Store Chicken - soon with more chemicals!

Did everyone see this article a couple days ago about how the USDA is proposing new rules to allow more more chemicals in chicken processing?

It seems they want to speed up poultry processing and so they are "enhancing" chemical use to make that happen. This is supposed to make it safer for the consumer. There could be some glitches in the implementation - including the death of a young man who worked as an inspector. But it's supposed to be totally safe. The government said so - they reviewed "data provided by chemical manufacturers (page1 at the very bottom)."

You might barf if you read the whole article but if you can stick with it thru page 3 you can see my favorite line from USDA Undersecretary Hagen who said, "“Bottom line, plain and simple: We would never put forward a rule that we thought would increase risk for anybody.”

Oh. Well then. I feel much better now.

I can understand that they might want to step up efforts to clean up the meats - seeing as how much of American meat is contaminated with antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Sometimes people ask us why we grow our own food, are we hippies? Trying to make a political statement? Nope. Pretty much it's just out of self defense.

Some people think that we should just eat less meat and that will solve the problem. But I don't think so. I think the answer is that we should take back control of our food and just do it ourselves.


So if you are on the fence about growing some food this year maybe you should just choke your way thru that article and see if it changes your mind.

As for me, I'll be ordering some more meat chickens and some turkeys here pretty soon - no chemicals necessary.

Happy Tuesday everyone. Hope I didn't make your barf.

Hidden Treasure

Remember when we found that apple tree down in the bramble?  Guess what - I found another....

It's in the flat part of the property below the turkey house. I've been working on trying to clear this area out for pasture. I'm finally ahead of the the game but it's slow going.

This poor little tree was all tumbled down and bent over - but it was bursting with blooms.  I'll be working on cutting it free from the scrabble pines and vines.

I hope it makes it - what lovely blooms.

In other news.... I might have broken the good mower while using it inappropriately as a brush cutter. Don't tell my husband. In all fairness I told him I needed him to rent me a walk behind brush hog. I say nothing more about this.

Happy Monday everyone!

Bump!

How cute are these guys?

They have figured out to head butt each other....  I can't believe that Nibbles is still taking care of them.

Happy Sunday!

Give us the chocolate cake!

My all time favorite comedy bit is Bill Cosby's "Chocolate Cake." Everyone remembers the song - "Dad is great! Give us the chocolate cake!" It is my favorite song. (You can skip ahead to about 7:02 to sing along).

I believe with my whole heart that chocolate cake is a breakfast food. It does have milk and eggs and all those good things. This one even has coffee - so it's kind of like one stop shopping. Or at least that is what I tell myself.

There has been a story going around the facebook about if you want a more home made style cake from a mix just add this and that and substitute this. When I read it, initially, I thought "Hum.. well sounds legit." But then I thought, "For heavens sakes at that point just measure out the flour and sugar yourself."

I don't particularly like mixes. Have you seen the ingredients? There is a lot of stuff you can't pronounce. I'm fairly certain someone at the food companies started the rumor that home made cake is a drudgery and hard to do. Nothing could be more ridiculous.  Cake is easy! It's fun! And it doesn't take any time at all to make your own with ingredients that you can pronounce.

I found this terrific recipe for a very moist cake. I think the secret is coconut oil. Or maybe it's the buttermilk. Could be the coffee. Whatever the case it was quick and easy. I didn't have a carton of buttermilk so I just poured a cup of milk and added a little lemon juice. Easy peasy. By the time the coffee had brewed the buttermilk was ready. I think I spent about 5 minutes putting this together.

This recipe is for 2 round cakes but I'm sure you can just dump the whole thing in one 13 x 9 inch pan and call it a day. One of the reasons for the round pans was so I could be a little smarter. It is a fact that between the two of us we could eat one full cake in about 2 days. It's OK because we are professionals - but I'm pretty sure I might have given myself the diabeetus as it was.

So I only used one round and froze the other - for later chocolate cake emergencies. I took the other round, cut it in half, and then stacked and frosted it like a layer cake. It was terrific!

What do you think - will you take the challenge and make your own home made cake? Give it a try - you'll see how easy it is. And your children will love you for it - especially if it's for breakfast. Everyone sing now - "Dad is great! Give us the chocolate cake!"

