T'was The Week Before Thanksgiving

Twas The Week Before Thanksgiving, and still there was so much to get done! It was very important to make sure folks had time with their family and friends.

Turkeys had to be weighted Sunday to make sure they were the right weight and not to heavy - and customers contacted.

Broiler processing was scheduled for Monday - and then 24 turkeys that weighted just right... completely filled this day!

Tuesday there was two beef to be cut & packed because the meat was at the perfect age. So, call our team in and say we need you one more day.
We are so thankful for their help. Without them we could not get all of this done - and they work so hard to get it just right as unto the Lord.

Come Wednesday morning our team were at home preparing their family Thanksgiving meal while Beth & I got to work smoking beef bacon, our Thanksgiving turkey (following a brine soak) was now ready to be smoked as well. And, there were some 15 or so meat lugs of beef trim that had to be ground & packed into Ground Beef before the day was done.

In the middle of it all a woman from Louisiana called to see if our farm raises turkeys - which I replied yes. So, she said, I want to bring my kido's to your farm this afternoon so they can have the experience of processing turkeys for their Thanksgiving meal. What to do....thoughts were going through my mind. Then I commented, we processed the turkeys Monday afternoon and have no more!

By late afternoon the Ground Beef was packed and in the freezer. Next was cleaning up the room and equipment.

What's left I asked? And Beth said the beef bacon needs slicing & packaging. The only options are this evening after supper or early Thanksgiving morning before we joined her family for lunch.

Well, considering we really wanted to have ALL Thanksgiving Day off (since we have not had a single day off for several months) - and we certainly did not want to risk being late for Thanksgiving dinner we decided that Wednesday evening it was.​

Thus, back to the plant. First, was to set up the slicer, vacuum sealer, and scale printer. Remember the crates and dolly. Okay, we are ready to start.

While I slice the bacon Beth weighs each stack to equal about one pound packs. When I pause to reload the slicer she seals and labels.

Ok, the first lug of three pieces are now sliced. Soon, the second lug follows. Then number three is complete. And finally, the last one. All twelve pieces are sliced and packaged. Lets get this cleaned up and call it a night.

While I start the clean up, Beth takes the scale and hooks it up to the computer. Within a few minutes she prints the report of our work. Since Monday we processed 774 packages of beef & turkeys for a weight of 1260 pounds.

Our Thanksgiving was very nice! Great fellowship with family, a delicious meal followed by one of my favorite desserts - lemon pie. Beth's mom makes a wonderful pie from the Cotton Blues restaurant recipe.

Thanks to the folks who took the time to text us your Thanksgiving Blessing!

Now Friday is here and the #1 item on the list is to pickup the lamb from Homestead Farm & Packing and get the inventory added to our website for customer orders. You know they will want lamb for the Christmas Season!

Hope you & your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

** Product Availability Update **

Chicken -Restocked Thursday, November 10th. Next harvest date is December 13th with restock the following day

Eggs - Eggs are still tight. New hens arrived September 16th AND we are getting a few flats of mediums per day now.... Starting to look up

Beef - Restocked November 23rd early afternoon. Next harvest is December 5th with restock about December 22nd

Pork - Restocked bacon September 29th. Next harvest date is TBD.

Lamb - Next harvest date was MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14th. Restocked Friday Nov 25th.