Raise your hand if you’ve ever wondered, “What on earth am I going to do with all these roosters?” If you’ve hatched out chicks, you know that alongside those adorable hens, you often find yourself with an unexpected surplus of roosters. It’s a legit concern! Let’s talk about the world of roosters and the surprising benefits they can bring to your homestead and table.
Unraveling the Mystique of Roosters
Roosters are more than just that crowing alarm clock; they play a crucial role in your flock. Sure, they fertilize eggs like champions, but there’s more to it than that. These fine feathered protectors are your free ranging hens’ first line of defense against predators and their trusty guides to locating the best grub. With that in mind, you can see that roosters are not just a byproduct but an essential asset to your flock’s welfare.
However, too many roosters can lead to some rather chaotic amorous behavior., and let’s be honest, that’s not a pleasant sight. A healthy balance of roosters to hens is about 1 to 10 (or less). So, the burning question is, what can you do when roosters start outnumbering your hens? Buckle up because we’ve got some tasty solutions.
Savoring the Flavor of Roosters
You bet you can eat roosters! Although young roosters may be a tad tougher than a Cornish cross chicken, you can work culinary wonders to make them a delicious and satisfying meal.
Pressure Cooking Perfection: Get ready to experience tender rooster meat by pressure cooking or boiling them. While the grill might lend that smoky flavor, the dry heat can make your bird tougher. The magic happens with “low and slow” cooking, turning your rooster into a flavorful masterpiece.
The Nutrient Goldmine: What makes young roosters extraordinary? It’s the richness in minerals and fat that delivers that unique flavor. Darker meat is a testament to this nutrient abundance, influenced by breed and age. By the time you’re ready to cull them, these young roosters are primed to give you a remarkably rich and flavorsome chicken dinner.
Now that you’re itching to explore the culinary side of your roosters, let’s dive into some lip-smacking recipes:
Rooster Soup Sensation: I generally include the feet when I package a rooster, so the whole thing can go in the stockpot or instapot to make super rich broth. The feet add collagen (think healthy bones, hair, and skin) and flavor in spades to your broth. Remove the bones and meat at the end of the cook time. Take the meat off the bones, dice, and return to the pot. Add any veggies and herbs you like. A rooster can make a rich broth without overwhelming the soup with meat. It’s a nice balance.
Pressure-Cooked Chicken Delight: Pressure cooking is a great way to enjoy a full flavor chicken that is also tender to eat. Know that it will be chewier than a store chicken, or even a cornish cross farm chicken. However, that chewiness helps develop your jaw muscles and bone, facial bones and structures, and teeth. All that mastication also ensures that you’ll get all the minerals and vitamins that rooster stored up for you. It’s a pleasurable, gentle workout that tastes good!
Chicken and dumplings: Follow the directions for soup, but thicken the broth. Dumplings are basically biscuits steam cooked in the stew. This is a historically fantastic way to enjoy the heritage animal that a rooster is.
Roosters are far from being a homestead liability. They’re a treasured asset that adds flavor, excitement, and protection to your flock. So, embrace your roosters, and savor the delightful meals they can provide. They’re not just a gift; they’re a culinary adventure waiting to happen on your homestead.
The world is always crazy somewhere, but right now Israel and Gaza are in the news exemplifying it.
I thought about the situation as I went about my chores: picking up the eggs, checking the proscuittos and other pieces in the hanging room, grabbing a jar of grass-fed cow’s milk for the house, and seeing what the garden offered for supper. It occurred to me that these things happen: hens lay eggs, cows make milk, broccoli grows new heads, regardless of what ever we humans do out in our world.
It’s this layer of security, this growing of what sustains life and knowing how to process, preserve, and use it, that I’m grateful for. No matter what happens in the Ukraine, Israel, or various other parts of the world, we have the knowledge and skills to have a measure of security. We’ve been sharing that with folks, growing a bigger circle of skilled and secure people, for over 12 years now. Over the past 12 years we’ve trained a lot of folks in the skill of butchering a hog at home without all the big equipment. We’ve preached that anyone can farm and grow food. And our Tribe shows it.
This is the kind of inspiration our students are to us, as they come, learn, then go out and do:
“My husband attending a homestead hog harvest totally changed the trajectory of our lives!! He saw the beauty of hands on connection to our food. It ignited a passion in him that he didn’t know existed. Then we attended Tribe Day. And now we are actively looking for land to build our own farm!” Amy Bacher
Mike and Amy were city kids. Before they started the nomadic life they’d never driven a pick up or pulled a trailer, much less grown vegetables or chickens or pigs. Now they’re inspired and doing. How great is that?!
So, I encourage you to make room for sadness and the emotions that go with tragedy, but to also do what Mark calls “fortifying your position.” Get skilled up before a crisis hits so you’re secure in your knowledge and skills to thrive. Come and learn with us, or someone like us. I’m glad I did that, and I’m happy to share with those who really want it.
And that’s what I thought about: Israel, Gaza, craziness, and farming, as I did my chores.
Yesterday we were having coffee with a couple of friends. We were sitting in their outdoor kitchen that he had made from second hand steel, an old billboard tarp for an Indian Motorcycle place, and a scrounged pipe building frame. All of the kitchen equipment was well used but the jars of tomato sauce and salsa on the counter testified to the space’s handiness.
We were there because our friend Keith had the phone poles Mark needed to build the rail to hang beef and pigs from for classes. Keith has a lot of challenges in his life, but he plays to his strengths of connecting people with what they need and being able to cobble anything into real functionality. After we left they were off to help an older lady improve her garden soil so she could grow more of her own food.
