Gregory, A Triath Cridechair

SOTM- The "Where the hell have YOU been?" edition

a_triath — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:08:42 GMT

Greetings LJ'ers and friends abroad . . . yes, it's been a while. What can I say? Went through a time where I just. . . didn't have the urge to write.

Kentswold farm is doing pretty darn well this year. Garden expansion is going well, thanks to the valiant efforts of yours truly, the lovely wife and the Semi-Sister and Semi-Brother-In-Law who are now housemates. I figure about 3000sq ft is in tillage this year. Tomatoes, Potatoes, Peppers, Peas, broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, onion and radish are in, corn is getting replanted after the chickens got into it. Asparagus is doing well in its second year. . . ate a few spears here and there. :)

The fowl flock this year got bigger. A lot bigger. At present we have the solid laying flock of 16 hens and the roo, 6 more chanticleer chicks in the raising, 2 golden comets, one or two turkey (haven't seen one in the last 2 days) and 10 eggs in the incubator, but those are for the wife's boss. (Silky eggs those are) In the shed, and about to move into the electric net paddock are 38 cornish cross meat birds after 7 deaths. All in the first week and a half. . . some hard handling those got I think. They're 5 weeks along, and I expect only another 2 or 3 weeks and it'll be time to process them for the freezer. Might do the largest of them, and leave some of the smaller to bulk up a bit.

Bees also took a bump this year, with 2 hives from swarms I or bee mentor Karl caught, and one from a package swarm. Collecting another colony out of a house on Tuesday, which will make 4 total hives, but that hive or one of the current is definitely going to a friend's house.

A local business has reopened as a local goods consignment shop, and Kenstwold honey, and some of the eggs are moving pretty well there. Selling my 8oz jars for $3, the 12 for $5 and the quarts for $12. I'm about to add comb honey I got from the mentor who is prepping to move, which had been asked for. . . so we'll see how that does! Also making creamed honey right now with some of his leftovers that naturally crystallized at the perfect rate.

And finally, we planted the orchard and vineyard this year we've been threatening. 25 grape vines in 6 varieties, and a dozen mixed fruit trees, including a pair of PawPaw. Then a bunch of Douglas Fir for holiday trees, and a mess of new berry bushes. 15 cranberry and 30 new early and mid season blueberry went in to the berry patch as well. The strawberries are spreading themselves just fine, last year's 1 and a quarter 15 foot rows are now 2 rows well established and a third that is just started this year. Let me tell you. . . pulling flowers and fruit set from your strawberries is just heartbreaking, but it's good for them to get a year to establish roots before they have to bear fruit. AHHH well.

Ok. . . when you write it all out like that. . . wow. We did all that this year? Holy moly. No wonder I feel the overwhelming urge for a beer and a porch swing! :)

Keep the mugs full ya'll . . . Ciao! I'll try not to be quite so much of a stranger.

Political post, openly posted

a_triath — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:18:14 GMT

Ok. This is going on the open filter, and I'm sure I'll be flamed in general for posting this, so forgive me if I don't respond to comments.

Let me start by saying, in the interest of honesty, the following:
1) I am a leftist hippy homesteader democrat with some strong libertarian leanings
2) there are some elements of the GOP platform I agree with. Strongly. such as:
- transparency in government
- importance of a balanced budget
- 2nd amendment rights
- importance of developing zero emission fuel strategy (yes democrats, the GOP have weighed in
officially on the issue, and while I may not think the methods will work, they are all for
energy independence and zero carbon emission economy)

HOWEVER. There are some pretty important social portions of the GOP official platform, and if any of you are voting . . . you should read your party's platform. And the opposing platform. You really should.

http://www.gop.com/2008Platform/

http://www.democrats.org/page/-/pdf/dem-platform.pdf

Now. What you think of Obama and McCain aside. . . HERE is what you agree to when you pull the lever marked in red. Even if you like McCain a lot, you need to consider these points. You really do. Maybe you agree with them, and hey. . . if you do, at least you know that. Maybe you like some of the core fiscal points of the GOP platform, but you didn't really know this other stuff was in there. This is for you.

