An Unexpected Bonus: my very first and very short post

Guest Written By Brandis Gray

When you have a Bird Dog to train, the first thing to do is NOT to come home with a basket of quail, but that's what I did because the opportunity presented itself; after all, why wouldn't a chicken yard easily double as an aviary?

The training is taking more than I'd expected so the birds are temporarily safe from the imminent trauma of Jack Puppy's education. For now, they seem very comfortable in their new home, evidenced by the recent daily appearance of eggs.

A dozen "one-bite" eggs!

Four hens with two roosters amounts to about 2-3 eggs a day, so it takes almost a week to collect a dozen, which is still a light breakfast for two!

Tiny, tasty... poached for just 30 seconds

Look Ma, no Help!

     Well, there is a variety of news and no news from the chicken front.  The girls continue to grow.  Actually, therein lies at least one dilemma.  The older girls are now just over 3 months old, the younger ones 2 1/2.  I have been checking the internet for information about this, and seem to find a variety of opinions, but the most concise explains how to tell if you have boys or girls.  That's right.  You see, we have a couple 'crowers' in our midst, that would be Yaki and Soba.  Each morning, they do dueling crowing/croaking.
     And then there is Scarlet.  Well, what appears to be the Artist Formerly Known as Scarlet.  I haven't noticed any croaking/crowing from this front, but she/he is one of our Copper Marans.  In comparison to her sisters, Scarlet is the rose to the daisy.  They are all developing amazing copper and teal feathers.  But she is particularly amazing, with even more developed tail feathers.  The real test, according to my internet search, is rounded vs pointed saddle feathers.  I actually had to look up chicken feather anatomy to figure this one out, but they are the feathers that cascade down over the thighs, at the lateral base of the tails.  Rounded means girls, pointed means, well, soup.

Can you see Scarlet/Henry?  Yaki and Soba are a little bleached out.

     We did a careful inspection.  Now mind you, it is still early.  Said internet post indicated that all potential signs (aggression, croaking, etc) could be a ruse, and you can't really know until between 3-4 months.  However, all accused birds have the requisite pointy feathers.....
     Unfortunately, this is bad news for Yaki and Soba.  Scarlet, or, Henry as we are now calling him/her (Bryce has vocally complained, she wants a different name but declines to come up with anything other than Hank the Cowdog...) is clearly the most glorious, and that will win the day.  What?  Did you hear talk of illegal activity here at 6024 Chicken Lane?  Welllll, we are officially not aware that we have any boys, remember?  And if one should avoid the chopping block due to unforeseen circumstance, we will have to address that when the time comes, right?
      As noted above, time does march on.  So does our summer.  It has been dry for almost a month, which is good, as the bedding in the coop got quite damp with the rain showers in June.  The coop, as mentioned in previous posts, is habitable, but not weather proof.  And then there is the topic of laying boxes.  We are about a month or so away from potential first eggs.  So back to work.
     Brandis and I took out the ladders and put in roosts.  It is frankly hilarious to see them all try to stuff themselves onto one, even though there is plenty of room on the second.  As one forces her way up, inevitably, another falls off.
     Then we got our 'windows.'  They will hopefully be installed soon.  They are made out of acrylic.  There are some logistical issues with the fit that have to be figured out.   We are still in discussions about the door with the attached nesting boxes.  I can't wait!  Our original idea was to install a drawer system with handles that you could pull out, and get drawers from an old dresser.  That has been tabled for now.  No drawers to be found as of yet.  So the door/box idea is the current working plan.
     But we have a brief period where we will both be out of town, and will need to rely on a third party for care in a week.  To that end, the most pressing issue is the encasement of the coop, so that the girls/boys can get out, get water/food whilst waiting to be released.  It would need to be raccoon/coyote/rat proof.  So, with a little startup help and advice from Brandis, I undertook this project in the 85 degree heat yesterday.  It involved digging trenches to bury the wire, screwing the whole mess to a frame, and building a door to access the whole affair.  For anybody who has building experience, not such a tricky job.  But for me, a novice, a FEAT!   Here are the photos.

Juliet, Kung Pao and Biscuit (the big fluffy one) inspect the trench

 Emma inspects the finished work

Finished product with doors closed, did it all by myself!

      No real cooking happening here lately, what with Bryce gone.  It's a lot of steamed veggies and salads.  Maybe soon.  And we can always hope Brandis will find time to post....

   

Sunshine in a Mason Jar

     One of the things about summer which we here in the northwest really treasure is sunshine.  It feels so elusive the rest of the year that I, for one, am incredibly enthusiastic about it during our warmer months.  It feels like a gift, not be be squandered or ignored.  I belong to the YMCA, but generally don't go there during the summer, as exercising inside seems rather a shame, like I am wasting precious hours of blue sky and warm weather.
     In truth, our summers are often glorious, with little rain and much sun (at least, after the morning clouds burn off), and we get a generous dose of the golden orb June through September.  Most years.  It doesn't stop me from feeling like it's a gift however.
     So I garden furiously, staying one or two steps ahead of the weeds....or not.  I harvest.  I start to preserve the fruits of my garden, as well as the gardens and farms of others.  In our case, it really is a bit of 'saving it for a rainy day.'  Each year, the tomatoes get canned, sauced, oven-dried.  I freeze the peas, I freeze the strawberries, the raspberries, the rhubarb.   All of it, intended to remind me of the warmer months, when the gray and drizzle seem never ending.
     Were I to philosophize, is a bit of preserving the sun, trying to save it's precious products for another day.  It is to that end, that I write today.
     This is because nothing, in my mind, nothing feels more like sunshine in a jar than apricot jam.  In it's finished state, it radiates this cheerful orange color, veritably shouting exuberance to all who cast their eyes on it.  It is glorious, vibrant and warms the soul.   This is tending towards hyperbole you say.
      Perhaps.  But every year, when I make up a batch of apricot jam, I am reminded of these thoughts, this exuberance, and it make me feel all happy inside.

