Do you struggle with anxiety? Do you struggle with negative thoughts and fears? Are you dealing with all this internal turmoil while attempting to build a relationship with someone special? Many of us answer yes to these questions. Some of us were blessed with a picturesque childhood with great role models and strong examples of how to deal with life. Others not so much. Regardless of your childhood, anxiety can affect you. You then have a choice: let this terrible feeling control me, or I will control this terrible feeling. There really isn't anything in the middle. The other day, a friend asked me if it is normal to have such bad anxiety that you vomit? My short answer was, yes, that is bad. Then I asked some follow up questions. Sometimes panic sets in for good reason. That is what I intended to ascertain. Was there a legitimate cause for this attack? It turned out that, in my not so humble opinion, there was not a good reason. My friend has a girlfriend. She has not been delt the best hand. With a mother that does not provide comfort or assurance and a father that would appear to be completely subservient to his wife. Throughout her life, it has been one stressful situation after another with parental units degrading her self esteem on an hourly basis. It almost appears that shitting on their daughter is a hobby. This girl is crazy about her boyfriend. Grateful for how kind he is and just all around smitten. My friend did grow up with good parents that supported him and built his confidence during his childhood. The boy's parents gave constant examples of how to build a strong relationship and support each other, showing affection and affirmation on a daily basis. The reason for the panic attack: Fear of a breakup. An irrational and emotional fear that appears to be based on all the examples from her childhood of people leaving her. What do you tell them? How can this situation be softened. I can relate. I too suffered anxiety and overbearing negative thoughts. Fortunately for me, I have a great deal of life experience to lean on in moments of doubt. With that experience comes the ability to look at situations and judge them logically. I have also sat through many therapy sessions that helped teach me to deal with stressful situations. My parents were both narcissistic. Mother an immature narcissist and father a sociopathic narcissist...talk about having the perfect examples of what not to do in life. Also, by the age of two, my mother and all her family despised my father; for good reason. My mother's mother referred to me as devil spawn. Not entirely wrong, but still incredibly difficult for a 5 year old to process. That is one example of the level of vociferous opinionated people that were in my family...they all adored a heavy verbal confrontation. Specifically on the topic of relationship fears, I was once a clingy mate filled with self doubt and fear. Much of this was based on my lack of positive support as a child and many examples of people that developed close relationships with me going away. Second to that was the argumentative nature of my family...very italian. Whether moving geographically or spiritually, those that really took care of me all went away. The girl I fell in love with was never able to share her feelings. Nothing was ever wrong. There were no problems at all. Everything was great. It was all bullshit. She had her crosses to bare just like everyone else. Some of which were incredibly heavy. It was the inability to share these troubles that was incredibly debilitating for me. I just could not understand how someone could keep everything bottled up inside? How big the relationship problems must have been to need to hide them. This engulfed my mind constantly for over a decade. What is wrong? Did I do something to hurt her? And with every, "nothing is wrong," the rabbit hole of despair would get deeper sending me into panic and despair. Often begging for the truth of what the issues were. Still, being so crazy about her, there was nothing to do but fight the problems. With time, constant reassurance, and a bit of professional counseling, she emerged a strong woman able to truly connect to my soul. But this isn't a post about me. Maybe some of that narcissism is genetic. Still I share to point out that I do have an understanding for the causation and the cure. Knowing the cause is half the battle, but only the lesser half. Learning how to overcome the issues and not let them control us is the larger half. Logic is the most important thing...fight the fear with clear logic. Approach the problems from the stance that we are being irrational and need to look at the situation as a spectator. "If this was my friend, how would I counsel them" The scenario here is that we have an emotionally charged female in a positive relationship but lacking the confidence to believe it is deserved or likely to be evergreen. Everyone else has left so why wouldn't this person leave me too? Well, we must affirm to ourselves that the actions of one is not indicative of the actions of another. Just because the last boyfriend tossed me to the curb like a moldy donut, does not mean that all others will do the same. Next we must accept whatever legitimacy there is to our fears. Lets face it, relationships come and go. Some of them become forever, but tomorrow is promised to no one. We must logically accept, especially early in life, that a relationship might end. We must also factor in that there are generally signs when we are moving toward a relation-shit. It is rarely without warning. Of course, if you choose an untruthful mate, then there may not be any signs. I happen to know my friend is a truly honorable man. He would not lie to his girl. He is also a fairly quiet man. The type of guy that will not share his deep feelings openly. If he fears you will not like the answer, he wont answer, but he will not lie. His girlfriend should recognize this. I believe deep down she does know this to be true. If logic were at play, we would not be discussing this at all. But, alas, this is an emotional state we are discussing. The voices scream inside that she is not good enough for him, that she has no attractive qualities and he has simply settled until someone better wanders past. At no point has this man provided any examples of this behavior but that does not really matter. The subconscious just knows he wont stay. How does one battle this self-doubt? Many brain studies have been done that show how our brain develops. They have shown how suggestive our subconscious is. They have shown how we create rhythms of thought that are very difficult to change. Nobody wants to do the work to correct negative thoughts and doubt. Nobody believes they can retrain their brain. It takes a tremendous amount of energy to fight negativity on a moment by moment basis. Every single time a negative thought enters our mind, we must immediately tell ourselves they are not true and immediately provide a positive thought. Ex: "I am not good enough. He will leave me." This must be countered with something like, "Troy, you are good enough and she is crazy about you." Every time. No matter what else is happening, these negative thoughts must be battled against. There is also something about talking to yourself by name. This was a method I read in a book. It does work. Somehow it subconsciously separates us from ourselves. We must then follow up this affirmation with some examples of how your mate has shown their care for you. "They must really care about me...remember how he served me dinner and cleared my place." And, that smile he gave me in the car...that was true happiness that he gains from me. This is the long process of rewiring your brain. Synapses have habits. They can be negative. They can be positive. If you are stuck in negative brain, you must exercise positivity. This will be the long game. In the short term, we can practice breathing exercises like box breathing, and replacing the troubled thoughts with happy thoughts, like puppies. This is not an easy thing, especially without being educated on how to approach such problems. There is another uncomfortable detail that we should mention. Negative thoughts beget negative actions. Meaning if we constantly tell ourselves that something bad will happen, something bad will happen. It will become a self-fulfilling prophesy. Really what happens in relationships is the mate will eventually get tired of "proving" their love. If every time you have the belief that your mate will vacate, eventually they will realize that all their effort is for nothing...no matter what they do, their mate still believes they will leave, it becomes painful and untenable. That partner will go and find someone that can accept them at face value and not force them to continually prove themselves. A relationship must be based on trust and faith. You must have faith that your special someone cares for you and will be there for you. You must trust your mate until they give you specific reason not to trust them. To enter into a relationship with the overwhelming assumption that your other will hurt and lie to you, It will happen. In most cases, those that enter on faith and believe in trust will thrive. Not to mention, who wants to live in fear and misery. Focus on the positives and move forward as a team. Share your thoughts and fears. Share the worst of you with them and allow yourself to have faith it is good and will be good. Hide nothing. Share every terrible thought and then believe your mate when they answer your fears. Do not discount their response. Believe it. Tell yourself repeatedly that they are honest with you and carry on.

