Overwintered Leeks

Our freezer got a little too full, and we were a little too burnt-out last Summer/Fall to harvest and process our leeks. I also (conveniently!) remembered that leeks can overwinter well with a little straw or leaf mulch. We finally got most of the garden in by Mother's Day, minus our 12 square foot, would-be onion patch, which was still occupied by last Spring's leeks. 

So, Bill pulled them, I weighed and processed them. The weight before processing was 24#! I trimmed, cleaned and chopped up 2/3 of that, and threw them in the freezer. The remaining 8# were donated to our local Food Is Free table here in Olympia. 

Our take, after trimming them up. 

Our next major harvest is likely to be rhubarb, as we have six plants that are HUGE right now. We are so happy to share our abundance with our neighbors, that we have decided to add another tab to our Garden Yield spreadsheet that keeps track of how much produce we have/will have donated to individuals and Food Is Free tables over the coming year. 

Sing For Your Supper

Last night we had a nearly-full moon, and the sky was unusually clear. What this tends to mean here in Boggy Hollow is - Predator Fest.

Luckily, the coyotes seem to have taken the night off, so we all slept mostly soundly. Having a pair of livestock guardian dogs in the house at night makes for a rough one when the coyotes are on the prowl. Our fellas pace and whine, and will occasionally growl or bark if they feel like the 'yotes are getting too close.

Instead of yips and howls, the night sounds were the hoots and calls of owls... and some other, less enjoyable, noises. But I'll get to that.

We have several Barred owls who visit/live in our cedar trees, just a few feet from our bedroom window. So hearing Who cooks? Who cooks? Who cooks for you? as we're falling asleep is a fairly regular occurrence. Last night though, another owl joined the chorus. I think it was a Great Horned owl. It's call was so much deeper and softer than the Barred. It was lovely to fall asleep to. With one, rather large exception.

A bit of prologue: The reason that the predators love a full moon is because it makes hunting so much easier. (This is the part where the not-so-nice sounds come in.) You see, we have a rabbit problem. At least we view it as a problem. It's more of an attraction to the wild things in our woods.

So, even though we were being serenaded to sleep by owl song, and even though the pups were uncharacteristically chill for a night with a near-full moon, the night did not sail along altogether undisturbed.

At about 12:30, all of the dogs suddenly perked up their heads and let out a series of soft whines. Not the usual ballyhoo for a coyote's yip, but an alert nonetheless. Bill got up to investigate. He popped his head out the front door for a listen, came back and crawled in to bed. 

Me: Well, what was it?
Bill: An owl got a bunny. The bunny is screaming.
Me: :(

Now, there is no love lost between either of us and these wild rabbits. They are a bloody plague on my garden and flower beds, and I would *love* for them to just disappear overnight. Maybe not like that though? 

Anyway - thanks (I guess?) to the assorted owls for taking care of business, and thanks, especially, for the lovely songs. Tonight is the full moon, so we may be experiencing round two this evening. 

A Barred owl seen on a walk near our farm. Photo credit: Billy Jackson 2020

High Summer in Olympia

 'Maters in the window sill. The Black Crims and Black Sea Man tomatoes (both "Russian" in origin) have outdone themselves for us this year! Tomato sandwiches and salads galore. It seems that the recipe for success in the Pacific Northwest is to grow a variety of tomato, melon, etc. that was designed to survive in Canada, Minnesota or Russia. 😄 

Oh-ne-oh-ne-owns...

....or onions, however you prefer to say it. This year, we've got 'em.

We had to harvest our onions and shallots earlier than planned this year, primarily because we have some very hungry bunnies who have infiltrated our garden and have completely destroyed the carrots, peas, beets and beans, nibbled the potatoes down to a nub and might have claimed our precious onions next. Sure, people say that they won't eat alliums (garlic, onions, chives, etc.), but let me just tell you, these bunnies will! In fact, they slayed my first planting of garlic chives (and my hostas, pineapple sage, parsley) before I replanted them in a very tall pot that they cannot access. I am being undone by 4-ounce fluff balls, and that is annoying.

So today I started processing some of our onions and shallots. Whoa, Nelly! My house smells.... pungent.

