Category Archives: other

Chicken Update

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pc030025 150x150 Chicken Update Here are the chickens, after a big week in the shed.  This week they kind of sprouted up a little — they’re not so round and fluffy — they’re getting kind of tall and chicken-y looking. You can’t see it from this photo, but they’re starting to stand up and crane their little necks.

They survived a couple of really cold nights out there in the cardboard box in the dog crate, so that was a triumph. On Saturday, I built them a bigger box — taped two boxes together so now they have the whole 3′x2′ dog crate — I added that mini-laying box (although they won’t be laying for ages) and a little stick to perch on. I also made a small flat platform for the waterer — they were tipping it and spilling water all over themselves.

It was a good decision to keep them in the shed. The first week, they were just little peepers — but now they’re starting to smell like chickens. And as fond as I am of the peepers, I have some standards. Dogs in the house are one thing, but no livestock in the house!

Next weekend’s project: the coop — that will be fun. I’m not a great carpenter, but even I can build a box, and put it inside another box covered in chicken wire. Photos forthcoming ….

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Gearing up for spring

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pb070028 225x300 Gearing up for spring

It’s raining today — a nice soft spring rain, so I took the poor scraggly herbs from the Winter Herb Garden and put them outside the back door. The rosemary seemed particularly crunchy, but it did it’s job — it didn’t die. The thyme has been remarkably successful — the last few weeks it’s been sending out delicious little soft green shoots.

pb050025 300x225 Gearing up for spring

I also got my act together last weekend and organized my seeds. As you can see — my “system” is nothing fancy. A couple of cheap bins from Pamida and a paper bag — but by the end of any garden season they’re a mess — some are in the basket with the cheapo tongue depressor/craft sticks that I use for garden markers (easy to write on with a sharpie, and they compost nicely), some wind up on the seed starting shelves, some sleeves were empty, in general, it was all a mess. So I went through and got everything organized by type — tomatoes, greens, herbs, cucumbers, beans, peppers, etc. Some people organize by planting order, but that’s too daunting and frankly, feels a little constricting. I know the spinach and broccoli rabe will go in first, but I’m never entirely sure beforehand what I’m going to put in next. So there we are — ready to start seeds this weekend or next, and ready to put some early cold crops in the garden beds.

I don’t have a picture of those, but they’re starting to shape up. I loved the straw mulch I used last year, but it had a lot of seeds in it so there’s all sorts of wheat growing in my garden — and it overwintered just fine, so it must be winter wheat. At any rate, I had a lovely half hour or so after work last night turning over the soil in a couple of my raised beds, pulling all those wheaty bits out for the compost. I have two beds now that are all fluffy and ready for seeds. This weekend I’ll clean up the rest, and start with the cool-weather greens. I’m so excited! Another year!

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Signs of Spring

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Took the storm insert out of the front door today and replaced it with the screen insert. Temps in the mid-50′s, sunshine, and with the kitchen window and front door open, had a chance to air the house out after a long stuffy winter.

Despite the light cover of melting snow on the ground, hung laundry on the line, put the leggy over-wintered mint outside the backdoor for a little real sunshine, and in general, felt like the big blue ball has once again turned on it’s axis.

Spring is in the air. Tulips and daffodils are beginning to poke their heads above the ground. You can hear birdsong again.

Once more, the world’s promise is summoning forth.

Nothing better.

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Return of the Sun

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The sun has come back. We feel like pagans here in MyLittleTown, ready to thow a party and rejoice. We were not forsaken! The sun came back! It’s been light before seven in the morning and until nearly six at night. It’s like being let out of jail.

And so, because the evenings have not come slamming down at 4:30, and because it’s been sort of mild and pleasant out, I’ve fired up the grill again. My new friend Sabrina came for dinner mid-week, and I marinated some local lamb chops in yogurt, lime juice, olive oil and spices, then did them on the grill. And a couple of days later, I found a mystery package of elk round in the freezer and decided to see what I could do with it. I’ve learned over the past couple of years that thos vaccum bags that look like one piece of meat are often several smaller pieces, and that was the case here. Which was good because the whole thing would have been a lot, so as it was starting to thaw, I could separate it and put the sections I didn’t want yet back in the freezer.

Anyhow, marinated the elk in lime juice, chile powder, olive oil and a lot of salt and pepper, then grilled them on a very hot grill. I’m sort of a fanatic about mesquite charcoal — it’s the only thing that gets hot enough, and I hate hate hate the petroleum taste of briquettes.

At any rate, it was a great mid-week meal. A few slices of lovely medium-rare grilled elk, on some leftover saffron rice, with asparagus. It was pretty, it tasted good, and there was no clean up! So happy to have the grill back in play.

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In Praise of the Soft Boiled Egg

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There are mornings when you just can’t quite summon the will to proceed, mornings where you’re groggy, and dreading your job, and feeling like it’s all a long treadmill of the same old same old and here you are again.

On those mornings, sometimes all it takes is a good egg. A nice piece of toast with some butter, and a three minute egg you bought from your local chicken farmer. I buy mine from Isabelle, my milk lady, and while they are very expensive — about six dollars a dozen, they are really great eggs. I say this as someone who has been cheating a little lately on my egg lady. I bought some other, local, ranch eggs and I’m sorry to say, they just weren’t as good. The shells were very thin, and the yolks had a slightly funky, too-eggy taste to them that was not what one wants out of a soft boiled egg at 6:30 in the morning when one is trying to summon the will to go on. And so, I went back to my Isabelle, whose eggs are a lovely brown color, they have very sturdy shells, bright marigold colored yolks, and a perfect, clean eggy taste.

This morning, one of Isabelle’s eggs, with some chive and thyme from the winter herb garden on the back porch, a little alleppo pepper and some sea salt, well, it restored my will to live. A piece of my own sourdough bread toasted, an orange sliced into eighths, a cup of strong tea, and a walk with Raymond-the-dog, and well, Monday is now something that I can deal with. Saved by an egg.

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