Though it pains me to admit it, the AI did a really good job writing this post. I don't imagine I will use it often, however it is interesting to see what it wrote. Butchering a sow can be a rewarding yet challenging process. After a recent butchering session, I ended up with 112 pounds of cuts, 30 pounds of grind scraps, and 40 pounds of fat. This experience opened my eyes to the importance of using every part of the animal efficiently. This post explores how to maximize the value of all parts of a sow, focusing on sustainable meat usage and practical tips for home butchers and meat enthusiasts. Understanding the Breakdown of a Butchered Sow When you butcher a sow, the meat you get can be divided into three main categories: Cuts : These are the prime portions like chops, roasts, ribs, and shoulders. They make up the bulk of the edible meat. Grind scraps : Smaller pieces and trimmings that are ideal for ground meat products such as sausages, burgers, or meatloaf. Fat : Often overlooked, fat is a valuable resource for cooking, rendering into lard, or making charcuterie. In my case, the 112 pounds of cuts represent the main meals, while the 30 pounds of grind scraps and 40 pounds of fat offer opportunities to create diverse products and reduce waste. Maximizing the Cuts: Choosing and Preparing Prime Portions The 112 pounds of cuts from the sow include a variety of options. Here’s how to make the most of them: Identify the best cooking methods : Different cuts require different approaches. For example, pork shoulder is perfect for slow roasting or braising, while loin chops are great for grilling or pan-frying. Trim smartly : Remove excess fat or silver skin to improve texture and flavor but keep some fat for moisture. Portion for convenience : Cut large roasts into manageable sizes for freezing or sharing. Use marinades and rubs : Enhance flavor and tenderness, especially for tougher cuts. By understanding each cut’s characteristics, you can plan meals that highlight the meat’s best qualities and avoid waste. Turning Grind Scraps into Flavorful Ground Meat The 30 pounds of grind scraps are a treasure trove for homemade ground meat products. Here are some ideas: Sausages : Mix grind scraps with fat, spices, and herbs to create fresh or cured sausages. Experiment with flavors like garlic and fennel or spicy chorizo. Burgers and meatballs : Combine with breadcrumbs, eggs, and seasonings for versatile dishes. Pâtés and terrines : Blend with liver and spices for rich, spreadable treats. Freezing in portions : Store ground meat in small packages for easy meal prep. Using grind scraps this way ensures nothing goes to waste and adds variety to your meals. Rendering and Using Fat for Cooking and Preservation The 40 pounds of fat from the sow can be transformed into lard, a valuable cooking fat with many uses: Rendering lard : Slowly melt the fat over low heat until it liquefies, then strain and store in airtight containers. Cooking with lard : Use for frying, baking, or roasting to add flavor and crispness. Making soap or candles : Traditional uses for rendered fat that reduce waste. Charcuterie applications : Incorporate fat into sausages or pâtés for moisture and richness. Rendering fat is a simple process that extends the value of the sow beyond just meat. Pork cuts and rendered lard ready for cooking Practical Tips for Sustainable Meat Usage To get the most from a butchered sow, consider these practical tips: Plan meals around the cuts : Use tougher cuts for slow cooking and tender cuts for quick meals. Label and date all packages : Helps with inventory management and reduces spoilage. Use bones for broth : Don’t discard bones; simmer them for rich stock. Preserve excess meat : Freeze or cure to extend shelf life. Share or trade : If you have more than you can use, share with friends or trade for other foods. These steps help reduce waste and make your meat supply last longer. Creative Recipes to Use Every Part of the Sow Here are some recipe ideas to inspire you: Pulled pork from shoulder : Slow cook with spices until tender and shred for sandwiches. Homemade breakfast sausage : Mix grind scraps with sage, salt, and pepper, then form into patties. Lard biscuits : Use rendered lard in place of butter for flaky, flavorful biscuits. Pork cracklings : Fry leftover fat pieces until crispy for a tasty snack. Pork bone broth : Simmer bones with vegetables and herbs for a nourishing soup base. Trying new recipes encourages full use of the animal and adds variety to your meals. Benefits of Using Every Part of the Sow Maximizing cuts and grind leftovers offers several benefits: Sustainability : Reduces food waste and respects the animal. Cost-effectiveness : More value from your purchase. Flavor and nutrition : Fat and scraps add richness and nutrients. Skill development : Enhances butchering and cooking knowledge. Culinary creativity : Opens doors to new dishes and preservation methods. Embracing the whole animal approach supports a more responsible and enjoyable meat experience.

