Thread: Getting back to living off the land.....

tell you something....if you worked out courier options and prices I believe your skin tanning skills would be sought after....far nicer to support the "little fella" doing the job and know its being done carefully by hand.... one of these days I will manage to knock over a pretty fallow and tan its hide.

Greetings @bumblefoot,
I thought you might enjoy this picture.

The gentleman on the left is my great grandfather James, aged in his early seventies. He was retired and looked after the chooks and vegetable garden. The little chap in the picture is my father Iain aged about 4 and the lady is my great Grandmother Harriet. The picture was taken about 1926.
Regards Grandpamac.

@grandpamac What an awesome photo! Your great grandad was blimmin' tall! He coupld have been a hops harvester and not need the ladder!

Yes the tall gene does pop up from time to time. Dad and his brother were little chaps. James son Bert was tall like his dad. My son and I are (or was in my case) over 6 feet but my grandson towers over all of us, even at 17.
GPM.

Something other than a goat hanging on the washing line today. My 2 spare bantam pullets went off to a new home today, and the spare bantam cockerel into the fridge. If you breed chooks you need a plan for the extra cockerels... I'll spatchcock it and cook it in a covered frying pan

having plucked many many chooks neat job mate

@Barry the hunter Thanks. the trick is to have the water at 63C and a to have a drop of dishwashing liquid in it too

This is my usual set up if I have a few to do. The aim is to keep everything as clean as possible and to prevent any cross contamination. I always pluck them while they're hanging on the line. Nothing worse than seeing them be plucked on the same table as where they're cleaned and processed. Talk about germ city...

Another tanned wild goat skin that is broken and nearly ready for sanding Still trying to make use of as much of the goats as possible. I'm now tending to pick out the goats with the nicely coloured skins that would make nice tanned skins.

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

Another tanned wild goat skin that is broken and nearly ready for sanding Still trying to make use of as much of the goats as possible. I'm now tending to pick out the goats with the nicely coloured skins that would make nice tanned skins.

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You get twice the buck for your bang then.
GPM.

I pluck my ducks directly into the otto/wheelie bin...when they are all done,off with wings n feet and head,then its line em up for quick blast with LPG torch to singe and left over fluff and then and only then do they get opened up for gutting. agree that is a tidy plucking job.
funny the easiest way to pluck any bird is straight after they die..ducks plucked as walk along jump shooting are always clean job.

@Micky Duck When I do my domestic ducks (straight after killing) I use a bog standard dishwash brush to get the downy feathers off. Wouldn't work with cold ducks I'd say. But brilliant with warm ones. Then I stick a little meths in a tin foil tray, light it, and singe any whispy hair like feathers by rotating the bird through the flame

we used to use rolled up newspaper.....then graduated to using the LPG cooker....then graduated to a plumbers torch.....now gone next level and use the pig singe attachment......the flame itself works good,but then you back off close to a meter and hit the turbo button and instant down be gone as well as a light skin shrinking and slight colouring up.

Preparing a brine to cure the goat legs and shoulders from the goat I shot yesterday.... Made with salt, raw sugar, cinnamon, mustard seeds, peppercorns, whole allspice, ground ginger, cloves, a litlle bit of mixed spice, whole cloves, thyme & and bay leaves.

Is this brine to corn the meat ?