Meat Processing Demonstration

I promised more information to come regarding the processing class and here it is.

When: Saturday, November 13, 2010. Rain or shine.

Where: Our barn south of Forest Grove, Oregon

What’s Gonna Happen: I will be demonstrating how I butcher various species of poultry including 2 types of chickens – Cornish cross fryer and a heritage breed chicken.

This will be a hands-off demonstration, guests will not be participating in the processing of the animals. But as well as a demonstration on our ethical butchering practices, we hope some small backyard raisers will come to learn how you can butcher your own chickens on the small scale. We won't be using fanciful equipment, we don't own any (yet - someday I hope) and you probably don't either. You will want to dress in clothes that can get stained/dirty and dress for the weather. It is a barn and it is November. The barn is covered so if it’s raining we’ll be fine.

By processing a heritage chicken and a Cornish fryer, you will be able to see the difference selective breeding has done for the meat chicken industry. We will be cutting up a fryer, showing you how to take apart a whole bird to become boneless skinless pieces. We hope this demonstration will provide answers to questions you have as well as show you first hand that we process our animals with the same respect we raise them with. We believe there is an ethical standard to be upheld when raising animals for meat and will do so when processing them too. There will be lots of time to answer all of your questions regarding the meat industry, our process and techniques, as well as see where our pastured turkeys are in their progress prior to their own processing the following week.

For this class we will not have the professional equipment we rent for the turkey processing, this means we will be scalding and plucking the feathers by hand, just as you would if you raised a few chickens yourself. We also may not have the bleed cones so the involuntary muscle release may be too visual for some. You are welcome to watch every stage, or just those you are comfortable with.

The demonstration will be from 1pm until all the animals are processed.There will also be a door prize – how about the meat we process? Someone’s going home with that cut up fryer!!!

Email mylittlesistersfarm @ yahoo.com or message us on Facebook to reserve your spot today!

Hope to see you there!

Natalie