Processing a pig is a rewarding challenge. Those of you raising pigs for meat sales, you must send your animal to USDA certified Slaughter and butcher houses. You are gonna pay around $5.00 per pound for them to do their thing. The only legal way to slaughter and butcher yourself and sell the meat is to have the customer take part. Ultimately, the customer is buying the live animal and you then assist them in the slaughter and butchering process. The theory is that as an active participant, you saw the process and approved of every aspect of the process in real time. Of course you can process your own animal and give away meat. That is fine. I must admit that I had never pondered why it is forbidden to sell what you process but it is absolutely fine to give it away? I highly doubt that paying for it makes the situation more likely to harbor food borne illness. I have discussed why we have meat inspected when processed, but if we the people cannot be trusted to safely process meat without an agent of the government watching when it is for sale, I would think the same laws would apply to all meat. This pig is for our freezer and our family only so the USDA situation does not apply, still it deserves a mention on any post regarding slaughter. This particular animal was a breading sow named Rosie. She was a great pig, a kuni kuni by breed, and a real pleasure to have on the farm. Rosie has provided us with a freezer full of pork for about five years with litters of up to 7 piglets. One or two litters a year. This year we breed her to our Berkshire boar with 2 cross breed piglets being produced. We also did a post earlier this year about the cross breeding project. After this birthing, Rosie started to show her age. She was not moving around much and had ultimately become too fat and heavy for her short legs. One must keep in mind that Kuni's are a pot belly pig and they can get too fat to move. It was clear that our options were clear. She had to move to the final stage of farm life for a pig...the freezer. Kunis are slow growing animals. Generally birth to slaughter is at least a year. We went up to two to get them built up with enough muscle mass to make it worthwhile. Most livestock in our country is harvested around 6 months of age with many among us refusing to eat meat from an animal that is more than a year old. I have found some legitimacy with Chickens on this topic, but all of the "older" animals I have eaten have been tender and delicious so I just don't buy into this theory that older animals are less enjoyable to eat. The morning of, I found her resting in the middle of her pen. I could have rousted her out of the pen and made her walk to a more convenient spot for me, however I did like this animal and thought it would be better for her to drop her where she lay. So that is what I did. A perfect shot with a 30-30 just below the ears. During the butchering, I took a series of photos for EMT class that will show the effects of a rifle round. I also confirmed that my placement was perfect, scrambling the brains and severing her spinal cord. The bullet wound section of the skull was saved for EMT class. Getting her out of the pen was the first challenge. I did not want to drag her through the muck and I did not have a straight pull out of the pen. I had to use a winch pulley to get her out. I attached the pulley to the gate post and ran the rope from the tractor through the pulley to Rosie. We still had the muck to consider. I rolled her onto a tarp and then did some fancy rope work. I pulled the rope past the pig to the far end of the tarp and tied the ends of the tarp with the rope. I then made a half hitch around a hind leg and tied the front corners of the tarp to the rope. Back to the tractor and pulled her up to the gate. I was worried that she would roll as I pulled but my tarp hammock worked great and she slid right up to the door. I was able to move the tractor a bit and remove the pulley and pulled the rest of the way out of the pen. Using Meat hooks with the tow hooks on the bucket, I hoisted her up and drove out back to our processing kitchen. There are three ways to begin this process. First is to dip the carcass into a vat of 160 degree water to loosen the hair. After the dip, all the hair is scraped off. Option two is to use a propane torch and blister the skin, then scrape off the burnt layer and hair. The third method is to skin the animal like any other animal. I chose to skin it. I do not yet have a tank big enough to dip a whole pig and nobody in my family really likes to eat the skin so I end up cutting it off. The other reason I skin our pigs is the fat. The Kuni kuni is a lard pig. Rosie had a fat layer 6 inches thick on many parts of her carcass. To keep the skin on and cook with such a thick layer of fat is not appealing to me. Also, we use the lard to make soap and to fill our deep fat fryer. Getting below the skin is necessary with these pigs if you intend to use the fat for anything. Skinning is the longest part of the slaughter process. I hang the animal from the hind feet and begin skinning at the hind feet and quarters working my way around the animal, and from the top down. Many people stop at the neck, cut off the head, and dispose of it all together. Given that the pig cheeks are a delicacy, I skin all the way from ham to snout. As I am working, knowing that I will be disposing of the pelt, I cut finger holes in the skin. This allows me to pull the skin out effectively as I cut it away from the carcass. If we ever save hides for tanning, I will stop puncturing the skin. An important detail to focus on at the beginning is the anus and urethra. You don't want G.I. contents on your meat. I carefully cut the anus away from the flesh and reach in and either cut the connective tissue or just rip it away with my fingers. Once the large intestine is separated, I put a zip tie around it and pull it as tight as I can. Then push it through down to the pelvic cavity. Then continue with the skinning. Once the skin is free, it is time to remove the guts. Lacerate the abdominal cavity up top at the hind quarters. Make sure the intestine and the urethra and vessels are all disconnected from the frame. Now I place my hand inside the peritoneum and push the organs in, away from the peritoneum. All the intestines and stomach want to fall out and will press forward on your hand. Remember you do not want to puncture any part of the G. I. system. So keep your hand in there and carefully, and slowly, lacerate the lining all the way down to the breast bone. Prior to this step, I like to put something under the carcass to catch the guts. I have used wheel barrows, buckets, and the animal skin. This time I used the animal skin to land the yuck on. Keep in mind that there are some very delicious organs in there. What do I use? Liver Kidneys Pancreas Heart Lungs Many cultures eat the intestines as well...I do not. The liver is only delicious if you like liver or are dying of starvation. (explained in a previous post) I enjoy Liver and my daughters love liverwurst which is labor intensive to make, but worth it if you like it. I used to use the heart and lungs for Soffritto (also explained in another post) but over the past few years they have all gone to EMT Classes as they are virtually identical to human organs at a 1:1 ratio. Pancreas and Kidneys all go into my grind for sausage. The pancreas has a unique flavor which I do not enjoy on its own. Attached to the pancreas is a unique piece of fat that looks like lattice. I save this lattice and wrap a roast with it. The finished product looks amazing when presented at the table. Other oddities in the pig are the tongue and the cheeks. The tongue is gross. Many cultures find it to be a delicacy, but I just cannot eat tongue. I have added it to the grind in the past and it does good there. This time, I am using the undesirable bits for the next batch of dog food. I have had tongue prepared by others in the past and enjoyed it just fine, however having seen the tongue in action... Guancialli, pork cheek, on the other hand is quite possibly my favorite part of the animal. Tender meat with velvety soft fat swirling throughout, this is some of the best eating you will probably never experience in America. The problem with the cheeks is that it is labor intensive and time consuming to get the face meat. The skin and hair are thick. There are tons of little bone points that you must scrape the meat off of. The lips and jaw then pose an additional challenge. Still, after all the work, you will have two beautiful velvety pillows of heaven for your devouring delight. There are several ways to prepare, but I use the cheeks for pancetta (Italian Bacon) and other times I cure it like Capicola. If you are looking to learn how to slaughter and butcher animals, send us a message and we will teach you how.

