Middle aged musings from farm & hearth
We’ve had a small horse farm for most of our adult life, but chickens are new territory this year. I’ve learned a few things. Chickens are mean to one another on occasion and sometimes even cannabalistic. I find this disturbing. I am now fully aware of the origin of the phrase “Pecking Order”. My blue laying Auracana hen is at the bottom of it… and her bottom is what the others have been pecking at. I had treated all for stick fleas several times, to no avail. It was getting so that the poor girl was no longer laying and all her tail feathers were gone, plus she’d walk out in the morning from a night of hen-pecking with a bloody hind end. you’re welcome.
What to do. The local chicken guy said “it’s nature, they’re gonna do it anyway, you just gotta let ’em. ” I could not sit back and watch, doing nothing at all. What I know is…a red heat lamp when chicks are young is supposed to deter them from pecking at each other, but you don’t want too much heat in an adult hen house, even in winter. Husband suggested red light. So, I found a red “party light” at the hardware store and put it in the hen house to see if it would deter the damn pecking. I also started sprinkling the hen-pecked hen’s butt with corn starch to stop the red look and blood specs from attracting the chickens to attack. It worked! My blue egged girl is back to laying and her behind is healing. I also have the added benefit of more eggs, as egg production slowed down once daylight hours were at a minimum. Now with the extra light, more eggs are being produced once again.
It woulda been CHEAPER if you liked jewelry better than horses, who you kiddin.
moving along…
It’s an odd Fall season this year… apple picking in 85 degree temps, the colors in the foliage are muted, some of the trees have already lost their leaves, never having turned their traditional golden hue. We’ve had some glorious weather, but it’s not the usual for this time of year. So many natural disasters around the world…this past winter was horrendous here in New England.. summer was brutally hot, Irene blew through and burned and toppled trees… and now this Indian Summer. Global warming?.. I don’t know… Global SOMETHING, for sure.
A dirt road along a reservior nearby… normally red and gold. We used to be able to ride horses along the road, it was beautiful. The water company owns the land, ( they actually own a third of our town land) and decided horse poop might pollute the streams that meander into the reservior, and so we are no longer allowed to be in there.
They’ve put up gates and wire to deter trespassing. It’s discouraging, the continued loss of trail systems for horse people. To think it was once, and not that long ago, the main form of transportation. Now deemed a nuisance.
Lots of it. In need of testing by Uconn to see what we should add to it for better crops of hay and vegetables. Lord, as long as it isn’t Chicken Sh*t. Please not that again.
As you already know, I eagerly anticipated our first egg. When we collected three, I scrambled them up so we could get a taste of what everyone has been raving about for years…. “home-raised eggs are SO much better tasting than the ones you buy in the grocery store.” Honestly, I used to think… an egg is an egg, how different can it be?
The difference is amazing… as the post title says, you could have knocked me over with a chicken feather.
The shells are thicker and right now the egg is smaller, as is typical in the first weeks of laying.
Look at the color of those beautiful yolks…
And the eggs as they appear on the plate, such a rich yellow. These are fully cooked, this is not raw yolk.
Since we only had three little eggs on Sunday morning, I had to scramble up a batch of regular store bought eggs (free range organic! which doesn’t really mean much)… and the taste can’t compare. Look at the color, even!
*Something I learned from another blogger… the simple act of how you scramble your eggs can change your dining experience. I no longer break them in a bowl and scramble until fully mixed before placing in pan. I butter the pan, heat it, and break eggs in the pan… let the whites solidify some, and then take a spatula and begin breaking up, or scrambling ( not completely though) . I throw in cheese if it’s requested. They come out looking like this, and the taste and texture are so much better!…. go figure.
The reason local farm raised eggs are so much better? Diet and living conditions are the simple answer. While commercial chickens might be given a good quality feed, they don’t get anything else.. like yogurt, lettuce, raisins, tomatoes, apples, sunflower seeds, Cheerios! All of which my hens enjoy. They also get to roam around a little in their chicken yard, instead of extremely cramped quarters or NO MOVEMENT AT ALL… see below.
We’ve had a small horse farm for 22 years… but This Old House is the first homestead of ours to have a chicken coop. Last night when I brought the chickens in for the night, I found our first egg! It’s on the small side, but just the cutest thing. Here it sits next to a standard sized egg.
One of my favorite pleasures in life is the simple act of porch sitting, especially on a rainy day like today. It’s as if the porch beckons you to just sit for a while, stop the whirlwind that is life, and just observe, breathe, be still. How often do we give ourselves permission to do so.
We had a little porch with a slate floor at the front of my childhood home. I fondly remember sitting on the porch with a coloring book and crayons or cookies and milk, watching the rain come down. In the early years, the smell of my dad’s tobacco pipe, my mother’s music…usually Kris Krisofferson and Rita Coolidge, or Peter, Paul & Mary… Simon & Garfunkel.. playing inside on the record player. Those songs stay with me today… Who’s to Bless and Who’s to blame…. Silver Tongued Devil and I… Homeward bound… Bridge over troubled water..
Sometimes we’d have no choice but to watch the neighbors across the way as they sat on their porch… arguing… Joe and Virginia… an old Italian couple who kept a very tidy little house and garden. They couldn’t stand each other but oh, could they grow a mean tomato.
So while we’re sitting on my porch, let’s talk. Thank you all for your very conscientious and insightful comments left on my blog regarding goods made in the USA. We’re in a real predicament, we Americans. I truly believe this is one way we can answer our own problems. The government and big corporations arent’ going to do it for us, we need to take our own stand, send the message ourselves. Buy American whenever possible, buy local produce, frequent mom & pop shops and restaurants and forgo the chains… let’s just do it. I went to Bob’s yesterday to look for sneakers for my son. I saw lots of tops I’d like to buy for myself, all MADE IN CHINA. *sigh* It’s not going to be easy, but we can do it more often than not. It starts with just one simple act.
Plans for the next Dog Days Adoption Event at Parmelee Farm are under way. Three weeks to go, lots of funds to raise, plans to make, and things to bake for our Bid, Barter and Bake sale. The last one held in Essex was a big success.. $2,000 raised in one day, all paid for the Mystic Valley event last weekend, where ALL dogs were adopted. Amen. Thank you to my blog friends who donated to the cause. You rock! … For those of you who are local and reading my blog, if you’re a baker, or if you have a household item we can add to our Bid Barter Bake sale on August 20th, contact me at karenthisoldhouse@hotmail.com and I’ll be more than happy to pick up the baked item or household item the day before the sale. (August 19th).
I hope you’re all getting some respite from the heat and dry spells across the country… we’re seeing steady rain since last night around midnight and it is so refreshing, even for the horses.
This is what my kitchen looks like since the farm stand can’t open due to the weather.
The barstools we originally bought for the kitchen island at This Old House were nice looking, but not comfortable. The Man of the house wanted something more substantial. Sooo…I went to my favorite vintage bargain shop last week (Gather in Ivoryton) and found two treasures for a real deal. The first was this set of kitchen island chairs… $80. a piece!…and one was $60 because the seat had a scratch! …… as opposed to $265. for others I had seen online almost everywhere else.
PS – the kitchen is a mess because I just finished putting together a Shephards Pie for dinner… in 90 degree summer heat. What was I thinking? I wasn’t.
Then….I spied out of the corner of my eye…this awesome chicken pillow, complete with chicken feather border! Edge? You know what I mean.
