the support life + weather is wacky

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 excitement over the past few days with some weather and bird updates i guess


saturday was my one day weekend and it was hot hot hot ! got out on a morning long run before it got too warm and then spent a relaxing day at the ranch, bit of cooking, bit of beach time, and some good writing and work time too. also some goat photoshoot attempts! they like to nibble clothes and hair. soaked in a lot of sun :)

saturday night was the day of the surprise storm! i woke up to go pee and heard a bunch of noise and then saw lights on the ocean, thought it was boats and then was like WHOA thats lightning. spent the next hour of my night/early morning marveling at the storm, stood on my porch lightning watching a bit, then heard the wild wind as i was back in bed, then the downpour came and the thunder continued....

sunday was my first support day, and i started bright and early with coop chore! the birds are doing ok despite predation, and we have some new duckling friends!!!! super super cute fluffballs who make high cheepy noises. the silkie chicken is also still around even though the other one got thefted and she is also gorgeously adorable like a snowball fluff

the weather was part of our support day too, with immensely close lightning strikes that caused us to go back inside for a bit, but eventually things calmed down and we managed to take care of the animals as normal, letting the rumis out of the barnyard for at least a few hours onto pasture

so far, being on support is teaching me some things: i have not great upper body strength (lugging water buckets out to the pasture is a bit of a struggle), my hands need to develop more milking muscles, comfrey is a beast of a weed with a frustratingly deep and strong root, and my clothes will inevitably get very dirty by the end of the day with poop, milk, dirt, alfafa, and who knows, maybe bloody chicken water?

yes, today was chicken processing day! i didnt participate too much, but got to watch a few birds of the 40 broilers. i believe they were about 12 weeks old for processing, and when i first got to the ranch they were looking more like chicks, but now they are full grown (and now dead).

the bird gets picked up by its feet, put upside down into a cone, and then its neck is slit to cut the 2 arteries and trachea. it bleeds out, during which it sort of spasms a bit, and then it gets dunked in hot water to loosen the feather follicles and then put in the defeatherer and spun to get the feathers off. then it gets eviscerated, feet get cut off, head gets snapped off, the oil gland is removed from the tail area, and all the inside things get taken out, being careful not to break the bile sac. we only saved the hearts and livers, all the other intestines and parts are going deep into a compost pile in the pasture. it then goes into ice water to sit for a few hours. i watched this process but did not participate. we also give the chickens some thoughts and thanks before we start the processing, and try to honor that life is being taken.

i did end up participating in "quality control." we take the birds out of frozen water and then finish up defeathering the straggling feathers, then package into plastic bags and dunk to vacuum seal, then put everything into the fridge. tomorrow we will transfer to the freezer. it was interesting to chat about the processing and the meat and learn some stuff from our animal husbandry manager! apparently sometimes we have a ranch session talking about how the muscle/body use of the bird impacts the way you might want to cook it. slide also sometimes processes ducks and lamb, but chickens are the main thing. we arent using too many right now since many of the residents are not meat eaters and the farm to table dinners are on pause, but some of the chickens will be used for the wedding on sunday! (2 staff members getting married on the ranch, super exciting!!)

im glad i got to participate in the process a bit, and wonder how it would be different if i was more of a meat eater or not. i felt comfortable with what i did, but i dont think i would be able to do the actual kill cut. and hearing about the lamb situation, i think i would struggle more to watch that process. still ruminating about it all.

in other news, i guess ive been on a dairy kick lately? i made whipped cream on saturday and then tried to do a cheesy dutch baby today, but it didnt puff much despite extra milk and special eggs! probably bc i used whole wheat flour. oh well, still yummy
























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