Since the spring, we’ve tried to eat at least one thing we’ve grown ourselves with every meal. However, lots of the veg are coming into season now, and we’ve managed a few meals now that have been almost entirely home grown.
We had one of them on Sunday – Coq au Vin, featuring a load of veggies from the garden and polytunnel, and once I’d managed to actually catch him, the meat from an (unfortunately for him) male Welsummer chicken who we hatched in February.
OK, so we cheated a little and used shop bought wine, onions and mushrooms as well as the home grown stuff, but it’s still not a bad start – we’re not deluded enough to think we could ever be truly self sufficient. And yes, I know you would expect me to say this, but it was absolutely delicious too.
An Outdoor Life 
Hiya – nice blog! Can I ask how you ‘dispatched’ your cockerel? I keep hens and have just hatched quail and am intending to eat my birds but feel a bit squeamish about doing the business as it were. Any advice would be gratefully received.
Vicky
Hi Vicky, I’ve used a number of methods now, and the least unpleasant ones I’ve found are a plier type poultry dispatcher (See ‘PY17, on this page) for chickens, and for larger birds, the ‘broomstick method’ (hold bird’s feet, place neck on ground, place broom handle over neck, stand on handle to keep in place, then pull!). With any method though, the worst thing you can do is be too timid, so pick your moment, down a stiff drink, and then get to it. I found the first few very hard, but actually that was mainly the fear of not doing it properly, and causing an animal suffering. Of course it’s never going to be a pleasant task, but now I’ve done a few more, it’s no longer a job I dread (and I don’t need the whisky first to steel my nerves!).
I should add that whilst I find the pliers very quick and effective, this view is not shared by the humane slaughter association, who say that since the bird is still conscious when its neck is broken, this causes the animal unnecessary suffering. To counter this, I would say that it’s quick, positive, not too messy, and very importantly foolproof, particularly for a beginner! Still, it pays to understand both sides of the argument.
Another useful tip is unless you’re going to roast the bird, skin it, instead of plucking. This is easy to do, but hard to describe, but basically you just cut the skin to reveal the breasts, then cut them away from the ribcage, then remove the legs and thighs. This gets 90% of the meat, but with only a fraction of the effort of plucking and drawing. You will find all this a right faff to begin with, but stick with it, and you’ll get much faster.
Hope that’s helpful!