SLAUGHTERING DAY

Yeasterday I was at the colony for the packaging of the chickens, but I really wanted to see how it was done so I drove to colony at 8:00 and watched as they slaughtered 500 more chicken. I missed the part where they cut off the chickens head, but maybe another day.
The chickens were dropped off at the slaughter house and put into wheelbarrows. The the whole birds were thrown into hot steaming water. After they make theirway to the deplucker.



This is the deplucker it runs with hot water and it shakes and vibrates and somehow takes all the feathers of.





When the chickens make their way out of the deplucker women sort and clean them, I think.



The chickens are put on metal hooks and and travel down the assembly line. The Government Inspector is at the front of the line and the only man who works the line. The women take out the organs, vacuum out the chickens and chop of things like the feet.



From the blood, guts, nasty water and feather the clean up was surpisingly fast and within minutes everything was gone. The women were off to do housework.

Pincher Creek Colony

The Pincher Creek Colony is located only a few minutes out of town. Most people have the same last name of Gross. The men will live in the colony all of their lives, but the women always move to the man's colony who they marry.



Kathleen Gross is four and watches the women of the week cook dinner. Everyone eats communally and the womens jobs change weekly. At 48 the women are no longer expected to cook, clean and garden. At 48 all women become kindergarden teachers. Currently at the Pincher Creek Colony there are seven kindergarden teachers.



Little Diane Gross shows me with her fingers that she is four, but she is only three and a half. In the colony they speak three languages, German in church, English in school and Austrian for conversation.



A group of Hutterite women help dry and prepare the 1,500 "slaughtered" (thier word not mine) chickens from the morning. The slaughtering took only 3 hours including a coffeee break for the 40 people. on these days everyone in the communtiy is expected to help.



Katherine Hofe and her sister Christine, both from Montana, help bag up the chickens for sale. Because the chickens are for sale a government inspector is on site when the chickens are slaughtered and inspects them to make sure that they are up to standards.



With the chickens they try to save the hearts and gizzards, but today they were short a few ladies so thier was more waste than usual. The discarded chicken parts sit in a trailer out back waiting to be brought to the landfill in Lundbrick.

There is more slaughtering tommarrow so I am going to make my way their bright and early to get the before shots.

Hide and Fur

So, I finally got to go the Moccasin factory. It was pretty cool and I will be doing follow up later in the year when they are busy preparing for Christmas their busist time of year. The Company is called Peigan Crafts Ltd. It is on the Reserve and was created 30 years ago to give employment to the community. Now this company owns 25% of the leather moccasin market in Canada. I forgot my notes at work so you will have to wait for more details. The woman below has worked at the factory for 15 years and owns moccasins in every colour that they make.








General Manger Albertine Crow Shoe stands beside a giant moccasin.



A box of moccasins waiting to be double pleated, a signature stitch of the products made at Peigan Crafts Ltd.

Little Dancers at the Cowboy Gathering

Sierra, 10, proudly dances a tradional Blackfoot dance as her grandfather, Albert Prairie Chicken plays guitar and sings.



Three year old Arianna gets ready to dance at the Pavillion in the Young Wranglers performances.

Lightining

The storm went on all night in Pincher Creek.

Welcome to Pincher Creek

Jean Burns celebrates her own centennial as well as Pincher Creek’s. The town was honored to have her cut the ribbon for the grand opening of the Northwest Mounted Police Barn built in 1878 at the Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village on Saturday.



Roxanne Labelle, Coach of the Pinch-o-Crow Creekers, paddles hard at Boulder Run on Saturday.