Meet the new guy, pig clearning, and whats for dinner.

We think that Charlie had at least 3 good hatchlings yesterday - there could be more tomorrow. Chai Chai reminded me of a few things to share with the class... just in case you didn't know.

Meet the new guy - isn't this a fine chick?

Checking the nest for bad eggs is a good idea. Some hens never get up from a nest so you might have to gently lift her up  - or wait for her to take a break and then take a peek. Eggs go bad for a lot of reasons but when they break they can send bacteria flying everywhere and it can get into your good eggs and cause them to fail. We couldnt believe any of our incubator eggs hatched - we had one actually explode (gross!). So we were thrilled that any of them made it.

Candling each egg is also a good idea. You use a light or flashlight in a dark room to peer into the egg (the shells are actually kind of translucent). You can see if an egg is starting to develop - or if its not viable. This freaks me out so we don't do it. But there are some great resources online to learn how.

And yep - the pigs are doing an amazing job of clearing their new area - but its nothing like how they razed their OLD area!

Pigz = better than roundup

Isn't it amazing? They only left the stumps but some of them are pretty well chewed on. We made one pass with the tiller and then put in some corn and clover.

Which reminds me, did anyone see that ridiculous article by Hobby Farms in the last issue? Someone wrote into the "experts" and asked what kind of animals they should get to clear an area on their property. And the "expert" told them just to napalm the whole area with chemicals because animals don't do a good job! Can you believe it? Now I know that Hobby Farms is put out by a livestock feed manufacturer - but really, that is just silly. And disingenuous. And shabby journalism. Talk about promoting your own products!

Take a look at our pig pen again - roundup could not have done a better job. And this area is areated and fertilized. "Use chemicals" my left foot - if you need clearing getcha some pigs, goats, or sheep and do triple duty instead of poisoning your ground. Sheesh! (end of rant)

Guess what was for dinner last nite?

Chicken-y goodness fried up in a pan

This is from one of the smaller Meat Balls we dressed earlier this week. Skinned and cleaned it was just about six pounds of chicken-y goodness. I sauteed the breasts in olive oil, salt, and pepper then finished in the oven (400*) and voila. Supper at its best.

Happy Thursday everyone! Whatcha making for dinner tonite?