Touching lives
That’s what farming boils down to, I realized as I sat there. We touch lives and nurture beings, from the little microscopic fellas in the soil to our chickens, pigs, and cows, to you and all the others who want health in their bodies through nutrient dense, great tasting food. I’m always amazed at Keith’s finds and at how generously he shares those things. He feels blessed by God and has a Desire to share his wealth.
That is farming, right there.
Anyone. Can. Farm. It’s nurturing life to nourish ourselves and others, in a nutshell. Whether is a few tomatoes or zucchinis shared with a neighbor or having conversations that light people up as they purchase chicken or pick up their milk herd share, you’ve nurtured and nourished and touched lives. That’s how real food and buying from local farmers rather than an impersonal grocery store changes me and you.
Just wanted to share a little more inspiration on the video side. These folks attended one of our Homestead Hog Harvest classes and walked away with a skill, and a transformation.
Is this the year you own your food chain?
Immersion into the whole process is part of the Homestead Hog Harvest and Charcuterie classes in the fall. You take your food from the field to your plate in these couple days. But not by yourself. Team = transformation and ownership. All the information to do this is available in books and YouTube University. Heck, we have a video course with all the details. But the shared experience is the magic, the thing that changes everything. Join us to learn not only how to make your own pork chops or proscuitto, but to get the whole experience that changes everything!
Mathew Kelly wrote that in The Rhythm of Life and I’ve been mulling it over. It’s a profound realization that has reshaped the way I perceive not only myself but also the world around me. You see, everything in life is wrapped in a context, and that context is, in essence, a story.
The stories we tell ourselves and the narratives others tell us have an incredible power to shape our beliefs, our actions, and even our destiny.
In the realm of homesteading and chemical-free farming, there’s a plethora of stories floating around as competing interests strive to control “the narrative”, and I’m sure some of these sound familiar:
“Organic is what you do before you go out of business.” “You can’t make a living farming.” “You have to have land (amounts vary depending on what the person doesn’t have) to farm.” “You have to be wealthy to have a farm like that.” “I can’t because my husband/wife won’t support me.” “You can’t raise pigs on pasture. No fences will hold them.” “Chickens raised outside can get bird flu from wild birds, so don’t take the chance.” “Farmers should be poor.” (This one is a belief that underlies “You can’t charge ‘that much’ for your products.”) “I could never butcher an animal.” “Organ meats are gross. I couldn’t eat that!”
The list goes on and social media is full of them all.
Stories. Meaning given to facts. Sometimes, I can’t wonder if my husband and I attended entirely different events when he recounts his version of certain events. Different perspectives on a given set of events. It’s fascinating how we all take a set of facts and fill in the blanks to give those facts meaning, value, and to fit them into recognizable patterns. This is simply a human tendency.
Last week was a perfect example.
It was a typical Friday, we were faced with the arduous task of butchering about 170 chickens, just as we do every week. The day started at 8:00 am with chores, plus we had to gather a number of our own chickens to be processed. Actual chicken processing didn’t kick off until around 10:00 am. Frustration simmered beneath the surface as the clock ticked towards 6:30 pm. One voice in my head grumbled, “Why couldn’t everyone move things along more efficiently?” Another, calmer voice countered, “Calm down. Yelling won’t help. Lead by example.”
Throughout the day, these inner voices waged a silent battle, expressing frustration and offering counsel by turns. And then, as the sun dipped lower on the horizon, it was 6:30 pm, and the daunting task of cleanup still loomed. Hot water was essential to remove the stubborn chicken fat that clung to everything, but the hot water source remained in the old shop, a cumbersome reminder of a task deferred all summer long.
In that moment, I had two distinct narratives to choose from. The first one cast Mark as the neglectful and selfish husband: “Mark just doesn’t prioritize what’s important to me. He focuses on his projects while mine get pushed aside. He doesn’t need hot water for his cleanup, so he ignores the needs of the rest of us.”
The second narrative painted a brighter picture: “So much progress was made this summer! I’m grateful that the other projects are nearing completion, giving Mark the time and space to finish this water project. We’re almost there!”
It struck me that life on our homestead was a collection of stories, and we all had our own inner dialogues, with competing voices that narrated different tales. “We become the stories we listen to.” While I couldn’t claim to always choose the path of the “appreciative wife” over the “angry wife,” I realized that I had a choice. I could listen to and nurture the story that led to a harmonious and productive homestead. Or I could choose the other story.
In the end, my life was shaped by the stories I embraced. I resolved to listen more often and more attentively to the narrative that served our shared goals. Our homestead wasn’t just a place of labor; it was where we crafted the stories of our lives, one day at a time.
Join the Conversation and Craft Your Dream Story!
We’re eager to hear your unique stories and perspectives! As we gear up for two exciting classes (Homestead Hog Harvestand Charcuterie and Pork Preservation) in November and December, we invite you to become a part of our community.
These classes offer not only the opportunity to acquire valuable skills but also the chance to engage in conversations that unfold around the cutting table, the dinner table, and by the campfire. It’s in these moments that you immerse yourself in a different narrative, a realm of possibilities that might not be frequently heard but are just as real. These interactions can be transformative, reshaping the way you view your own capabilities.
Imagine a possibility where you discover the art of processing your own pigs, crafting your bacon and sausage, and creating exquisite prosciutto and pepperoni. It’s all possible when you’re surrounded by a can-do, “anything is possible” atmosphere.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever wondered, “What on earth am I going to do with all these roosters?” If you’ve hatched out chicks, you know that alongside those adorable hens, you often find yourself with an unexpected surplus of roosters. It’s a legit concern! Let’s talk about the world of roosters and the surprising benefits they can bring to your homestead and table.
You bet you can eat roosters! Although young roosters may be a tad tougher than a Cornish cross chicken, you can work culinary wonders to make them a delicious and satisfying meal.
