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dragonlady7via http://ift.tt/2u2b07L:
Over 250 chickens today. I floated; started off eviscerating, but then they were getting backed up at the plucking table so I went out there, and then they were getting backed up eviscerating, so I came back, but then they were getting backed – in short, we really could have used one more person. We were short our usual heads-and-feet-removing guy, out for wrist surgery, and the young woman substituting for him was okay but just not quite as fast. So I took over one of the heads-and-feet guy’s normal tasks– in addition to pulling off the heads and cutting off the feet, he also cuts out the oil gland at the base of the tail, which if left on gives the meat an off taste. I’m not willing to pull heads off or cut feet off, I just find both unpleasant to do, but i don’t mind cutting out the oil gland. So I did that, and finish plucked, most of the day. But if we had a big crush, I’d follow it into the evisceration room and catch up a few birds until I looked out and saw that they were busy again.
It was tiring. Last time we did 120 birds, so this took a lot longer. 60 of the birds were from another farmer– this is legal, we’re licensed to do that, but we had to scrupulously keep everything separate, because their birds were not raised organic and ours were, and also it would be fraud for us to sell one of their birds as ours, or vice-versa, and of course, overall, it would just be a mess. They paid us to process their birds, so they should get their birds back at the end.
Of course, the slaughter was one thing. The packaging is always another. It was after 1pm by the time we finished slaughter and broke for lunch. We had to have the other farmer’s birds ready by 3, and they showed up at 2:45 for them, and we still made it– they pulled out of the driveway at five after 3. It was pretty impressive. We do know what we’re about.
But we ran late. And Dad was only babysitting Farmbaby until 4:30, and we just weren’t done. He could only stay a little late, but he came and watched us for a few minutes, and was pretty impressed with the packaging process– Farmsister and I do the labeling and weighing and loading together, and we’ve got it down to a pretty economical process, with certain things either of us will do (trim the excess shrinkwrap, dry the bird, stick the label), and certain things only one of us ever does (only I label or mark, and only Sis loads the truck, and usually she’s the only one who’ll dunk them into the boiling water to shrink the wrapper, because she’s got hands like iron and my skin is made of wet paper on a good day). He kept trying to anticipate what we were going to do next and open the door and so on, and Sis was like, no Dad, it’s a six-step process, we’re not there yet, LOL.
I took over watching Farmbaby as soon as the last chicken was weighed and marked. She was sweet enough that she let me take a shower and leave her unsupervised (her mother had a serious chat with her to determine whether this was okay), but mostly we sat and read books and she was about as agreeable to me as she’s ever been since she became independently mobile. She had been to the beach with both her grandmother and grandfather, so I think she was both exhausted and pleasantly full of having been paid attention to and doted upon for hours. She is treated very well by her grandparents. I’d be jealous– I didn’t have grandparents like that at all– except that those very same grandparents were my actual parents, and while they were a lot busier and I had a lot of competition for their attention, I did get to be awfully lucky in my upbringing, on the whole.
Anyway. Maybe the worst thing about slaughter day is that the packaging takes forever but then you have to finish cleaning up before you go inside for the night; Wednesday is harvest day for the CSA, so it’s another heavy-work day, busy and busy and busy, and so nothing can be left dirty to clean later. It’s all got to get done before you rest.
But. We had pizza for the whole crew for dinner, and it was good pizza, and a shower unlocked the muscles in my back that had started to cramp up. So.
Tomorrow’s goal is to harvest all the sunflowers before sunrise at 6. The sun doesn’t hit that patch until about 6:30. I figure it takes about an hour to get through the sunflowers. So… start time 5am. Think I can do it?
We’ll see.
Over 250 chickens today. I floated; started off eviscerating, but then they were getting backed up at the plucking table so I went out there, and then they were getting backed up eviscerating, so I came back, but then they were getting backed – in short, we really could have used one more person. We were short our usual heads-and-feet-removing guy, out for wrist surgery, and the young woman substituting for him was okay but just not quite as fast. So I took over one of the heads-and-feet guy’s normal tasks– in addition to pulling off the heads and cutting off the feet, he also cuts out the oil gland at the base of the tail, which if left on gives the meat an off taste. I’m not willing to pull heads off or cut feet off, I just find both unpleasant to do, but i don’t mind cutting out the oil gland. So I did that, and finish plucked, most of the day. But if we had a big crush, I’d follow it into the evisceration room and catch up a few birds until I looked out and saw that they were busy again.
It was tiring. Last time we did 120 birds, so this took a lot longer. 60 of the birds were from another farmer– this is legal, we’re licensed to do that, but we had to scrupulously keep everything separate, because their birds were not raised organic and ours were, and also it would be fraud for us to sell one of their birds as ours, or vice-versa, and of course, overall, it would just be a mess. They paid us to process their birds, so they should get their birds back at the end.
Of course, the slaughter was one thing. The packaging is always another. It was after 1pm by the time we finished slaughter and broke for lunch. We had to have the other farmer’s birds ready by 3, and they showed up at 2:45 for them, and we still made it– they pulled out of the driveway at five after 3. It was pretty impressive. We do know what we’re about.
But we ran late. And Dad was only babysitting Farmbaby until 4:30, and we just weren’t done. He could only stay a little late, but he came and watched us for a few minutes, and was pretty impressed with the packaging process– Farmsister and I do the labeling and weighing and loading together, and we’ve got it down to a pretty economical process, with certain things either of us will do (trim the excess shrinkwrap, dry the bird, stick the label), and certain things only one of us ever does (only I label or mark, and only Sis loads the truck, and usually she’s the only one who’ll dunk them into the boiling water to shrink the wrapper, because she’s got hands like iron and my skin is made of wet paper on a good day). He kept trying to anticipate what we were going to do next and open the door and so on, and Sis was like, no Dad, it’s a six-step process, we’re not there yet, LOL.
I took over watching Farmbaby as soon as the last chicken was weighed and marked. She was sweet enough that she let me take a shower and leave her unsupervised (her mother had a serious chat with her to determine whether this was okay), but mostly we sat and read books and she was about as agreeable to me as she’s ever been since she became independently mobile. She had been to the beach with both her grandmother and grandfather, so I think she was both exhausted and pleasantly full of having been paid attention to and doted upon for hours. She is treated very well by her grandparents. I’d be jealous– I didn’t have grandparents like that at all– except that those very same grandparents were my actual parents, and while they were a lot busier and I had a lot of competition for their attention, I did get to be awfully lucky in my upbringing, on the whole.
Anyway. Maybe the worst thing about slaughter day is that the packaging takes forever but then you have to finish cleaning up before you go inside for the night; Wednesday is harvest day for the CSA, so it’s another heavy-work day, busy and busy and busy, and so nothing can be left dirty to clean later. It’s all got to get done before you rest.
But. We had pizza for the whole crew for dinner, and it was good pizza, and a shower unlocked the muscles in my back that had started to cramp up. So.
Tomorrow’s goal is to harvest all the sunflowers before sunrise at 6. The sun doesn’t hit that patch until about 6:30. I figure it takes about an hour to get through the sunflowers. So… start time 5am. Think I can do it?
We’ll see.
