“How can you kill something you raised?” well let me tell you

That is a question I get by everyone when they find out I actually eat chickens and turkeys I have raised. 

In a previous post I gave a brief explanation of how this is done I have made a few adjustments after a few processing's now. 

Start with a building a fire; you will need this later.

Put a huge pot of water on to boil.

Get your bird.

Hang a rope from a tree limb.

Tie the turkeys legs together and hang him upside down.

 

This will freak him out for just a few seconds, then he will calm.  This is my preferred killing position; they do not flop on the ground and bruise the meat.

Next take a super sharp knife and cut the veins on each side of the neck. Only the veins try to miss the fingers.

 

Give them a few minutes to bleed out. 

Put the turkey in a wash tub and pour hot water on it. 

I prefer this to dipping the bird, it seems to get the wing areas better.

Pluck the bird.

My photographer was pretty much grossed out at this point and pictures of removing the entrails would be too gross for some of my readers (and you know I’m politically correct). 

Remove the entrails, neck, feet, etc. and toss in the fire along with the feathers.

Otherwise your help will get them.  You don’t want them to get the taste of fresh blood.

 

That is Lucy, Sasha and Winston’s pup.

Once the bird is cleaned, soak in cold water to cool the temperature down.

Wrap in freezer paper, like the chickens pictured below

or put in the refrigerator and cook in two days as the turkey picture below.

Then kiss the cook!

ENJOY!

A Turkey's Lament...

When I was a young turkey, new to the coop,
My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop,
Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow,
And he told me there was something that I had to know;
His look and his tone I will always remember,
When he told me of the horrors of ..... Black November;
"Come about August, now listen to me,
Each day you'll be thick, where once you were thin,
And you'll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin.
"And then one morning, when you're warm in your bed,
In'll burst the farmer's wife, and hack off your head;
"Then she'll pluck out all your feathers so you're bald'n pink,
And scoop out all your insides and leave ya lyin' in the sink,
"And then comes the worst part" he said not bluffing,
"She'll spread your cheeks and pack your rear with stuffing".
Well, the rest of his words were too grim to repeat,
I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat,
And decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked,
I'd have to lay low and remain overlooked;
I began a new diet of nuts and granola,
High-roughage salads, juice and diet cola,
And as they ate pastries, chocolates and crepes,
I stayed in my room doing Jane Fonda tapes,
I maintained my weight of two pounds and a half,
And tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed;
But 'twas I who was laughing, under my breath,
As they chomped and they chewed, ever closer to death;
And sure enough when Black November rolled around,
I was the last turkey left in the entire compound;
So now I'm a pet in the farmer's wife's lap;
I haven't a worry, so I eat and I nap,
She held me today, while sewing and humming,
And smiled at me and said "Christmas is coming..."

Borrowed from a fellow member of http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/
Happy Thanksgiving!