I am trying to incubate turkey eggs to make more turkeys. I am not sure they are fertile, but one of our hen has been laying regularly so I am going to try. There have been three toms with her, two young ones and one mature one. Fingers crossed.
One Saturday the clouds were really interesting, and the trees on the logged hill near us as turning golden.
I had to decide which turkeys to butcher and who to keep. I want to keep one hen for breeding. Naraganssiet versus Bourbon Red were my main considerations. I ultimately decided on the Bourbon Red as she seems lively, adventurous and hardy. They are supposed to be good brooders and have great meat quality. Plus she doesn’t have much meat on her so less of a loss if we don’t butcher her. That means killing the Narragansett hen who is really friendly and calm. One of my hesitations is I had a Narraganset tom turkey that didn’t survive very long. So I want a tough turkey that is going to make it. But it is sad to say goodbye to the beautiful and sweet bird. These decisions are hard on me.
Saturday was Kladdkaka Day. Every November 7 is a day to celebrate the Swedish gooey chocolatey cake that Kladdkaka is. I used this recipe. I did have to bake it about 10 minutes longer than the recipe suggested, but it came out great. Highly recommended!
Today was turkey butcher day. Tom brought 6 turkeys in with these crates in the back of the truck. It is a sad day but compounded by the nasty weather.
While doing chores in a torrential downpour, I noticed that the rain was just dripping off the surface of the cows’ hair.
There was less dripping off of Jameson, but he seems to have more of a down coat. It felt warm and only mildly wet underneath when I touched it.
The grass in their pasture is finally getting somewhat short so we have started feeding hay. A record late start for this. They are enjoying it and a little feisty.
With 6 turkeys gone, I have room in the barn to move the goats in and so the younger sheep can move to their winter pasture finally. Here they are on it. There is enough grass for them for the moment.
Here’s the Bourbon Red turkey hen I opted to keep. I do worry because she does like to roam, but she also flies well so hopefully can avoid any danger.
The wind has been so nasty recently that it destroyed our windmill. This windmill has survived many a storm, but this was the death-toll to it. Hopefully Tom can fix it and get it spinning again.
It also has been raining like crazy. This is our poor beagle after the morning chores. She was quite wet and dirty. She spent the rest of the day inside as did I.
Tom picked up the turkeys from the butcher. The range in size from 6# to 14#. Not huge but should be tasty. Let me know if you are interested in purchasing one.
Today it is 25 years since the day Tom and I met on a blind date. I thought butchering turkeys was odd for our dateiversary but then appreciated that it is appropriate. I was a vegetarian, suburban transplant trying to be a farmer, and Tom was a carnivorous rural man who grew up working on farms. Gradually over time, we have melded in that I started eating meat and being involved with butchering, and he is exploring the vegetable side of things.
Anywho (one of my gramma’s favorite saying), we decided to visit a favorite restaurant for this event. Our original date restaurant, Pepper Sisters, has gone out of business. So we went to Nonna Luisa. Here is their menu for tonight. I ordered the Brasato Misto, and Tom had the Filetto.
Neither of us could finish our dinners, but Tom did better than me. He was able to get dessert too.
On the way home we could see prescribed burns to the east of us. They looked quite eerie. My photo doesn’t do it justice.
Here are photos of us close to 25 years ago. Here is one of Tom from December 2001.
And here is the closest one of me I could find on our trip in January 2002 picking up our ram Jocko from Montana.
It has been an amazing and wonderful journey.
P.S.
I finished this book. I purchased it quite a while ago for Tom, the surveyor. He never read it, but I decided to. It is an amazing story of a man who explored and surveyed the west, made first and near-first contacts with a number of tribes, and was the first white man to explore the Columbia River. It is a great story that has not been well appreciated in our history.
Inside the book I found this “bookmark”. It was from a wedding anniversary dinner from 2012. That was the last time I had tried to read this book.