Half of the onions are getting chopped and frozen, just under half are being dehydrated for seasoning and soup bases, likewise the shallots. The funk coming out of my dehydrator right now is eye-watering.

Up next, Padron peppers! I don't especially look forward to the resultant air quality that their processing will produce either, but there are bigger issues here - the "spicy hands". If you've ever prepared hot peppers at home, I know you know what I'm talking about. The capsaicin gets on your hands and anything you touch with your hands - eyeballs, nose - not mention when you visit the bathroom. IT IS BAD NEWS.

Gloves are an absolute must to avoid the spicy hands because no amount of soap & water, baking soda, milk, yogurt, vinegar or anything else will completely remove the oils. My hands were so fiery last time I processed Anaheim peppers (which aren't even that dang spicy) that I literally couldn't sleep.

So, learn from my fail and proceed with caution, fellow kitchen garden geeks! Happy harvest!

Summer Catch-up

It has been another strange Summer here in Western Washington. We've had a few 90+ degree days, quite a few 80+ degree days, and as of late, a lot of meh 70ish-degree days with overcast skies and relatively high humidity. The garden is as confused as I am.

We've been fairly fortunate so far this season, in terms of wildfires and the resultant smoke and pollution. They have been fewer and smaller in our state this year, which is a huge relief to everybody.

So the air quality is decent, but the humidity/heat/rainfall has been all over the map. Add to that that we've had a massive wild rabbit boom this year, and the sad state of my garden and it's output are thus explained. Even the zucchinis are under-performing this year. What the....???

The plants that are providing for us this year are our two remaining apple trees (two were lost in "snowmageddon"), our pear tree, the Himalayan blackberries that have enveloped the chicken yard, the pumpkins, the rhubarb, my porch-pot herbs (assorted thyme, chives, oregano, rosemary and pineapple sage) and the weeds, both good and bad.

Scabby Apples, variety unknown

A *volunteer* rhubarb!

The nettle harvest was decent, and made a good dozen jars of nettle pesto for the freezer. The broad-leaf plantain has also given plenty of itself for use in our soaps. The not-so-helpful weeds have been working overtime to try and take over the pasture - Canada thistle, tansy ragwort, and, my frenemy, the Himalayan blackberry, are trying the hubs' patience and doing a number on his scythe.

We've been getting about a five gallon bucket's worth of apples daily in the form of windfalls alone. The piggos are very much enjoying the bounty. Just the thought of trying to process those apples into something like juice, cider or jam wears me out, so I've more been more than happy to pass them along to the pigs, who will magically transform them in to bacon and chops for me instead.

Kevin Bacon, Hereford/Berkshire, 220ish #
 Jimmy Dean, Gloucester Old Spots, 190ish #
Both approx 7 mos.

Kev-Kev and Jimbo scarfing some apples

Our neighboring blueberry farms are having a great season, and I need to stock up before they're done for the year, but I just haven't mustered the energy to get myself down there yet. I know the window of opportunity on nabbing a lot of these fleeting harvesting and foraging opportunities is closing, so I need to hustle my bustle and get those goods socked away before this Summer officially peters out.

Blarg! Time to get out there and get 'er done. :P

Recipe: Duck Egg Noodles

These simple and delicious, homemade egg noodles, made using our Muscovy and Black Swedish duck eggs, were a hit with the whole family! I added 1/4 cup of blanched, finely chopped stinging nettles to this batch as well, as I had them on hand. You can take or leave the addition, or substitute your family's favorite fresh herbs, kale, citrus zest or a bit of beet or pumpkin puree to mix things up a bit. 

Fresh duck egg and stinging nettle noodles.

An eggy windfall - where it all begins!

