It's time.

After 7 ½ weeks, we decided it was time to take our 10 meat birds to the butcher. I made the appointment for Thursday, the 22^nd. The kids and I packed everything up and headed out at 9 a.m. so we could be there for 10 a.m. – the lady needed time to clean up and head to school. Anyway, it was a nice drive and I found my way without any problems. It was a bit chilly when we arrived and no one was waiting for us. I thought that was a bit odd but what could I do? We stood around wondering what to do when a lady came out of the house. I told her we were here with our chickens. She said, “Not today.” She came out with her notebook and we eventually found my name and the 22^nd. She apologized because we weren’t on the calendar and she had already cleaned up for the day. I left my chickens and we agreed that it would be done Friday. The kids and I packed back into the van and headed home.

Friday morning we did the same thing – except this time we didn’t have to pack up the chickens. We drove out the same way so I could stop and take a couple pictures of things I had noticed the first trip….

A tree growing out of another tree. I thought it was a wonderful example of “grow where you are planted” and “help those around you.”

A wonderfully neat looking house and property. It’s not for sale but it looks vacant. I just had to stop to get a few pictures. Not really sure because it's not like we'll buy it and move there. Just a neat house.

 

As we got to the poultry processing place, she was finishing someone else's birds. I thought we were ready but it was a bit more traumatic. Everyone handled it very well and walked away if they needed to. We watched the process and it was certainly an education for all of us. Several of the kids were asking questions as the woman cleaned the birds.

Harmonie was more interested in the dog.

The kids played for a bit after we were done.

The girls were excited that the dog was more friendly today than yesterday.

On the way home, we stopped by a place that was selling pigs. Kevin wanted me to get some information so we did. The kids enjoyed walking through their barn looking at all the pigs and seeing all the little baby piglets. We will probably get one and raise it for meat. The kids were all excited at the idea of getting a pig. I made sure they understood that it wouldn't be around for very long and that it's whole purpose would be to feed us. They were still excited to have a pig. We shall see.