This was our first year without our children in butchershop and it was a long, sad year. Our youngest, Lilllian, was by Justice’s side on the kill floor for many, many years. When she started she created this motley hazmat suit with a clear face shield (way before Covid), muck boots, long vinyl gloves and a full apron. Last summer she did it all in a t-shirt and Tevas! Hazel was in the clean side and helped out with bagging. Off to college on the east coast we felt the tug of adulthood from the two of them. Now, with both girls out on thier own, we had to find a new rthythm to the chores of raising and processing our birds.
Both have gone out in the world with the work ethic and clarity that a farm raised child can possess. Hazel lists the farm on her resume and it is certainly a conversation ice breaker, “You did what?!” Lillian has the confidence and bravada having worked the ‘dirty side’ of the abbatoir that most might shy away from.
So, it is Justice and me, and our friend Kelly (who has the quickest hands and calls our processing dates her therapy) to work through the season. We finished the final birds tonight, and tomorrow will scrub feeders and waterers before stowing away for the winter. We’ll move the houses to their winter confines (where I will go out and drive the snow off the domes even though there are no birds to shelter) and we’ll close up the shop for the season.
We hope you have a great winter and early spring. We hope the birds you purchased in support of our crazy farming practices will sustain you and nourish you whether as broth or tacos or a full roasted masterpiece. Our goal is and remains, simply, to feed people. Feed them really good food.
Thanks for letting us do this. Thanks for your support.
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