Duck Egg Noodles

-3 cups all purpose flour (plus extra for rolling out)
-2 whole eggs
-4 egg yolks
-2 tsps salt
-2-3 tbsps water, more or less*
-1/4 cup blanched, well drained, chopped stinging nettles (or chopped herbs, kale, etc.) *optional*

Start with your flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle for your eggs & yolks. Gently scramble the eggs with a fork, slowly beginning to incorporate the flour/salt mixture. Once the eggs and dry ingredients are well mixed, begin adding water in small increments, kneading and squeezing the dough together after each addition. Continue adding water as needed to the dough to reach your desired consistency. Now it's time to fold in the nettles. Knead them into the dough well, until the are mixed evenly throughout. Allow the dough to rest for at least 10 or 15 minutes before rolling out. I run my dough through the pasta roller attachment on my Kitchenaid mixer, rather than rolling the dough out by hand.** 

After rolling out into sheets, I let the dough rest/dry again for at least 10 minutes or so before cutting into individual noodles.

I most often use the fettuccine attachment to make the final cuts, but rolling and cutting by hand with the kiddos is just as good a method (if a slightly messier one) for getting 'er done. 

I freeze any pasta that I don't use immediately by laying the finished (uncooked) noodles in a single layer on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and popping them in the freezer until thoroughly frozen, then transferring them to gallon freezer bags for storage. If you skip the cookie sheet step, and put them straight into the bag, you may end up with a giant noodle octopus rather than nice, individual noodles. ;)  I've had mixed success with drying them, but you're welcome to give that a go if your freezer space is at a premium.

*Because duck egg whites are significantly more viscous than chicken egg whites. You will likely need more water (or other optional liquid/puree, if using) than the 2-3 tbsps called for here.

**If you'll be using a similar pasta making attachment, I recommend starting at thickness setting #1, and running the dough through again on setting #3, and lastly, #5. Eggs noodles are meant to me a little beefy and chewy, so thinning them out further is just not necessary, and makes a lot more work, in my humble opinion. ;)

Spring Foraging Begins!

Spring is a wee bit late in coming this year, thanks to a mamma-jamma of a snow fall in February burying everything for a week. But it's here now - better late than never!

Last year was a whirlwind, so I didn't get around to many of the springtime activities that I/we usually do - fishing, mushroom hunting, wandering through the woods, and picking stinging nettles. I more than exhausted my cache of nettles - and the two whole morels we found last year - so I had to, had to get 'er done this year.

This is today's haul, from the southern side of our property. Eight ounces of delciousness!

Do you suffer for your art? Well, my fingers feel weird, if that's what you mean. 

Half-a-pound isn't a bad afternoon's take. I have my eye on another nettle patch down the road a piece that looks pretty promising. Believe it or not, it's entirely possible that someone will have already nabbed them by the time I get down there with my trusty scissors. Olympians are nuts for wild foods!

If you're unfamiliar with the many uses of the humble stinging nettle, please check out my blog post from a few years back about making nettle pesto & nettle egg noodles. This year's leaves will probably end up as both of those things, plus I may dry and powder some to use as colorant in our homemade soaps. It depends on both my ongoing energy level and whether or not someone has already hit that patch I've been scoping out.

The New Pigs On The Block - 2019

So begins the saga of Jimmy Dean and Kevin Bacon.

Jimmy is an 8 week-old Gloucestershire Old Spots barrow, weighing in at a solid 30 pounds. His likes are bossing his brother around, eating slops and pooping profusely when being held.

Kevin is also 8 weeks old, a Hereford/Berkshire mix, also 30ish pounds. His hobbies include napping in heaps of straw with his bro, having his chin scratched and pooping profusely while being held.

These two.

More adventures with Jimbo & Kev coming soon. 

The Art & Science of Meal Planning - Part One: Seasonality & Budget

Our family is just the four of us* - The Hubs, The Teens, and lil' ol' me. So you might be surprised how involved planning our meals and buying our food can get. When I actually took a minute to stop and think about all of the elements that go in to planning my family's meals and groceries I was kind of surprised by how many factors were involved.

The things that influence how I plan and how I shop for my family's food:

• The Season
• Our budget
• Our schedules
• Specific health/dietary needs of family members

Four items - that's not too much in the way of a list, is it? Well, each item contains complexities of it's own. For example - Seasonality. It not only influences what is available for purchase, but the quality and price of the item. It also greatly influences our family's tastes - Fall and Winter call for roasts, casseroles and soups, whereas Spring and Summer are barbecue, salads and stir-fries.