A few interesting details: Farm Life Farm is not just a farm. We have a mission to share knowledge with our neighbors and clients. We are an educational farm. If you are searching the internet considering raising any sort of livestock, we can teach you how. We can also help determine if this is right for you. So many people that are squeamish or nervous, develop the ability to feed themselves after just a few hours with us. As I typed away on the chicken day post, I thought of a few things that pertain but are not directly related. When we slaughter an animal, there is quite a bit of wasted stuff. Nothing here is actually wasted. In the end we use almost everything, however the digestive system is of no interest to us. There are many people and cultures that value these parts. We choose to give the digestive system to the wildlife in our neighborhood. We have yet to see anything left the next morning. When we look at a chicken we have the following parts: Heads Necks feet gizzards Hearts/lungs Spleen Intestines At Farm Life Farm, we make every effort to use all parts of the animals we slaughter. If you make chicken stock or bone broth, you want the feet. The nutritive properties of chicken feet is incredible. They will add a great deal of flavor and nutrition. Many cultures use the feet in soups. I choose not to. We save the feet, freeze them and then add all of them to our bone broth. You can also dry them like jerky and give them to your dogs as treats. On the topic of bone broth, we actually save all our bones for broth. Whenever we butcher, the bones are bagged and thrown in the freezer. If we cook bone-in meat, those bones go in the freezer as well. When we are almost out of canned bone stock, whatever bones we have saved go into a 60 quart pot with onion, carrots, garlic, parsley, and salt. We cook it down until all the connective tissue on the bones falls apart. We strain the fluid out and pressure can it at 15Lbs pressure for 45 minutes. The last two batches, we used the bones and leftovers for dog food. We sifted through the stuff and pulled out all the big bones from the lamb and pork. All the small bones and bits of meat and connective tissues all go through our grinder on a large grind. Our grinder will pulverize an entire chicken carcass without issue. Some of the smaller lamb bones and bits of pork knuckle will grind along with all the rabbit bones. Anything larger goes to the dogs as chew toys or get thrown in the woods for the wildlife. We add cooked whole grain rice and broccoli and carrots which we also send through the grinder just for convenience. This mix is scooped into canning jars and pressure canned at 15Lbs for 45 minutes. If we have giblets, rabbit organs, or other animal organs, we will mince them as well and add them to the dog food mix. Other times, we will use fish. For example, this past summer our kids went deep sea fishing with Scouts and came home with 30 Lbs of Porgy. We have used some of it for fish sticks and more for dog food. The fish does make the dog food smell bad so my kids are reluctant to feed the dogs when it is fish food. We still feed kibble with the homemade dog food just so we don't have to calculate nutrient, vitamin, and mineral content. Years ago we had a sick dog that could not eat kibble. We would add vitamins and trace elements. Oh, why do we make our own dog food? Kibble is dead food. It is highly processed and lacks all enzymes which are destroyed in the making process. Our dogs are part of the family and I wont feed my children processed foods, why would I feed it to my dogs. The other reason is money. The scraps from our animals are already paid for. Why throw them away when the dogs are thrilled to eat it. Their coats get shiny. They have more energy. We also save the organs, but not the gizzards. I have done gizzards in the past, but it is messy and time consuming. If you have the desire, separate the gizzards from the intestines, split them open and clean out all the stuff; better yet, watch the homestead sisters on youtube. They do a great job showing how easy it is. Actually looking at their method, I just may keep the gizzards next slaughter day. The other chicken organs, we use for dog food. I used to save them for giblet stuffing, but I was the only member of the family that enjoyed it. The last two slaughters, I used all the giblets for dog food. If you want them for giblet stuffing, then vacuum seal them in serving size bags and chop them up while still partially frozen. Lets talk a bit about butchering. If you plan to slaughter and sell your birds, I would recommend keeping them whole. Remember to add the giblets to the bag as many people do enjoy a giblet stuffing. I normally keep two or four birds whole for roasting. This time, we slaughtered 9 birds and I cut all of them down to parts. The math worked out for all 9 birds to be butchered given our desire for "packs of six" for family dinners. In high school I worked at a little grocery store with a butchers counter. I worked with two top notch career butchers. Both of them taught me a great deal. Given that we would break down 2 cases of chicken each day, I did get a lot of practice. Both were named Mike, but one was a miserable drunk and the other was a really happy guy. Both of them seemed pleased to teach me. Happy Mike used to race me on chickens. Who could get the most done with the least lost or damaged meat. Safe to say I lost every day. I always start with the feet. Cut circumfixal around the joint and then break the joint and then cut through whatever tissue is still connected. I then cut off the wings and cut off the wing tips. Wing tips and feet into the broth pile. Next is the leg and thigh. Cut the skin and bend the leg away from the carcass. Cut along the bottom and go through the joint. I then bend the leg/thigh and find the joint and cut through. You can also leave the leg and thigh together as one piece. This is great if you are going to cook them on the grill or in the oven. Separate them if you are going to deep fry them. Then cut along the ribs and rip off the front half of the spine. Cut along the base of the breasts and severe the connections at the base of the wishbone on both sides which will separate the second half of spinal cord from the breast. Last time I cut the breasts free from the rib cage. This time I left the breasts on the bones. This was really just a time/shoulder saving decision. It might make for some interesting cooking options, but my real motivation was that peeling the breast off the bone is difficult. Though if you do, you can then separate the tenderloin from the rest of the breast...chicken tenders anyone, or maybe fajitas?

