Our Chickens

A mother hen brooding eight chicks given to us by kind friends a month of two ago. She took them to nest somewhere outside the coop one night and only five came back in the morning. And then later on two got sick and died. We didn't feed these chicks any store starter feed, but actual food instead. I don't know if that had anything to do with it. It's amazing all the losses you have when you start raising your own food.

Again we were blessed by a neighbour who had been raising LOTS of chicks to sell. This was the last batch and at this point he was tired of raising all summer and just gave us about 30 chicks...they are hard to count and we have lost a few.

 One of the girls LOVES to look for eggs. "I go look for b'any eggs", she'll say as she marches off to the chicken coop. Unfortunately we only have one chicken right now who is the right age to be laying eggs...and she seems to be hiding them somewhere we haven't discovered yet. I'm looking forward to having many more laying hens around. It's such a blessing to have eggs produced right in our back yard.

A lot of the free chicks we are raising appear to be roosters, so much of the flock will be in the freezer before long. Hopefully we'll have one alert, but not too mean, rooster in the batch. We've been having some hawk problems, and one of the best solutions is good rooster to warn and protect the hens.

We were blessed to be given two female Silkies mixed in with the many breeds of free chicks we were given, but they are the only breeds we can clearly identify in the whole mess. We're excited for them to grow up so we can try to figure out what we have. I've wanted some Silkies for a while because they are downy and cute, and also because they are reported to be very broody and good mothers. We hope to use chickens to hatch out all our future chicks, because then the mother will take care of a lot of the work for us, and save time and resources, like heat lamps. The mothers teach them how to find food and even bring bits to them and I have often seen in neighbour's yards a rooster escorting a little family of hen and chicks all around the yard like a body guard. We'll see how all these plans work out in the end.

Blessings!

c

Wild Turkey and cooking an old rooster

shYou'll never believe what I did the other day. Don't bother trying to guessing.  Peeled chicken feet. Cricket....cricket...I can hear you stunded silence from here.
It's wild turkey season now and The Man had been after one turkey that kept crossing our land. Several times he ran into the house saying, "Boil some water baby!" He even took off down our road chasing it, but it kept getting away. We were really hoping to get one; you can't get much more free range than wild.

So yesterday afternoon The Man was working at a neighbor's house and here comes the turkey up the driveway. So I get on the phone and call him, but no answer. I decided to keep on trying, and as I'm about to redial I see him coming up the road, and up the drive way right towards The Turkey. I'm montioning to him to stop, and finally he gets the message and I give a quick bird flapping motion and I turn to run into the house for his gun. He hops out of the truck and I meet him in the field and load while and puts in his ear plugs and off he takes, to bring home the bacon...so to speak. And of course he got him.
Since we were going to all the trouble of butchering one we figured we would go ahead and butcher our rooster too, which has long been on our to-do list. We just finished building our new chicken coop (or chicken pook as the girls call it) and we have decided to start free with a new batch of hens instead of integrating birds. So while the water boils we quickly watched a video on butchering chickens.
Now you're going to think this is crazy, and maybe your right. But it just felt good to be doing this work and learning these skills, and to know that these birds had good lives, while they lived, and that God was providing for us. And it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. It's so interesting to watch how the girls took all this in. You might think they would be tramatized by it, but they weren't in the least. When I was a little older than the girls someone gave me chicks for easter. Mama told me from the very beginning that they weren't pets and we were going to eat them. I hated those birds. I was always sure they were trying to bit a hunk out of my sweet little baby flesh thighs. When it came time to butcher my mom was crying and I was patting her on the back and telling her, "It's alright Mom. They aren't pets."

The Man told them that God gave us the birds to eat, and they seemed to think that was just fine. The Concoring Hero held up his conquest, The Turkey, for us to see and one of the girls joyfully pointed and proclaimed, "MEAT!" They were much more worried about me asking them to hold the frog we found in the grass today, lol.

So the chicken went right into the crockpot with some onion skins and bay leaf and carrots peels, and we roasted the turkey for dinner. I've gotten over two gallons of chicken stock so far. I would use a ladle and dip off the broth and add more water whenever it looked golden and lovely. Its some of the nicest looking broth I've ever seen. I was amazed at how dark the leg meat was, as dark as beef. What a blessing all that broth has been for easy spring time meals. And  where, and how, and Why In The World chicken feet? You can read about that here.
Blessings to you all! c

How to make sweet potato slips

This post is courtesy of my mum, who taught me how to do this, and don't worry, its very easy. Cut the sprouted ends off of some sweet potatoes. And stick the cut end in some water. Change the water when it starts looking icky, and make sure it doesn't run out of water, but besides that leave them pretty much alone (a thought just occurred to me that we don't have "city" water, so there is no chlorine in our water...I have no idea if this makes a difference). After a while they will start to look like this (its not required to be near a sink full of dirty dishes), with lots of nice green leaves.

