Monday Memoirs - Life Cycle of a Laying Hen

Chickens have always played a large role in my family. What an odd statement. But true nonetheless. There's my dad holding a chicken in his arms at age 4. He lived almost 80 more years and raised countless chickens.

Unfortunately not all of my experiences with our chickens were pleasant. I have memories of one flapping around me when I was about 3 and digging its talons into my bare back. Not a happy memory. And I was always a little hesitant opening up the henhouse door when I had to collect the eggs. Hesitant was good because if I opened the door suddenly all the hens would fly up and flap their wings and the air would be full of squawking and feathers. Tiptoeing in was better and gently gliding my hand under their bums in one smooth quick movement to clutch and grab the still warm eggs.

I have to admit there was a certain fascination for me in watching my dad select an old hen for the stewing pot. He had a long metal hook and would reach with it into the chicken coop and give a quick yank on the neck of one of the older hens. Then he would chop its head off with an axe and yes, I have seen them run around headless, but not for long. Then he would dunk it into boiling water and pull out the feathers.

Now for the insides. Dad would spread newspaper over the picnic table and carefully explain to me each organ as he would remove it - I was spellbound but in no way did the experience make me want to be a vet or a doctor. It was more an interest in the whole process - from a live chicken in the coop to a simmering chicken pot pie in the oven. Yum.

I never remember feeling sorry for the chicken, I do remember feeling "lucky me"! Chicken for supper! I mean, that's the way it was. We eked out our diet by raising chickens and growing a large garden. The chickens roamed free most of the time, had a good life laying eggs and scratching about in the dirt, then when they were old and couldn't lay eggs anymore, sacrificed their lives to give us one more meal.

I just can't feel sad about that!

An Embarrassment of Riches

My Can Cupboard

I've heard the first step in resolving a problem is first admitting you have one. Alright then...I have a problem. I call it my "Little House on the Prairie" syndrome and I have been this way since first moving out on my own....32 years ago!

As a young girl growing up I used to go to the village library at least once a week to take out 4 books. The librarian, Miss Lossing, knew my card # by heart, I didn't even have to get it out to show it to her (#222 - yes it was an easy one). Miss Lossing also served in the role of censor, shaking her head slightly when I veered too close to the young adult section of the library. Rats, caught again. Was it a coincidence they were located behind and just to the left of her desk? I think not!

As a result I read and reread all of the books in the Little House on the Prairie series and fretted along with Ma and Pa as they worried whether they had stored enough food in the loft for the upcoming long cold winter season. No trivial event to run out of food in the midwestern United Stores in the days before corner stores...or close well-stocked neighbours!

My Refrigerator

So while that is my excuse I really have no valid reason to stuff my cupboards, fridge, freezer and pantry with enough food to feed a small nation for a month. Believe it or not there is only my daughter and myself to feed. I could very easily not shop for a couple of months and we'd still eat quite nutritiously.

My Freezer

In these scary days of increasing food prices, looming food shortages, grain being diverted to make ethanol, drought, and dwindling reserves I feel embarrassed, nay ashamed, by the riches in my kitchen.

My Pantry

We are used to such variety in our diets. Although I eat oatmeal every morning (but that's another story best read about at my group blog) my daughter is quite accustomed to eating a different cereal each day of the week. Watching the Free Rice video where children were so grateful to eat rice for every meal made me feel kind of sick.

So, while I can afford to eat pretty much anything I want, should I? Will my good fortune continue in this uncertain world of vanishing resources or should I begin to prepare for a more meagre future? Where should I start? Well, I can think of a few places.... I need to get my food purchasing under control. No matter how long winter is here in southwestern Ontario I can think of half a dozen grocery stores within walking distance - I'm not gonna starve!!

Stay tuned for future developments.