Welcome back to the blog book experiment! Today I give you:

         Chapter 4: The Ritual of Harvesting

  For a few months now we've had rogue roosters, they appeared one day and liked the food. Over time we have had to dispatched of them if they were mean. Today while feeding one of the invaders tried to attack Tumbles. 

  A little about Tumbles, so you can be equally horrified at the prospect, she was born tumbling out of her dam, rolled down a hill and landed with a thud. Her dam decided she just needed to pee really bad and walked away leaving the squishy tiny blob behind her. So, I cleaned her up brought her inside and bottle fed her. She is the sweetest smallest lap baby goat on the property. So when invader roo jumped at her face his time was up obviously. 

  There is a ritual that goes with harvesting or dispatching animals here one that always happens and is one of the most witchy things I do here. First the animal is caught as quickly and in the least scary way possible. Then they are petted and loved on even invader roosters. All lives are important and are sacred. They are then apologized to, yes, I am sorry every single time an animal dies regardless of what they have done or whatever the reason is. The life of dinner is every bit as important and meaningful as the life of a pet; they should be treated as such. Once the time has come, they are dispatched in the quickest way possible to have them feel the least amount of fear and pain possible. Even in death their bodies are respected. 

  Harvesting time is bittersweet as it should be. Taking a life is not and should not ever become a happy task. It does become easier over time though. You may think you could never but here we live by the motto if you can't kill it, you shouldn't eat it. Why is a factory farmed cow or chicken's life worth any less than the one you raised and petted. The emotional attachment is the only difference there not the fact a life was taken. I wish I could give ways to not have that attachment, but I believe it is important. The animal should know love. It will be giving up its existence to nourish your family. 

* Being wasteful is the bane of a homestead. Once you've cooked a chicken you have given your time and love to honor it further by using as much of it as possible. One way to do that is with bone broth. 

Roast the whole chicken. Remove the meat from the bones. In a crockpot or instant pot add the carcass, left over vegetable pieces, and seasonings of your choice. Cook this for 10-12 hours in a crockpot or 2 hours in the instant pot (high temperature for either one). Once done the bones will crumble between your fingers and the broth will be a dark honey color. Strain out everything. I cool then freeze mine.