Dissociated Thoughts

October 1: Butchery, October, and Whatnot

Its October!! Soon, the temperatures will be cooling off and Fall will be able to actually be seen down here in Texas. This month, I am participating in "Journalistic Intentions"  and continuing to participate in "Blogging Circle of Friends "  - and of course, life will be visited from time to time as well...


Day 3244 - October 1, 2021
“October, baptize me with leaves! Swaddle me in corduroy and nurse me with split pea soup. October, tuck tiny candy bars in my pockets and carve my smile into a thousand pumpkins. O autumn! O teakettle! O grace!”~ ― Rainbow Rowell
Let this quote inspire your writing today.

Call me crazy, but I have always been a fan of corduroy. Love that fabric! I bring out my corduroy pants as soon as the weather gets cool enough to wear them. October is one of my favorite months too. There are so many great things that begin to happen in October. In Texas, the weather usually starts to become chilly, the farther into the month we go. And I love Fall, with the leaves falling everywhere, the crispness to the air, the hint of scent of plant decay outside. It's all so beckoning to me, it pulls me out of doors to interact with nature in all her Autumn glory. I love that this is the time of year we can start cooking and eating heartier meals, those that were too heavy for summertime consumption, like stews and chili and casseroles. And pumpkins! I love pumpkins. I keep them as decorations, then right before Halloween, I carve them up and pull out all the seeds and pumpkin meat and then create ghastly faces which will glow from within on Halloween night. And the seeds, I salt them and roast them for an extra special treat for the family! And who can forget all the Halloween candy! I buy candy knowing full well that trick-or-treaters seldom show up at our doorstep, but also knowing that I'll then have an excuse to eat all those sugary treats myself. So much to love about this time of year, and this month in particular! October! You're as close to perfect as any month can get.

"Journalistic Intentions"  October 1, 2021
Food!
Prompt: American Butchery

I grew up in an area of Texas farmland where we raised our own animals for slaughter. We'd name the animals, of course, but we knew they would eventually end up on our table so we gave them names like Sir Loin, T Bone, and Pork Chop - some of them had normal names after a while but we still knew that they would eventually become sustenance for us. We knew what our animals were eating and we knew there were no growth hormones or other additives.

I learned early how to slaughter an animal, how to bleed it and skin it (or remove the feathers from birds), how to cut it up. Butchering the animals took the whole family. My favorite part of it was making burger meat. The grinder we used was a manual one and required someone to turn the handle for the meat to be ground. It was messy and strange noises came from the meat as it was being ground up. I'd be covered in blood and gore by the end of my task. But I enjoyed it.

As Momma and Daddy became older, they decided to take the animals to the local slaughter house for processing. We lived in a predominately Czech area of Texas, and the spice blend they used in the sausage was unlike any I can find in the stores today. The flavor of the meats we grew and slaughtered ourselves or took for local processing was much fresher and tastier than anything I have been able to find in my adult life. Then again, small time processing will always be more favorable than mass production in my opinion.