Capítulo 54: Chapter 52 Winter Vegetables

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By now, the few sheep we started out with had multiplied, and we had eight more lambs, keeping ten in total. Two were used as breeding rams and ewes, while the rest were half-grown and would be kept for further rearing.

The remaining dozen or so were fully grown, so we slaughtered them all.

We killed twelve sheep in total. The sheepskins had to be removed. We had sheared them once before the winter and hadn't done so since, which left us with a thick layer of wool perfect for making sheepskin coats that were especially warm.

The sheepskins were first set aside for curing before they could be made into clothing.

The mutton was hung on iron hooks from an iron rack, and they started to de-bone it, planning to keep the meat of four sheep to eat during the next two or three months for the New Year, and the rest was left for the base.

For the base's sheep, there was no need to de-bone; they were sold whole. The meat and bones for their own consumption had to be trimmed off.