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the HERALD Wednesday February 12 1992 Community Gorbachev was certainly a plucky fellow Editor of Macleans the awesomeness of J As the Editor or Macleans magazines People section Mar sha had the high lire Then she made a dramatic change becom ing the only editor in Macleans history to leave a choice position to become a shepherd on a farm in Township Marsha has continued to write for many national publications she actively farms In 1989 Letter From the Country ude Its debut on Radios Later the Same Day and was an Instant hit with city dwellers which should come as no surprise because nostalgia for the coun try plays a powerful role in the psychology of modern society Scratch almost any Canadian and you will find a farmer under the skin Dear Aunt Jean her letters begin and with that the Herald welcomes a new voice to our pages Dear Aunt Jean Today we plucked Gorbachev Gorbachev Duck that is A few weeks ago I had a semi- frantic call from my friend Mia a poet and shepherd who moved to the country about six years ago Since I have been on the farm twice as long as she Mia assumes I know a lot more about farmtype things than she does So when she decided that Gor bachev was ready to be dinner she called to request a handson demonstration of the delicate art of plucking a duck I have plucked my share of waterfowl and the one thing that I have learned is that 1 would far rather buy a fully naked bird at my local supermarket But Gorbachev singular duck had been grain fed and deliberately raised for a feast So we gathered in the wood shed and assembled the tools of the trade an axe a few sharpened knives pails of various sizes and of course a hair dryer husband Tom the philosopher fetched from the barn He was a fine big duck with a kind of huge red wattle on his bill which spread in a red patch over his white head and earned him his name I expect Tom and Mia had discussed the actual killing of Gorbachev from a variety of philosophical poetic and moral aspects Although I volunteered to do the deed and thus absolve them of guilt Tom had obviously con- Sift Guelph St 8779896 Floor Fiahlons Lid Ladies Mens Hair Styling I GIGI HONEE removal I OFF For Seniors ft Mill 8533461 Acton 1 cotton diapers professionally cleaned Pickup and delivery per week Have youf own diapers Well do loo the task at great length and determined that he should take responsibility for his in death as he had in life Once Gorbie was released from this veil of tears the business of plucking began Mia provided a large bucket of warm water The theory is that the water helps loosen the feathers Getting a duck soaking wet is another matter Ducks are vir tually waterproof if you soak them head first So we stuffed the duck in the pail tail first and swished him around until the water penetrated layers of feathers Then we put the wet duck on a table and six hands started to pluck Feathers were flying and for the first five minutes or so we were going great guns An hour later no one was in that much of a hurry A 10pound duck packs a lot of feather And under the feathers there is down tiny fluff with an uncanny ability to fly directly up your nostrils as soon as it is plucked I tried to save the down from a half a dozen geese I plucked many years ago I had Har- rowsmith visions of creating my own duvet but in the end there was not enough for a cushion Plucking gives you a lot of respect for feather pillows We were down to picking out pin feathers with tweezers when Tom decided to go to his study and memorize The Critique of Pure Reason I cleaned the inside of the duck while Mia marvelled at the various entrails brilliant coral lungs sleek and slippery liver and the hardened block of giz zard She examined each organ like some kind of Greek oracle as I ex plained what each part was It turned into a sort of Duck Anatomy 101 session And although I do take the business of evisceration quite seriously I did have to laugh when Mia gingerly touched the two almondcolored walnutsized that I removed from the midsection of the duck These are remarkable almost so very delicate I wonder what they are she exclaimed cradling them gently the palm of her hand As it happens those were Gor bachevs testicles which caused Mia to drop them very quickly Tom hung the duck from a beam in the root cellar and Mia and I proceeded to blow dry Gor bachev and pluck the remaining downy feathers It works quite well One year I tried covering the down with melted wax which is supposed to harden and lift off with all the down cleanly affixed However I ended up with a sort of duck candle The final step was singeing the bird Underneath all of those feathers ducks have a smatter ing of hair that has to be burned off It just takes a flick of the Bic to come up with a totally bald duck It took about three hours to get Gorbie ready for the roast pan and Im sure that he will make a fine feast As I left the look of the poet crossed face and she set off to compose a poem of grace for her 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