A few of the staple Fall & Winter menu items for our family are things like shepherd's pie, beans with ham hocks and cornbread, green chicken curry, tikka masala, pot roast and potato soup. Basically, hearty fare that is meat and root vegetable intensive.

The Spring and Summer would typically be lighter and fresher - garden salad with roasted salmon or grilled steak, chicken stir-fry with brown rice, baked bone-in chicken with pasta salad, fresh spring rolls, carne asada tacos.

Then you throw the budget in the mix.

As loyal adherents to organic and sustainable farming practices, both on our own farm and in the products that we purchase from other sources, we spend a fair chunk of change on groceries - especially meat and seafood - to support environmentally-friendly and sustainable ranches and fisheries. That translates to us eating less meat and seafood than a typical American family.

As such, I try to be very thoughtful in my meal planning, choosing quality over quantity, without forgoing taste or nutrition in my meals. It complicates my life a little, but I recognize that it is the best choice for all concerned in the equation.

So this means that while I plan my meals around the "protein" element, it doesn't represent the bulk of a given meal. I try to balance the relative expense of the piece of meat or fish with a lower cost, but still healthy and well balanced side dish/dishes. A small portion of steak with a lot of green salad, nuts and veggies on top, or a pound of ground beef with potatoes, carrots, celery, mushrooms and onions in a shepherd's pie. With ravenous teenagers in the mix, stretching a pound of hamburger to feed and satisfy a family of four can present a challenge. Buying meat in bulk from local buying clubs (mine sources its beef/pork/chicken & seafood from local sustainable ranches, farms & fisheries) or growing your own are both fair ways to trim the grocery budget, but both involve fairly substantial upfront costs. Below is the spreadsheet I made for tracking "Pig Expenses" last year.



Like a ding-dong, I didn't note anywhere on my spreadsheet what the final hanging and the cut/wrapped weights were for our pork, but suffice it to say that the take-home cut & wrapped weight was in the neighborhood of 150-200#. Based on that guesstimate, our homegrown pork cost us roughly $6 to $8 per pound, which is on par (and maybe a little cheaper, considering you get the full spectrum of cuts) with sustainably, non-medicated, non CAFO pork sold in farmers markets and butcher shops. It ends up being a fairly intense and expensive six months raising the pigs from weaners to the freezer, but the pork lasts our family of four for a year, eating it 3+ meals per week.

*At the time that I started this post, all four of us were still at home full-time. Now the big kiddo is away at college for 8ish months out of the year. When she is home though, she still eats like a viking. ;)

Changes

A week ago today, my husband and I dropped our firstborn off at college. He cried a little, I didn't. I figured that I would eventually cry, once it became real.

I still haven't cried.

Part of the reason that I haven't is because I know that she's ready for this. College has been one of the main focal points in our household for the past year and a half - researching, applying, PAPERWORK, orientation, supply shopping, dorm room shopping, last-minute helicopter-mom nagging (Have you refilled your prescriptions? Where's your inhaler?! Let's get you a flu shot!), et cetera, ad nauseum.

I also lived under the assumption that after the move was made, the household would settle into a new groove in the wake of the big shift. 

That hasn't happened yet either.

We theoretically have the household chores reshuffled and redistributed among we three remaining household members, although everyone is so exhausted by back-to-school, change of seasons, new job/activities and a gnarly chest cold bug, we haven't yet fallen into anything resembling a groove.

I'm sick, and I'm probably a little sad, and the longer this thing takes to hit me, the worse it's guaranteed to be. I'm worried. 

I'm also incredibly proud of how both of our kiddos are adapting. It hasn't been seamless, but our college girl is thriving in her new environment so far, and our high schooler is adjusting to being the lone chick in the nest pretty well. She is very active in her school's band, marching band, pep band, wind ensemble.... you get the idea. She keeps herself busy.

As for the hubs and I - we're trying to stay busy and upbeat. If we never stop moving, we can't very well crawl under the blankets and cry for days on end, can we? And so, we've both been working and volunteering our butts off to distract ourselves from the looming trough that inevitably follows the crest. Launch, successful. Life, altered. Mood, scrambled.