When you have some roots on the outside of the potato, at the base of the nice green leaves its time for this little plant to leave the nest. All you do is push gently at the base of the little plant until it pops off the potato, with it's little roots and all.  Then take this new little plant and put it in some water to encourage more root growth, and when it has lots of nice little roots and your ground is ready, plant it. The end.

The Foundations: Food

I haven't really wanted to talking about my personal food philosophy, but I am starting to realize that so many of the things I would like to tell you about won't make any sense to you unless you understand some of the background thinking and research that I have been doing for the last four or five years. I want you to understand that the changes and understanding came slowly, and the choices we are making now as a family reflect a fairly long process of life change.

Grilled cheese with turkey and apple slices

To start off, if this information is new and shocking for you, then don't make any sudden life changes, especially big ones. Remember to always keep your priorities straight, and don't let food come before God or your family. Ever. Period.

Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them.
1 Corinthians 6:13

So with that disclaimer lets dive right in. I come from a family that is pretty health conscious. My mom mainly cooked from scratch and taught us to do the same, really cooking not just following recipes. We didn't eat a lot of sugar, and I remember often wondering why I couldn't just be like the other kids have fruit roll-ups and gummy snacks in my lunch. I was almost an adult before I ever took any antibiotics, because mom always took care of our colds at home. So I thought I was pretty healthy, as far as lifestyles goes. But I was always sick. Always. Anyone who knows me well can attest to the fact. I got whooping cough at 24. Seriously. This and the fact that I was becoming a wife and mother spurred a deeper interest in researching and understanding the foods I ate. I was surprised to learn when I was already pregnant what a large roll the foods I (and my husband) ate BEFORE I was pregnant would play in the overall development and healthy of my future children. I would HIGHLY recommend the documentary The Ghost in Your Jeans, as a way to help you understand how the choices you make today (not just food, but so many choices) affect not just your children, but directly link to many generations after you. You can watch much of this documentary for free on YouTube, in little ten minute segments. This is a slight rabbit trail, but it is very interesting to watch it in light of verses like: Ex 34:7 and 1Cor 6:16-18. So we all have the opportunity to heal and harm the genetics we have and will pass onto our children. I started to realize how wide ranging the ramifications of my choices could be. In addition to that, as a wife and a mother I am the gate keep of my family's health, a job I take very seriously. Good healthy is a gift that cannot be bought, and is a huge asset if used properly in the kingdom of God. Generally speaking my kids will only eat as good as I allow. My kids can't make their own dinner, and even if they could they wouldn't have the wisdom to make choices that would bless them.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
1Corinthians 6:19 & 20

So this obviously brings us to the questions what is healthy food? First eggs would kill you science said, then they are the amazing miracle food. Some people think being a vegan is healthy. Others think eating a high protein (low-carb) diet is healthy. Some think fats are bad, or salt is bad, or...the list could go on and on. There are so many opinions out there, and there is a lot of propaganda, a lot of flaky "science". So how do you know what to believe?
That's a tough questions and one I have asked myself and other quite frequently. The best answer I have found is to hold it up to the light of God's word, which might sound kind of obtuse, when it comes to something like food science, but the Bible has an amazing way of keeping us balanced and helping us to keep our world in perspective. It also talks a lot about food. Second I have learned to question my sources. I learned that food manufacturing is THE largest industry in the US. Stop for just a second and mull that over. The largest in of the wealthiest nations in the world. We are talking about a lot of money.
It's easy for us as modern day Americans to think that science is this unbiased, factual, objective machine, and that my friends is a load of bull crap. Everyone has a history and we all view the "facts" through that history. Science is no exception. You know this if you have looked honestly and openly at the science behind evolution. Science can have an agenda just like everything else, and most of them time that agenda doesn't really care about what is best for you.
"A good example is Harvard University where Dr. Frederick Stare, head of the nutrition department for many years, began his career with several articles delineating nutritional deficiencies caused by white flour and a study on Irish brothers that positively correlated a high intake of vegetable oils-not animal fats-with heart disease. Soon after he became department head, however, the university received several important grants from the food procession industry. Dr. Stare's articles and weekly newspaper columns then began assuring the public that there was nothing wrong with white bread, sugar and high processed foods. He recommended one cup of corn oil per day to prevent heart disease..." Nourishing Traditions.