You believe that homosexuals are inherently incapable of serving our country through military service. (5)

You believe that with regard to international diplomacy, American values will triumph given any clash of ideas.(6)

You believe that the US State department should be focused completely on advancing America's agenda throughout the world.(6-7)

You believe that anyone covered under the rubric of Megan's Law should be labeled for international travel as a "human trafficking offender" (7)

You believe that the UN should discontinue any program that does not further a judeo-christian definition of "marriage and family" (7)

You believe that the US should revoke support for any UN program which participates in sexual health education which may provide or advise on abortions (8)

You believe that the US should reject the UN convention on Women's Rights, based on its inclusion of reproductive rights as fundamental to international women's rights (8)

You believe that the President should be able to edit bills passed by Congress to suit His or Her whim, by employing line item veto power.(17)

You believe that Habeas Corpus rights should only be applied to American citizens, and only as long as they are held in domestic confinement (not including US held bases or territories)(20)

You believe that a nominee for the Supreme Court should not be questioned about his or her religious beliefs, regardless of their impact on Constitutional interpretation (20)

You believe that each inhabitant of the US should be required to participate in census registration (21)

You believe that worker empowerment potentially includes the elimination of overtime (26)

You believe that photo ID's should be required to participate in State and Federal elections, but no identification cards should be allowed in votes on labor union decisions. (21,27)

You believe that there should be no federal bailout of private corporations involved in mortgage lending. (28)

You believe that the infractions of certain trial lawyers should allow panels of industry experts to deny citizen's rights to have civil cases heard in court (28,29)

You believe that the natural inclination of farmers to have a clean environment should prevent governmental oversight of pollution generated by such practices as Concentrated Animal Feed Operations (29)

You believe that life must be extended at all costs, and oppose the adoption of physician assisted suicide for terminally ill patients (40)

You believe that health care professionals must be allowed to refuse to provide, assist with, or refer for any treatment or procedure which violates their personal code of ethics for any reason, regardless of whether it was prescribed by another health care professional (41)

You believe that public schools should be allowed to return to gender divided education, with curriculum alteration based on gender (43)

You believe that school based education regarding health and sexual education must be replaced with abstience only expectations (45)

You believe that school clinics and counseling centers must be prevented from providing referrals, counseling and related services for abortion and contraception (45)

You believe that the imposition of faith-based programs should be government sponsored for crime prevention (48)

You believe that the opinions and desires of crime victims should override the criminal justice process as it stands today (49)

You believe that the expansion of intelligence gathering domestically has no impact on civil liberties (1,49)

You believe that governmental initiatives to help struggling communities and individuals should be lessened or abandoned in favor of faith based private organizations (50)

You believe that faith based organizations should be exempt from federal hiring practices and mandates with regard to selection of candidates based on religious and personal views and opinions (50)

You believe that affirmative action quotas and hiring requirements should be abolished, except with regard to veterans (6,51)

You believe that the desecration of the flag of the USA should be criminalized (52)

You believe that abortion in all its forms is an assault on human life and must be eliminated (52)

You believe that abortion without parental notification amounts to statutory rape (52)

You believe that homosexuals do not deserve the right to marriage, nor any system equating it. (53)

You believe that the US Constitution should be amended to prohibit the creation of any system equating marriage for homosexuals (53)

You believe that the only successful family unit includes a mother and father, and reject the support of same-sex couples adopting, fostering or having children (53,54)

You believe that the Judeo-Christian portion of our national heritage is of greatest validity, and support the display of the 10 commandments in publicly owned buildings (53)

You believe that every citizen, including those who hold public office, has the right to apply religious values to public policy (54)

You believe that religious organizations should maintain and promote their beliefs, even when participating in public programs and services (54)

SOTM - The Tutorial Edition

a_triath — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:28:26 GMT

Ok. So here for posterity is a DETAILED (read, kinda grisly) tutorial on killing, cleaning, and processing your own chickens. This is in response to a REAL LACK of detailed and honest tutorials for this process available out there. It's public, it's graphic. Link to it as you need, point others here as you like.

