Ok, I’m going own up to something.. sometimes I wig myself out.. its really, really weird.. even as I am doing something and I am thinking with my logical half of my brain, I am wigging in my emotional/feeling part.

I think most folks are aware that we raise all our own meat at this point and that I do most of the butchering for our own home use, only sending the critters out that will end up for possable farm gate sales.

Right or wrongly, I can butcher out fowl without much of even a flinch and I am pretty sure its because I have done so! many over the years, and cause they are fowl..

Rabbits are slowly getting there to a point and in other ways, never will.. rabbits are just to sweet and friendly for me to ever truly get to the point of not wigging.

Now I have been working on nose to tail cooking for the past two years, trying to learn to cook, eat and find ways to serve up parts that at least in N.A. at this time tend to end up in either the compost or to the dogs.. I am will admit that as I have the hounds, I have just did the same as my folks and allowed them to help me do the clean up and if they didn’t want it, then into the compost pile or the chicken free food buckets its been going..

But then I decided that while I was not wasting per say, I was not learning how to use everything I could for us, and while there are times where I still don’t want to clean and cook chicken feet, I will just give the hounds a crunchy healthy treat, I do it often enough that I know the skills.

But my lastest wanted skill has me in full on wig mode, and I know that I need to get over it and I will and I will be sharing my knowledge as I work and learn on it.

So here it is.. I am trying to learn to do three things..

How to clean and use real intestines for sausage casings.

How to clean and use a stomach for stuffing and also for curing and drying to be used as either a water or cooking tool (old stone age knowledge on this one)

How to learn how to clean and perserve the first stomach for being able to make your own animal rennet (not the fowl kind)

Now on top of that, I have decided that I need to get back into making sure that all the hides are being kepts, cured and used for something, as that has been something I have just let my butcher keep when he does the lambs for me..

I still don’t have a clue what to do with as many hides as I am going to get, but I do know that I will at some point need to start consider making leather, instead of wool/hair on hides.

Ok, so back to the topic..  why do guts wig me.. I have been honestly giving it some thought, and the first part goes back to my own basic understanding of safe butchering, if I can I butcher to have the cleanest meat possable, if I do it right, I never! cut into or get any of the intestine on my meat, ( while I do soak my meat in salt water for pulling out blood and because its just part of my own process) I can honestly say that a properly done critter by me, I would know in a push come shove, that a rinse in cool water and cook it would be just as safe..

So there is a part of me that has trained and continues to train on how to clean out a critter so that I do not in any way shape or form get things on my meat itself..

but once its removed and I am just working with it, I have gotten to the point that I can check my organs and even learned how to look and see the beauty of the lungs, but those intestines.. ahhhhhh.. wig! Big old wig I tell ya..

I have not meet my match, I will figure this out but I have a very hard time with it..  I just can’t seem to get over the ick factor on this one at this time..

There I owned up to it.. ikkk, ikk, Double Ikkk YUKE< gag me…

But the issue is, I want to be able to eat chitlins, I want to be able to stop buying very! costly casings when I have casings right here on the farm, I want to be able to use every part of my animal, I want to honor their life by making sure I don’t disrespect any part of them..

Its a dilemma… one determined but wigged! out Farmgal!