are you ready words circle marked on a calendarAs we start to really think about getting ready (no, we’re not ready to get ready – only thinking about getting ready) for the late spring and all summer processing season, we are trying to get our freezer emptied so that we can defrost it. This is a me mandate… must eat what we have before we buy more! Doesn’t really work for us tho’. Today I purchased shrimp, because we don’t have any, and where do they go? In the freezer. Granted, they are for Thursday’s dinner, but still. Geesh.

In the attempt to empty said freezer, we have actually done well selling our excess chickens. I believe there are only two remaining and one of those is for the fire boys at the station near us. We still have several Not For Sale chickens that we’re supposed to be eating; we try to cook one a month. Sometimes I forget to pull them out to defrost. Thinking about the chicken’s we’ve sold. I had this exchange with one of our happy customers and I’ve just been waiting for the right evening (read – when I don’t know what to write) to share it with you. Now’s my chance!

We have a very loyal and supportive customer by the name of George. George is a really sweet, single, man of a certain age with an amazing sense of humor. We just love him. He purchased a chicken from one of our last summer processing batches. Back in December, this was our e-mail exchange.

Joanne,
I don’t know what took me so long to get around to preparing that chicken I got from you, but yesterday I pulled it out of the freezer and dropped it into my 8-quart Instant Pot. With the pressure cooker, the bird doesn’t need to be thawed. The bird whole chickengoes from the IP to the broiler for a few minutes to brown. The main advantage of using the IP is the time it saves. It came out well. Anyway, the picture shows how much chicken I had left after I had my fill at dinner. A lot of meat!
George
George,
Are you sure that wasn’t a small turkey? I’ve never used an insta-pot and I’ve always been a bit afraid of using a pressure cooker. I might have to invest in something like that tho’ because I’d like to do some canning!May I have your permission to use your photo and some comments in our blog?
Thank you!
Joanne.
Hi, Joanne,
Feel free to use the stuff in your blog except for maybe the part about ———… hahaha.
When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed in the kitchen when my mother was canning with the pressure cooker; too dangerous. Fortunately, we never had a mishap. The new breed of electric pressure cookers (such as the Instant Pot) isn’t as dangerous. You cannot, however, can in them because it’s unclear if they meet the temperature and pressure levels needed to destroy potentially deadly bacteria inside canned food. This May, a new model – Instant Pot Max – will add a canning function, but details are as yet unavailable.
George
Did I mention that George is an engineer? I just thought this was the cutest e-mail exchange, and I was so happy that he was pleased with his dinner. Now you, too, know my deep fear of pressure cookers! Chime in if you have any thoughts or memories about them. 🙂 I can’t wait to see what you have to say. Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading!

 

Today’s Weather: The weather is definitely getting ready, getting ready for windy March. Today we had some very cold winds coming from the North West, which isn’t normal at all. Currently, at 7:26 p.m., it is 43° with winds from the North at 14 mph. Sunrise today was at 6:51 and sunset was at 6:16.

Egg Report: Those chickens have really been ramping up their egg production. We’ve had some good numbers the last few days. I really hope the wind doesn’t set us back. You know that they are very particular about their weather, those chickens. Sunday – 31 chicken, 2 duck. Monday – 25 chicken, 2 duck. Tuesday – 28 chicken, 2 duck. The goose has been done laying for a while now. We’re not sure when she’ll pick up again, I think she’s waiting for our real spring. Not our false spring that happened in December.

Speaking of Spring! Here’s our almond tree in full flower. It burst open Tuesday, just all of a sudden.