Journey from Backyard to Freezer.

(the original six, before we gave three away)

There are quite a few veggies that have made the before mentioned journey, but today is the first day that some animals made this trip. Don't worry, I didn't tackle the blue heron that was eating our koi. Our three feathered ladies have gone to the chicken coop in the sky. This morning I got some large cardboard boxes and trudged through our bamboo forest to the coop. The chickens eyed me warily and even more so, Jackie. I scooped up Fat Flo who came along willingly until she realized what I meant to do with the box. She hopped out of the box, punched me in the face, and went running for the open gate. Jackie lived up to her reputation and chased her down for me. Parker Jr. was easy to move. The last one was Frida, the little one. She quickly darted around the coop but I used my ninja skills and snatched both of her legs out of the air as she was hopping to an upper bar in the coop. I was just as startled as she was at my sucess but was repeatedly slapped as I crawled out of the coop with an upsidedown chicken in one hand.

It took me 40 minutes to drive Coral and the three death-row-chickens out to the butcher. It was my first time in this neighboring small town and it met my expectations with it's gravel driveways and wild packs of tom cats. I handed over the birds and got Coral out to walk around and wait. The smell was so similar to my time in rural Mexico that I half expected a Tamale cart to wheel by. It was only 9am and already about 80 degrees. Between the cats gnawing on giblets and the smell of the water being flushed down the gravel driveway, I was glad that I hadn't eaten any breakfast. Even though I live in a small town, I totally felt like a city slicker in my "new" 2000 Volvo wagon that carried me and my 3 chickens in cardboard boxes. I watched four old beat up trucks come and go while I waiting, each carrying over a dozen birds or rabbits in large wire mesh cages. These people were obviously professionals.

We are safely home now and the bags with chopped chicken are cooling in the freezer. We will have wonderful chicken soup this fall. Thank you, chickens. That was a good run.