Raising livestock is an enjoyable task. Knowing that our family will have a self-sustaining food source is a powerful feeling. Knowing that the food they eat is nutritious and natural brings a great degree of accomplishment and pride to my soul. Part of raising your own food is transforming a living creature into food. This is a process that takes a lot of preparation and a touch of skill. Of course the goal is to cull the animal as quickly as possible. None of us want to see an animal suffer. The first bird I ever slaughtered: Did not go so well....I held the duck in place and attempted to cut its head off. Unfortunately my aim was terrible. I ended up slicing two arteries in my left index finger...it still does not bend properly. After this terrible event, Sarah and I created a much better method. I am going to describe our "chicken Kitchen" and all its components. Then I will go over the process of processing the birds. It all starts with the killing cone. You can buy killing cones on the internet or at your local seed and feed store. If you happen to keep rolls of flashing around, you can create one in about thirty minutes. I found a template on Pinterest and had 20 inch wide flashing in the shed. I cut it out according to the pattern and pinned it together with rivets. You could use self tappers or drill it out and use little nuts and bolts. I suppose you could even use glue. Any which way, I had rivets and used that. I also added a little extra flashing to the top of the template. This made for a larger area to screw it into the tree. I chose to only attach it at the top. When I first cut the neck, I lift the bottom of the cone out to direct the blood into the pan. At some point I am going to add another piece with a groove in it to run from the bottom of the cone to the pan. As you can see in the picture, blood currently runs down the board its attached to and often times misses the pan entirely. The next piece to this puzzle is the dunk tank. There are several ways to pluck a bird. Of the options, heating the birds has been our best option. We do not have the money to buy a bird plucker and I just haven't had the motivation to build one, though I do have the washing machine parts to build it. To buy one, you are looking at $200-500. I made a small drill-powered plucker years ago after seeing something similar on "Alaska: The last Frontier" Our dunk tank is simply a thirty quart stock pot, turkey fryer base, and thermometer. The temperature needs to be between 160 and 180f. We soak the birds for 1 minute. If the water is too hot, you will cook the skin and the feathers will never come out. Trial and error has found that One Minute is the right time. When we work together, I will kill the bird and leave it in the cone until Sarah is ready to scald the bird. She then scalds and plucks while I dress the birds. At the beginning, I would recommend to the novice to do one bird at a time. If you leave the birds too long, they begin to stiffen which makes plucking more difficult. Also, the water temp being above 160f kills microbials on the bird. Next is the Plucker: Our Plucker was a fun project to build. I made a wooden frame that would support the drill and the plucking cylinder. The cylinder is an 8 inch length of 6 inch PVC with matching end caps. Threaded rod runs through the center of the caps and has lock washers and nuts on both sides of the caps to lock it into the rod. The fingers are 1.5inch pieces of black rubber bungee cord. On the inside, I put a screw through the bungee and glued them in place. We have a large alligator clamp that we put on the drill trigger while we are plucking. FARM LIFE FARM PROCESSING TABLE Next up is the processing table. We have a small table visible in the lower picture that we move to the right side of the processing table for finishing up the plucking. The right side only matters as the ground slopes down to the right and we don't like to stand in mud. The plucker works well but does not get all the feathers off. So Sarah cleans the last bit off at the small table and hoses off the birds before moving them to the processing table. If you look closely at the sink, you can see that we have a splitter. The hose comes in under the sink and runs into the splitter. The right side of the splitter goes to a shower head for the sink. The left side goes to a length of hose long enough to get to the dip tank and the plucking table with a spray nozzle. The two grey food tubs are about two feet long and 10 inches deep. We bought these at Restaurant Depot a few years ago. These bins are great if you will be processing animals. Once the birds are bare, I gut them on the processing table. At some point we will do a video of the process, but there are myriad videos on youtube. That is the equipment. Lets run through the process. Collect the birds. We lock them in their coups every night. It has an auto door that we turn off the night before slaughter day. We have run around with a net and caught them in the past, but having them all locked up certainly simplifies this process. We put them in a dog crate and bring them out back. Kill the birds. I grab the birds out of the cage by the legs and swing the bird three or four times by the legs in a long fast arc. This causes blood to rush into their heads and calms them . Place them in the cone Reach into the bottom of the cone and pull the head through. I used to use a machete, but now I hold the head and cut through the neck and direct the blood into the pan below. Cut the head off completely I also hold the bird in place for a minute until it stops thrashing. A few times, the bird has flew out spraying blood everywhere. Then we have to fight off the dogs...no fun Scald the birds We dunk the birds neck first into the hot water and hold it submerged with a garden hoe. One minute submerged has proven to be perfect. Pluck the birds Over to the drill plucker and run the fingers over the birds from all the angles. move the mostly plucked birds to the small table and clean off the remaining feathers. Scrape off the leg scales If you scalded the birds properly, scratch the scales where the scaled leg meets the feathers. the outer scales will separate and you can scrape them off. Scrape off each toe and the nail cap. If you do not want the feet, simply cut them off where the feathers meet the scales and add to your scraps bucket. wash off the birds You do not want feathers in your meat. A quick spray will wash away the hangers-on. Move the bird to the processing table I make a slit at the breast and pull the "tubes" out of the neck. push the esophagus and trachea into the cavity and swirl your finger around inside the thoracic cavity to break the connective tissue free from the tubes go to the rear and make a cut between the cloaca and tail cut the other three sides of the poop shoot and separate it from the connective tissue. Be careful not to puncture any part of the digestive system. cut a big enough slit to fit your hand into the abdominal cavity and pull out the guts. If you will be keeping the vital organs, the liver will come out with the intestines. Cut the liver away from the intestines and carefully cut the gall bladder off of the liver. If you happen to puncture the gall bladder, wash it off immediately. I tend to just throw away any livers that get bile on them. Reach in further and pull out the heart, kidneys, and lungs. wash the bird off inside and out. Move to the grey bin for further butchering. That is the chicken processing process. I am going to do another post with how we use the scraps for dog food and other details.

