Poultry and Pickles

We were up before daylight this morning to butcher chickens. We had 26 this round. My youngest son was able to help this time and it was a true blessing. I did the killing and plucking, he did the the middle step which is cleaning up the feathers the plucker missed and the first rinsing. He then handed them off to hubby to gut and cut. We got all of the birds done in 1 hour and 50 minutes. I think that's a record! Of course there is clean up afterwards but being that I have the dirty job I am relieved of that and get to go take a shower. ;-)
Once cleaned up I wandered back to the garden. I picked more tomatoes and blackberries. It is looking a little sad. We need rain desperately. We have had no measurable amount in almost 2 weeks and with the temperatures in the 90's it has gotten really dry.
We let the guineas out of their hoop coop today but they were a bit shy and didn't venture far. I finished morning chores and after a bite of lunch I started on pickles. I got 10 pints of Kosher dills canned, a combination of chips and spears. I had hoped to get to the jalapenos but that will have to be another day because it was time for afternoon chores!