Doing the deed...again

Well, now that my head is clear and I haven't posted anything for a few days, my mind is exploding with things to write about.  Funny how that works. 

Last Sunday, Beth and I took a break from work and ventured out to Easthampton to do some work at Mockingbird Farm.  What kind of work you ask?  We worked the "chicken line."  This means we helped slaughter, eviscerate and bag the chickens for sale.  I have done this work before but never to sell, only for personal use.  I have to say that the process was pretty efficient, start to finish.  All the work is done on a mobile poultry processing unit that is available for rent.  Pretty cool.

First, the chicken is killed with an electric knife which shocks the bird so the bird doesn't feel the cut.  This is to prevent stressing of the chicken and is actually a very humane method of slaughter.  Then the bird is sent through a hot bath to loosen the feathers at the skin.  The next step is to defeather. Normally this is very time consuming, crappy job, but this fine unit had a tumbler that did all the defeathering in minutes...seconds even.  Then we put in work removing the viscera and organs, reserving everything that Pete could sell.  After the guts are removed, the bird is quickly iced down and eventually tagged and bagged.  All the parts that can get sold are packaged, weighed and labeled.  All the other parts are composted on the farm. 

This was a very cool process to be a part of, especially because of the attitude of all involved. Pete was very laid back, joking around and rocking out to a little White Snake blasting on the radio.  I think he set the general tone for everyone to work by.  Sure this was a very essential and slightly discerning act we were taking part in, but it's farming.  This is his farm and he makes it fun and interesting.  I respect that and it is why I love going out to Mockingbird.  That and I always leave with a cooler or two of delicious meats to cook, be it at the restaurant or at home.  It was very inspiring as well.  After being a part of the process the only way a felt comfortable preparing the chicken was a simple roast bird...