I mentioned in my stalking turkeys post that my brother had gotten his hunting license and was planning to take advantage of it this spring. Well, a week ago, he did. I know, it's pretty shameful that it has been so long and I haven't posted about it yet, but better late than never. As I mentioned before, my dear friend Kayla was visiting, and after we went walking (up on the very turkey hunting hill, actually), we came home and went up to my bedroom to chat. All of a sudden, I hear my mom call up the stairs, "Do you want to come see the turkey?" I can't tell you just how quickly I came tearing down those stairs and out the door to the truck. You probably don't want to know. This is what I saw when I hopped up on the tire and peeked over the edge into the bed:
Since my mom didn't really want to have anything to do with it, or even see it before it was ready to go in the brine, we took it down to the neighbors' house to prepare it. It was actually the first time I had had a part in processing any sort of animal - please don't think I'm insane when I say that I had simply too much fun helping my brother with it. I'm only mostly partially crazy. I'll spare you most of the details, because I'm guessing some won't really appreciate it if I show you all of the pictures Kayla and I took on my camera.
It was a good thing we had Kayla here, because my brother couldn't find the lungs. Kayla ended up sticking her arm in the turkey and pulling them out. ;)
When we brought it inside, my brother found a sack inside the bird that was filled with berries. And you see that think draped over the edge of the sink? Yeah, that's a lizard. It was also inside.
Turkey in the brine:
Done cooking! The dark meat was very tough, but the white meat was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I'm thinking I can stew up the legs with some taters and onions and they'll be tasty, though.
We can get two more turkeys this spring season - I'm looking forward to it!
Blessings,
Reyna