Ok. So you've got, or are about to get chickens. You plan to keep egg hens maybe, or some meat birds, or both, or you're not quite sure. Reality is, that even if you keep egg hens, chances are eventually you'll need to cull some. So here's the straight deal.

1) Expect that this will take a while. ESPECIALLY your first time. The first time I did in 6 chickens, it took almost 6 hours to get them all done. You get much faster with practice, but still. Don't expect that this'll only take a half hour or so. Give yourself plenty of time.

2) The whole process is messy, has points that smell, may turn your stomach and it may take you a while to be able to eat the meat. That's OK too.

3) Remember that meat needs to age a bit before it is tender. You must mentally add several days to your comfortable "storage life" for your meat, since you're not seeing it from the store. . . you're seeing it at the very beginning of the meat process. You need to age your chicken a good 24 hours (in the fridge is best, tho there are those who keep it at cool room temp. . . makes me nervous frankly)

4) you may be sore in places you didn't expect if you process a whole bunch of chickens. . just from the plucking and cleaning motions.

Ok. The process. Firstly, you will need some supplies.

- somewhere with a head-height board or branch or beam to hang chickens from
- several lengths of line tied to the afore mentioned beam, one for each bird to be processed, and with a slip knot tied in the end to make a loop. I used a simple single overhand, and left a tail as a handle.
- A sharp knife, somewhere between 3 and 6 inches long is perfect. Really sharp helps.
- A large pot, at least 5 gal in size, or a big bucket (5 gal) and enough hot water to fill it.
- A really big trash can, or somewhere to dump huge piles of feathers that won't bother anyone
- gloves if you're squeamish
- bleach, in a spray bottle is best if you can
- cutting board and kitchen knife
- plastic bags, freezer paper, etc. . . something to put chicken pieces in to store them
- small plastic pails/tupperware/etc in which to put giblets

Step 1: Get the setup ready.
Put on getting-dirty clothes, and plan to wash them soon. You will get blood and feathers on them.

Go to your hanging area, which needs to be tall enough to hang a chicken and still keep its head off the ground. I suggest eye-level. Secure a length of line (about three feet is good) to the beam, fence rail, branch, whatever and tie a loop that will slide in the bottom. You want the loop to hold itself open, but move freely. You'll be putting a living chicken's feet through this one handed. Bear in mind that there will be blood splattering in this area. . . so locate yourself accordingly. If you do this in winter, remember that blood on snow looks like five times as much as there really is. Be ready to cover it, or wash it away unless you want the neighbors thinking you're one of the Manson clan. PLACE YOUR KNIFE IN EASY REACH OF THE FIRST LOOP YOU PLAN TO USE. There is NOTHING worse than looking for the knife while you're wrangling a bird. Plus it prolongs the most uncomfortable part.

This is a decent time to put the kettle of water on to heat. You're aiming for just below a simmer. You can bring it to a boil and let it cool a bit. 170 or so is a good target temp. . .there are fine points with regard to the skin and scalding it just enough, but not too much. . .but your first time you need to focus more on successfully getting the feathers off the bird.

Step 2: Collect the bird
The first time I did this at night after they were asleep. If you recall the 6 hour process, you can see how that was a tactical error. One bird is fine, but a bunch should start early in the morning. Why early? Because when they're asleep, you don't have to chase them. Plus, honestly I just think they're easier to manage when they're sleepy. Grab them from the coop as best you can, and tuck their head under their wing. It keeps them calmer and easier to handle. This is a time when I like to say a quick thank you. Pick your target to say this to, I'm not religious, but it just feels right. Anyway.

Take your bird to the hangers, and upend it quickly, grabbing both feet around the ankles and putting them through the loop. Pull taut to hold them securely.

