Processing......is still Hard.

Today is the day after Processing Day. The chicken yardgates and the coop doors are open. Feeder trays and waterers are in a row-all rinsed. It is pretty empty and quiet. No fat hens clucking, cooing, and squawking. The sunshelters are knocked down until next year. Today the yard is drying in the sunshine. In the mornings when I opened the coop door they would come running out, flapping their wings for lift and speed, and squawking to rejoice the morning and a full grain feeder tray. There I am laughing at them. Thank you birds for what you have given me.

Yesterday, one at a time the birds were carried to the cages in the trailer. We tarped the cages and drove to the Processing Facility. The workers were ready for us and the birds were taken care of for us. Saying butchered is hard. But reality. I needed good healthy food and I raised these chickens for that purpose. I gave these chickens the best non-gmo feed mix I could buy. I did what I could to keep them healthy and fit. My friends and family deserve good food. I am so glad I can do this for them and for me. It is just harder than going to the Supermarket and picking up a tray of chilled meat. So like the Chippeau Indians, I say, 'Thank you chickens for giving me life.'

We all live with a life and death cycle. I feel it and see it all around me out here. The woods, fields and slough and filled with life cycle/ preditor-prey relationships. It is just the way it is. All the plants and animals out here end up being food or shelter for something else. But in the meantime, flowers bloom, fawns run in the field and hawks float on the wind. In the city we controlled it and I didn't see it working. This country life is hard and at the same time it is beautiful. I am lucky to be transplanted here..... Lucky to be living in this real world of sky, soil and Nature. Thank you for letting me share this bit of my heart.