Month: May 2025

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The workshop is finally coming together

After many months of slow, steady progress, the workshop is finally starting to take shape. The wiring is complete, the interior walls are covered in plywood, and I finished the wood with two coats of polyurethane. The hope is that dust will not stick as easily and that I will be able to blow the walls clean with a leaf blower whenever needed.

I brought my workbenches up from Florida. The space here is smaller, so I cut them down to fit the new layout. After a thorough sanding and refinishing, they look great and feel right at home in the new shop.

Lighting is installed, the audio system and TV are mounted, and the hardwood storage is now on the walls. There is still plenty left to do, but the progress feels real. It is incredibly rewarding to walk into the space and see it finally coming together after so much time and effort.

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It’s processing day

Today we slaughtered the meat birds, and all thirty made it to graduation day. That is a fantastic outcome. Normal mortality is around five percent, so finishing the season without losing a single bird is a real win.

The birds finished out incredibly well this year. Since this batch was only for our family, we did not bother weighing them, but several looked like they would have tipped the scales at nine pounds or more.

We chose to do cut ups on every bird this time. In the past we have done a mix of whole birds and cut ups, but we consistently use the cut up birds about twice as often as the whole ones. It makes meal planning easier and helps us get the most use out of each harvest.

We are incredibly thankful for another successful season that will feed our family for months to come. The work starts with tiny chicks on pasture and ends with a freezer full of food. It is a cycle we do not take lightly and one we are grateful to complete each year.

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One week left

We do not follow a strict timeline for processing our meat birds. Each group grows a little differently, and we try to honor that. If they need an extra week or two to fill out properly, we give it to them. The animal’s sacrifice matters, and we want to make sure we are doing right by them by getting the best possible yield from each bird.

This group has done exceptionally well. They have grown fast, stayed healthy, and handled pasture life with no issues. At this point, they look strong and fully developed, and they will be ready to process next weekend.

It is always a mix of responsibility and gratitude when we reach this stage. The birds have had a good life on pasture, and now we prepare for the final step of the cycle.

The meat birds are doing excellent this year. They’ve grown exceptionally well and will be ready to process next weekend.