What a way to spend Spring Break!

When people think of spring break they think of beaches, mountains, lakes, pools, or a theme park. My husband thinks of working--in the way of processing chickens! I am such a lucky girl let me tell you.  To give him credit, it is about the only time that the two of us are off of work where we can work together to get things done.   So, our plan was to knock out the processing of the chickens on Monday and then enjoy the rest of the week--that didn't happen at all!  

Because we are having to store so much meat, we decided to build a room around a walk in freezer where we could process everything and keep it in one place.  Well, needless to say, the freezer nor the room was up and running by Monday. Thank goodness because I forgot to order a very important part of our processing--the bag clips!  I was saved by the freezer not working!  Maybe we would be able to start on Tuesday-- Not so much!  This is what I did on Tuesday while we were waiting for a part on our freezer to come in:

Me drilling through to put plumbing together.

So Wednesday finally rolled around and we were ready to start.  

The killing cones were in place and the "whizbang chicken plucker" was ready to go. It was just David and I to do every step.  We were able to process and bag the first 100 chickens on Wednesday--it only took us 8 1/2 hours.  It seemed like FOREVER!.  

Then Thursday came and so did the help-our neighbors stopped by to help us catch and clean chickens, while my father in law helped process and bag.  Thank goodness for them because we were able to do a little over 100 chickens in 4 hours!  

So now we have plenty of whole chickens for sale. Please email us to let us know if you would like some. We will also be selling them at the local farmers markets. Can't wait to see you there!

Pickling Eggs

I thought that I would use something that we had plenty of so I could try and try again until it was perfect---so I used EGGS since we have SO many of them. 

The first part is the most boring part-boiling eggs! If you have never boiled an egg then here is a quick tip: Bring the eggs to a boil. When there is a rolling boil, shut off the heat and let them sit for 10 minutes.  Oh, also, don't use freshly laid eggs. It is best to use eggs that are about 5-6 days old.  After they have sat for 10 minutes, remove them from the hot water and place them in cold water.  I will usually put mine in the fridge after this point and then peel them the next day. 

So back to the pickling. Go ahead and sterilize the jars and lids (don't use the Windex-it was on the counter when I took the picture). I used the really big jars because I had so many eggs--have I mentioned that we have LOTS of eggs!

Your eggs should look like this. 

I then used a really simple recipe for pickling: 1 cup of water, 2 cups of vinegar, 1 tablespoon of pickling spice, and a tablespoon of minced garlic w/ a bay leaf added in. Bring that to a boil. (this does about 4 dozen eggs-so I doubled it)

After you pack your eggs in the jars, you should pour the vinegar mixture to the top of the jar and seal it. Don't they look beautiful! (Not sure how they taste yet!)

At this point, you can go ahead and "can" them by placing them in a large pot of boiling water to can them or you can put them in the fridge if you don't take the canning route.  After about 5-7 days, they are ready to taste!  I hope you enjoy!