Unlike most folks who call late fall “Indian Summer”, at Fasching Farm we call the time between the killing frosts of fall and mid-November as the “season of filling the freezer.”  

Garden vegetables are typically finished growing by September and have already been harvested, processed, canned, frozen or stored in the root cellar.  Soon the temperatures will dive and the snow will stay – only a short window of opportunity to lay in the stores of food required for the entire year ahead.  

Because we don’t heat our barn outbuildings, we begin raising all of our meat animals in early spring so they are mature and ready for processing by October.  First was the lamb.  Our good friends love lamb but did not want a whole one for themselves. 

The best option was to split one between  us.  The lamb was locally grown, a requirement for us as homesteaders, and at 120 pounds perfect for sharing between two families.  It was the first attempt at butchered a lamb and, truthfully, it was the easiest animal we have ever processed.  Our first lamb chops were accompanied by Ginnie’s home-made mint jelly.  It was truly the best lamb we had ever every tested, bare none!  We keep saying, quality food begins and ends with 1) growing your food (or obtaining from known local producers), and 2) proper butchering (or processing) techniques.  

 

The pigs were next .  Last year we bought our piglets in mid-June and they weren’t ready until early November.  Typically it takes 5 months for a wiener to mature to an ideal slaughter weight, but November is a little late temperature-wise in SW Montana (it was -6 degrees in early November last year).  So, we bought the piglets in May this year.  Well, those Duroc crossed piggies grew rapidly and by the end of August they were 250 and 290 pounds!  Luckily, the 80 degree temperatures cooled down for a couple days, so into the freezer they went.  We only keep one hog for edification and sell the other.  After scrumptious sampling of pork, the buyers immediately put their order in for a hog next year.

Next on the processing list were last years laying hens.  Chickens generally lay most of their eggs within a year after they begin producing.  Production slowly drops off  after that making the egg production to feed ratio drop (i.e. it costs more to raise an egg).  Thus, we cull the older hens to make room for this year’s pullets who are laying an egg per day consistently.  We have a large enough chicken coop for 30 hens to reside comfortably.  We raise between 15-20 replacement chicks every spring and reduce the flock to manageable numbers each fall.  Granted, the layer hens were not bred to be “meat birds” but they are excellent when  prepared in the instant pot for chicken soup, chicken and dumplings, chicken broth, etc.

Finally, mid-October brings cooler temperatures and the beginning of big game hunting seasons.  It is not uncommon for us to harvest an antelope, one or two deer, and an elk every fall.  We process all of our own game ourselves so we know exactly how it is processed (we never cut through a bone and remove all fat and connecting tissues) and package the meat according in quantities that serve our personal meal sizes.

After hunting season is over and the season of filling the freezer is past, we relax just a little bit knowing that the best quality food (ever) is in the freezer ready for the cold months ahead.