Day 11: Aunt Linda's and the GRAND SLAUGHTER!!!

 

It began as a normal day at the farm...

Weedwacking the weeds...

Stomping on those weeds which were too close to the corn for the weedwacker to get to...

Samuel, Mom, Aunt Beth, and Tabitha worked on the corn 

We had an interesting conversation about, what was it? GCI, CGI? ICG??? Seriously, I think it was CGI but I'm not sure. Way too many words, something about graphics? Toodles! 

Mom and Tabitha, full of dirt and sweat. It was a beautiful day to work on the farm though. Not too hot, not too cold.
Thanks for the picture Samuel! 

Momma's taking Marshmallow and Cinnamon for a run! 

Ah yes, now here comes the highlight of the day.



This was the cousin Micheal's job.
In an effort at discernment we cropped this picture to be sensitive to our viewers. :)

We helped slaughter 26 of Aunt Linda's chickens!
It was cold and rainy, which was good because it kept the bugs away but we also froze when we were cleaning out the chickens because the water coming out was so cold! 

(although our hands stayed warm from sticking them inside the chickens to clean them out ;)

Chicken anyone??? 

Looks like a rubber chicken :/
For my part (Tabitha) I must say, the grossest part is the smell. I can deal with pulling out guts...kind of. But blood and offensive smell are intolerable. I just didn't want to be a wimp and back out. Now, I'm happy I'm not a wimp and I have this in my back pocket of experience.  So yes, it was disgusting, I am sensible to the fact that it was gross but I don't regret it and I might do it again.

Tabitha stuck her hand inside the first chicken she gutted and it squawked! 

At the gutting table

The worst part was the smell, 

I was very thankful it was cold that day because if it was hotter it would have smelled even more! 

Plucking chickens and meeting the Barton's cousins.
I felt like the pictures I've seen of Mom back in Portugal plucking chickens with her sisters! 

"Oh yeah, my girls are crazy" That's just too gross. 

Mom went home and made us dinner. :)
As we were slaughtering chickens Aunt Linda and the Barton's cousin Michael told us that we didn't want to have chicken for dinner that night, we went home and guess what Mom had made for dinner? CHICKEN! Some of us had no compunctions about eating it, but I forced myself to ingest as much as I could and even then couldn't finish my dinner. Unfortunately raw chicken and cooked chicken smell exactly the same. :/ 

Look at these kids faces, they were so disgusted. 

Pluck, pluck, pluck
We were able to experience one part of life for a pioneer women, but for them it was a part of every day life.  

Giblets anyone? No really I'm sure, it's just for you! ;) 

We were not looking forward to going home and taking a bath in the cold lake, but Aunt Linda was kind and thoughtful to offer us a hot shower, which we were very happy and thankful to accept!
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So there you have it. Our life changing experience. I will never look at or eat a chicken the same way again. I have been drastically and permanently scarred for life! Stephanie's life long dream has come true, I know I'm not a wimp, Mom knows she has interesting daughters and all of our friends can look with disgust at this post and say I can't believe they actually did that.
Hope you enjoyed today's post!
See you tomorrow to celebrate Cindy's Birthday!