Circle of Life (no graphic pictures or details)

Slaughtering the animals yourself is one of the more challenging parts of raising your own food. My husband and I are meat eaters so for us it is a fact of life. However, I also feel it's necessary because sometimes the best option is to end an animal's suffering. I've been in that situation once; it involved a raccoon, an open coop door and a shriek at 3am that I'll never forget. At the time we had 2 hens, and one survived. She also took a bet that the door that those other animals went through (the dogs, cats and big chickens who can get to all the food!) had something great on the other side. From that night on, she refused to sleep outside.

Every night at dusk she came to the back door and tapped, tapped, tapped until we opened the door, brought her to the dog crate and put her to bed. The sheet went over the crate and she went to sleep. She didn't make a peep. Each morning we lifted the sheet and back out she went. 

I relay this story because I think it highlights the kind of attitude we have towards our animals. There is no doubt that they are for food, but we also enjoy their lives up to that point. We have animals who like to be touched, who pretty much come when they are called and, we hope, enjoy their lives up to that last point as well. 

Being part of the slaughter and cleaning actually makes me enjoy the meat I eat even more. For me, there is an intimacy and reverence that comes with sacrificing this animal's life to help satisfy one of my most basic needs. I don't enjoy it, but I do find it to be centering and humbling. 

That time came again a few weeks ago for our geese and one of the ducks. With 4 male ducks and 1 female ducks we were asking for aggression issues, and knew we would have to cull at least one. The geese never settled in the way I had hoped after their journey and we decided since they weren't laying and weren't relaxed anymore that we would cull them also. The three most important things I learned from processing geese and ducks: 

• Geese are strong and as such have a stronger nervous system after they are dead. Be aware of this as you hang them to bleed. 

• We found that dry plucking was the way to go with the geese and ducks. It's tedious work, and I will never again question the cost of a down item. Although I was surprised at the quantity of feathers we were able to save!

• Plucking by hand is not an all at once job with ducks and geese, especially if you dunk them first. Before cooking these guys will need to cleaned again. 

Our female duck continues to lay an egg an a day, and they continue to be fertile. We are working on getting the gardens going so we are definitely not incubating any, perhaps in the spring. The three seem happy together and we are glad they like their new digs! Their large pond is still on hold until we figure out the lining, but they definitely enjoy not sharing their pools as much! There are few things in life as great as a freshly filled pond and puddles!