To the Freezer

I think I have said this before but I am going to say it again, When I grow up I do NOT want to be a butcher, though I am getting quite good at it. October is here and I am still trying to figure out where September went. But if you look in my freezer and the church freezer and some friends freezers, I can tell you where September went. Some days were spent out hunting for a moose, which we never did find. But thankfully there is a agreement with the guides and the boarding school that moose hunted and the meat that is not wanted would be donated to the school. With lots of moose coming in, Rand the Chef, needed help cutting. With the work he would give us a deal of we cut the meat give half back to him and keep half to ourselves. He took the meat he received back and would also donate some to others as well as feed the boarding students. When we are getting free meat, we will take it! We processed some at the beginning of the season and then we had two teams from First Baptist Lake Jackson come. Each team came to help our community cut meat. What a blessing. When most every household in Galena lost all their meat supply during the flood and their spare time being committed to rebuilding their homes, going out to hunt and then spending a few days to process the meat was a bit stressful. So our two teams helped people cut meat. Our house was what I have been calling the Butcher shop.   The teams would go to the houses of the people with moose meat to cut or the people would deliver the meat they wanted cut to our house. Our garage and dining room were big enough for the teams to work and it was warm inside. They had a good system down. After 2 weeks with the Texas teams they cut about 3500 pounds of meat for many people in our community. AMAZING!! Along with that meat for others, we processed meat for ourselves. After we got enough roast and hamburger packaged, we then began to grind meat and process Breakfast sausage, Polish sausage, Jalapeno/Cheddar Brats, Andouille sausage, Summer sausage, Corned Moose(like corned beef) and then we smoked some of the sausage. I feel like we have been cutting meat, grinding meat, packaging meat, processing meat and cleaning up after for EVER! But when I look in my freezer I can see all the yummy meat that I will be enjoying for the cold winter months ahead. I don't have to go shopping for any meat for the next year! That feels AWESOME!! And that feeling makes my sore tired muscles know it was all worth it! Plus knowing that all the cutting and cleaning helped fill other freezers also feels awesome! To the Freezers it went!

Today was our last day of making sausage .... I think. We finally got all the brats done. Then we processed about 100 pounds of Salmon. That yummy Silver salmon is packaged and in my freezer too along with the 30 pounds of salmon I jarred last month. Man do I feel like a pioneer woman! To the Freezer it went!

So with a full freezer, a pantry full along with homeschooling my children, last month was FULL. No wonder I didn't blog any! Sorry for my lack of interesting stories I have been busy, and honestly, after the flood and being back in Galena, I have had a hard time getting in the mood to blog about life here. Right now it has been busy and tiring. But I am hoping with so much work done, I will have more time to devote to really teaching my children school and getting back to "normal' life. And start blogging about what's going on in the Ramos Tribe.

Winter is fast upon us and soon Galena will be headed to the Freezers. We have had a few days of snow fall. Thankfully it has melted but it is coming soon to stay! This month I have felt like I could not catch my breath. So much to do. But with the meat done, my kitchen and dining room sterilized from top to bottom, I am sitting on the couch watching a classic movie with Errol Flynn, eating some wonderful truffles that our friend Wally from one of the teams brought, and drinking a cup of cold REAL milk. After all the work, powdered milk did not sound good and I think real milk is deserved.  So that is where my September went.... to the Freezers! 

And to the Freezers we go!