Not for the Squeamish

There will be blood. There will be guts. There will be consumption of animals of all sorts.

If you can't handle the first line…you may not want to read further. In fact, I specifically created a label for these types of posts and for my friends that don't want to know or don't want to hear about it - just avoid this label!

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Yesterday was our second time butchering rabbits. I wanted to share with you my very first impressions about this new process in our lives. I thought of the perfect title and all day long I was actually looking forward to sit down and discuss what could possibly be going on in my mind to attempt such a crazy thing as raise your own rabbits in the backyard to end up on the family's dinner plates.

At 2am this morning my direction changed!!! "Not for the Squeamish" is still true, however, now I am only referring to the sheer resolve in my heart that this is the path we want to take.

We started the process after church…though next time we'll be sure to go to 1st service (a foreshadowing of my 2am direction change). We butchered a total of 10 rabbits. This time went much faster than the first attempt, but that was to be expected, we are just learning. The first time was all about figuring out a process that works for us. Neal and Caleb would do the kill with a contraption I built meant to break their necks instantly, and then they give it to me for bleeding out, skinning and eviscerating - a fancy word for cleaning out the guts…see, I told you there'd be blood and guts. I do look forward to sharing more details about this experience, but I have a different point to make today. It'll have to wait.

We made it through all 10 rabbits before dinner at 7:30 and then at around 9:00 I began the work of final cleaning and piecing out. Again saving the details for other post. Let's sum it up with, "It took me a while!" At 2am I finally finished with the meat, but I still had to fully wash down/sanitize my kitchen - another hour - not to mention I had bloody pelts to wash. I guess that's what I get for promising my 12 year old boy that I would at least try. Oh, and did I mention that I learned I should have done the pelts before I sanitized my kitchen - add 20 more minutes!

I am sure that somewhere down the line I will write encouraging posts saying how easy and rewarding this process is, etc. But crawling into bed at 4:30 only to get up at 5:45 to take Caleb to Jazz Band Rehearsal … yeah, this is NOT for the squeamish!!!

Going back to bed now...