Now is the time of year when I love being in Arizona. The temperatures are fantastic, the star-filled skies can be enjoyed, and inspiration to be outside working on projects takes over. This is my favorite time of the year. Even when I lived on the east coast, fall was always appreciated.
On the ranch we have at least half a dozen turkeys that are ready to be processed immediately. Twenty or so broilers will, with good maintenance, reach a nice weight by the second week of November. One of the lambs is already at the University of Arizona Meat Lab, and will be ready to pick up in the next week. I have a plan A and a plan B in regards to the poultry. Plan A is to process at home. Plan B is to take the birds to U of A.
In order for plan A to go into effect, I must accumulate the equipment necessary for the job. I have the knife. I have the experience, but that is it. I still need a cone to humanely kill the birds, a very large pot for scalding, and buckets for offal, and a very important part of both plan A and B is the freezer in which to put the birds. I have done several hours of research looking for the various items on line, and have come to the conclusion that things are so over-priced. The killing cone large enough for the turkeys, I will have Donald fashion out of sheet metal. I will probably need a large and a medium sized for the different sized birds. The best prices that I have found for these range from $40-60. I find that ridiculous, but I suppose if someone didn't have someone like Donald they may have to pay for the expertise in constructing one. I must say that I never take Donald's abilities for granted. He is amazingly creative and effective in designing and building just about everything. If only he had more time on the ranch...
I continue to look for a very large scalding pot. For the start of this endeavor, I intend to spend the least amount of money as possible. I have never been one to shell out the bucks for something new only to find that I have no further interest and then the materials go in a shed or closet, until a charity run is made. The scalding pot may be my biggest expense. I am looking into the possiblity of using a 55 gallon barrel cut to a reasonable height (by Donald), that will be set upon a gas burner that we already have. The water will be heated in this in order to loosen the feathers for plucking.
There are all kinds of feather pickers available, but I will not invest in one until I know that I will try this again or that plucking all those birds by hand is too laborious. I do know that I need to restock my latex glove supply. I learned from my neighbor before last year's turkey processing that the gloves protect the hands from a lingering smell of poultry innards. That is one of my mom's memories from her younger years on the family farm.
I have a large chest that I will fill with chilled water for the final rinse and I think I will look into purchasing some sealing bags for the birds. I have one of the heat sealers, but the bags I have will definitely not be large enough for the turkeys.
After last year's Thanksgiving Turkey Jerky disaster.... I will try out a turkey before Thanksgiving to avoid embarrassing myself again and ruining one of my favorite holiday meals. I have learned a few tips that should eliminate the problems that I had. I am very hopeful I get it right this year.
In anticipation of our lamb meat, I have been looking for recipes for all of the different cuts we have ordered. I have a terrific lamb chop recipe, but have many more to decide upon. The lamb was 80 lbs on the scale, so we expect somewhere around 40 lbs of meat in the end.
Our pastured broilers are ravenous grass eaters. I am moving their chicken tractor two times a day now. I supply them with an organic crumble feed and they have all remained healthy. The importance of the green food for animals is disregarded in so many settings. The green or chlorophyll detoxifies the animals system, allowing for a healthy immune system. The fact that they are consuming the grasses also cuts down on the expense of the grain. I wish we had a mill that provided organic feed here in Arizona. Currently, the closest is California, so the added expenses of trucking is tacked onto the cost of feed. And we are not able to order large amounts to reduce the cost.
I will have to select a breeding trio from the Freedom Rangers that I will use for future re-supply of meat birds. I am counting on the next couple weeks to reveal which are cockerels and which are pullets. I am not sure Emma will be enthusiastic to help me with this task, as she is not interested in the meat production aspect of chicken rearing. I will go forward alone....and with luck pick what I need.
Elsewhere on the ranch, we have the last Bermuda grass cutting to do this weekend. We should be able to provide all our clients with their orders for the winter and put up enough for us. We are determined to get the winter pastures in for our horses grazing. But we will have to wait till spring to reseed the fourth fields with Bermuda. We have not ordered seed yet and have been so busy with all of the demands of ranch and family that we are behind on our list of things to do.
I haven't given up on the tilling of the garden, but can't allow myself to focus on it until we take care of other priorities. We have the underground plumbing operational to the garden again, but I will be patient. I really would like to plant the vegetables and herbs that we consume regularly. I love being able to go out and pick what I need as I am preparing meals.
The horses are being ridden more and more, especially with the wonderful weather. Erin has been inspired to work on reorganizing the barn again. We still so many projects within the barn; electric, plumbing, dry wall, flooring. If we could just get enough time or find someone to hire to take care of some of these projects, we might be able to see more progress. It is so frustrating at times, but I have learned patience is the only way for me to keep my sanity.
October has been fabulous. I am hoping the weather continues into November. That would be lovely.
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