STEP 3: Killing and Bleeding
The goal here is the quickest, most humane death possible, and the removal of as much blood as possible. I HIGHLY suggest against the axe chop idea. First, I think it's dangerous. You have to wrangle the bird, their head, the axe. . . let's just say it sounds like a good way to lose digits. Second, a headless bird flopping around is, to me, just plain crass. I find nothing funny in death, so let's not make it more of a circus than we must. Third, it causes the heart to stop beating almost immediately, so there is very little success in bleeding the carcass.

The knife method works well for me, and is about the fastest way I can think of. Works like this.

Your chicken is now hanging (surprisingly calmly you will find) from its feet. Do not dwadle here however. Have the knife ready in your dominant hand, take firm hold of the chicken's head with the thumb and forefinger of your non-dominant hand, and pull downward and to one side (away from your dominant hand). Place your knife against the side of the chicken's neck, and trying for one smooth slice (it will take you several your first few times) slide the knife between the feathers just below the chicken's head, and cut into the neck, aiming to stop before the half-way mark. Your goal is to sever the carotid artery and jugular vein on one side, without cutting the spinal cord. The bird may squawk once, just be warned.

Let me explain. The severing of the carotid artery means an instant crash in blood pressure to the brain. This results in pretty nigh instantaneous unconsciousness for the bird. Also, by only severing ONE side, you create an opening in the circulation loop, that will allow the maximum blood to drain out. Avoiding the spinal cord means that the heart will keep beating as long as possible, emptying everything out.

So. Continue to hold the head down and at an angle. The blood will pour for several seconds, and THEN, the bird will start flapping. This has to do with a greater separation in the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in chickens than in mammals. If it helps, essentially the bird won't start flapping until it is REALLY dead. Strange, yes. Keep your face out of the way, but I suggest holding the head until the bird stops at least most of the flapping. Usually takes less than 20 seconds, it just seems long. If you let go before that, you will get more splatter. Once the first round of flapping subsides, you can step back and collect yourself. A few more fits of (brief) flapping will almost certainly occur.

Repeat with all birds to be processed.

Take a breather.

Step 4: cleaning and plucking
You have completed the hardest emotional step, but the hardest physical steps are still ahead of you. Plucking and cleaning can happen in either order, but if it will be longer than a half hour between killing and plucking, clean first and chill the bird. I'll put the cleaning instructions first, but understand that you can just as easily do a snappy kill-pluck-clean.

Cleaning:
I do this outside on a work table, with a 5 gallon jug of water to rinse things, and some small tupperware containers for the organ meat. You'll want 3 containers: one for the hearts, one for liver, and one for the gizzards.

If your bird is not plucked already, upend them and look for the "vent" which is right below the tail. It's a puckered sphincter that is usually sort of half folded over. . . . half moon sphincter essentially. The vent is the exit point for chicken feces, so you might imagine that poking around in there is a poor idea if you can help it. This however is the point where everything inside will come out. Remove the feathers around the vent to make an area about the size of the bottom of a soda can. These small feathers should come out with little effort, just grab small pinches of feathers and give a tug. If you tug at an angle instead of straight out they pull out better. Imagine like a zipper. . . not straight down, not straight out, a bit of both. If you have trouble locating the vent, take the chicken's tail and fold it backwards until it lays flat against the back. Look right where you've folded and you will see the vent.

Take a small, sharp knife and cut a circle around the vent. . . just maybe a half inch beyond the edge of the sphincter. You need to make a relatively shallow cut to try to just open the skin without cutting the entrails. Once you get through the skin, you will notice that there are some more connective tissues holding the vent to the body, on the tail side. You can slip a finger behind the entrails loop and pull gently outwards to see where to cut those free.

Ok. Now the tricky bit. Your goal is to reach your hand up inside the chicken, and pull everything inside free and out of the bird, without rupturing it and hopefully without tearing the skin too much. Me? I make a cut from the opening I've made already up toward the breast until I reach the apex of the sternum. That'd be where the little pointy bit of cartilage is. . opposite the wishbone if you are able to visualize a cooked bird at this stage.

