Moose processing is a time that our family looks forward to but is also glad when all the meat is in the freezer and we are set for winter. The girls love cutting up moose. In fact last summer while in Montana, they mentioned several times that they couldn't wait till Dad got a moose so that they could help cut the meat. Sorry, no Vegetarians in this family! We love meat and wouldn't have much to eat here in Galena if we didn't! This is a fun time to spend as a family putting up our meat for the year, but also quite exhausting. Often times we are up till 2 A.M. cutting up meat for about 4 days in a row. This is because Ross usually gets one on the last weekend of hunting season and then we are cutting it up during the week, after he gets off work and dinner is done.
This year, we were blessed to be given part of the moose that our neighbor shot while we were hunting with him. We hadn't gotten a moose yet and his son already had so he gave us part of his. When Ross got his moose we were able to give part of his away to others who needed meat for the winter. Usually by the end of the hunting season, moose is provided for most everyone in the community by sharing in this manner. We figure with cooking for about 15 students every Wednesday and our family's needs, we go through about 3/4 of a moose per year. Of course this depends on the size of moose.
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| Who is bigger...the moose hind quarter or our little Marina? |
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| Vallie thinks the leg smells pretty yummy! |
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We just cut the moose up right on our kitchen table as we don't have any other place that works. We put down some
large cutting boards and start cutting. I believe Ross is cutting a hind quarter that our neighbor gave us in this picture. |
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| The girls helping their Dad. We go over lots of knife safety rules while cutting. |
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| Marina insists on helping, so we give her a little knife for her little hands! |
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| Aubrey and our neighbor's son, Daniel, working on a slab of meat. |
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| Here is the neck of Ross' moose. We usually hamburger or make stew meat out of the neck. |
One night at 1 A.M. we started grinding hamburger. This is the girls' favorite part of moose processing. They hadn't gotten a chance to help with the grinding this year so we debated if we should wake them up or not. They would be extremely sad if they missed out on it. Us being the crazy parents that we are and wanting them to experience life with us, woke them up at 1 in the morning to grind hamburger! We had willing participants that were thankful for us waking them up to help!
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| Aubrey helping put the meat into the grinder. Does she look like she was just woke up at 1 in the morning? |
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| This hamburger was from the neck that you saw earlier. All ground and ready to package. |
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| Marina, packaging the hamburger as it comes out of the grinder. |
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| Mackenzie, taping off the packages of hamburger so they are sealed. |
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| And a mystery photo. What part of the moose is this or is it even part of the moose? Maybe it's a beaver pelt? |
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| It's the nose of the moose! Here is what the inside of the nose looks like. |
That's right, people eat the nose of the moose here. Your know moose have quite big noses and why let all that meat go to waist! Moose nose is actually considered a delicacy here. Most people make moose nose soup out of it. I have tried some and it's actually not too bad! Some people also have moose head soup. We usually save our moose nose for one of the elders in town and they are very thankful.
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Pictured here Grandma Virginia, wearing Marina's Rapunzel wig during Halloween last year.
Grandma Virginia is one of the Elders who loves moose nose. |
With a year's supply of meat in the freezer we feel happy and blessed!
Thank you Lord for providing enough meat to get us through the winter!
