Saturday on the Homestead

It has been a very nice, very relaxed week.  Nevin has spent the last two weekends deer hunting.  This is the last weekend of rifle season, so he is gone for a few more days.  So far Ben got one during youth season, and Nevin got three last weekend.  Our freezers are filling up!  We did some processing this week, and for those who don't get all squeamish over fresh meat, here are picks from our activities!

Nevin and Ben, hard at work.  They cut up the meat out here, I package and label it inside.

Everyone gets in on the project.

I love having a full freezer, and I especially love that we have done it all ourselves.  Looking forward to some good eating this winter!

The Harvest is Plentiful

And in more ways than one this year.  This past year has been one of incredible growth for our family.  We've made changes in our church fellowship, began cementing long-thought-out ideas about what we believe, how God is leading us, what our family should be doing to learn and to serve God.  There have been some hard times, but mostly it has just been a trip through "What has God got in store for us now!" every day. 

I will delve more deeply into spiritual matters at some point, but for today, the harvest I am referring to is.....venison!  Yummy, lean, organic, venison.  You can't get any healthier meat than that which you harvested, cleaned and processed yourself.  This week we had another family over to process.  Nevin and our friend Dakota each got an 8 point buck last Friday.  After hanging for a few days, the meat was ready to processed, packed up and frozen, to await the day it becomes dinner!

It turned into a family shindig, with Dakota's mom and sister, and our boys participating in the fun.  We had some workers, quite a few watchers....and a successful evening.

If you freak out on seeing a butcher at work, don't look at the pictures.  If however, you get excited to see a family working together to provide for themselves, take a gander!



Nevin has this down to a science. He cuts all the meat to "custom order" for the chef (that's me!) - he does a wonderful job on hand-cutting some beautiful steaks for the grill.



Ben is in training here - first time to actually do any butchering.  He got his first deer two years ago.  And remember, I can log this as homeschooling!  Science or home ec????



Ben, Dakota and Nevin cutting up the pieces to be ground into burger.  We grind our own, and mix it with some ground pork.  Venison is so lean that the ground meat doesn't hold together well for burgers or meatloaf, so the pork really helps.



As the meat is cut up, all of us ladies take it in to rinse it off and wrap it and label it for the freezer.  So nice to have packages perfectly portioned out for our family meals!  While we were working we took breaks to eat chicken and dumplings and just enjoy each others' company and the pleasure of the harvest.

The freezer is filling up - such a satisfying feeling!





and then it is something more...

Got up sick again today.  Must.take.more.Dayquil.  Just a little cold, but it still seems to suck the life out of me.  Kids are much better, but I feel very fortunate to have gotten a big stack of educational videos and dvds at the library last week.  Lots of stuff for us to learn from, with limited effort from Mom.

Last night we had some fun, though.  We had another family come over and spend the evening while we processed the three deer Nevin got last weekend.  It was sort of like an old-fashioned bee, the kids off playing, the men in the garage where the cutting was going on, ladies washing and wrapping the meat inside.  Nevin explained to the kids how you cut the deer apart, all the different parts, etc.  Fun and you can log that as science, too!  Just like a field trip. 

Amazingly enough, after watching us cut up the deer, our friends did not want to take any packages home with them.  That's okay, they will come over soon and we'll roast a tenderloin and fry up a mess of venison nuggets and everyone will love it.

Tonight, as I am sick (have I mentioned that I don't really feel very well lately?) we are going to stay home and miss our fellowship.  Hate to miss it, but hate to share all the fun I am having, too.  I am going to make us some tasty venison nuggets for dinner, though.  So nice to have fresh meat in the freezer again!

It's always something, you know....

Today is simply filled with adventures.  We got up this morning with several of us hacking and coughing, so we decided it was "school by video" day - we watched a dvd on government and part of a science video, then just did some reading and read aloud stuff.  Tomorrow will be better.  I hope!

Joe and Henry were in a turmoil because a couple of the chicks were getting pecked.  For those who are not hip to chicken behavior, occasionally a couple chicks will get pecked on their rears until it draws blood, and then the rest of the flock will jump in on it.  This can really injure, even kill, a chick.  It was recommended that I put axle grease on the wound, so it would taste bad.  I don't think I have any of that.  Vaseline?  No, not that either.  But ......to the rescue, that fabulous product with now a million and ONE MORE uses - Mary Kay Extra Emollient Night Cream!  Washed them off, rubbed it on their little behinds, and no more pecking.

And they smell nice and will have just the softest behinds!

We are now getting ready to process the three deer The Hunter got last weekend.  Some friends are coming by to learn how to process deer, and just to share in the general merriment.

Life around here is something different every single day!