For Jani

I still can't quite believe that I'm never going to see you again.

I worry that someday I'll have trouble recalling the sound of your throaty chuckle.

Your heart and your spirit and your capacity to love were so immense. Where does that all go?

I've cried a lot and I've been thinking a lot these past few days. And I've concluded that it doesn't go anywhere. It is refracted, reflected, redirected by the people that you shared yourself with. And there were so many!

 








Your girls carry your light so brightly! So does Chet - though in his own grumpy-old-man style ;) - and everyone else you loved and who loved you.

I will miss your wit, your humor, your great big hugs. But most of all, that laugh. I was damn lucky to have known you. Love you to the moon and back, mamacita.

xoxo
Chelle

Long Time, No Post

The Farmhouse, circa January

Life continues to chug along here in the Hollow, though a few things have changed since my last few posts. The kids have grown - a lot! The eldest will be off to college in just 6 months (!) and the youngest is now in high school and badgering us to sign her up for drivers ed. They always tell you that it will go by fast, but... DANG! It really does seem like it was just the other day that the girls were just starting kindergarten. It's been a whirlwind, but it's been pretty awesome - most of the time.

At any rate - it is my goal to try to post more often and more regularly. Things have changed in our family and on our farm since I last posted on a semi-regular basis, and I will try to catch everything up in due time.

Thanks for hanging in there with me!
Chelle

Under the Influence of Books

Is it just me, or do you find yourself in a different sort of headspace while reading (or in the immediate hangover after reading) a really good, really immersive book?

My family has commented on how my everyday language changes a bit when I'm eyeball-deep in a book series based in someplace like Scotland or England. I'll start using words like knackered or kebbie-lebbie. It isn't an affectation. In fact, it's not a conscious thing at all. I guess I really just climb inside those books! I can only hope that the people around me find it at least as amusing or charming as they do weird or annoying.

Anyway - lately I've been reading Alice Waters' autobiography about her life and experiences leading up to the founding of Chez Panisse. I've also just finished reading a novel, "The Maid", based on the life of Joan of Arc. In other words - I've been Frenching it up.

My immersion seems to have manifested itself in the following ways - more bread and seafood in my menu planning, more flowers on the table (which could just as easily be attributed to the arrival of Spring), and wine with dinner. No linguistic changes this time, at least not that anyone has mentioned.

This nutty little quirk of mine is a small thing, but even so, I think it has value. I can live 1000 tiny lives. I try on things without always realizing that that is what I'm doing. It's sort of amazing to me that at 43 years old, I can still grow and evolve in the direction of whatever has my interest on a given day.

My life and my heart are full.

Bird Sigthings...and Disappearings(?)

This morning, my eldest monkey, who is in charge of keeping care of our flock of ducks and quail, asked me if I would mind taking care of her ducks for her this morning, which is a rather unusual request. Our conversation:

Kid: "Mom, can you let my ducks out of their house later?"

Me: "Of course. Why don't you just let them out now though?"

Kid: "I want to wait because I saw and heard a spotted owl come out of the woods and fly over the bog. It was so cool, Mom!"

Indeed, that does sound cool. We often hear, if not actually see, barred owls calling back and forth in our woods, but a spotted owl is rare.

If you grew up in the Pacific Northwest, then you are probably very familiar with the spotted owl as an enormous thorn in the side of the local logging industry. The owls were driven to near endangered status as a result of habitat loss from massive clear-cuts and harvesting of old-growth forests. When the US Fish and Wildlife Service put extreme restrictions on logging in order to help restore the spotted owl population, the logging industry was hit hard. Displaced, laid-off loggers were infuriated, countering with a macabre campaign to kill the owls and have done with it.

These and other catchy slogans were the logging industry's reply to the USFWS's 1991 court order to prohibit logging in national forests.

I digress, but the point I'm trying to underscore here is how extremely rare and magnificent a sight that a spotted owl, swooping low over our mist-covered bog, must have been for my kiddo to have beheld.

The reason that I suspect that the owl chose our farm for his morning fly-by is slightly less magical - breakfast.

