Which Came First?

     I know this is an age old question, but here at our farm it is fairly easy to answer; the chick came first. After we had been married a couple years, a good friend gave us an old chicken coop of his. It was made of oak and took a rollback truck to deliver to our home high on the mountain. It had a slatted floor, more suitable we discovered, to grown hens than the day old chicks I had ordered from Sears. At the end of that day, I had 8 or the 25 I had paid for: 9 became chicken nuggets for our 2 golden retrievers who lay underneath the coop and slurped the babies down through the slats, and the others were flattened by our 18 month old who delightedly told me. “They feel so soft on my feets!”

     Our next effort came when we moved to our current home. There was a garden shed of sorts which we adapted to hold some nesting boxes. My sister and my cousin Paul from IL gave me the fencing for the yard as a birthday present, and spent a day building it. While this was more successful, the dirt floor made invasion from rats, possums, foxes and other predators still problematic. Still the giant Leghorns grew to dress out anywhere from 18 – 23 pounds and they were delicious.

      Once these were gone, I applied myself to building a better, safer coop. I began with the commitment to a concrete floor no matter what the cost. I designed a structure 10' X 15', with a wall dividing the building into 2 sections. We built a foundation of concrete block up to a height of 2' as an additional protection. As we face the coop, there is a door on the left side which opens into the feed and suppies room. In here we have several shelves which hold chick waterers and feeders, as well as a pair of scissors for clipping wings. A lower shelf holds aluminum trash cans containing (depending on the age of our girls) chick starter, cracked corn, non-medicated laying pellets, oyster shells, and sunflower seeds as well as a bale or two of bedding straw. From this small room, we go through another door into the coop itself. There are 2 windows that run most of the length of the front about 4 feet up that extend 18 inches to the ceiling. Just under these is the roost, where the ladies retire at night, or impatiently await the door opening in the morning. Underneath the roost is a clean out door, which we can open to push litter out easily. On the wall opposite the door, there is a large window with a screen that opens up in warmer weather to give a breeze from the creek side of the building. On the back wall is a row of 10 nesting boxes that a friend built in exchange for fresh eggs and some welding services. The roof is slanted front to back and covered with tin. The door is made of steel and operates on a pulley from outside the yard. We have a water trough that is filled from the overflow of our spring box and empties on the other end into a pipe that funnels back into the creek.

     Because we live on a mountain slope we had to level the bed areas as well as the chicken yard, so there is a fair area of the chicken yard that remains to be filled in on the lower side. The numerous predators in our area had us deciding to dig down deep and create a barrier with railroad ties. We also used this as a retaining wall so that the yard would not be as difficult to fence. The sides we fenced with 1” chicken wire about 5 feet high. The yard itself is divided into 2 sections so we can separate the flock out if needed. In order to raise “free-range” chickens, we needed a large yard, but since this was the side of the yard that never yielded much in the garden, it is now much more productive. We have been spared attacks from above thus far as well as the efforts of our former predators.

     We keep a heat lamp running in the winter as well as a large light bulb to stimulate their pituitary glands. In this way, we tend have eggs year round.

      Our new babies (35) hatched April 6 and are currently residing in the kitchen until the older girls are rotated out - either to the freezer or the auction. They are lovely beauties of a breed recommended by a friend – Golden Comets. We will begin to get eggs in about five and a half to six months, but in the meantime they are safe from the “stomper” who has long ago outgrown this delight!

     It seems appropriate to discuss some egg options while we are on this subject. Of course Easter is just around the corner and that holiday lends itself to obvious, but allow me to share some others. After boiling the egss, if you crack and roll them on the counter, then dye them, when peeled they have a lovely marbled look to them to add interest to your table. Although my family like deviled eggs as do many of our friends, I used to wonder how to use them all up. We ate egg salad, sliced them into our salads, and chopped them into potato salad, before I learned to pickle them as well. Simply peel the eggs and place in a large jar, just bigger than your eggs. (I use empty pickle jars. The restaurant size holds 3 dozen!) Once the eggs are packed in – don't squash or press, just fill – add one cayenne pepper with the top cut off, and fill the jar with the vinegar of your choice. My favorite is apple cider vinegar. Cover eggs by about an inch, date the lid and set back for 3 weeks.

