Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[jajeanpierre]

Why do you feel the need to keep attacking this person?

Where did "attacking" come from?

I find wanton destruction of any life repugnant. Not everyone feels as I do, but I feel it so strongly, about it I feel obligated to question someone just shooting turtles. Turtles are under threat from the actions of humans. I would not consider my questioning someone's motives an attack. The only other comments I have made on this list that were not related to my growing the backbone to slaughter my own chickens were related to an older hen that a mother was asking for opinions on whether it would damage he son's psyche to slaughter. The son viewed the chicken as a pet. There have been no attacks, just differing opinions and perhaps values systems.

 

[ronott1]

That is quite an effort to refrigerate ! This year the heat wave is weird as the nights have been very crisp. No frost though. (Yet) I remember first moving to Tahoe from san Jose and the wonder of a completely new world led to a lifetime of silly newbie stories. Running from clouds of pollen, freaking out over unidentifiable bugs but mostly getting a grip on being prepared for unpredictable weather. Almost year round mornings are " refrigerated " temps.

Question: how long can we rest the chicken in the fridge? He is still totally stiff and it looks funky?

Rest for two days and brine using Alton Browns Brine Recipe.

Dinner tomorrow?.,

 

[jajeanpierre]

Rest for two days and brine using Alton Browns Brine Recipe.

Dinner tomorrow?.,

What's Alton Brown's Brine Recipe?

 

[Kassaundra]

This right here was part (b) of my husband's argument. With no refrigeration back then, how would they have rested them? If the processing-to-dinner table timeline was that short, then that would make a lot of sense.

I don't doubt any of the posts about eating / cooking so soon after processing makes it more tender to eat then trying to cook w/o resting, but in full rigor, however I can't even imagine myself WANTING to eat chicken right after processing!

 

[wlhtx]

I'm sorry and I know this is off topic, but why would you allow your son to just randomly shoot and kill turtles?  Turtles are having a lot of trouble surviving in the wild.  Part of the problem is that they are killed on the roads as they cross to find a place to lay eggs.  A university biology student recently did a study on turtle deaths and highways and used a fake turtle on the road.  He found that a significant number of people intentionally tried to hit the turtles.  I find it abhorrent that anyone would just randomly kill any animal for no reason other than they are there.  Did you eat the turtles?  Even snapping turtles have a place in the ecosystem.

As chickensooner mentioned, we kill the snapping turtles in our own personal pond because (a) there are a LOT of them, (b) we nearly lost the pond to the 100 year drought we had in East TX 2 years ago and many of the fish in this 3 acre pond died because the pond shrunk down to less than 20 circumference ft at its worst, (c) in order to reestablish the fish population in the pond, we have to thin out the snapping turtles that otherwise decimate the baby and juvenile fish population, and (d) there are turtles in our pond that are so big, we have lost baby ducklings and even goslings to them as the turtles will grab their legs while swimming, pull them under until they drown, and then eat them.

I understand your abhorrence to killing things needlessly, but in our opinion this is not needless. We do not kill the box turtles, just snapping turtles for the reasons stated above.

We (meaning my husband, not myself or our 6 yr old) also shoot all the wild hogs that we happen to see on our property. We do not eat them, which I would imagine you would then classify those deaths as needless. However, the hogs (a) will destroy the surface area of the property, (b) have no real predator in this area that would naturally check their population growth, and (c) could and will severely hurt you if you run across one unarmed while walking through an area they are in (ever seen Old Yeller?).

 

[wlhtx]

I don't doubt any of the posts about eating / cooking so soon after processing makes it more tender to eat then trying to cook w/o resting, but in full rigor, however I can't even imagine myself WANTING to eat chicken right after processing!

I mentioned to my husband that someone said old hens (the one we are discussing processing is 9 yrs old) make the best stew hens - particularly someone mentioned chicken and dumplings. You know men, that got his mouth watering and he was ready to run with it.

 

[ronott1]

I mentioned to my husband that someone said old hens (the one we are discussing processing is 9 yrs old) make the best stew hens - particularly someone mentioned chicken and dumplings. You know men, that got his mouth watering and he was ready to run with it.

My Mom would be proud! She would tell us to go pick an old hen that was not laying(Of course we did the best we could with that) while she got the scalding water boiling.

Great memories of my childhood.

 

[sharron]

As chickensooner mentioned, we kill the snapping turtles in our own personal pond because (a) there are a LOT of them, (b) we nearly lost the pond to the 100 year drought we had in East TX 2 years ago and many of the fish in this 3 acre pond died because the pond shrunk down to less than 20 circumference ft at its worst, (c) in order to reestablish the fish population in the pond, we have to thin out the snapping turtles that otherwise decimate the baby and juvenile fish population, and (d) there are turtles in our pond that are so big, we have lost baby ducklings and even goslings to them as the turtles will grab their legs while swimming, pull them under until they drown, and then eat them.

I understand your abhorrence to killing things needlessly, but in our opinion this is not needless. We do not kill the box turtles, just snapping turtles for the reasons stated above.

We (meaning my husband, not myself or our 6 yr old) also shoot all the wild hogs that we happen to see on our property. We do not eat them, which I would imagine you would then classify those deaths as needless. However, the hogs (a) will destroy the surface area of the property, (b) have no real predator in this area that would naturally check their population growth, and (c) could and will severely hurt you if you run across one unarmed while walking through an area they are in (ever seen Old Yeller?).

 

[chicksooner]

As chickensooner mentioned, we kill the snapping turtles in our own personal pond because (a) there are a LOT of them, (b) we nearly lost the pond to the 100 year drought we had in East TX 2 years ago and many of the fish in this 3 acre pond died because the pond shrunk down to less than 20 circumference ft at its worst, (c) in order to reestablish the fish population in the pond, we have to thin out the snapping turtles that otherwise decimate the baby and juvenile fish population, and (d) there are turtles in our pond that are so big, we have lost baby ducklings and even goslings to them as the turtles will grab their legs while swimming, pull them under until they drown, and then eat them.

I understand your abhorrence to killing things needlessly, but in our opinion this is not needless. We do not kill the box turtles, just snapping turtles for the reasons stated above.

We (meaning my husband, not myself or our 6 yr old) also shoot all the wild hogs that we happen to see on our property. We do not eat them, which I would imagine you would then classify those deaths as needless. However, the hogs (a) will destroy the surface area of the property, (b) have no real predator in this area that would naturally check their population growth, and (c) could and will severely hurt you if you run across one unarmed while walking through an area they are in (ever seen Old Yeller?).

Hogs are terrible and what they can do to a piece of land in a short time is amazing. Open season on hogs.

 

[Kassaundra]

I mentioned to my husband that someone said old hens (the one we are discussing processing is 9 yrs old) make the best stew hens - particularly someone mentioned chicken and dumplings. You know men, that got his mouth watering and he was ready to run with it.

When I get a nose full of processing chicken smells, I can't eat them for a few days, and I'm a paramedic, I eat after some "amazing" smells! lol lol lol It isn't even that the smell is that bad (compared w/ my work smells) just extremely unappetizing.