A few weeks ago my husband killed a deer. No matter how you look at it, it is still taking a life and we don't take it lightly. We teach our kids that it isn't a sport or a game, it is necessary for conservation efforts of the deer population, but it also provides our family with meat. I do'nt need meat to live, I have gone years without eating any meat at all, but my husband appreciates meat, and I don't mind so we do eat meat that we harvest and process ourselves. This includes deer of course.
We are blessed that my father in law shares our passion for good food and he has a "shop" that is fully equipped with a kitche, stove, wash area, walk in cooler and meat processing equipment. We stored the deer in his cooler until we could process it and this weekend we ground it.
We got:
- 6 lbs of chili meat ( which is just a little larger ground peices)
-6 lbs of ground burger meat ( which I use in spaghetti, meatloaf, really anyway you would use beef)
-30 lbs of summer sausage ( which is so delicious, as I use fresh peppers from the garden, and local hand crafted cheese)
My brother in law was also there and he gave us 5 additional pounds of ground burger, as there " is just one of him, but 5 of us". We are so blessed.
The summer sausage is a treat and most of the time we just do ground meat, but the summer sausage is great around the holidays to snack on, take to parties and use as gifts.
We expect to get at least one more deer this year which will fill or freezer up and will be good eating for the rest of the year.
Until Next time
Happy Homesteading
Linked up with Artful Homemaking, Monday Homesteading Barn Hop, TALU Tuesdays
MMMmmm! Summer Sausage!
ReplyDeleteI just made a venison casserole that got a thumbs up from my family. I plan on making it again soon :)
Sounds great, would love for you to share!
DeleteHi Rachel! I am envious of your deer! lol! Not really, just wished my hubs was a hunter! We were fortunate that someone gave us several pounds of ground deer and we really like it! I'm hoping to obtain meat from one or two more deer before the season runs out! It is so much healthier to consume! Do ya'll make 'regular' sausage with it? Just wondering how that would taste! Thanks for sharing! Blessings from Bama!
ReplyDeleteYes we do make regular sausage sometimes. You can buy a package of seasoning from places like Cabelas or BAss Pro shop to do that. It's not quite like regular pork sausage, but honestly I have tasted that in so long I'm not sure I would know what it was anyways. Sometimes people add extra fat to it to make sausage so it sticks together when frying it like a patty. We have used wild boar fat before and it works nicely.
DeleteNew fan here via Homestead Revival. I love this post and hope you'll come share at my weekly Farm Girl Blog Fest: http://fresh-eggs-daily.blogspot.com/2012/12/farm-girl-friday-blog-fest-12.html
ReplyDeleteWe blog about our small farm in Virginia where we raise chickens, ducks and horses as well as a spoiled barn cat.
Lisa
Fresh Eggs Daily
Thanks for dropping by, I am now foloowing your blog. So fun!
DeleteI agree with you about not taking life lightly, or for sport or fun -- but for food, to nourish our bodies.
ReplyDeleteWe recently butchered our pigs. This becomes harder and easier every year, for all of us. We are less attached, but we realize even more the sacrifice of life that is being made so that we can eat. And so we endeavor to use as much of the animal as possible, and to be thankful and grateful for the sustenance it brings.
Thank you so much for the comment. You are right, it is so important to be thankful. thanks for stopping by!
DeleteMy father-in-law hunts deer. So the twice a year that my husband visits he brings back deer sausage. I don't eat it and have never tried it. The area we live in, we see deer all the time. One time we were sitting in the kitchen and saw six of them jump over a fence into our backyard, then into another. We've never seen that many at once but it was neat. Since my son was really little he has told him Paw Paw that he can't shoot any deer at our house. LOL! TALU
ReplyDeleteI'm a HUGE wuss when it comes to proteins. I was horrified living in New Orleans around all the rabbit, turtle, alligator, etc., but I have a confession to make. One Christmas Eve, I was going to a cousin's house. I knew she had recently gotten some venison and made sausage with it, but I forgot all about that. On her counter was a platter with some cheese, crackers, and "pepperoni." I ate two, then suddenly gasped when I realized I was eating the venison sausage. Had to check myself right then and there, because was really good! I felt like an idiot LOL. Really need to branch out more. The funny thing is that I'm Armenian, so I grew up eating a lot of lamb, which grosses out other people. :) [#TALU]
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