So there is a LOT of money to be made or lost depending on what you believe and what those beliefs will cause to you to do, because it reaches into money made off of our poor health as well. Understanding that fact will help you to filter in the information you come across. The main aim of the food industry is to make money. Not to keep you healthy, not to say that they are all evil and want to make you sick (though I'm sure that is the aim of some), but that your healthy is not their main goal.

For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil...
1Timothy 6:10

When I was trying to sort out all of these issues, I kept running across references to the book Nourishing Traditions. I hear about it on People's Pharmacy, from healthy nuts, from bloggers, from religious conservatives. It seemed to be popping up everywhere. So I decided to get a copy. Much of the book is simply a cook book, but it has a lot to say about food science and seems to be a very well researched fairly well balanced book. You can read a shortened version called Healthy 4 Life for free here. Other resources that affected my thinking include the documentaries King Corn, Food Inc., and Super Size Me. I also have found Real Food by Jessie Hawkins to be helpful. All of these resources have their own agendas and biases. It's important in any issue to listen to the arguments at both extremes. 

More more than any of these, it has been simply paying attention to the world around me. It was hearing it a news cast that Toco Bell was being sued because their all beef tacos because they contain more "meat filler" than beef. Or learning from neighbors and friends who raise cattle that they had problems with some sick cow (often times it was cancer) and would take it to be slaughtered. I finally asked (fearfully) if the meat from a sick cow was set aside for non-human consumption. I was told according to the law if the cow could walk it could be eaten (though they did tell me the cancer spots where cut out...not that this helps me much). Yum! It was hearing stories from the chicken processing plants in the town where my parents lived (I talked about some of them at the end of this post). It was reading about the link between a low fat diet and depression. It was hearing from a friend that her daughter had constant yeast infections until they switched to organic milk. If you want to be healthy you have to learn to think for yourself. You have to learn to pay attention to the world around you. Learn to learn. Knowledge is power! You can't blindly trust the world around you with no ramifications. The world does not have your best interest at heart, not in any area.

Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

Matthew 10:16

I know, this was a lot of some of you take in. Lord willing next time we visit this topic I'll try share some of the concrete conclusions I have come to about our diet and life style, and what it means for our family, but I know that our diet will continue to change as our understanding changes, and as we learn more.

Chickens!

We've taken the plunge! Our neighbor wanted to give the girls some chick for Easter, but said he would raise them for us until we were ready. I've been very surprised at how little work they have required. And the "work" is more like a fun little break from my day. I love how scrapes of food that would be composted or wasted are going to good use now. This picture pretty much perfectly defines the girl's positions on the chickens. One thinks they are amazing and can't wait to get a hold of them (and all animals- I pray no animals hurt her till her gets a little older, because she just be devastated) and the other thinks they are amazing, as long as they are behind the chicken wire. Our garden was kindly fenced in by one of the elders at church (he had asked me how the garden was and I told him the rabbits were getting into it, so he just came by and fenced it in), so the chickens will soon be able to roam free. I'm curious to see how that goes over with the girls. We have one rooster, pictured above. I'm not sure what breed he is, so if you know please pipe up! The best guess I've gotten so far is a Dominique mix, but he's smaller than the other two Dominiques, and he has lovely leg feathers, as you can see if this pic.There is a female of the same breed, and she is my favorite, sweet, sassy and submissive. She's the only one with a name so far: Henny Penny. I'm afraid to name too many of them, because things happen, and besides that I don't like the idea of eating things with names, though I will probably get over it eventually. It is strange to look them in the eye and realize just how disconnect I've been from my food most of my life. I've spent the last year trying to acclimate myself to the idea that I WILL kill and roast my own chickens one day. I'll just put on my big girl panties and do it. But thankfully that day isn't today.
We also have two Dominique and two Rhode Island Reds. They are really sweet and friendly. If I had known how easy they would be (as long as The Pestilence doesn't get them) I would have gotten some a long time ago. Both the Dominique and the Rhode Island Reds and a dual purpose breed, good for both eggs and meat. So hopefully we can start a nice rotation of laying hens and meat hens. I may have to add a Silkie or two to the mix, because they are good "broody" mothers and I just think they are so stink'n cute.Just a little factoid for those of you who might wonder why in the world you would want to raise your own chickens, "Hens that roam freely outdoors lay eggs with twice as much vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids as hens raised in cages. Their eggs also have a third the cholesterol. The benefits probably come from the food they eat..." Everyday Food May 2011 Ya think?Plus they taste so rich and amazing compared to what you can get from the store. Since I've gotten used to them, when the chickens stop laying in the winter, we pretty much don't eat eggs. The stuff from the store just tastes so horrible compared to "country eggs" as they call them around here. It's funny because just a few years back I would have just thought of eggs as eggs, and bought whatever was cheapest. It's take a while but the idea is starting to sink in that EVERYTHING is what it eats, and the "Nutrition Facts" vary completely depending on the environment and the quality of food (or soil) available. How can we expect to be healthy when the chicken we eat is breed to be so large breasted it can't stand up, or when feed under regular conditions grows to be 25 lbs (seriously!!! that's turkey size) or when you go to grab the chicken and it's leg comes off in your hand, because its joints are over stressed, or when construction workers (we're talking big rugged cursing ape type men) are so grossed out by what they see while working on a chicken plant building that they can't eat chicken anymore? I know those are stories no one wants to hear, but if you are eating chicken from the store...well you are what you eat, and you ought to know what you are. So that's why we want to raise chickens.
Since we are on the topic of birds, I haven't seen my guineas since about a week after I let them out. They may still be alive (since they are known for running away) or...The Pestilence may have gotten them...Dan-dun-dun-da
Blessings!c

