Freezer Camp Day – September 1, 2019 @goldenoakfarm

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES!

Saturday was spent prepping for the potluck on Sunday. I pushed the kitchen island to the wall and used the small tablecloth to cover the blanket chest. I dug out extra bowls and plates and counted the silverware. I found an extra butter dish and salt and peppers for each table. Then I filled 5 water pitchers and put them in the fridge. After that I had to refill the Berkey, but after I’d moved it to the living room.

There were to be possibly 15 people coming and I had to seat them all in my tiny kitchen/dining room. We got all 3 leaves out for the table, and the big tablecloth. We pulled the repaired chairs out of the attic and from all over the house.

I could get 11 chairs around the big table by using all smaller chairs. I put the big chairs at the small table.

Last year I’d said I hoped we’d be in the big new dining room on the west side of the house for this meal this year. But alas… So I said MAYBE we’d be in the big new dining room on the east side next year….

I’d made a huge bowl of zoodles (zucchini noodles) in the afternoon, and had 4 jars of my spaghetti sauce to heat up. Plenty of Parmesan cheese in 2 shakers would be on hand. I made chicken meatballs and hamburger meatballs to complete the spaghetti and meatball meal.

I was up at 4AM on Sunday. I had to inventory the freezer, do the final set-up, and get to the butchershop for the final cleaning by 6AM. I made it, got it cleaned, set-up, and headed to the house for a shower and clean clothes. A balloon was just passing by the farm, going west to east (unusual!) as I went to the house.

We only had 2 new people this year, Jason and Krystle. They arrived at 8:15 hoping to do a culling workshop. So I collected my materials and we went and did that. They are hoping to raise heritage birds for eggs and meat and were very interested in what I had learned about that over the years.

My husband had been busy getting hot water to the barn in the scalder. This year he used the tractor instead of the truck, and had an easier time getting it on the gas burner. He set about getting the outside ready: cones up, water to the plucker, a large trash bag and buckets for the cones, and morning chores done.

Our scalding wizard and teacher, Tom, arrived with 3 of his kids and 2 of their friends. Our other teacher, Cindy, arrived shortly after.

Cindy and Arissa

Once we’d finished the culling workshop we started catching chickens. With all of us, and so many birds, we quickly filled both cages. We were checking each bird for a band because we needed 24 banded birds at the end: 6 for Tom and 18 for us for layers. These lucky birds were put in the coop as they were caught. I thought I had 27 banded.

Tallash and Wiley

Rosalie and Nick

Rosalie, Tom’s eldest and her boyfriend of a couple years, Nick, came a bit later. She brought a fresh baked peach pie for the potluck.

Arissa and Rosalie, Tom’s oldest 2 daughters

We use 2 crates as they will both fit in the back of our old Subaru wagon.

Back at the barn, the crates are put into the shade and Cindy supervises the cone killing.

Jason, Krystle, and Cindy. Krystle doing her first birds.

Arissa, Tallash, Jason, Krystle, Tom, Phoebe

Tom, our scalder wizard, teaches Tallash, Jason, and Krystle the fine points of scalding properly. A properly scalded bird makes everyone else’s life so much easier on down the processing line.

Once 3 birds are scalded, they are all run through the plucker that Tom built.

Phoebe, Tallash, Cindy, Tom

They are returned to the scalder to do their feet.

Phoebe with more Barred Rocks

Arissa with extra birds waiting their turn in the scalder

Miles and Arissa. Miles was designated photographer, most of these are his work with my camera.

Pam and Wiley, the handoff

I pretty much stayed in the butchershop, washing birds. My husband did most of the gutting. Phoebe came in early on and spent a lot of time learning how to gut. She did a GREAT job!

Arissa, Tallash, Cindy, Wiley

When Cindy wasn’t supervising the cones, she would gather helpers and catch more birds.

Tallash and Wiley

Tallash had wanted to come for the last 2 years, but didn’t make it for one reason or another. When offered the chance this year, she jumped on it! She didn’t come in and clean birds, but she did most other things.

Wiley, Jason, Krystle, Tom, Arissa, Tallash, Phoebe

Nick

Phoebe and Rosalie

Phoebe has always been helpful at these events, but this year she really came into her own. She slaughtered her first birds with her Dad’s supervision, and as I said, came in and learned to clean birds. We are very proud of her!

Phoebe, Tallash, and Wiley scalding feet

Tom and Arissa

Cindy and Wiley

Wiley, Tom’s youngest, is an excellent chicken catcher and transporter of naked chickens.

Phoebe with Australorps

With all the help, we finished up, including a brief cleanup of the butchershop, by 12:45 and sat down to a lovely meal. The menu:

Spaghetti zoodles with sauce and chicken or hamburger meatballs
Grits baked with cheese (Tom’s)
The best cantaloupe in New England thanks to Tom’s dad
Watermelon
Cindy’s bean casserole and corn chips
Goulash from Jason

We had a lovely time eating and visiting. Then a brief cleanup of the kitchen, and we headed out to separate Tom’s birds from mine.

The 3 sisters, Rosalie, Arissa, Phoebe

Rosalie, in addition to bringing a delicious pie, is also the photographer. She was very busy this year, catching birds, scalding and plucking. She has taught herself many skills, such as baking and cooking, sewing, costume design, and anything you want to know about The Little House on the Prairie and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Cindy is absolutely invaluable on the cones. She’s a very good teacher and a joy to have here each year. She’s also good at gutting birds, but didn’t do any this year. We so look forward to seeing her! Plus she brings delicious things to the potluck!

Nick has come for the last 3 years with Rosalie. He has become very proficient on the scalder and plucker.

Krystle came and helped me with the cleaning in the butchershop. She turned out to be a thorough and quick worker and we finished an hour earlier than I usually do. I so appreciate her help!

After the shop was done, I pulled the rest of the birds out of the cooling tubs and bagged them up. They will “hang” in the cold room until Wednesday, to tenderize. Heritage birds tend to be tougher than Cornish or other meat birds. We think this is because they aren’t stuck in tractors, but have a huge pen to run in all day. And run they do, all day long!

My husband had a lot to do with cleaning and bleaching all the equipment and getting it dried and put away. Tom had helped some with cleaning up all the feathers before he left.

In the end, we processed 66 birds, the 2 roosters going first. There were actually just 24 birds as layers and Tom went home with 3 Barred Rocks and 3 Australorps.

My new flock was 7 Barred Rocks and 11 Australorps. I had 1 Very Good bird, a Barred Rock, 6 Barreds at Good, and some Good Australorps and the rest mediocre.

We’d gotten a pullet egg 3 nights out of 4 in the days just before Freezer Camp and hoped that we had not butchered or given away that bird. It looks like we have her still as she sent up an egg last night. My husband took the board off the nestboxes in the pasture coop so she can find them and use them, instead of the ground or dustbox.

Freezer Camp is not over. On Wednesday we process the carcasses, cutting out the cuts we prefer. We work from the inventory, only doing as much as we will use in a year. We keep a few whole birds for the crockpot.

Then on Thursday my husband spends the day stripping carcasses for ground chicken. Next week I will make chicken stock for the whole year. Once that’s done, Freezer Camp is over.

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