WARNING: there are a few images of a chicken being processed on this post. It's no more gross than raw chicken you'd buy at the store...except that a head and feet are still attached. So there's my disclosure in case you aren't in the mood to see a dead chicken.
Our friends, Ben and Saeng are some of the most genuine people I think I've ever met. They're just awesome.
Ben offered to take care of our little rooster problem for us. ;) He stopped by with his family and Aaron asked is he needed a cage or a box to take Bert home in. He looked at us like, "uh, why?" And held up a bag. "Do you have a knife?"
At that point my interest piqued. I've watched a few YouTube videos k how to cull a chicken, but they sort of grossed me out too much to actually try it.
Here it was about to happen in my backyard. I had to participate. What a great learning experience!
The kids were upset at first. Corbin, in particular, wailed "just because it's a boy you're just going to kill it?! That's do mean!" Ben, in his calm and gentle nature said very sweetly, but also matter of factly, "Corbin, God loves his children so much, he created a beautiful earth for us to live on. He provided our bodies with food to eat so we can be strong and do His work. The plants in your garden are a gift to nourish you, as is the chicken. This rooster is a gift that will not be wasted."
Corbin and the girls listened and nodded cautiously as they considered Bens words. Then, Corbin saw the knife and lost it again. This time, as I started to reason with him, he started to come around, and then Saeng brought up the scriptures. "Do you remember that Nephi was a hunter? They were in the wilderness and they were very hungry. Nephi hunted and brought back food and was a hero that provided for his family."
And so the cycle of life was allowed to be completed in the woods behind Ft Willy. The children didn't watch as we dispatched the rooster, but once it was done, Saeng's Yohng boys ran out to "see all the blood."
There was hardly any.
You guys. Killing and cleaning a chicken was not so bad. Like at all. Ok, so it was Ben who did the slicing, but I held the rooster and it really was not a gory mess. It was beautifully humane and almost peaceful. It gave me a new understanding for why we offer our gratitude when we ask a blessing upon the food at every meal. Countless animals give their lives every day so that we can eat.
We accepted the invite to come help finish the preparation and followed Ben and Saeng to their home. I wanted desperately for my kids (and even me) to NOT find this gross. While I am grateful that lovely companies like Tyson exist to raise, kill, and clean chickens so that I don't have to, I'm bothered that it is SO foreign. I wouldn't have even known where to begin. Here she is, ready to be plucked.
I tucked Bert's head out of view for the photo so it wouldn't be too graphic to publish in the blog book for the kids. But really, they were not bothered by the sight at all once they got used to it.
Ben boiled a large pot of water on an outdoor camp stove on the back porch.
Saeng and I lowered the chicken into the water about 30 seconds, and turned it around in there a few times. That's it! Time to de feather. This part took us forever, because a) uh hello I've never plucked a chicken before! And b) we paused a lot to get the kids to take a turn. Ben says that a professional van have all the feathers off in less than a minute!
We just sat out on the back porch with the chicken on a metal pan and pulled feathers off and skinned the feet. Minimal mess. I learned the skin pulls off with the feathers and the meat starts to cook if you leave the chicken in the boiling water for very long. It's just a dip to make the feathers easy to remove.
Saeng had a special way of sliding her thumb over the feathers and they would slip out easily and quickly.
Removing the insides of the chicken was the interesting part for the kids. They wanted to know what every part of the chicken was, so each part was laid out on the cutting board for the children to examine.
There. Now doesn't Bert look just like a whole chicken you'd buy from the store? I mean except for those gigantic feet....
And finally, we cut the chicken into pieces for cooking. Here, Saeng is showing the kids the rib cage.
I'm so thankful to have great people to learn from, but also for the opportunity to teach my children where their food comes from. We gave the chicken to the Ratsachacks to thank them for teaching us, and they cooked it for dinner last night.
As we sat at our own table, last night, Reese poked at her salmon and said, "I wish we were eating Bert, instead. I don't like fish."
Perhaps cleaning a fish is next on the agenda.