Garden Update

These are pictures from our garden in the very beginning of the month. We were late for our area getting our plants in, due to heavy spring rains. I can only imagine, if we had it in on time. A lot of what I have planted this year is experiential, for the coming years. We hope to put in a roof cellar before too long and I have chosen several varieties that were listed for "keeping" well, to see how they grow in our area. The corn you see here, I am very excited about. It's called Wade's Giant Indian and can be used as a feed corn for animals or for cornmeal. After over four years of thinking about it I have ordered a grain grinder, and am VERY hopeful that we may be able to eat corn bread from our very own corn. Might sounds silly to you but the idea gets me alllll excited! I have been reading up on seed saving and learned that if you want to save corn seeds you need to cover up several ears (at least 12 is recommended so you have several nice ears to choose from) with a paper bag if anyone is growing corn within two miles of you, to keep the variety pure. Then you take off the bags when they are ready to be pollinated and cut a tassel off and shake it over each ear of corn. We'll see how I do.
A neighbor hayed our field earlier this month. We all had a lot of fun watching. I was surprised to learn that they got 310 square bails from our lower field. As you can see the garden has changed a LOT in the last 20 days or so. It's just amazing! The corn is almost as tall as me. I have six or seven different varieties of tomatoes. We eat a lot of tomato products around here, and I'm hoping to put up a lot of them, canned sauce and dried. I think in a few more weeks my red and white potatoes will be ready to come in. We've been eating zucchini and yellow squash for a little over a week now. I just planted three total plants, and we're are getting more than enough. I'm going to try slicing, and a quick steam or blanching, and then putting them on trays to dry in the car. I plan on adding them to soups and stews in the winter and fall. We also have a watermelon plant, which is taking up a LOT of room, but I'm not sure is producing any watermelon. I only planted it because it was free. I hope next year to try some European varieties of melons. I still remember some of the melons I tried in France (way before I was a foodie or a gardener) and they were so much better than anything I've tasted in the states. We eat a lot of dried beans, which are of course very easy to store, and I have discovered that heirloom varieties taste so amazing compared to the stuff you can buy at the store. This year we are trying Black Valentine (should have planted more of these, two plants got eaten which leaves me with only four, the bugs have eaten the leaves a lot, but they still seem to be producing), Holy Spirit in the Red Eye (pretty bug eaten leaves, but still flowering well also), Christmas Lima beans (doing WONDERFUL so far, certainly the least bug eaten of my beans so far. I grew these from 4 or 5 year old seeds given to me, and the flavor is just amazing, sort of creamy and nutty, not anything like a typical lima and they are very large with burgundy and white splashes. I really glad they are doing well, cause I want to eat LOTS of these), and Lazy Housewife (these grow very well, the Japanese beetles have been eating them to lace (I've been picking them off the throwing them in a bucket of water), and an animal, rabbit probably, ate off two plants, but I think I will still get a good crop). I also tried Yellow China and that was a complete flop, lost a whole row. As soon as they came up something would eat those first two leaves. So they never had a chance.
I decided to try Black Fustu Squash this year, as the description really intrigued me: insect resistant, good keeper, and tastes of hazelnuts. They have really been my crowning glory in the garden. They were sowed in the ground and all of them came up no problem and so far from five plants I have at least 20 baby squash, with what looks like the hopes of many more on the way. And it has proven to be very insect resistance. All the plants looks great, even pretty I think, with sliver white splotched big soft leaves. Summer is no time to boast of the harvest, but if things continue in the way they have gone, I would certainly recommend them, provided they are right for your zone.I've also plants several sun flowers and herbs....much later than the garden. Some of them are just coming up, we'll see how they do in the summer heat. I figure a little something is better than nothing. I've done very little to maintain the garden, weeding and watering when I can find the time. I decided if I was going to do a garden this big I was going to need keep it as a lower priority and just be thankful for anything I got out of it, since so much of my time goes to the girls these days. It's amazing to see God's handiwork in both my growing girls and my growing garden.

