I've Been Busy

I've been busy.
I don't mean just lately, but for a long while now.
I know.....I know. Some of you are thinking. Good gosh. How can that be? You don't work, you stay at home all day and play on the computer.
IF ONLY that were true. well, ok sometimes that's true. But most of the time it isn't.
Moving out here to the Ozarks has added a few more job titles to my list of mom, wife, chicken wrangler and internet surfer.
I have been busy. Really. AND I have proof.
(bet ya never saw THAT coming)

One of my new professions is.....Butcher.
Trust me. It's not a glamorous as it sounds. But I'll take you through the process..well mostly. I'll leave the really gorey stuff out.

BEFORE:
This is what our first deer hunting season brought us. This nice buck was taken in our own backyard by City Boy.....and in our yard is where my butchering journey begins......this is also where we fastforward through the gorey part....and you'll just have to take my word for it that, YES, I did do it. YES, it was gross, but I lived through it and the end product is worth doing it again.

Next, let me introduce to you my antique, swap meet find, muscle aching, hand cramping, love/hate, all purpose meat grinder.


AFTER:

Mmmmmmm.....doesn't that look lovely?

In that bowl is about 10 pounds of ground deer meat after it's first go around with the meat grinder. Because deer meat is so lean, and what fat there is on the deer doesn't taste all that great, I'll later add some beef fat and run it through the grinder again.
Now let me tell you. That there is a real work out. So much so, that I've had to break up my joyous meat grinding sessions into different days with almost a week apart to give my arm time to recover. After my first session, I whined and cried like a baby. God, I'm a wuss.

So far I've ground up about 40 lbs of deer burger and I've still got steaks and roasts left....but I'm running low on arm strength at the moment.
City Boy tried to help out one day. He did the grinding while I removed fat and grissel and cut the meat into strips. He later annouced that we should invest in an electric meat grinder.
That's City Boy slang for "damn, this is making my arm tired."
I guess putting up with him in the kitchen was worth that announcement....but I haven't seen a new grinder yet. ( I wonder....if I let him help with the housework if he'll announce I need a maid? Yeah. like THAT would ever happen!)

Someone might ask.......What do I do with all that deer meat?
Well, there's the typical ham...er, deer burgers.
Venison chili
Venison stew
actually I use it in place of ground beef wherever I can.
Here's my lastest creation with it......

That's breakfast sausage links y'all. YUM! I just pulled them outta the freezer to snap this picture. I forgot to take one yesterday when I finished. I made sausage patties also, but they don't photograph well.

Who'd have ever thought that this Southern California chick would ever become a wild game butcher?

I have butchered some of my chickens in the past, and plan to do a few more here soon. But honestly, it's just not as exciting as wild game.

Wild Turkey Season opens soon. I hope I get to be busy again.