Game Changer

First round of GPF Chicken harvest today. Today's star? The mighty Whale-I'll-Be, She-dunnit Pluck-O-Matic, featuring the one and only JANE! Here's a photo of the completed plucker, democratically hand-crafted here in Rupert, Vermont for about a hunnert bucks...

And one of Jane in action this morning, scalding the bird to loosen feathers for plucking.
In the past, I have hand-plucked birds, which takes about ten to fifteen minutes per bird, depending on how fast you can move. With Jane's machine, we got it down to about two minutes per bird, seriously speeding up the process. This enabled us to get all thirty birds in done in one batch, which saves hours in cleanup/setup time. BIG THANKS to Jane, Jimmy, Doug, Axel, and John (for bearing witness!) for their hard work, creativity, and general awesomeness.

CSA members, some notes about your birds:

These chickens are somewhat smaller than in previous years. They're averaging about 4.5 lbs each, which is smaller than in the past CSA years. For smaller families, this is a more manageable size-- if you'd like a larger bird (there are a few) please don't hesitate to ask.

Your next (and final) set of birds will be ready for pickup in about three weeks (beginning of August); stay tuned for more details as we get closer.

For cooking, there are tons of options and recipes to float around-- the easiest is to simply roast your chicken, Thanksgiving-style, but some delicious ideas include Beer-can chicken done on the grill, slow-cooking/smoking in the woodstove (once the weather turns again!), brining your chicken before cooking using lots of french herbs, or cilantro, lime and cayenne pepper, or to simply section your chicken up before freezing.

If you're interested in butchering your whole chicken into pieces/cuts, I am happy to share a photocopy of some instructions and tips, just let me know. I'll see if I can scan the info I do have, and post it here.

I did not include the neck with your bird; if you'd like some, please let me know. I've got bags in the freezer-- they're great for making stock, which can be frozen and makes everything taste better. I've started using chicken stock to make rice instead of water... yum.

CSA veggie pickups continue as normal, so I'll see most of you twice this week. It's cucumber time on the farm (my favorite crop!) so pass along any good pickle recipes, and I hope you enjoy your birds!