 

     The recipe I use is from Edon Waycott's Preserving the Taste.  I have taken some shortcuts, in the interest of wanting to be out in sun myself, instead of leaning over a stove.  Also, I have different goals these days.  This is because, while I love jam, and the toast to which it deserves to be applied, I don't really eat that much jam and toast for breakfast lately.  No, when I am not having muesli and fruit, it's a bastardized smoothie of buttermilk (a whole OTHER blog post) and fruit puree.
     How to reconcile my desire for sunshine in a jar with failure to consume the product?  Why, change the product!  I took the recipe, and used less sugar, and cooked it to a looser consistency.  Voila!  Apricot fruit puree that still exudes the same cheer.
     One of the things that is nice about the recipes from this book is that Ms Waycott doesn't generally use commercial pectin.  She relies on naturally occuring pectin, and also tends to make a looser product in general, which I prefer.

Apricot and Honey Puree or Jam

(adapted from Preserving the Taste, by Edon Waycott)

6 lbs ripe but firm apricots

2 cups sugar (less if making puree)

1/2 cup mild honey

3 T lemon juice

Slice each apricot into eighths, making approx 4 quarts.  Combine all incredients in a large bowl, and allow to sit at room temperature for 3-4 hours, to dissolve the sugar (less if the sun is shining and you have things to do).

Pour contents of the bowl into a large shallow pan and bring to a boil.  Cook gently 10-30 minutes, depending on the consistency desired.  Skim off any foam that forms (this is not likely to happen if only cooking to puree texture).  

Ladle into hot sterilized jars, wipe rims clean, seal with lid/rings.  Process in a hot-water bath for 5 minutes.  Remove, check seals, store until the gray skies get you down, and you need some sunshine in a mason jar.  

First Guest Users: Homemade Chicken Fettuccine.

Hello! This is Lucy and Bryce and we just made an EXCELLENT Homemade Chicken Fettuccine. We did it all by ourselves and now we are going to share it with you. We are currently in Thorne Bay, Alaska and when our aunt was at a meeting and left us to make dinner this is what we made. We got it off Allrecipes.com but we didn't agree with some of the things they told us to put in the dish. This is what the original recipe looked like.

• 8 ounces fettuccine pasta
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 skinless boneless chicken halves- cut into chunks
• 8 ounces muchrooms sliced.  
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup graded Parmesan cheese

This is what it looked like after we fixed some things.

• 8 ounces fettuccine pasta (We used 16 ounces of Rigatoni)
• 2 tablespoons butter (We forgot it)
• 3 skinless boneless chicken halves- cut into chunks
• 8 ounces mushrooms sliced.  
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt  (salt and pepper)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup graded Parmesan cheese

So this is what we did to make it:

1. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces
2. Boil water for noodles.
3. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
4. Put the chicken in a wok.
5. Turn the burner on high and cooked the chicken till brown.
6. By then the water for the noodles was boiling so we added them.
7. Add the heavy cream to the chicken.
8. Keep a little of the parmesan in a bowl and put the rest in the chicken\cream mixture.
9. Mix till cheese is melted. 
10. Drain the noodles.
11. Add the drained noodles to the chicken mix.
12. Take a spoon and ladle it into a bowl sprinkle the cheese you saved on top.
13. Serve and enjoy.

 Chicken and cheese and cream mix.

Served!

Now THIS is what I call Summer!

     A bit of a delay here, I keep patiently (ahem) waiting for my neighbor to put a post in (the aforementioned 'guest writer'), but alas, she has shown me the amazing photos, but has not yet applied fingers to the keyboard.  Hopefully soon, and then you can see this amazing dish that I had at her house recently.  And, make it for yourself, should you be so inspired.
     In the interim, life goes on, the garden grows and grows and grows.  Morgan and I affectionately term our gardens 'fecund,' to try to capture the amazing lushness and fertility that abounds at this time of year.  It never ceases to amaze me.  I weed and prune and rip out plants every spring.  Indeed, I did even more of that this spring, swearing to avoid the sense that it all is completely overgrown and out of control by July.
     Well, here it is July, and you wouldn't be able to tell.  Overgrown again.  I believe that the growth is even more abundant at this early part of July than is average.  Perhaps we had the right combination of rain and sun.
      So, there I am, out in said lush locale today, and, whilst weeding, discover that my beans (precious haricot verts) have an adequate supply for a meal.  Well, not an entire meal, but to participate in one.  Somehow, whenever the beans start to ripen, I am inspired to make Salade Nicoise.  Or my version  of it.
     Tuna may be traditional, and it's ok, but truly, grilled sockeye salmon is the one to use in my book.  Add to that the beans, and yes, potatoes, cherry tomatoes.   That is where things start to morph.  I like to add eggs, boiled, but still very moist in the yolk.  I also added (I forgot it for the photo) marinated mozzarella balls.  And salad greens as the base.  And some chopped cucumber.  There is a lemon vinaigrette to tie it all together, and a lovely basil chiffonnade to top it off.

     What pleases me as well, is that the beans, the greens, the basil, the cuke and the eggs all came from my little urban homestead (well, the eggs are from the aunties next door, as my girls are not laying quite yet).
     So, perhaps not quite a Salade Nicoise per se, but a Northwest interpretation of it, sans anchovies.
No recipe here, but with a description and a photo, one could duplicate this, provided you, too, have a garden which is fecund.