Ok. So what you need to do it flatten the back of your hand against the inside of the breast area, and slide up along the ribcage until you reach the far end. The cavity will be warm, which is very disconcerting the first time. You will start with feeling loose ropey stuff, then firmer round object and some squishy stuff, and finally firm ropey structures. At this point, you are where the esophagus and trachea enter. Curl your fingers over and let these slip between your fingers, leave your hand curled slightly but hold your fingers tightly against each other so that you have a firm grip on esophagus and trachea, and pull the entire structure downward and out of the body cavity. Do this over a tray or plastic or something because there are things in here you want to save, and things you do not.

Once the first pull is free, go back and feel again. If there is more, pull it out too.
Word of warning: The chicken's voice box will likely STILL be intact. Therefore when you put your hand in the body cavity and change the pressure? You may cause the bird to make a very disconcerting pathetic squawk sound. You may not, but it's very troubling to have this happen unawares.

Once you have everything out of the cavity (don't worry about the trailing ends of the trachea and esophagus, you will get those from the other end) . . . set the bird aside to cool. If this is winter time, stuff it with clean snow. If not, run some clean cold water through it for 30 seconds to a minute, and then set it aside with the legs open if possible. Cold is the enemy of bacterial growth, and anything that is the enemy of bacterial growth is your friend.

Now turn your attention to the gut pile. Never in your life will you be presented with quite this level of things you want in such proximity to things you do NOT want. Water and a keen eye are your friend now.

Parts you want: heart, liver, gizzard. Parts you really do not: everything else. You will be smelling chicken poop, which is foul under the best of circumstances, so this is a stinky step. Fear not, the "sweatbreads" will be fine. Now there's a euphemism I think you'll find is really sarcasm.

First thing first. Find the gizzard. It should be easily the largest, hardest organ in the pile, and it looks like red muscle with blue areas. It's big, it's almost rock hard, and it's pretty easy. Cut it away from anything holding it, and tuck it into a container.

Next, look for the heart. It's roughly egg shaped, has large vessels that go into it, and is about half the size of the gizzard. it is the second firmest organ in there. Again, clean it of errata and tuck it aside. Rinsing is good.

Finally, the liver. The ONLY trick to the liver is a small, oh jelly bean size, sack attached to it. Dark blackish green. This is the gall bladder, and is full of evil green bile. DO take care not to puncture it. You'll have a devil of a time cutting it free since everything is slippery as hell. The trick? a small scrap of paper towel. Literally, like the size of a silver dollar. Just enough to hold onto the thing. Cut safely below it, even if you have to sacrifice some liver tissue to do it. If you nick it, just discard anything the green stuff touches. Trust me.

Everything else is for the bin. Or the compost heap if you live out in the country and have one a ways from the house. Remember that meat products CAN attract bear. Just FYI.

Repeat with each bird. Take another breather.

Once you have all the birds done, turn your attention to the gizzard. Prepare to see the strangest organ outside of a cow's multi stomach factory. Take the gizzard in hand and slice into it from one of the long sides. It is full of small stones and food, and lined in what looks like nothing so much as pale yellow leather. Rinse well. Look at the meat areas you created. If you've made 2 hunks of meat held together, you cut it right. If you made 4, you need to move your cut 90 degrees on the next one. Just try the first one and you'll see what I mean. Even if you make 4 it's still edible, just harder to clean. To remove the leathery part, you essentially fillet it off. Put it leather side down on a cutting board and slide a sharp knife flat against the board between leather and meat. Sounds easy, takes practice. I'll avoid the inevitable "Voila!" here.

Plucking:
Ok, now it's time to get that bird from messy feathers to clean skin. You'll find this is the transition point for most folks from "dead animal" to "food" in appearance, even if the morning's work still has you a bit off your feed.