     Did you know you can freeze eggs if you are going to cook with them? I freeze mine, scrambled, one at a time, in snack baggies that I then place inside a gallon size freezer bag. They take only a minute or two to thaw and I have used them in cakes and quiches, as well as scrambled eggs for breakfast. If this appeals to you, try blowing the eggs out of the shell before dying them. This is a fun activity to do as a family! Simply poke several (3-5) holes in either end of the egg. Then steadily blow until the egg comes out the opposite end. Then carefully rinse and dye as usual. After the holiday, you may decide to crush these shells for mosaics with the children. For older ones, decoupage them using small pictures of flowers, etc. You can also cut out a side or end using nail scissors and create little scenes inside.

      Lastly, a word to home schoolers. There are so many lessons to make use of in raising chickens. Aside from reproduction analogies, you can discuss the many words and phrases that come from chickens (pecking order, ruling the roost, cooped up, pinfeathers, etc.) and you can do a wonderful lesson on why difficulties and struggles make us stronger (by watching a chick peck its way out of the shell). You can do comparisons between homegrown eggs and store bought, Discuss nutritional data on eggs and hens, and even on the value of chicken manure for your garden. For older children there is also the fun of cross breeding to do a study of genetics, as well as the study of the aerodynamics of poultry and feathers. Let every question lead to discovery in your own back yard.
    

Dogwood Winter, Blackberry Winter

     Just as last weekend was "Dogwood Winter: this weekend heralded "Blackberry Winter". The temperature plunged into the low 30's at night just after we had started sleeping with our bedroom window open. Oh well, more excuse to huddle under the quilts and cuddle! It also sent me to the freezer to check my blackberry stash. While I mostly make blackberry jam with our berries, we keep enough on hand for some cobblers. I also freeze some for "Blackberry Mush" as my father-in-law calls it. Take a qt. bag of blackberries and add sugar to taste, heating slowly on the stove. Combine 3 heaping Tablespoons of cornstarch in a cup of water and stir well. Slowly add to the blackberries, stirring to prevent scorching. Pour over fresh buttered biscuits and enjoy! This was a mid-winter treat in my husbands family.

Gardening Fever

Here in the mountains the temperature dropped down to freezing over the weekend. (Snowed at our house all day April 4!) This is called "Dogwood Winter". This is because the dogwoods bloom out shortly after this cold snap. At present our yard smells heavenly because the forsythia and crabapples are blooming profusely. We had to prune most of the crabapples last fall. The guy who trimmed them brought the cut branches down to the parking area and I picked crabapples off the limbs for almost 2 hours. It made up into a lovely mauve colored crabapple butter. This was the first time I was ever able to pick any!

     This is the time to start some of our cruciferous  vegetables. Broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage are in the ground as well as our onion sets. Garlic is also in because we were given a huge load of them. Someone was digging theirs up for a house remodeling and they were in the way. We put some in every bed.
     According the almanac, April 8^th is the day to sow lettuce so guess what the husband will be doing in the morning?
    Did you know that your seeds do not need light to germinate? We started some trays of plants in the chicken incubator - usually takes about 3 days for tomatoes! After they are above ground you need to keep them warm and lighted.
     Recently we were asked how we garden. Well it a combination of permanent raised beds and companion planting. After my husband's back surgery, we realized that he did not need to be getting down on his knees but he loves to garden.
     We built a series of raised beds 8' X 4' X 2'. Using some rat wire (some call this "welded wire) screens, we would sift the dirt through these by steadily raking a hoe over the  screens. Any rocks and weeds that were left were thrown into the chicken yard. In this way we can sit on the edge of the bed and weed. Because we never walk on this area, the dirt is soft and easily weeded. Plants thrive in this gentle soil, and at the year's end they pull free easily, making clean up a snap! In the late fall we also use those screens to dry seeds or cayenne pepper.
     In the center of each bed we placed an 8" flue tile  and filled that with dirt as well. It was in these that I planted my mints: apple mint (also known as woolly mint). chocolate mint, lemon bergamot mint, orange mint, peppermint, and spearmint. There are, I believe, 11 more varieties of mint and I can't wait to have them all! Because the mints will spread almost like wildfire, you have to contain the roots. The flue tiles have worked superbly in this aspect and look rather nice too.
     In addition to the 8 long beds, we also built 4' X 4' X 2'  beds for the herbs I use most in my canning. These do (or will) include parsley, basil, oregano, rosemary  and cilantro. In the center of these, the flue tiles hold lavender. I try to routinely pick a couple handfuls of an herb to dry each week. In this way I keep the harvest regulated and my shelves supplied. A few years ago I treated myself to an electric dehydrator because we had had such a wet year that nothing was drying in the house. A bonus is that the air is fragranced naturally with whatever I am drying, which is delightful most of the time (but a bit overpowering when we dry the cayenne peppers!)
     We have pots of marigolds and nasturtiums to lure bugs away from the edible plants. We also rely heavily on the advice of companion planting guide Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte.
     Despite these sunny warm days and freezing cold nights, we are not fooled. We will wait til mid May to plant the more delicate vegetables and thank God for letting us live here in the mountains.

