6-30-12 Blueberries & Butchering

by Tori

Things have been a little hectic around here lately. Thursday was relatively calm, but extremely HOT. Jesse and Jacob got the entire sub-floor on so now no one can fall in. Mom is really glad for that. Thursday around 4:00 we discovered that the meat chickens had ran out of water and 7 were dead. We butchered 5 on the spot because they wouldn’t have lived. Friday was very busy with mowing and trimming our yard (which is half-dead due to heat and drought), lots of kitchen work making food for the weekend, and cleaning. Friday was also Mom’s birthday so she and Dad went out for supper and to do errands. While they were gone Jesse took 5 kids to get blueberries and Levi, Jake, and I stayed home and did a few things. After Jesse got home we washed and laid out the blueberries to dry. About then Dad and Mom got back and we sang for awhile. This morning Kate and I got up and started bagging blueberries first thing. That only took a half hour and then we went out to help with the chickens. We did the 40 biggest chickens, leaving the rest to grow awhile.

The floor.

Staying cool Thursday.

Guys in the kitchen…

Self-photo.

Banjo Ben.

The chicken operation.

Everyone gets to help.

Love Sarah’s expression.

We were glad Dale and Meg wanted to learn how to butcher.

Dad made Josh’s day when he let him put a chicken in his favorite truck (which was thoroughly cleaned just for this exercise). This truck actually has a name. It is ‘Toughest Mighty,’ which actually came from a Tonka computer game.

Gutting.

Ready to cut into pieces.

Josh and Maria helped too.

“We love Smoothie-pops.”

Sarah got to hold Hanna, which made her happy.

Levi worked from 5 – 9 but was back in time to help cut.

Carcasses ready to bag.

Jewel’s turn for Hanna.

Bagging.

Finished!!!

And the blueberries.

That’s all; thanks for reading!