Spacebar…spacebar…spacebar…faster…spacebar.spacebar.spacebar! For those of you who went to elementary school in the 90s, perhaps you can reminisce with me about playing the good ole Oregon Trail computer game. I remember several things about the game – seeing the little covered wagon bump along the trail, “burying” those who died along the way, trying to feed my oxen, and trying to shoot squirrels and deer for food. I have this mental image (from the hunting part of the game) of the little man on the computer screen with his rifle with bullets emitting each time you pressed the space bar. The faster you pressed, the faster the bullets came. (Thus, my opening line for this blog post.) So, when you saw some squirrels or deer, you blasted a stream of bullets at them (remembering, of course, that your bullet supply was limited). I had a flashback to playing that game the other day when, lo, and behold, the Russell men brought me some game…. The pride on their young faces at bringing home some meat was too much. I cautiously mentioned that I had just seen a recipe for squirrel stew in my Mennonite Country-Style Recipes cookbook. That was the all the encouragement my dear husband needed to butcher the critter.
I smiled bravely as I carefully washed the squirrel. (Let me insert here that before this experience I had never eaten squirrel meat.) Thoughts ran through my mind, such as how I encourage other people to branch out and try new things like venison and goat milk; the old saying, “waste not, want not;” if I were really hungry, I would eat this, and how happy I was in the Oregon Trail game when my hunting yielded some squirrels. Hmm, could I practice all I preached and eat this creature? I read a few tips online and soaked the squirrel in a water, vinegar, and salt solution for a few hours. Then I poured it off and soaked it overnight in just salt and water. The next day, I simmered that little guy for about an hour to make it really tender. I deboned it, and it yielded about ¼ cup of meat that looked and smelled somewhat like dark chicken meat. I put it back in the fridge for about 2 days soaking in Worcestershire sauce. And, then….then…I made squirrel stew. I used a recipe from Mennonite Country-Style Recipes, but I adapted it so much that I’m not going to quote the original recipe. (I do want to give credit to the cookbook, and I highly recommend it because it is loaded with tips for from-scratch cooking. If you have the cookbook, the recipe I used is on page 511; it is called Brunswick Stew.) Russell Homestead Squirrel Stew 1 cup cooked and shredded squirrel and/or chicken meat 1 potato, diced ½ cup chopped onion 2-3 cups chicken broth 1 quart of canned tomatoes Salt, pepper, & seasoned salt to taste Directions: Put all ingredients in a kettle and cook until potatoes are tender. Notes: The canned tomatoes were my own. I can chunked tomatoes with peppers and onions. I did use chicken meat in addition to the squirrel meat because the squirrel was so small. We could not tell a difference between the chicken and the squirrel in the stew. (However, I will note that there was hardly any squirrel meat to speak of, so I won’t say that it tastes like chicken! It simply pretty much hid in our stew.) Other options: The Brunswick stew recipes also called for bacon, lima beans, cayenne pepper, and corn. The options are endless, provided you have squirrel meat available. The conclusion of all this – it was worth it! My boys felt like men who provided meat for the table. The stew was quite tasty, and everyone enjoyed it. I will definitely use this recipe again if any other unfortunate squirrels meet my Russell men. And, since I'm an animal lover who could never bring herself to shoot any animal, I feel good when a harvested animal does not go to waste. If anyone reading this has any tips on cooking squirrel, I would love to hear them! Thanks for stopping by! Recipe Disclaimer
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I’ll admit – the title of this blog is deceiving. It is really more of a funny story about our boys than about free ranging chickens, but it does relate to the title if you hang in there until the end.
If you haven’t met our boys, we have 3 boys that I refer to on my blog by initials – AJ (5), CJ (4), & JJ (2). They have been described by various people as “all boy.” I’m never quite sure if that’s a compliment, but I take it as one. They were being “all boy” on a day last week… AJ and CJ were playing outside on one of the beautiful fall afternoons. JJ and little sister MJ were napping, and I was working inside the house. I always keep my “mom radar” on when the boys are outside. Usually a window is open somewhere so I can hear them, and I frequently look out the windows to see what is going on. My mom radar picked up that they were playing with the chickens. Our chickens have a fenced in area, but in the late afternoon, we open up the coop door and let them free range. We have several reasons for doing it this way, but that’s a topic for another post. At first, they were just catching the chickens and putting them under a crate. No chickens were being harmed, and they were having a delightful time. As time progressed, my mom radar sensed that the delight level was increasing. Before I had time to investigate, a breathless and excited CJ burst in the door saying, “Mommy, Mommy, come look!” Now, I should’ve taken a picture, but I didn’t. I’ll try to paint the picture the best I can. Two boys, one stroller, one chicken, one wild ride. The chicken was hunkered down in the stroller – its simple world of eating, drinking, and egg laying totally shattered by this new experience. Indeed, the chicken was actually strapped into the stroller (for safety reasons, I assume) as it was pushed around our driveway at breakneck speed. The boys were all smiles about their new idea of giving chickens rides in the stroller. Feeling sorry for the chicken and worrying how long this “trauma” would prevent it from laying an egg again, I calmly suggested that they go back to catching and trapping the chickens rather than providing entertaining rides for them. So, in case you’re considering free ranging your chickens and you have little boys around, beware that you never know what they might do! We planned for the day for weeks. We looked forward to the day for weeks. Our children dreamed of the day for weeks. But the man who met us on the day had no idea what went into it. He just followed a tugging he felt in his heart. The day was a "family day" we planned with our children. The day included biking on a local bike trail and a picnic. It was concluded with sleeping out in a tent by our creek. While we were picnicking in the park after biking, a man came up to us with a book in his hand called Crazy Busy. I've never read the book, but he explained that he had been reading the book, and we caught his eye. He went on to encourage us in what we were doing - spending time as a family. He said, of course, he has no idea what the rest of our lives look like (he could probably find a snapshot of it in the pages of Crazy Busy :), but he felt like he wanted to encourage us in something he felt we were doing right in a crazy busy world. It was a breath of fresh air for us as busy parents who get many things wrong in a day's time. That man followed a leading in his heart from the Holy Spirit. Many times, I think about things I appreciate or admire in others, but yet I keep silent. Why not speak up? Who doesn't need a word of encouragement? So, I'm encouraging you to encourage someone today. Find someone today that you can lift up, and do it! Hebrews 10:25b, "But exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."
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AuthorVanessa from Russell Homestead. Follower of the Lord Jesus, wife of my knight in shining armor, mother of 5 wonderful children, and joint-keeper of the Russell homestead. Thanks for stopping by! Archives
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Vanessa Russell
Independent Field Representative ID#20249934. |