The night preceding, we had a quail jailbreak of epic proportions. Someone didn't latch the door on the hutch and our quail decided to go on a walkabout. By the time the breach was noted, approximately three quarters of our flock were out and about, well distributed throughout our acreage. We literally beat the bushes and climbed through thickets and brambles to try to recapture as many as we could before dusk fell. Upon final head count, we were still 15-20 birds short. Somewhere in the hay field and bog, the little rogues bedded down for the night.

Enter the owl.

The Boggy Hollow breakfast buffet was just too tasty for him to pass up.

At least our loss was a gain for a critter that really needed the help. Not to mention, my kid got what is very possibly a once-in-a-lifetime bird sighting, in her own backyard no less.

So thanks, Mr. Owl, for choosing us for your dining needs. May I recommend a hearty dessert of Norway rat and field mouse?

Autumn in the Hollow

Fall has very belated and abruptly, finally fallen on Boggy Hollow. The garden is very nearly wrapped up for the year, though not put to bed yet, that being a ginormous task unto itself. 

The temperature gauge on my car's dashboard read 39 degrees at 7:00 this morning, so I guess I'd better make it a priority to harvest the last of my hoop-house pimento and jalapeño peppers this afternoon before Jack Frost gets them. We also have a few scraggling pumpkins left out there, but - being volunteer mystery mixes - they're all destined to be chicken and turkey food anyway, so their cosmetic condition is not quite so important. To be honest, I'll be relieved when everything is buttoned up for the season.

I've been keeping fairly good track of our garden's productivity this year, but, as always tends to happen, I slacken off as the growing season progresses. Back in March/April, if we brought in a quarter pound of snap peas, it was written up in the log straight away. Now? We'll weigh one pumpkin and just assume the the rest of roughly the same size weigh roughly the same thing, and scratch it in the journal (maybe) when/if I remember to.

But anyway - I was talking of embracing the falling of Fall. Apparently a switch flipped and now I'm in hardcore Cozy Mode. In the past few days, I've suddenly rediscovered my love of knitting and have had my food dehydrator running 24/7, trying to put up one last jar/bag of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, calendula, spearmint, chamomile... etc. You name it, I'm drying it out and squirreling it away.

A new addition to my squirrelin' repertoire this year - wild mushrooms. Bill and I have always loved foraging, but were extremely intimidated about the idea of venturing into the world of mushrooms, as there is basically no room for error in identification. After reading half a dozen mushroom-specific guides and psyching ourselves up, a friend finally talked us into giving mushroom hunting a try by giving us the directions to his 'never fail' spot for lobster mushies. It was a bust for us. We've gone on hunts for morels, chanterelles, chicken of the woods and lobster mushrooms, all with ZERO luck. How bizarre it was then, to finally positively i.d. a much sought-after edible, the King Bolete (aka Porcino) mushroom growing in our very own yard!

Teeny-Weeny Porcini!

A very good day's haul

And to think that these have been growing there for years and we never realized - d'oh!

Apparently, they usually wrap up their Autumn flush in November, so I don't know how many more of these lovelies that I'll get before they're gone for the year, so I've been furiously hunting/cleaning/processing/drying them these past few weeks, trying to them all in while the gettin's still good.

Besides knitting and fiddling with mushrooms, I've finally got my baking groove back! Today's bake - a triple batch of Gingerbread biscotti. I've made this recipe several times and it always goes over big with anyone who has tried it. The smell of this in the oven will kick you into Cozy Mode lickity-split!

Lightly sweet and satisfyingly crunchy, Gingerbread Biscotti.

Gingerbread Biscotti 

Recipe courtesy of ShugarySweets.com

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Yield: 12 large biscotti

Crunchy Gingerbread Biscotti is easy to make and delicious too. Have your coffee ready!

