It's been about 2 1/2 months since these Buff Orpingtons arrived at our house.

They've definitely grown quite a bit since then. We are nearing slaughter day. Yep, in a matter of weeks, we'll know whether or not we can handle actually butchering our own dinner. I'm really hoping I can because something about this quote from Barbara Kingsolver rings very true with me:

"All of us sooner or later must learn to look our food in the face. If we're willing to eat an animal, it's probably only responsible to accept the truth of its living provenance rather than pretending it's a 'product' from a frozen-foods shelf with its gizzard in a paper envelope."

We've pretty much decided around here that if we can't bring ourselves to go through the butchering process ourselves, we probably have no business eating meat at all. So, we are only a couple of weeks away from knowing whether we can continue our current eating habits or will be overhauling our diets. So . . . to buy that upright freezer while it's on sale or not? Hmmmm. I'm betting we'll be able to handle it. I know that scooping poop, picking up dead mice, and all don't come close to chicken processing, but I have been surprised by what I can handle as long as I have gloves on!

Check back in to see whether or not we'll be able to "stomach" our chicken!

Though they are probably about as tall as they'll get, over the next couple of weeks, their little breasts should fill out quit bit more.