Homesteading in the 21st Century

I have been struggling for months to establish my farm philosophy. One thing I often consider is how to incorporate technology into my life, without allowing it to take away from the non-technical aspects. Whether to purchase paper books, or e-books is an issue that I think about a lot. And this blog, for example. I want to share my farmsteading experiences with people all over the country (and the world!), and in this era, blogging is the best way to do it. I can write about what we’re doing, share pictures, resources, whatever! And I get to hear the feedback from my readers,

I have watched this video quite a few times over the past year, and twice again last week. I’ve been roasting whole chickens for a few years now, but I’ve never been able to get more than one meal out of each bird, so I thought parting the bird might help me extend the investment. So I was inspired to give it a shot! I got my whole chicken from Athens Locally Grown and after it was completely thawed, I was ready.

I had to pause and rewind the video a few times, and I regret that my knife was not truly sharp enough, but I got it done without any real problems. We’ll be eating the chicken breasts & tenders with spinach and noodles tomorrow night and I put the rest in the freezer.

The most important thing I learned from the video, other than how to part the chicken, of course, is WHY and when to do it, when selling chickens off the farm. Birds that weigh less than 5lbs after being butchered, should be sold as whole birds. Carcasses over 5lbs can be parted because you’re likely to get at least one pound of chicken breast from each one.