Processing Venison...

"Every morning as soon as she was awake Laura ran to look out of the window, and one morning she saw in each of the big trees a dead deer hanging from the branch.

That day Pa and Ma and Laura and Mary had fresh venison for dinner. It was so good that Laura wished they could eat it all. But most of the meat must be salted and smoked and packed away to be eaten in the winter." 

~Little House in the Big Woods~ 

Processing my own deer a few years ago was the birth of my love for butchering animals. I will do any and every animal I can get my hands on. I can't help but smile the entire time I'm slicing meat from the bones and wrapping it up for the freezer. I know where it came from and that every bit of meat possible will be used by my family. (and myself)

My mama helped me with this deer...each taking a leg and just cutting away. All the while, since we both share a love for Shirley Temple we watched Heidi. Such sweet memories made in my mama's kitchen. Two hours was just about the perfect length of movie for a small doe.

This time I found that keeping a towel under me while I worked minimized the slipping on and helped me stabilize everything more...helping speed the process up faster.

We cut up stakes and roast and make the rest into hamburger. My dad purchase a nice meat grinder for the family and it makes this process the easiest and I'm for sure to always have volunteers to do this for me at the end of a long processing evening.

Note: Deer meat is my all time favorite meat. I like a good deer hamburger or steak to beef any day.

XOXO

the beginning..."once upon a time"

Ahh! I love that phase..."once upon a time" just gives me warm fuzzy inside.

So I started reading the Little House Series for the millionth time...these books have a charm about them that's hard to describe. I sit for hours reading chapter after chapter, completely engulfed in another wonderful world. I'm seeing more and more how my own childhood and young adult life was very similar to Laura's, in someways a good thing and in others well it was just life and it was beautiful because it's was mine.

Her's was the story of what really mattered in life. She describes a life of hardship but in words which makes each of us want to re-enter into the charm of the covered wagon days. Even the dirt and dust looks magical. Like how is that even possible?

I decided to try and cook my way through these books...baking and preparing each food that she mentioned. Not that I can go into real detail with each, like I can't cook over a fire or fry a pigs tail. But for the most part I plan on creating a little bit of the Little House food in my "primitive" kitchen.

Growing up I would imagine myself living in my own little house. And on April 22, 2015 I did just that. I bought a little house in the middle of the woods (a total of five acres) and since then I've been busy remodeling and trying to enjoy life at the same time. From planting my own garden, butchering a pig and canning (by myself for first time) I've been slowing accumulating little house memories of my own.

I want to document what I've done and the old fashioned meals I cook...so hence I've begun this blog...



XOXO