Scalding: The trick with scalding is to make the skin loosen so that the feather shafts come free. It's a balancing act really. I think hotter water works better when you're new to this.

SO. Take a bird by the feet, and with the big vat of water around 170-180, stick them head first into the water, all the way under. Now SWISH them. The swish is key, you need to get the water to the skin on all parts. 20 to 30 seconds is good at this temp, then pull them back out. The bird will be pouring water, and will smell a little. Not as bad as entrails, but an odd. . . wet dog meets chicken crap with a touch of burning hair smell. It is not overpowering, but it IS present.

Now, you can either hang the bird again, or hold in one hand and pluck with the other. I find hanging them is easier, and if you have a loop for each leg, easier still. Start at the legs, and work downward. You'll find that you can take a small handful of feathers, and just sortof rip/slide them off. Again with the zipper idea, working away from you at an angle. Your hands will be COVERED in feathers. I've found that an empty trash can with some water in the bottom is a good container to do this over. Dip your hands in some clean water when you can't take the feather coating any longer.

Once you get the majority of the feathers off, you'll get to the wings. The primary feathers are the hardest part, and require almost one by one yanking. Just keep at it. Pliers can help if your hands are getting tired. If you'll be cutting your birds up into pieces, you can ignore the very tip of the wing anyway. Also, don't bother with most of the neck and the head since you'll be removing them and will not save the neck skin unless you are rendering schmaltz. (chicken fat)

Now you should be down to a plucked bird with a bunch of random tiny feathers here and there and, if you look closely, little hairs. Let the bird dry for 10 minutes or so, and take a lighter, propane torch or brisk fire and briefly pass the flame over the bird (or the bird over the flame) to singe the hairs off. Any last tiny feathers, you'll need to pluck one at a time. A paring knife helps some to pinch them out, use it against your thumb gently, like you were curling ribbon for a present, and just yank.

Clean the bird if you didn't already, and wash and chill it. cooler full of ice, fresh snow, cold water, whatever.

Step 5: Dressing and Butchering

Ok. So now we have a transitional object. . . somewhere between "dead thing" and "food" to most people's eye, unless you have an ethnic butcher in town and are used to them hanging in the window with feet and head still attached. For most of us, the feet and head need to go next. Personally, I love chicken feet in black bean sauce, but that's another tutorial.

Head first. Use a cleaver or large knife against a cutting board, and sever as high up as you can. Cockscomb and wattle ARE edible, tho it's like eating rubber, so unless you've got a real yen to truly eat EVERYTHING from the bird (and if so, you should really save those intestines for sausages . . . no, I do not.) . . anyway. Heads can go. Burial, trash, compost, something.

A note: YES, chickens are omnivores and, in the right circumstances, cannibals. NO, I do not personally suggest feeding chicken parts to chickens. I just. . . it's creepy. Plus there are potential disease loop issues there. Personally? I try to bake, dry and grind the remains as best I can and feed them to the catfish. Still working on this process mind you. . . but they also can make great fertilizer when really dried and ground. Anyway.

So, head removed, you now have a floppy skin covered neck. Use a pair of kitchen shears or EMT shears to cut down the neck skin until you reach the body, and fold the skin away. Look for the trachea and esophagus and the crop, which may be full of some food. . . but if you do this in the morning will be mainly empty. A full crop is unmistakable, and HUGE, right there under the skin at the base of the throat.

This step is the first when you will notice the slime. Slime is really a collection of the fluids that make various independent body parts move against each other easily, but to you will be . . . well. . .slime. It's thick, and gooey and TOTALLY UNMENTIONED in most books. Water will rinse it away, so I do the dressing step with running water nearby. I'm not kidding about the slime. Think the set of Alien. You will find it anywhere there is a gap between skin and muscle tissue. Neck area, thigh area, and parts of the abdomen. Rinse liberally. Lightly salted water also works well, but is harder to have in running form.

