At the chicken dinner workshop you will learn how to take a chicken from the pasture to the table with hands-on experience. As a material of the workshop you will receive a live chicken. At the end you will take home a chicken ready for your freezer or oven that you have cleaned, packaged, and chilled.

We’ll cover methods of killing, scalding, plucking, eviscerating, and cooking. Cost is $10 per participant, plus market price of the chicken which varies based on the type and age of bird we’re working with.  This could be between $8 and $30.  $5.00 for spectators, watching, not participating.  Returning participants are charged only the market price of the chicken, and can process more than one bird if they would like, if we have space.  We have room for 6 participants and 6-10 spectators at every class.  If you can round up 6 participants we’ll teach a private class just for your group.

We’ve been running the chicken dinner workshop since early in 2010.  See below for scheduled dates, and availability. Here are some experiences from prior participants:

• Louisville.com
• Whirly Bird
• The Traveling McMahans
• The Courier Journal
• Courier Journal Food Editor; Ron Mikulak’s food blog
• Spencer Magnet
• Hobby Farms Magazine came out to RiverSong Farm to video Farmer Tom’s Chicken Dinner Workshop for their on-line Magazine.  Here are the videos: Chicken  Dinner Workshop Part I and Chicken Dinner Workshop Part II

To reserve your spot:

We haven’t scheduled the 2012 classes yet, so contact us, and we’ll add you to the list of folks to call when we do start to schedule them. We’ll probably resume them in June 2012.

Since space is limited, if you haven’t pre-paid, you may get bumped to a future class.  Pre-payments are $20 if the price isn’t set yet, with the balance due on the day of the workshop.

A basic time line

• 3:30pm– arrive and sign waiver
• 3:40 pm– introduction and safety talk
• 4:00 pm – Tom and Sarah process one example chicken
• 4:30pm – by two’s all attendees pick their chickens and begin processing them. Tom and Sarah are there every step of the way to give steps, tips, and sometimes corny jokes

Generally it will only take you about 30 minutes to get through with your chicken, and you are welcome to stay and watch, chat, relax, or head home for supper.

Things to bring

• A non-serrated knife. Anything you are comfortable with will do, but avoid cleavers and very short knifes. We’ll have spares if there is a problem with your choice. We’ll also have sharpeners, so don’t fret if it is on the dull side.
• Cooler and ice. The more ice the better; you really want to cover the whole chicken with ice if possible.
• Clothes and shoes that can get very dirty. They will get bloody.
• Something to drink, your favorite sunscreen, and anything else that you’ll want to have for spending a few hours outside. We will be working in whatever weather we have, rain or shine, unless it is severe. If rain, prepare to get wet. If there is any question about cancellation, just call Tom.