Ingredients

• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp molasses
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 cube Dorot crushed ginger (or 1 tsp), thawed*
• 2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup sparkling white sugar
• 4 oz vanilla candy coating, melted

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar until combined. Add in eggs and molasses. Beat in spices, flour, and baking powder.
3. On a parchment paper lined baking sheet, shape dough into a 12x4 inch rectangle, patting evenly. Sprinkle with sparkling white sugar. Bake for 22-25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes. Slice biscotti into 12, one inch wide slices. Arrange biscotti onto sides, separating them on the baking sheet. Return to oven and bake an additional 6 minutes. Remove and turn them to opposite side, bake another 6 minutes.
4. Remove biscotti and cool completely.
5. Once cooled, dip bottom of biscotti in melted vanilla candy coating. Set back on parchment paper until set, about 15 minutes. Store in airtight container. ENJOY.

Notes

For the crushed ginger, thaw on counter while getting ingredients and baking sheet ready. OR, place in a small glass bowl and microwave for 5-10 seconds.

*I (Michelle) actually used fresh grated ginger instead, as that is what I had on-hand.

Happy fall, y'all! :)

A Tale of Two Roos: The Superhero Edition

Major drama in the chicken yard a few nights past - Spiderman vs Batman (seriously). Batman is our mellow old black Cochin roo (pictured below) and Spiderman is our newest roo, who seems determined to climb the pecking order by any means necessary, up to and including the beating-down of his brother birds.

Our sweet Batty-boy

Why on earth would you have two roos? you say. Actually, we have four roosters! Darth Vader (a Black-laced Red Wyandotte/Australorp mix) is the king of the chicken yard, followed by the sweet and humble Batman, and lastly, Godzilla, a young Cuckoo Marans. Everyone got along just fine until Spiderman entered the mix.

Spiderman came along with four hand-me-down hennies that were gifted to us. Being that we'd had multiple roos already who managed to live relatively drama-free, we thought we'd attempt to gently work Spiderman into the mix. We're a few weeks in, and thought that things were progressing slowly but well in the right direction, until the other night.

When it was time to lock the chickens up for the night, Scarlet came upon a rattled, bloodied Batman cowering in a corner of the coop, not willing or able to hop up to his usual roost. He wasn't badly hurt - just his comb - but it was enough to get our attention. At that time, however, we didn't know who had done the damage - a fellow roo or an incompetent predator. The answer came the next morning, when Scarlet interrupted Spiderman trying it on again with poor Batty. Scarlet shooed Spiderman away and closed Batman up in the coop for his own safety, until we could figure out our game plan for restoring peace to the chicken yard.

Having got his little butt whooped twice in less than 24 hours, Batman was pretty traumatized, though, thankfully, not seriously hurt. We set him and his main laydie, Louise, up in a extra large pet carrier inside the coop.

It has been my experience that injured/shocked/recovering critters - especially poultry - feel better, heal better and plain-ol' survive better if they have a buddy with them during their convalescence. I also decided to keep the "private room" as it were in the coop and around the other birds (but out of reach of would-be attackers) to further lessen the trauma of the change. Two days later, Batman & Weezer are right as rain and back in the mix with the rest of the flock. Spiderman was swiftly removed to freezer camp, and all was made right again in the Yard.

The End

Flower Under-Powered: A Tale of Woe

The poppy seed harvest (such as it is) is now in, and the results are underwhelming, to say the least.

The borage took over the pollinator/botanical beds this year and squeezed out all but 4 poppy plants. I should have knocked the borage back a peg - or five - but just didn't have the heart to do it since our honeybees LOVE the stuff.

Our pollinator bed - borage, poppies, calendula and bachelor buttons.

It's a trade off, I guess.

Sorry, Ukrainian Grammies. I wanted to attempt makivynk this Christmas with all homegrown poppy seeds, but it was not to be. While the recipe calls for a staggering three cups(!) of poppy seeds, I managed to grow just a scant half cup this year.

I *might* be able to eek a lemon poppy seed loaf or two out of this, with a dash leftover to throw in a batch of soap (poppy seeds are the best exfoliants ever), but the makivynk - she will have to wait a while longer.

On the plus side, other Ukrainian favorites grew well this year - beets, cabbage, tomatillos... ok, well pretty much just beets and cabbage. Borshch and holubtsi for everyone! 