Happy Friday everyone! Now have some cake for breakfast and get out there and enjoy your day!

Egg holes

One of the most disappointing finds in the barnyard is a hidden nest full of eggs. Sometimes my hennies hide nests in the garage and by the time we find them there could be 20 or more eggs!

Unfortunately we consider these eggs to be totally wasted. We don't know how long they have been there - or worse.... if one of the hens has haphazardly started to set the nest. Sure you can put the eggs in a pot of cold water to see if they sink (which means they are fresh) but with these surprise nests you don't know for sure if the incubation process has started - don't ask me how I know this.

This nest was also dirty - some of the eggs had been broken - so any egg that was contaminated was sketchy at best.  It's such a shame to find these bad nests - all that food has been just wasted.

So what do we do with a huge nest of bad eggs?  We bury them. My husband busts out the one man auger and digs some 2 - 3 foot deep holes. I always have him dig these "egg holes" inside the garden fence so the dogs don't dig them up and it's less likely predators will find them.

All those shells will add calcium and nutrients to the soil...and my hope is that it will give the worms something to eat.  After I carefully drop a couple eggs into the hole, push in some dirt to cover them, add another layer of eggs, more dirt, etc... then I will make a compost pile over that spot. The following year the soil in that area is improved and the garbage guy doesn't have to haul off a sack of rotten eggs.

This has worked really well for us. Sure we've had some horrible rotten eggs break when I've dropped them in the hole - I just quickly cover it with dirt - but so far so good. I just make sure that the last egg layer is deep enough that it won't attract unwanted attention.

As we shake off the winter and head forward into real spring and summer I'm sure we'll find more surprise nests but that is OK, we'll just find a nice spot in the garden and get digging.

Happy Thursday everyone! Have you found a surprise nest this spring?

Ron Finley - Gardening Hero

This Ted Talk was passed around the other day on the facebook - you have to see it. It's only about 10 minutes and it will really inspire you to get out there and get moving. I'm totally a gangsta gardener - are you?

The idea that you can take control of your life is extremely important to most people. But most folks don't take the opportunity to take control of their food. I love that Ron saw an opportunity and took it...and better yet, he shared it with his community. And even better than that - he continues to share it with a wider audience.  Ron is spreading the gospel of gardening and everyone needs to hear this message.

I also planted a flat of broccoli.This year I'm going to have a broccoli empire.

You can count on one hand the number of generations back to where just about everyone had something to do with growing food. Now it is practically a novelty. I find that profoundly sad because we are literally dying from lack of involvement in our food. Convenience food isn't very convenient if you end up dying a completely preventable death.  Listen to what he says about how food is responsible for more deaths than street crime. This is an amazing success story and I'm glad my friend Vicki shared it the other day.

 So many potatoes....

As for me, I've been out there hitting it pretty hard. Someone had the great idea to get a 50lbs sack of seed potatoes (for only $18! It was a bargain!)..... it was a lot of potatoes. This was the only thing I could think of the whole time I was out there planting.

I straw the potatoes in deeply - this keeps the weeds down and helps improve the soil.

What am I gonna do with all these taters? What do you think? Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.... 

What about you? Are you taking out there planting? Are you spreading the good word of gardening?

Happy Wednesday everyone!

On City Boys and Big Turkeys

Aside from the normal foolishness around here, occasionally we have unexpected hilarity. Such was the case late last week.

TurkZilla - hates me.  Bad. Real bad.

Me and the dog had been outside for awhile but had finally come in for a break. I was sitting here lost down the rabbit hole of 'the reddit' when there was a knock at the door. This was pretty surprising especially since we didn't hear anyone drive in the gate.

Just so's ya know, if you show up unexpected and unannounced you will not be greeted by my smiling face, a slice of pie, and a pile of bacon. This is what will greet you instead.

So I sent Dog#1 to the front door to check things out. My Good Shepherd charged the door all balls out and barking. Since I didn't hear gunfire or anyone screaming and running away I moseyed out to see who was foolish enough to still be standing there. I noted that there was a car - outside the gate.

