the flags we’ve hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay— Except the dream that’s almost dead today. O, let America be America again— The land that never has been yet— And yet must be—the land where every man is free. The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME— Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again. Sure, call me any ugly name you choose— The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives, We must take back our land again, America! O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath— America will be! Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain— All, all the stretch of these great green states— And make America again!”

— Langston Hughes. (via a-witches-brew)
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