Skin in the Game

You have to understand that I am a hapless amateur when it comes to a lot of things prep-wise. I have spent the last two years learning and doing stuff I never thought I'd do. I've helped in harvesting (read: killing) some of our more fiesty roosters. I've built a greenhouse from scratch, no kits involved. I've retooled a shed into a large coop, built a massive pallet based coop and yesterday I skinned my first raccoon.



I hate raccoons. This coon was responsible for killing the first four baby chicks that were born and hatched entirely by a momma chicken. The rest that we have were hatched in an incubator. These four walked out of the pumphouse with their mom one day and we were really surprised. It killed two of our favorite ducks, a buff orpington, and several of our barred rocks.



I spent a week outside until 3am to try to shoot this demon to no avail. I LOATHED this thing. So as it's strung up by it's neck and I am for the first time in my life removing an animal's skin it struck me how many different things I have done. These are the somewhat weird thoughts I had:

1. This skin really comes off easy with a little cutting in the right places.

2. Wow! Raccoons seem to be all dark meat.

3. These things stink even before rigor sets in.

4. I wonder if it tastes like chicken?



When our society changes, and for the first time many of us are skinning animals for food, canning veggies, or trying to get an egg out from underneath an angry hen, we are all going to learn what to do and what not to do.



Americans adapt. Americans are strong, independent and when not spoiled by liberal policies and government we are self-reliant. No matter how bad it gets, like accidentally piercing the raccoon scrotum (okay maybe that wasn't an accident, I really hated that raccoon) or cracking a few canning jars, we will survive. We have our very survival at stake and each of us will do what we have to do, whether we know what we are doing or not. We do what we can to prepare, for what we can't prepare for, we pray for. Together, we will survive because we have skin in this game.

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