There he was. Tall, skinny, young, and wearing one of those a safety vests with the electric company logo prominently displayed. Since I couldn't hear what he was saying over Dog#1 going all Cujo on him, I stepped outside.

"Yes." I said.  It was more of a statement then a question but I think I got my point across.

The tall skinny guy kept looking over my shoulder at Dog#1 trying to rip the hinges off the door as he was explaining to me that he was there to (insert some kind of electric company mumbo jumbo here. I had no idea what he was talking about). I looked at him dubiously but he held up his camera and said it would just take a second to take some pictures. Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of OD the Gander makin' his way toward the scene.

"OK" I said, "But I'm going to come with you. I can call these dogs off you but that gander over there (points to OD who is hissing and stomping this way) is extremely mean and I can't do anything about him."

"Do you mean that goose might attack me?" The tall skinny guy asked. Clearly he was a city boy who was not familiar with the danger involved in various poultry species.

"Oh yeah." I said holding out my arm to show him the scar from that big goosey gander. "That gander has been known to chase grown men."

Now the tall skinny guy was starting to get nervous. "What do you do if he attacks you?" He asked.

"Seriously?" I said because I thought he was teasing me. He nodded and he was serious.

"Well," I said getting low in kind of a wrestling stance. "You grab him by the beak with your good hand then whip around and snatch him up with your other arm, in kind of a half nelson, so he doesn't flog you with his wings." I said and gestured just how you'd do such a thing. "It works like a charm but you gotta get him by the beak on the first try or its 'good luck, Sally'."

The tall skinny guy nodded while thinking about it. I'm not sure he was completely convinced it would work. Just about that time our big tom turkey, TurkZilla came around the garage. TZ was puffing and gobbling and strutting and stomping. Fiercely. You may remember that TZ is always trying to kill me. That turkey has a special hatred for me and I do not know why. But here he came in fully display, dragging his wings and stomping... with determination in his stink eye.

"What about that one?" My tall skinny friend asked. "What do you do if he attacks you?"

"Well, Little Brother, there's no real way to kung fu fight a turkey. So pretty much you just either gotta take it. Or run."

With that TZ gave a mighty gobble - and charged.

"Auughghhghghhg!"  And off my tall skinny visitor ran, gangly legs and long arms flailing everywhere. At one point he turned to look over his shoulder and then yelled, "He's really coming for us!" Then he ran faster.

I will not lie. I was running too.

TZ stormed after us.

"Don't worry, honey, I'll get my stick!"  I shouted as that tall guy outdistanced me by a mile. I snatched my beatin' stick off the deck rail, swung it like a batleth, and turned to face our our attacker. TZ didn't think it was quite so funny when I was armed and dangerous.

I held that gobbling terror at bay while the tall skinny guy completed his mapping or whatever he was doing... and then I chased TZ off so we could walk back around the yard.

Once my young friend was safely back in his car he could finally laugh at little and said that at least he'd have a story to tell his wife. I figure he'll be talking about this for at least a week. I told him that if them boys from the electric company were fixin' to come and work on the box or whatnot he should probably put a note in the file that they should honk for me before getting out of their trucks. He nodded earnestly and then drove away.

I waved goodbye and closed the gate.

As I walked back to the house I saw OD skulk off back to the goose gate and TZ stomp back to the hen yard. Dog#1 was still in the doorway but this time he was smiling and wagging and popping around eager to be by my side. He was not happy at all with me alone out in the yard with some gangle creature with an ill favored look.

I still had my beatin' stick in my hand as the dog and I made our way over to check the water buckets in the barn yard. From somewhere behind me I heard a scuffle and flapping as Dog#1 chased that dang turkey off again. No doubt TZ was taking another run at me. I chuckled... Oh yea though I walk thru the valley of the hen yard I will fear no evil turkey..... my rod and My Good Shepherd are with me.

Happy Monday everyone! Any body else got the electric company come calling? Did your poultry run 'em off?

Frost and Pile of Bacon

Happy Sunday everyone!  I wanted to quickly note for my notes that we had a pretty hard frost.

