Saturday opened with gunshots echoing through the woods. We had no corn planted on our land this year. Standing water also changed the geography. This, in turn, altered deer migration patterns. Rather than moving in the morning, no deer showed until early afternoon. Then there were four less to wander the woods.

Three of the four shot on Saturday. None on Sunday nor today.

Persephone volunteered to learn how to butcher a deer. Michael is talking her through taking off the hide.

Nice to have weather just above freezing.

My job usually involves taking big meat and turning it into cookable portions.

We will probably have about 130 pounds of boneless venison by the time we are done....or at least that was what our 3 deer from last year rendered. We have a few pounds of venison burger left over, but 3 deer seem to be what 3 people can eat in a year.

Dear fat keeps us in soap. The rendered tallow deer needs to be mixed with olive oil so the soap is not too hard. Olive oil alone makes a bar that is too soft. Together, they are lovely.

The hides we donate to the Lions Club. They sponsor a summer camp with the proceeds. Some other year we will see if we can learn the fine art of tanning hides...but not this year.

Our girls used to take these parts and make hoof prints in the snow.

The bones we burn on a pyre in the middle of our garden space. It adds calcium to the soil, destroys weed seed, and gives us a good excuse to have a bonfire.