The Case for Canning

      Very little is “in” right now, but I like to start taking stock of what we have left on the can shelves and in the freezer. I also double up on the lids and rings and sugar and salt I buy weekly so that this isn't a big burden when we start canning in earnest. Although we canned over 50 pints of salsa last year, we have found it to be the currency of choice for many of our son's friends when they come out to work on the farm so we will definitely have to double the amount this year. The same is true for our spicy mustard and pickled peppers!
      I've had a lot of people question the value of home-canned food. They argue that the quality is not necessarily higher and that the time spent is wasted. They tell me that the money spent of supplies and tools is too high and that they have to pay for childcare. One young woman told me, “I don't know why you waste your time when you can buy stuff in the stores. I have to have a LIFE!”

     Canning has ADDED value to our lives. When our children were small (under 5), they participated by washing fruits and vegetables in the bathtub or dishpans set on kitchen chairs. I would measure out ingredients which they would then carefully pour into pots. When they lay down for naps, I would cook, jar, and process the foods. At the same time I would have a load of laundry in the washer and usually another load out on the clothesline (still my preferred mode of drying!)

     Since we are the ones preparing the food, our quality controls is naturally higher than that done commercially. To me, this is also a great part of canning! I put in EXACTLY what I want according to my tastes and needs. If I make soup and someone is allergic to an ingredient, I can just leave it out.

     Another value to be factored in was what I did with the scraps (strawberry caps, peelings, or ends). I could feed these to our chickens, who in turn gave us fresh eggs as well as delicious meat eventually. If you don't have animals to feed on the scraps, you can always use the waste for composting, which will enrich your soil to produce better crops.

     As to the savings, this will vary depending on the level of effort you put into your work. Most people expect to see savings immediately! You won’t the first year or two. This is the time you will be accumulating your supplies. I made a list of things I knew I would need and asked for these for Christmas presents. Also your jars are an investment. The expense of these the first few years can be daunting, but they will hold you in good stead. (I have one from my husband's grandmother that is about 35 years old!) It will be important to decide what your time is worth. Mine was worth a lot when it meant I could can at home and be home full time to be mom to my 2 babies! (Now 27 and 26!!) My time was worth being home to be with my family and teach our values.

     The time we spent with our children was fun and educational. They learned to work with each other, to do things from scratch, and to follow through to completion. They had the sense of pride in a job well done when we ate something in the winter that they had helped can in the summer. They learned to appreciate good food and preferred to save their money to eat at good restaurants rather than “eating cheap” at fast food places. Best of all the time we spent as a family was irreplaceable.

     As to the tools and supplies, we often asked for the bigger items for gifts at birthdays and Christmas. Others we bought at yard sales and thrift stores for a fraction of the original costs. Jars can frequently be bought at yard sales. I pick up lids and rings each week through the year when I do my regular grocery shopping.

     This spring I will be doing a demonstration of canning meats at Country Traditions in Dillsboro North Carolina. This is a great way to take care of meats you pick up on sale. Our daughter and son-in-law got some Boston Butt on sale and grabbed several pounds. They then went home and canned it in pint jars. This was a great opportunity for them not just in saving money but also in saving them time. A dinner of BBQ pork is but a work of minutes when they come home from work and school to open a jar of meat and warm in the microwave. I love canning stew beef to add to my vegetable soup. This can also be done at the last minute as opposed to cooking the meat first. The liquid in the jar adds extra beef flavoring for the soup as I warm it. Convenience is also the by-word when I can chicken breasts. All I have to do is drain off the liquid (Save this in a freezer bag and label.) when I want to make a quick chicken salad for lunch. It also saves time when making a casserole or Indian Rice Pilaf.