Our official "last frost date" is usually Mother's Day.  But of course I don't have any hoots about that so I ran right out there and planted a bunch of stuff over the last couple of weeks. Luckily for me my hoops are totally working.

At the time I really struggled with cutting up so much field fence to make the hoops but wow this is really working out. It was a breeze to go out last nite and roll out the row cover. I could actually cover two rows with one length of fabric.

In other news... you have got to check out this pile of bacon.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Radishes are sprouting!

This time last year I already had a big basket full of radishes.....

But for now this is the best I've got. I'll take it. I can't even remember now if this is the spring we are supposed to be having or if we are behind.

I've also got some sunflower seeds popping up. We might have a couple cold nights this weekend so I'm holding off on planting anything that isn't covered up.

There's been a lot of work happening these last couple days - some inside and some outside. But mostly its me trudging around, dogs in tow, with a bucket of seeds and my notebook trying to keep things organized. And a lot of tilling.

We are reclaiming some weird sections out past the gate - its a rush to see if the weeds and bramble will hold that ground or if I can get it tilled and planted. Pretty much it's a no holds barred, all out brawl to see who will win. I might be slightly ahead.

In the meantime my alfalfa is doing great! We will have a hot day today....then a big soaking rain tomorrow morning... then more even temperatures. This should really kick the alfalfa into high gear and I may be able to take a cutting off it next week - just in the nick of time.

The goats are languishing from their long pregnancies and nothing but not-great-hay from last year's drought-ridden season. I've been taking them for "nature walks" as my friend S calls them... but mostly it's me just dragging Debbie along the fence lines so that she can crop whatever grass and weeds have barely popped up. Nibbles and the babies follow along behind and complain bitterly about the rough treatment. They continue to be a source of great amusement for the dogs.

Happy Thursday everyone! Time to get out there and get 'er done!

First Buzz

I was outside yesterday getting some happy snaps of our fruit tree blossoms when I saw..... the first buzz!

 How great is this!

I think this is one of our girls....

And who doesn't love a little fuzzy buzzy bee butt?

 

That's our hard workin' beez getting it done!

We are going to have a bang up year for fruit - thanks beez!

Happy First Buzz everyone!

Today

We should just look at sunflowers today...

And let's all stick together, right?

Baby Goats in the Barnyard

I let Nibbles and her Nibblers run around yesterday - it was a scream. The baby goats thought the wide open spaces were amazing - and the barnyard inhabitants were awe inducing. Mostly they looked like this the whole time they were out....

A little wide eyed and really excited about everything.

They couldn't get over the chickens...

Chickens!

Kai thought they looked delicious.

No really, she wanted a piece of them baby goats.

Whatcha got here is a natural born killa stalking her prey.....

Debbie, due in about 10 days, likes babies so she was interested in them and gave them kisses.

The babies really loved the bridge over the gully. A lot.

After a whole lot of runnin' around, jumpin' and skippin' they'd just about worn their little selves out so I put them back in their pen. But today is gonna be a great day to be a baby goat! More running! More jumping! Yipee!

Happy Monday everyone!

What Bacon Day Looks Like

I'll just leave these pictures right here - it's what bacon day looks like.....

A table full of bacon.... that wrapped one is pancetta ready to be hung.

This bacon all smoked and lovely.

All that bacon-y goodness....

Some of it was really meaty and amazing...

So good you just gotta fry some up in a pan....

And then take an arty picture of it.....

At this point I can safely say that I will mock anyone who actually buys pre-cooked bacon at the store. Friend, if your life is such that you don't even have time to fry bacon in a pan then you have some re-evaluatin' to do....  What I got here is the real deal, signed, sealed, delivered... Bacon, I'm yours!

Happy Saturday everyone!

Ham Porn

Check it out.....  The other day I brined and smoked one of the hams from our hog harvest. Remember I did this last winter and it worked so well I tried it again. I think it turned out pretty good, what do you think?

Ham glam shot - isn't it amazing?

While it was smoking I brushed it with our maple syrup - just check out that sheen! But to really appreciate its beauty you've got to see it in video - wait for the smoke to clear...

That's what I'm talking about.

Happy Friday everyone!

War Cry

This young goatie is practicing his war cry so that one day he may ride with me to glory.....