Now, remove the skin from the base of the neck, and pull esophagus and trachea free, along with the crop. Discard these and the neck skin unless, as I said, you plan to render out the fat. Take a cleaver and sever the neck as close to the body as you can. When you grunt and work at this? Recall my personal injunction against the axe-and-stump method of dispatching a chicken. Think about getting through this in one chop and being sure of it. Nuff said.

Set neck aside for stock, and for those of you like myself who really like picking it apart. (it's tasty meat. . . seriously)

Now for the feet. Where the scaly skin ends, is a joint. Make a small slice on the front side of this, and now bend the feet back at the joint. Just cut gently there and you will sever the tendon. The feet will flex disconcertingly, and that's how you know you're at the tendon. Continue all the way around, and the remaining joint will part with relatively little effort. Repeat with the other foot.

Step 6: Preparing for Cooking

Wash the carcass inside and out, and place in a large plastic bag, bin, or other object. Chill for 24 hours.

The 24 hour wait IS important. Without it, the meat will be tasty, but tough as hell. Essentially you need to let the natural stages of early decay happen. Enzymes begin to break down muscle tissue, which first produces rigor mortis. After a while, rigor fades and the tissues go through another series of breakdown by natural enzymes and biological action. This is the phase when meat is really edible. After enzyme action and before bacteria do their work.

Do not delude yourself. There WILL be bacteria in your meat. . . there always are. The trick is the level of bacteria and minimizing their by products. Keep the meat cold, clean surfaces that handled raw chicken well, and wash your hands. This is no different than store bought chicken prep technique.

I clean any surface that contacted chicken feet, feathers, entrails, heads, etc with bleach. Once everything is in pieces? Eh, I just run the cutting boards through the dish washer. I'm not a big believer in bleaching EVERY DAMN THING ON EARTH, but on the other hand, stuff I KNOW had contact with chicken feces is another story.

I recommend butchering your chicken into pieces, especially if they were free range birds or older birds. Birds past about 12 weeks do not a good roasting bird make to the modern consumer, and the skin will be a lot tougher than you expect due to the lower fat content. (the MUCH lower fat content. You will notice this when making stock. . . there is a little fat to skim, not the half inch layer common to commercial birds). If you DO save whole birds, keep it to maybe 1 in 6. . . but that is personal preference.

I'll probably post a detailed breaking-chicken-into-component-parts tutorial, but if you're not familiar already, I point you to Alton Brown's excellent tutorial on Good Eats.

And with that? I leave you for now. Good luck, and remember to keep breathing.

Comments are turned on, but screened. If you have a question or comment, feel free. I may open up the response if I think it'll help folks.

RIP Gary Gygax.

a_triath — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:29:50 GMT

All I have to say is this:

It sucks that there are no temples nearby that provide resurrection services, and all our clerics are too low-level anyway. :(

Rest In Peace Gary. . . no matter how you slice it, you were a natural 20.

An open post for Bog/Regnesfolke/Myrkfaelinn

a_triath — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:48:05 GMT

Ok. I'm just going to say this flat out:

I'm sorry. I understand via many channels that a LOT of you feel attacked, threatened, steamrolled, and generally personally abused. I'm getting that a lot of the sour sentiment is directed toward me and my lady. I will speak for us here, just for one clear record.

Our intent was never, NEVER to shoulder people out, steamroll anyone, hurt feelings, injure friendships, or get our way regardless of the cost. Honestly our thought process was SOLELY that we figured the camp would be losing a lot of people as families spread, and that it was a good time to look at that. We really thought we were still contributing to the discussion, and in fact still feel that way.

I myself feel many of the same negative emotions as those of you I'm apologizing to. . . but I felt that I needed to say something, and this at least had some constructive merit.

Welcome!

a_triath — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 20:33:34 GMT

Hey there,

This journal is your usual mixture of thoughts, funnies, comments, rants, purile self aggrandizement (literary masturbation) and other assorted crap.

To protect myself from the run of the mill image and text theft engines, it's friends only.

Comment to be added. :)