Tonight's Dinner

Update: It was good! We grilled the rabbit-basting it with a garlic/butter sauce. Our neighbor had just brought over some squash, so Mrs. Curley made a baked squash casserole to go with the potatoes and rabbit. Everyone enjoyed it. (I marinated it overnight in beer with a little water and salt.) One down, two to go. We will probably cook the next one differently, but we'll see.

Last evening, number one son and I finally did what we should have done several months ago-we butchered our remaining rabbits. As avid readers of this blog (ha! ha!-I must humor myself) may recall, we tried unsuccessfully to raise rabbits. Our particular does all made poor mothers. Several months ago our buck died after choking on a carrot. (You see how our luck goes in these things.) So really, we had no purpose to keep the does hanging around, but time (or rather my lack thereof) delayed their demise-until yesterday.

Actually the process is pretty easy once you know what you are doing. The first one took us a while to dress (paunch), but that was because I was too cautious with the knife. The second and third went like clockwork-actually easier to clean than chickens.

I used John Seymour's "The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It" as my guide for skinning and butchering.

Tonight we will eat some rabbit and see how we like it. If we do, I (and my Henry .22) will put some more on the table in the fall when rabbit season opens.

Now we need to figure out how to dry and use the rabbit fur....Stay tuned.

Finally, continue to keep the Dorchak family in your prayers, and see if you can help out in their search to recover their son. See here and here for updates and how you can help.

Oremus pro invicem!