Chickens, Joy, and Recycling

 

On mornings like this, I am so happy to have my chickens. I'm not just happy to have them because they give me healthy, fresh eggs or because they are fun to watch. I'm happy (and grateful) to have them because they give me an excuse to get out of the house for my morning chores. When I got out of bed this morning I had to bring out the water font (I bring it in at night so it doesn't freezy), let the girls out of their locked coop, and give them some kitchen scraps. The backyard was icy, especially the well-travelled path to the coop, but the air was mild and moist. Some mornings are cold and biting. Some are joyous and refreshing. This one is the latter. It made me want to strap on some hiking shoes and hit the mountains.

 

Inspired by Joel Salatin's book, I dumped some of my kitchen scraps in with the hens yesterday.  They LOVED them! I'm watching to see what they enjoy the most.  So far, it looks like the uncooked rice is the winner and the orange rinds are the losers.  They went right for the pile this morning, and I added some more on top. They eat more in the winter, and the pepper tops and garlic skins and moldy bread ends add diversity and calories to their winter diet.  This is healthy for them, and free for me.  Win, win. 

 

Joel Salatin inspired this little scrap experiment, but it's something I do in the summer.  Honestly, I haven't put out my kitchen scraps lately because there's snow on the ground, and the pile of compost stands out and looks bad.  I finally decided that my neighbors will understand.  I don't want to attract other animals that might be hungry in the winter, so the first sign of scavengers will have me cleaning up the little mess.  Such is life on half an acre in the city!

New Books!

I treated myself to a couple new books for the new year!

I have been a big fan of Jenna Woginrich ever since I took her Chickens 101 workshop at her farm in Jackson, NY last March.  She is inspiring.  A 20-something, single woman living the dream.   And who can resist a Joel Salatin book?

What books are you enjoying?

A Cold Night

As the sun was setting last night, I belatedly checked the weather forcast.  Temperatures were predicted to dip into the single digits.  Yikes!  Had I prepared the chickens for this cold snap?  To boost their chances of survival during the night, I put some fresh bedding in their small coop and gave them a fresh, warm piece of cornbread.  Then I stacked some thick blankets on top of the coop as a tiny bit of insulation. 

When I woke up this morning, the temperature was 9F.  Once the sun came up, I checked on the hens, and all four were alive and mobile. 

New Year!

Hello everyone, and welcome to 2012! 

My New Year's Eve celebration involved good food and great friends.  Specifically, I learned the fine art of sausage making, starting with the ground pork and spices.

I was surprised to learn that natural casings come packed in salt and refrigerated (usually with an ice pack in the package).  Before you use the casings, you must repeatedly soak and rinse them to make them more pliable and to rid them of the salt.



After the soaking, the casings get pushed onto a spout at the bottom of the sausage filling apparatus.  The apparatus is a cylindrical container with a press at the top and the spout at the bottom.  The filling gets scooped into the apparatus and pressed down and out into the casing.  So simple!

We ended up with about six feet of delicious pork sausage that was rolled nicely.

In the above picture, the sausage is getting poked with a toothpick to release some of the moisture in the filling. 

The sausage making process was fascinating, and something that I think most people could do at home.  Maybe I will get a sausage stuffer and some local pork from Mockingbird Farm and make my own!

Early morning

69 degrees and mostly cloudy.  8 am.

I woke up early this morning to make waffles for my housemates.  So early.  We're talking 4:30 am early.  My coffee has yet to kick in, but I managed to drag myself outside for an early morning photo session in the garden.  So many bloomers right now!

[caption id="attachment_105" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="A gorgeous poppy"][/caption]

 The trees will not be outdone, as you can see by my Hop Hornbeam.



And keeping an eye on me the whole time...

[caption id="attachment_107" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Red, of the Rhode Island variety"][/caption]

I finished knitting a pair of white socks yesterday, but they are stained with ink from my purse.  I suppose I will dye them.  Perhaps later today I can scavenge some natural dye stuffs.

Late May

[caption id="attachment_99" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Whole wheat flour and brown rice"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_98" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Candles"][/caption]



71 degrees and sunny 1 pm

A fine day for hiking up Mount Norwotuck, picking up the bulk grains (50 lbs of whole wheat flour and 25 lbs of brown rice), and making beeswax candles.  Gotta love summer!

Spring Rain

7 a.m. 50 degrees.  3rd Day of Rain.

It's been a while since I last blogged, and I apologize for that.  I went through a little phase where I thought no one really read my posts, and then I went through a phase of forgetting, and now I am back here at my kitchen table thinking that I need to write.  Perhaps it is because of the weather.  A brilliant, sunny stretch of days was followed by rain, which will continue all week.  I weeded and planted and tended to the animals in the sun, but now I am stuck inside watching the weeds grow out the window.  Ah well.

At least the chickens are doing alright.

[caption id="attachment_94" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="This is when they were babies..."][/caption]