Or maybe he just wanted me to put him down. Either way - isn't he a scream? This is one of the Nibblers. We can't believe Nibs is still taking care of them. She might get a better parking spot and a slight raise for her efforts. She's really showing some dedication to the team.

Yesterday it was supposed to rain - but it didn't. The good news is that I got another 15 pounds of potatoes planted - Red Pontiac and Irish Cobbler. The bad news is... we really need it to rain. Hopefully today..

Happy Thursday everyone!

What I Found In the Garden....

Yesterday was just like summer - I think I even got a sunburn. If you can believe it I had to drag out the hoses and run the sprinkler so my seeds would start. It was an amazing day.

More Yukon Golds went here - I'm getting different varieties this week.

But what was really amazing is what I found in the garden. I'm still doing a ton of prep - so not much to see except some of the treasures I dug up or tilled over. I found a couple of sprinkler heads and some other hose attachments but what really set me back on my heels was this.....

The Biggest Parnsip EVER.

Parsnip of DOOM!!!!! Yes, DOOM I said!

I was thrilled for a couple of reasons - one because...well.. how wicked cool is that parsnip? Plus this means all my work to improve my bad soil is working. These root veggies are actually growing down thru what was hardpan. It gives me a lot of hope and inspiration to keep on trudging up there with trolly-load after trolly-load of chicken litter and other assorted poop and compost.

I also found this happy face...
  

Lucky loves to "help" me garden - actually he just loves the dirt. Both Dog#1 and #2 love freshly tilled dirt - so much so that I have a command "Get out of my Dirt!" and they know go get out of the dirt and get their huge paws onto grass.

But this happy dog snuck in behind me and rolled all around in my fresh dirt and got it all over his face.

Some folks have been asking why Lucky hasn't been featured much on the blog or in our Adventure Tails. It's because he's been having some health problems so pretty much he's on light duty. He's been appointed Master of the House and spends a lot of time holding down his dog bed. But that makes him happy so it's OK. The vet will implement a treatment plan for him and he'll be just fine. Yesterday he just loved being in the upper garden and rolling all around.

Happy Wednesday everyone! Have you found any garden treasures?

Canning beans and planting notes

Happy Tuesday everyone! Was everyone outside yesterday?

I got the last one.

Good thing I raced right down to the feedstore right when they opened. The seed potatoes were flying right off the shelves. I got the last 10 pound sack of Yukon Golds. Yesterday I worked on the upper garden.

I finally wised up and cut the finger tips off my gloves so I could handle the seeds.

Most of the day was prep work but I got some purple onions, Yukon Gold potatoes, peas, radishes, and lettuce planted and covered. We are expecting 75* today but next week who knows if it will snow or just be a cold rain. My row covers continue to work out perfectly.

These taters are going right next to my garlic - it's going like gangbusters.

I also got caught up with canning - we were down to our last home canned jar of pinto beans which is a crisis around here. Why can beans when they are on sale for $1?  Are you kidding? It's the best value out there! I went on down the the Dollar Store and got a 2 pound bag of pinto beans and a one pound bag of black beans for less than $5.

When the steam cleared I had 21 pints of beans ready for whenever we need a quick supper. For those you don't like math - that's less than $0.25 per pint!

But what about all that time wasted in the kitchen? Wasted? What? Are you kidding? I quick soaked the beans while I was out doing chores, then simmered them for 30 minutes while I did some laundry, then ate lunch and got caught up on 'the facebook' while they were in the pressure canner. What time was wasted?

This is a great project to get started on canning - the jars almost always seal, it's easy and fun, and wow does it pay off!

When we want nachos we just grab a can of beans and a frozen bag of chicken (from when I made stock) and there you go. If we have a snack attack we mix up some of our home made salsa, a can of black beans, and some frozen corn that was roasted on the grill that summer - how's that for fun and easy - and cheap?

No sir, no time was wasted at all yesterday. Home canning beans is a great value and a couple hours one afternoon gives up just about all the beans we'll need for the next 4 or 5 months. Of course, now all I want for lunch is a big chicken and bean burrito...But first I have the rest of the taters to plant.