There are a few little leaks and one big one. Our biggest issue is the easiest to fix. Neither of us paid any attention to the overall slope of the building. The center skylight (ridgecap) has a long length overlapping a short piece. We need to move the short piece above the long and that leak will be fixed. As I had mentioned in the previous post, I was fairly certain that the trusses I made would leak and they both do a little bit I will get up there with a tube of caulk. The third area is along the sides of the side door. A little bit of flashing will fix this issue. Below is a short video of the leaking.

Our last project update included the first three quarters of the shed build. I was wrong about the roof panels all being present. I was also wrong about donning the roof being easy. The 11 roof panels were all present, but the ridgeline parts were not all there. What it should Look like As you can see above, the roof is made up of about 3 foot square sections and then a series of ridgeline sections. Below I have outlined the bottom square sections in red, one ridgeline piece with a skylight blue, and the triangle sections for the roof above the side door in yellow. The first issue we had is that we did not set the bottom panels correctly... They were supposed to be flush with the rim of the walls. We put them up with a four inch overhang. We had all 11 panels in place and secured before we noticed the error. As we collected all the ridgeline pieces and mentally prepared to redo the bottom panels, we realized that not all the Ridgeline panels were present. Luckily we have clear corrugated barn roof panels. Given that I did not want to redo the roof, Sarah and I moved the corrugated panel in place and found it covered the ridgeline gap perfectly. At that point we decided to keep the panels as they were and have more light come through. We used a full sheet for the Ridgeline and a few scraps for the missing pieces around the side door. In the end it does not look perfect, but it is complete and functional. The full length of clear Ridgeline lets in a lot more light than the little skylights would have. We probably should have taken a few extra minutes to clean off the debris from the panel. Lets hope the next heavy rain will clean it off. The other topic I had mentioned on the last project update was the gable on the far end. The gable end in the above picture is a solid piece. The opposite gable was two pieces that had to be screwed together. Well we only had one half so I used that as a template to make a new gable out of wood as pictured below. You can see that the rim of the back wall has about 8 inches of flat and then the center section with the 8 screw holes is beveled on the outside at about a 30 degree angle. My first plan was to hold the gable flat against the bevel, screw it on, then push it up to bend that plastic down . Unfortunately, attempting that proved folly. The wall began to buckle about a foot below the rim. We had to take it off and cut it to match the angle of the plastic. The end sections are on the inside of the plastic wall rim and the center section is on the outside. In the end, it is a cob job...we did not want to spend any more time than absolutely necessary on this. I could not be happier with the skylight however. The only concern still hanging is whether or not the roof will leak at the trusses I made out of wood. The way the roof is designed, the metal trusses are gutters as well. The edges of the roof panels fit into the channel on the trusses. Any rain that flows down the side of the roof section drips into the channel and flows out the end of it like a gutter. I was not willing to take the time to router a channel into the wooden trusses so they are seated flush on the truss. I am assuming that rain will leak through. We did not have a tube of caulk or I would have just sealed it while I was already up on a ladder. Now we are gonna wait and see what happens and seal whatever needs sealing after the next rain. As far as a review of quality and whatnot: I would consider buying one of these sheds. It is really important to have a good foundation to put it on. Of course we do not. I had described our base in the last post but to recap, it is pallets with 1 inch thick live edge mill scraps over the pallets. We "eyed' the level and went with it. The floor panels that come with the kit are maybe 8mm thick and cannot support anything without a solid base. Building the shed becomes much more difficult when it is not on a perfectly flat and level surface. I actually needed Sarah to push the side door assembly in with the tractor and we secured it with wood deckmate screws and washers. There is still a gap to the right of the side door. The only instruction manual we can find is for their new model. Our shed is old...maybe more than a decade. One of the biggest changes is their attachment method for the side door assembly. We had to find something that worked and did. Once the shed has the roof on, it does become quite rigid. Even without the instruction and without a flat and level base, the shed goes up in a few hours. at 144 square feet and a 7 foot side wall, there is tons of space for stuff and things. We will see how it holds up through the winter.