The Pitter-Patter of Little (webbed) Feet

After what seemed like eons, Blueberry the Muscovy finally hatched out her clutch of eggs. We ended up with 5 adorable, feisty little babies. She and her sister, Drusilla, seem to be co-parenting the brood. It takes a village, peeps.

It's hard for me to believe that almost a year ago to the day, Dru & Blue were the day-old fuzzballs. They grow up so fast!

For your squeeing viewing pleasure -

Proud Mama Blue and her bitty babies, out for a stroll

Mama Blue and Auntie Dru watching over the littles

Blueberry and two of her day-old hatchlings

And last but not least, Mama and Auntie taking the kiddos on a grand tour of the Hollow. Absolute sweetness.

Growing Container Potatoes

Our Porch Taters, Day 45

Somehow or other, I got the bright idea to try growing two mostly-the-same-but-slightly-different batches of spuds this year. Picture #1 are the "Porch Taters". They differ from our "Garden Spudz" (pic #2) by location as well as the fertilizer that was used at planting time. We have an unofficial growing contest going between the two plots.

The Garden Spudz, day 45

The differences between the two groups are -

The Porch Taters
* Fertilized with fresh bunny poo at planting time.
* Planted in "Smart Pots" recycled grow bags
* Sitting directly on a concrete porch (receives more radiant heat?)
* Gets Southern sun in the morning thru early afternoon

The Garden Spudz
* Fertilized with well-rotted homemade compost (Goat/chicken/duck manure and bedding, plus some kitchen scraps) at planting time
* Planted in "Root Pouch" recycled grow bags
* Sitting on a wooden pallet against the Northernmost wall of our garden
* Gets high noon thru late evening sun.

Both groups were started on 4/4/15 with organic certified, disease-free, well-chitted seed potatoes from the same batch (Irish Eyes Garden Seeds), in Gardner & Bloome's Organic Raised Bed Soil mixed with a handful of Dr. Earth's Kelp Meal.

Based on the above-ground growth alone, the Purple Majesty potatoes seem to be the happiest and healthiest. I've been surprised and disappointed by the slow growth of the Yukon Gold, considering that they are the earliest maturing variety that I planted. They are supposed to have a 65 day (more or less) growing season, 45 of which have already passed. Yikes. I hope they can ketchup catch up! ;)

More updates to follow...

When Presented with a Landslide of Eggs...

...as my hens and ducks are wont to do, hot on the heels of 3-4 months of relative egglessness, you seek out egg-intensive recipes. These are some of the goodies that my girls and I are making this week -

* Coconut Macaroons (Note that these are the good old fashioned macaroons from your childhood, not the uber-trendy, rainbow colored macarons.) A single batch uses 4 egg whites (save those yolks!), which isn't even a day's worth of eggs. None the less, these are delish and easy enough for a 12 year old kidlet to take the lead in making them.

* Ina Garten's Lemon Bars These call for 6 extra large eggs. I'll use 4 of our biggest whole eggs and the 4 yolks left over from making the macaroons. Who doesn't love Ina's cooking? Never trust a skinny chef! ;)

* Martha Stewart's Chocolate Mousse This recipe is the closest one to the recipe I use from Mah-tha's Cookbook, where it is listed as Chocolate Mousse 2. It's my go-to egg intensive dessert, because it's so super easy (only 4 ingredients!), uses a ton of eggs, and tastes amazing. I always make a double batch of this because it is simply heaven in a bowl.

* Homemade Egg Noodles Be they in the form of plain old fettuccine, stinging nettle linguine, or traditional Ukrainian pita-ha (pirogis), homemade egg noodles are one of the ultimate comfort foods. While they don't use more than 2 or 3 eggs per batch, the recipe, when doubled or tripled, will keep you in tender, hearty pasta for a while. The noodles can be dried or frozen for later use, making a giant batch or two well worth the trouble.

* Breakfast for Dinner - Either a huge pan of scrambled eggs with a side of Aunt Alice's homegrown bacon, a towering stack of cinnamon-raisin french toast, or a deep dish veggie and cheese-filled frittata will use the better part of a dozen eggs, if not more, for feeding a stick-to-your-ribs meal to a family of four.

Our "Chuck" eggs - a joint effort between our chickens and ducks.