A Deer in Pig's Clothing

I fully confess, that I've eaten "Bambi's Mom".

However, I want to say for the longest time I didn't really understand that the yummy goodness we had only at the farm was deer meat.  Really.  My little mind couldn't make the leap from "deer meat" at dinner to "Bambi".  It just didn't.  Of course, now that I'm old enough to understand, I wouldn't stop eating it.  And I'm not only converting the Tweedles into loving it, but LW and GG too!

The very first Christmas I took LW and GG (along with The Hubs of course) to the farm was four years ago.  I wanted them to try it because it's another part of my childhood that I wanted to share with all of them.  Deer meat, black eyed peas and fried okra.  Uncle K, always the sweetest man, shared some he had in his freezer with us so we could all try some.  And turns out, I didn't need to do much convincing to get them to like it!   Well, maybe the fried okra wasn't so great, but the rest was dee-lish.

When we went out over this last Christmas, I was bound and determined not only to have deer meat again for The Tweedles to try, but also to have fresh meat.  With my Cousin S on hand to lead the way, we went hunting.  And when I say "we" I use that term VERY loosely. So loosely in fact, I stayed home.  What? It was cold outside!  And dark!  And did I mention it was cold?  The whole week that my Cousin S was at the farm, only The Hubs saw something and due to a problem with his rifle, he wasn't able to shoot at the pretty deers.  We were all a little disappointed when Cousin S finally had to go home (no more so than Cousin S himself!).  But the troops were not to be deterred.  They went out faithfully early every morning (while I stayed snuggled in my very warm bed) and every afternoon. 

Then one night, when we had just gotten used to them coming home empty handed, the boys (The Hubs and LW's boyfriend) came in happy with their success!  I was horribly let down to find out their success was with one of the wild pigs that roam the property, not my long hoped for deer meat.  They had come home to pick up the truck so they could go grab their prize.  A little while later, The Hubs came in from being up at the "shed" where they were cleaning their prize pig, and asked if I'd go up and see it.  I admit, I was reluctant.  I didn't want wild pig, I wanted deer meat.  But I didn't want to dampen their spirits.  I figured I would go up and congratulate them on the kill.  Give them their due as hunters, then go crawl in to bed and pray for the deers to please kindly come out of hiding so I could have deer meat on my trip to the farm.

We walked up behind the house to the shed in the dark.  I held The Hubs hand trying not to fall over in the dark or worse yet, rub up against the hot wire (electric wire used to deter the cows from invading my parents yard). When we finally rounded the corner to the open side of the shed I glanced up with a purely fake smile in place to find.. a .. DEER!  Apparently everyone was in on the joke but poor old me.  Even my Uncle K who was sick and should have been in bed came out to make sure it got cleaned right.  I bounced around in circles I was so happy.  Then I think I might have also punched The Hubs in the stomach and told him not to play with my fragile female emotions like this again.  Maybe.

I was so excited, I forgot to go grab my camera and take photos, but I did remember the next day when it was time to get down to the hard part of business.  Removing the fat and yucky parts from the meat.  Uncle K came over and after we got a table and chairs set up outside (thankfully the weather provided a wonderfully warm day) The Hubs, LW, her boyfriend, GG and the amazing Uncle K got to work.  What? Where was I? I was um.. watching the Tweedles.  And making lunch.  And umm.. I was doing laundry and cleaning and umm. .yeah other stuff.  No I was not trying to get out of working on the deer, why do you ask?

Besides, someone had to photograph the event right?

It all looks very tedious doesn't it?  I'm so glad I had so many other things to do.

Look at all of that beautiful meat.  I can almost smell it cooking and hear it sizzling in the pan.  YUM!

Of course, with all of this tedious work, someone may have gotten a little crazed.  Thankfully it was a passing moment and Uncle K settled right back down into his drudgery work.  (No GG's were harmed in the making of this deer meat).  See that cute boy in the back behind Uncle K?  That's LW's boyfriend.  Everyone wave!  He shot the pretty deer they're cutting up there.  Apparently he's from the mid-west and knows all about how this stuff is done. 

Then we gathered up all the cut up meat into these handy freezer ready paper, taped them up and marked them with what type of meat it was and the date. And when I say we, I mean my Old People.  I needed to photograph it all you see.  We had our fresh dear meat the very next night.  And it was so worth all the hard work we did.  And when I say we, I of course, mean them.

Seriously.. Thoughts?