Today, we have good news everybody! Projects are getting done! Our Horse shed is complete. With the exception of that one triangle missing from the overhang. The right side of the shed now has a small corral for catching our ruminants when we rotate our livestock or separate moms from babies. Back to our Horse barn. We had a slightly larger version of this pallet barn down at the old family farm. Recently we were asked to get all our stuff off the aunt's property. Luckily we built with deckmate screws. Ten years later, we were able to easily disassemble and rebuild at our farm. The right stall is 8x8 and the left is 12x8. We were able to salvage almost everything. To support the pallet walls, we added blocks between each pair of pallets to screw them together. with studs running vertically to support the walls and roof at each joint and in the corners. The rafters were from the original barn and went up quite easily. We had been planning to re-roof the old barn with live edge boards from our saw mill. Once we began building, we decided to use the plywood siding panels that were the old shell as the back roof section as nobody can see it and used the live edge for siding. and the front roof. Given the live edge is fresh and will shrink as it dries, we will run battens over the gaps next summer. We could not be happier with how it turned out. We also could not be happier that we were able to reuse everything from the old barn, including the screws. Lifetime Plastic Shed Lifetime 8x18 shed is being built We are gratefull for the gift and were expecting a few complications. The walls went up quickly without complications. As we began to assemble the trusses, we realized that we were two rafters and a gable end short. Using the front gable end as a template, I cut a new one out of a piece of ash we had cut a while back. I also made two rafters out of scrap wood and got them in place. The gable end is heavy and I have not had a helper to get it up. I am hopeful we will have this shed finished in a weeks time. The base, which I did not think  to take pictures of, are pallets with 1 inch ash planks. It does appear that all the roof panels are present and should go up easily with a helper to hold them while they are attached. I did have some time to try on my own and I found my arms are not long enough. I believe firewood was the next topic in the last post. We have managed to whip up a pallet wood corral. Another pallet project with the left over siding panels as the roof, we can cover 3 cord at the moment. As we fill it, we will add another section. Sarah and Nana went down to the Abby of Regina Laudis and brought home 1.5 cord while I was working the ambulance. I arrived home to find a beautiful stack of firewood in our new wood shed. Wood Stove and pipe have been cleaned and repaired. The collet where the stove pipe meets the wall was crumbling and the pipe would not fit and leaked. With some Hydraulic cement and a number 10 can, I refurbished the chimney inlet. Yes, a number 10 can...Have you ever seen a can of crushed tomatoes at the grocery store? That 10oz can is a number 1. The number 10 can is what restaurants get their crushed tomatoes in and it holds about 12 cups or 6lbs. As I wondered the farm thinking about how I was going to re-do the cement around the inlet and ensure that it was perfect to accept the stove pipe. In the scrap pile, I had a stack of number ten cans. It looked about right, so I tried it. It just so happened that the last time I had made sauce, I had lanced the lids with a side cutting can opener. These openers cut off the rim and bevel the edges. The bevel was the magic. The stove pipe slides in perfectly and makes a nice friction lock. So now I had my inlet template. I filled the inside with cement and then set the can into the cement and smoothed the edges on the inside. I then added cement to the outside rim and beveled it and smoothed it out... Quick note on Hydraulic cement...This is basically portland cement without any aggregate (sand and rock). It sets very quickly, maybe 15 minutes work time. TO give a smooth finish, smooth it out with a trowel or your hand as best you can. Then take a wet cloth or paper towels and rub the setting cement smooth. The next exciting change we made was to raise the stove off the ground. I had some old cement pavers which I cut down with the angle grinder and raised the stove with a 3 ton car jack. The Allnighter stove is around 500Lbs so lifting it is not easy. I placed the jack under the front portion, blocked it, moved to the rear, back and forth until all the blocks were in place. Once they were in place, I moved the jack to the center, jacked up the entire stove and got everything lined up. One might think that I could have just jacked the hole thing up and placed all twelve blocks in place. In theory that would work, but that one chance that it slips or you weren't perfectly centered, this could have gone all bad. If 500Lbs fell off and landed on me while I was home alone...or if it missed me and slammed on the concrete floor. Neither of theses were stories I wanted to tell. Specifically the stove crashing and cracking. The Allnighter is no longer made and an incredible stove. As an irreplaceable appliance, I could not risk it. The extra 20 minutes were well worth it. With a good scubbing of the pipe and inside of the stove cleaned out, we are ready to go. I also ascended the roof and swept the chimney just to make sure we were good to go. Then there is the greenhouse. No progress yet. Not necessarily due to inability but due to lack of time. The water heater and fireplace water collar have not been done. That is both a time and money thing...the on demand heater is about $2k and that is not in this fall's budget. We do have all the bits for the stove water heater, but I do not want to cut into the baseboard heater system until we are ready to replumb for the on demand. The slaughter will happen soon. The last batch of chicks are just about chickens and we will be moving them to the freezer in the next week or two. The pig as well. Then there is the knife store at Farm Life Farm. I have been spending time on duty photographing and listing more of granpa's knife collection. I believe there are now 650 knives on the site. We are about half way through. I never thought I would go into the retail business, but I clearly am. I would also like to advise you that stamps.com is not the usps.com . Stamps.com is a pretty good website and easy to use, however there is a limit of 10 labels per month and the prices are a little bit more. Usps site takes an extra minute to get the labels done but there is no limit, prices are better, and you can order supplies direct. I was hoodwinked by google into stamps .com. I should have paid more attention but happy I figured it out.

Sill plate and Rim Joist Insulating: RIM JOIST INSULATION WITH FOAM BOARD AND SPRAY FOAM Last winter, our children were cold. Picture this...a raised ranch. The basement level has our bedroom and the Wood Stove on the far left (the D side for the Firefighters in the group. ) The Kids rooms are at the opposite side of the house on the main floor. (A/B & B/C sides) Nana stays in the living room right above the wood stove. She is always hot and keeps the oil baseboard heaters set to 60f. So when it is cold, my room and the basement is 80f and the kids rooms on the opposite side and up one floor is always really cold. Last year we let them run a small ceramic heater and a big infrared heater in the other bedroom. My plan was to pipe a hot water jacket from the wood stove into the baseboard heater system. We then decided to hold off on that until we replace the oil boiler with an on-demand propane water boiler. I also had planned to insulate the rim joist. We had bought a bunch of 2 inch foam board and spray foam for the greenhouse. Given that project remains foundering, we decided to use some of that material to insulate the rim joist. Years ago, I worked for a company called Dr. Energy Saver out of Seymour CT. This is a division of CT Basement Systems...All things basementy...what we did was make homes more comfortable and energy efficient. The basic idea is that every hole in your house lets air out or in. The cable company drills a hole to run a wire into the house, air leaks around the wire. We had ways to seal off any room or situation. What is the sill plate and rim joist? This is where the wood meets the cement. The house foundation is poured. The sill plate is the board that rests on the cement and the rim joist is what the floor joists are attached to. Now, no matter how well the concrete was poured, it wont be perfectly level. There will be gaps between the sill plate and the concrete. The rim joist is then just outside of that, covered with insulation and siding, but leaking just the same. Air leaks through this part of the house, unless the house has been encapsulated in spray foam insulation. Lets talk a moment about fiberglass insulation. Fiberglass is an excellent insulator when encapsulated...It has to be covered by wall on both sides. Many houses have fiberglass insulation stuffed into the floor joists and open to the basement. We had this, with the insulation stuffed into the cantilever of the first floor. It does not do anything for your house if you have soffit and a cantilevered first floor. So, in the pictures, you can see the foam board block cut to fit in between each set of floor joists. Then I sprayed foam around the edge to ensure an air tight seal. Prior to this, cold air from the outside would waft into the wall from the rim joist and travel up, being pulled into the living areas of the house by the hot air moving up and escaping from around the windows and ceiling lights. With the flow of air stopped, the warm air in the bedrooms cannot run away as quickly as there is no cold air "chasing" the warm. The next step is to remove the soffit, pull out all the useless fiberglass and fill the spaces with foam blocks and 'picture-framed' with spray foam. As they sit now, air will travel into the soffet and into the floor keeping the floors freezing cold and allowing more hot air to escape throughout the house. The other step in warming the kids bedrooms is to cut floor registers. I have ordered 4in x 10 in floor registers with fans built in. With the basement sealed off, heat from the wood stove will move to the far side of the basement and get sucked up into the bedrooms. I have faith this will warm their rooms and cool mine. Let me end with an anecdote: While I was doing the job, we kept the stove going as foam works better warm. We filled it at 9am and let it burn down throughout the day. At bedtime it was 74 in my room. It was 45 outside overnight and we were at 70 in the morning. In the past when we failed to start the stove on a 50 night, it would be 64 in my bedroom in the morning. That alone is worth the energy and misery to insulate. This is a simple project that anyone can do. The money saved from the energy saved will make it a worthwhile project, not to mention actually being warm and comfortable in your house.