Happy Tuesday everyone! Now get out there and can some beans, plant some radishes, get some taters in the ground, and enjoy the day!

Hoopin' it up!

What a great weekend! I spent almost all day on Saturday hoopin' it up!  Since you know I'm not a sports fan I'll let you know that I'm talking about garden hoops - little row covers to protect the seed sprouts from frost. And chickens.

Baby goats - adorable yet very distracting.

I've been doing a lot of tilling the last several days, in between watching adorable little goats, of course. Since the soil was prepped I wanted to do some planting but I just can't keep up with our crazy spring. All last week I lived in fear of crushing frosts and freezes and this morning it's over 50*. Not knowing what is going to happen next week I decided to put up some quick garden hoops.

True to my Appalachia-American-cheap ways I didn't want to spend a lot of money. I found a terrific row cover from Johnny's Seeds - this is the one I have (I'll list it in my Amazon store also). Next I needed to support the row cover so I took a look around and remembered how great it was to use half-round sections of field fence last year.

Half rounds of field fence keep chickens out and provide a hoop for covering rows.

I cut the fence in the center of each square so that I had "long tails" on each end - then just shoved them into the ground. It was easy to line up and center the Agribon logo on the row cover over the fence hoops. Then I just unrolled the fabric cover. I found some weirdly cut small sections of hog panel for each end and those sealed off my hoop row.

Voila! Now my little seeds are safe from chickens and frost. This worked out so well - and was so easy - that I'm going to do a lot more of this little hoop row this week.

Happy Monday everyone - anyone else hoopin' it up?

Vlad the Impaler

I don't think this name works for him...

Vlad the Impaler has never been so cute!

Happy Friday everyone!

Two... no... THREE!!!

You'll remember yesterday I was gonna get Nibs set up in Le Grand Palais - her swanky suite in the Turkey House  - to give her a break from Dahli and Deb in preparation for her April 6 due date.....

Guess what happened yesterday?

Talk about just in the nick of time. Nibbles was acting kind of weird yesterday afternoon and making funny noises. So me and the dog hurried up and got her bucket set up and a fresh layer of straw down in the newly cleaned out and rat free Turkey House coop. But when we went to get her, Nibs didn't want to get up. We drug her kicking and screaming and raced her right over there. A few minutes later and we wouldn't have made it.

My Good Shepherd looks on - he always takes care of me.

Of course nothing goes like it's supposed to around here - so there I was alone with Nibs about to pop. Well, I wasn't alone - I had the chip on my shoulder and the dog with me. He gave me encouraging, if not slightly worried looks. I patted Nibbles as reassuringly as I could knowing The Good Neighbor Mom was racing home.

Comparatively these are huge babies! How cute are they?

Then everything got whoozy and I woke up later with Dog#1 licking my face and Nibbles licking two perfect little buckings. One with enormous ears and one splashy kid with tiny little La Mancha ears.

 Are these ears hilarious or what?

About that time the Good Neighbor Mom got there and after a while we decided that Nibs was done and all was well. The only thing to do was go in the house and drink. So I did.

This splashy little kid has tiny La Mancha ears - adorable!

Later, after laying on the floor in the house with the dogs for a while, and reciting about 1,000 reasons why dogs are better than goats, I figured I should go out there and see how Nibs and the two were doing. What a surprise for me!

What was that!?!?

Baby Trey or Sneaky Pete - came out of no where. What a surprise!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you with..... Tres... I mean.. Trey. Or however you want to say "three."  I actually suggested the name "Trey" to some folks for their surprise third real baby - they didn't think it was funny. Come to think of it, they didn't take my other suggestion which was Vlad the Impaler either.... in fact they asked me to stop suggesting names for their children altogether. Anyway.

So there you have it. While I was out there laying in the straw it occurred to me that I need to get my act together - our milking season has begun! So today will be about getting our milking area into tip top shape and making sure Nibs stays calm and takes care of the babies as long as she will. You'll recall she normally gets an F- in being a mommy. Oh, and I'd better get my cheese making supplies ready. This is gonna be a bang up year for home made goat cheese!

Happy Thursday everyone! Anyone else have some surprise babies!?!