The Big Hunt is On!

With the beginning of November comes the full swing of hunting season, where most zones are now open for general season for deer and other large game, along with bird.  My guys have already had some success, because we go to the few zones that open earlier.  So far, after the butchering and finishing process we harvest 54 lbs. of meat for our family from a decent sized buck that Hubbs got last week.

We do all the work ourselves. Some hunters, after they tag out, take their game to a butcher for all the processing and packaging. We choose to do all that ourselves, at home.  Our first year we started out with a manual meat grinder and learned quickly how to appreciate the modern technology of the electric meat grinder the following year.  We package our finished cuts in butcher paper, not food savers.  We have a food saver that was gifted to us, but are mainly using it for jerky and pepperoni. The butcher paper keeps the meat well frozen, without freezer burn, for atleast a year. I have a couple pounds of ground and a roast from last years hunt that I just cooked up and it's still perfect!

Once the guys bring the deer back, it gets hung and the meat is harvested. Then they bring it all inside, I prep/clean the kitchen surfaces, and the two of them trim off all the shit not fit for consumption. Everything gets divided out into roasts, steaks, stew, and ground.  As they fill their trays they bring it all over to my "work station", the covered kitchen table.  I grind the ground and then package all the meat, regardless of cut.  The ground and steaks get package per pound and the roasts are packaged per decent sized roasts.  Then its freezer time! It's basically like a three person assembly line from start to finish.

I serve deer (I know lots of people call it venison, we just don't) three times a week for dinner and the we have leftovers for lunches and such. Last year, both Hubbs and KoasterRider brought home one each and the bulk of the meat lasted us for over 7 months.  I saved about 10 lbs to have a little here and there until this hunting season started.

Deer loin from last week's buck

~ Slathered with montreal steak spice rub, wrapped in bacon

~ baked at 350F for about 1 hour. 

served with mashed potatoes and veg on the side

Hunting has become part of who we are and brought us closer as a family unit, providing for one another.   It's a very authentic experience hunting and harvesting your own food. We pray for the life the animal gave and we thank God for the blessing of feeding ourselves from the land.  The meat we are able to harvest from legally and ethically hunting is 100% organic, wild, and pure.  The money we spend on hunting is also a few hundred dollars less than if we were to buy regular store bought beef, not even the organic stuff.  The quality time with each other and the bonding between my two guys and the friends we've made are priceless.  For all of these reason and many more, we are proud hunters.

If your curious about hunting and want to know more, I included links in a previous post...check it out:   We Interrupt This Marriage for Hunting Season!

Self-care, What's That All About?

Originally written September 25th, 2019

I've been in a tougher spot lately, eomtionally which trickles down to physically.  Our emotions, well atleast my emotions are directly linked to my physical well being. If my stress levels are off then everything is off, mainly because I'm probably not doing the things I'm supposed to be doing.

When my yoga takes a backseat then its a full on cascade of epic destruction. My yoga is my only tried and tested way to unwind. I don't smoke, drink, or eat lots of chocolate or other vices. My only way to destress is yoga. Well, for about a month yoga has been extremely challenging, because I badly sprained my wrist starting the lawn mower no less and couldn't do any proper poses.  The bulk of my yoga practice is downward positions and I'm not strong enough to do them one handed. So, here I am only a few days back in to being able to do yoga and having a stress/phsyical/emotional setback. I can and will get back on track, but my self-care took a back seat and now Im hanging out the metaphorical truck about to chuck. 

This is why people talk about self-care so so much. I've been a sounding board for all my friends this past month and they're all going through some seriously big shit. But, with no way for me to let all that go, I ended up taking on their problems and setting myself up for anxiety town.  Then, last week we added two shootings close to my house and recipe for disaster and anxiety ensues when we culminate all of this with PMS. And, another big part of all this stress and nonsense, I haven't been praying and leaving it all to my higher power. I've been trying to tackle it all on my own with no help, only my willpower. Big, silly, no! 

One of the first things I learned in sobriety was that I'm powerless when I use just my willpower alone, because relying on willpower is what keeps me sick and not living in love and light and truth. So, what else do I do for self-care? I stop relying on just me to do all the things. I pray and I leave it up to God to guide me and help me through it all. Just writing that reduced my stress and worries. Its true though. I can't actually control anything except my choices. My choices of no self-care these past few weeks have been shitty choices so....get yourself together lady!

I'm back in my yoga routine and I'm not allowing interruptions of that from my friends or family. I'm praying and leaving all the things I can't control up to God, my higher power. If my spiritual life is right then everything else is okay too. I'm allowing myself to rest when I'm tired and doing some crafts and creative work instead of things that increase my worries. I'm gearing up...

Continued writing November 3rd, 2019

It's been a solid month of getting back on track to the strong, stable, woman I am.  I had to redirect myself in supporting my friends and be honest with them about where I'm at.  I have a natural desire to help the people I love when they're gong through stuff, but I have to be in a place where I'm NOT taking it on and I just haven't been in that place.  I'm not a therapist, I'm mom, wife, daughter, friend, and badass goddess lady who sometimes needs a break! I focused on myself. I stopped writing for the month too, because that was amping me up instead of calming me down, overall.  My friends understood and I think they appreciated my honesty. There's only so much I can do, especially if I'm not doing right by myself.  It's a healthier balance putting me first and truthfully, after all these years, I deserve to be my priority.  It doesn't mean that I don't care about others, but their trauma is not my trauma and it can't become my trauma.  I hope and pray that healing will come to my friends, but no-one's healing can ever be at the expense of mine.