Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

I was certain we wouldn’t sell any of these damn birds and I let Allan know my thoughts.  People want beef and pork and eggs, but I told him “no one will be willing to pay $3.50/lb and we will only lose money and precious time!”  They take a lot of work to care for them properly and to feed them well and (most) people do not appreciate that when they can just go to a grocery store and get a pre-seasoned rotisserie bird ready for cookin’ and often pre-cooked whole birds right ready for the dinner plate!

Regardless of my thoughts, we proceeded with purchasing our day old chicks and began raising them by pumping steroids into them on a daily basis (just kidding!).  A grain mash, grass, bugs and water did the trick and they grew from “cute, little fuzzy” chicks to “not so cute anymore” meat birds, which is all part of the process.  As a child on my parents farm I remember having meat birds and playing with the chicks regularly, until they were no longer “cute.”  A featherless piece of skin is just not as fun!    

I advertised our birds at the school I was working at in the spring.  I thought I might catch someone’s eye by posting a photo of a rotisserie chicken model, posing for the camera.  No luck.  Only one lady was slightly interested and she preferred the chicken alive for religious purposes.  I said no and came home to tell Allan how my advertising idea did not work as well at this school as planned...must be the demographics.  Allan on the other hand had neglected to tell me he had already taken orders for half the birds, most of the customers simply from his work.  Here I am modelling chickens and bartering teachers and Allan already had a growing list!  Word of mouth really got around (to the right crowd I guess) and within days all of our birds were sold and even more were requested.  We tried to save three four ourselves, but Allan’s math skills are not great (which is something I expect from myself, not him) so he oversold a few.  Also, a couple local people have attained my cell phone number and have asked for some birds.  Fortunately (...or unfortunately?), we were able to give them a taste by handing out one or two of our birds (less for us), but added them to the order list for next year’s flock. 

At this point I believe we only had one bird left for us, so I decided to taste our own chicken (something I should have done before advertising its juicy qualities!).  I put a roast in, seasoned with salt, sauces and spices and surrounded by my neighbours zucchini and carrots and beans from our garden.  I was SO proud of my homegrown meal and called up some friends to come for dinner on the deck.  Of course it was very last minute that only one couple was able to come...  I was all prepared and set the table on the deck and then the first drop fell.  Lightning and thunder truck, a tree fell on the fence, the chicken stopped cooking, flowers pots smashed to the ground, my patio furniture and table setting flew away, and the barn door blew off.  Immediately when I witnessed this turn of events occurring I ran to the barn, brought in all the horses, locked up the laying hens, screamed at Allan to get out of the shower, then ran to my parents farm and proceeded to bring their horses in (they were conveniently at the cottage). 

We regrettably messaged our friends and cancelled dinner, thinking the bird would not be cooked and that we would have a huge mess to clean up after the storm.  I had been praying for a good rain because I was exhausted from watering my gardens, but I did not ask for it to happen the night of my prized chicken dinner.  To no avail, we ate our delicious chicken dinner at 9:00 p.m., together with the dogs, soaking wet from all our running around, in front of the television, with no friends present except our furry ones.  Subsequently, just as we took our first bites the sun came out over the deck.  I immediately mourned to Allan over cancelling our last minute dinner plans because I have to admit this was the best meal I had ever cooked and it is all thanks to the chicken.  I am hoping to have a repeat of this chicken dinner, minus the storm, flying furniture, power outages and wet patio cushions.  Chicken dinner on the deck anyone (only if there is one more bird left for us)?