I feel pretty good today and want to ruin that. I figure, the best way to ruin my mood is to list all the projects that we have not completed this summer. Then maybe improve it again by running through what we have done. Not done: Greenhouse Currently my biggest failure. Probably wasn't a good plan to begin this project with a broken shoulder. There is something truly humbling about failure. The last workday on the greenhouse we were attempting to get the king beam in place. It did not work, however our last attempt did snap the rebar and knock the frame off the supports. We will get it right...someday. plastic shed We were given a 12x15 plastic shed. We have completed a pallet platform to build it on, but we have not erected the shed. Firewood Not a single stick is stacked. Wood Stove Our all nighter needs to be cleaned. the stove pipe needs to be cleaned stove pipe needs to be secured to chimney in a manner that will better facilitate cleaning during the burning season. water heater stove pipe attachment We have all the fittings and copper tubing and valves and pumps to create a baseboard heater bypass so we don't need the oil boiler. On-demand water heater We need to buy a propane on demand and install it. Horse run-in shed. With the horses kicked off the Aunt's land, the horses need new shelter. Slaughter Pigs and sheep need to get off the hoof and into the freezer. Chickens are about a month away from slaughter size

Upcycled Pallet Bench A friend of mine has a dream of a usable back yard suited to entertaining. She also has a desire to make things out of recycled materials with a rustic look. One day, while visiting, she pointed to a pallet she had found and asked if we could make a bench. I said sure and began designing this bench. We made two, with two more about half done. The hardest part was making 10° cuts on the rear of the seat to attach the backrest. My friend is a physical therapist and had a goniometer, which is a protractor-like instrument with a stationary arm, fulcrum, and movement arm, to measure joint angles. Goniometer After marking the first line with the protractor, I cut out the wedge and used it to mark the other two boards. I cut them with a reciprocating saw and a 9in demo blade. The legs and armrests were made from other pieces of scrap wood. I am on the last day of my Ambulance tour and will be completing the benches tomorrow morning. The next step in this project will be a 12x 12 cement patio. a pallet table, and a rolling house for her pizza oven. We will do separate posts in the future for those elements.

Sarah Receives her Neckerchief and Wood Badge Certificate A proud day at Farm Life Farm. For those of you that are ignorant to the ways of the scouts, Wood Badge was created in 1919 by Lord Baden-Powell , the founder of Scouting, who organized the first course at Gilwell Park . The Wood Badge program was designed as advanced leadership training for Scouters, drawing on Scouting's best traditions and modern leadership principles to develop more effective Scout leaders.   This program has evolved over the past 100 years into a modern advanced leadership training program for the principal adults. The training is long and involved, with several full weekends of training followed by several projects. Sarah completed the following projects to earn her merit: Knot tying rack She created a two-foot tall rack out of wood and PVC pipe with Knot examples glued to the header. knot rack stays local and scouts are encouraged to work on knots during free time. Fire Safety Training As a certified Firefighter, Sarah has the necessary knowledge about fire behavior and safety. Sarah created a training program at the Bantam Firehouse and organized participants from multiple Troops. Extinguisher use was just one aspect of her Fire Safety Program. CPR Training Scouts work through the different aspects of CPR at different stations The next project she organized was CPR training for both Scouts and Scout Leadership. As an experienced EMS provider and CPR Instructor, Sarah has a tremendous store of knowledge. The Wood badge project allowed her to get more scouters trained. She also organized a retraining schedule to ensure her efforts continue well into the future. Storage and Forgotten supplies After many camping trips with her Troop, Sarah realized that there was a consistent pattern of Scouts forgetting important gear She also noticed that many scouts were not packing correctly for their camping. Though the Troops already have excellent training for how and what to pack for a camping trip, you can only lead a horse to water. You cannot forcefully submerge its head until it drinks. Sarah created a system of labelled storage boxes. The "Incidentals" box Spare clothing of various sizes Towels Sleeping bags First Aid Box Bandaging, splinting, and various medical supplies Rope box Ok, the ropes box is just for the knot rack, but she did take the time to get rope and store it in an organized fashion. Why projects? There are many methods for proving ability. The wood badge uses these projects as their method to test candidates abilities by organizing and executing projects that will benefit the troop and have a lasting effect on scouts and leaders alike.