Cookbooks for Homesteaders: Preserving the Taste

Years ago my mother and I had a chance to glean in some strawberry fields at the end of the season. The fruit was all either under ripe or VERY much over ripe and it was perfect for making the most lovely strawberry sun preserves. The flavor was just amazing, much like strawberry freezer jam, or spreadable fruit leather. So I searched the internet and found some basic directions for strawberry sun preserves at this site. My batch came our very well. I make it with diced fruit and accidentally left too little juice, but it still came out lovely. I put it in pans in the windshield and front seat of my car (I face the car to the south) on a sunny day, so I don't have to worry about bugs getting in it. Plus it makes the car smell lovely. If you don't have a dehydrator, or if your too cheep to spend money on drying foods (like me!) use your car. Cheep and easy and it doesn't heat up the house. Hopefully I will be putting the car to good use this summer.
I noticed the reference to the cook book Preserving the Taste in the directions for making sun preserves. Its out of print but I ordered a copy (the first version because -again because it cost less and I'm cheep) and got it in the mail just a couple of days ago. And I love it. Its a much lovelier book than the cover makes you think (not that I judge a book by it's cover or anything, *ahem* me?). I don't like the many of the current styles in home preserves:fruit flavored sugar jells. As a family we are trying to move away from sugar in our daily diet, for many reason I may talk about some other time, and the preserves in this book are lower in sugar and really let the flavor shine through. The author Edon Waycott, tells you how to make your own pectin, which I have been interested in for quite a while. It isn't all fruit preserves there are also relishes, pickles, syrups, dried fruits, and herb vinegars. None of them require a pressure canner, which I'm also not very interested in using, because it's another piece of equipment to buy and store, and it steals all the nutrients from your foods too. As a friend of mine said, it makes tasty roughage. If you have been wanting to make preserves where the flavor really shines through then this may be the book for you. I'm hoping to make some of the peach butter...but instead of making it in the oven, I think I'm going to let it set in the car to cook. *smile* I just can't help trying!
I ran across an interesting link with lots of VERY interesting pickles you might enjoy looking at. Now is the time of year for putting up as much as you can. I hope to be elbow deep in it all before long.
Blessings!c

Guinea update II

I let the guineas out this morning. They slowly came out, sticking in a group, and eating as they went, and enjoying themselves. I hope they stick around. Guineas are notorious for taking off. I can't see them around anywhere from my windows. We'll see!

P.S. Yeah! They were spotted again around four this evening.

Guinea Hen update

We have moved the guineas out of the brooder. A friend came over to help, and I'm so glad. There were three of us and one catching net and still two of the eight guineas got away, mainly my fault. It's hard to know how tightly to hold a live animal even when it is flogging you, as my friend graphically put it. I've never been much of an animal person, but I'm going to learn to live with them.

This is my guinea catching hero. He caught two with one hand! If you've never been around these fast little birds you just don't know how very impressive that is. He has guineas himself, and has advised me to keep them penned up for a week in the area I want them to stay at, as they have the tendency to wander off. Hopefully nothing eats them in that time (dogs, coyotes, our pet bobcat). I've left feed and water outside the pen in the hopes that the two who escaped while find it and hang around their life long friends. I spotted one of them a couple of times in the grass but it's impossible to catch them...which hopefully will keep them alive. And as long as they stay in the area, alive, and eat my ticks I don't care what they do. Speaking of ticks, if you get a tick bit, put some lavender oil on it as soon you pull it off. It takes away most of the itching...might work on other bites, I don't know. I used to be completely creeped out by ticks, not having grown up with them. But people around here just accept it as a part of life, and I have learned to do the same. Mosquitoes carry serious illnesses too and very few people freak over every mosquito bite. Who has the time?

This is the temporary shelter my very kind brother-in-law built for us. And as you can see guineas aren't the only thing growing fast around here. The girls seem to be growing and changing every day. The birds seem to be adjusting well though, and enjoying scratching in the grass and catching bugs. They were ready to get out!