No, not those fluffy sugar-coated marshmallow kind, But the fluffy-feathered kind.
As my Mother found out when she took several of her Grandchildren to the Co-Op to look at garden seeds. Of course what Grandmother would be able to say "No" to such sweet little things?
So, she now has six new "Bitties", one of which I am sure is a rooster. We have nicknamed him "Preacher", for his need to climb atop the feeder and peep loudly at his flock.
"Preacher"
Chickens are super ease to care for, a basic set-up for chicks is a box with a little hay, clean water, feed, chick-grit; placed somewhere warm and dry.
We worried about what reaction the older hens would have to the little-chicks, that they might trample, peck, or otherwise harm them; But, they were afraid and ran from them. I guess that's what makes them "chickens".
Buff Orpington (left)
Common knowledge says that young Pullets ( that is female chickens less than a year old) begin laying anytime between 18 to 20 weeks of age and then lay continually until they molt, at about a year later. My older ladies didn't molt until the beginning of their third year and their egg production didn't fully stop while they molted, only slowed down. That ability probably has a lot to do with their breeds: Buff Orpingtons, Black Australorps, Barred-Rock-Cross ; are all heavy and dual purpose breeds.
Barred-Rock-cross
Black Australorp
A "good" layer will lay an egg every 26th hour ( a hour later each day) until her laying time runs into the dark hours. She will then take the night off and start again in the morning light. Hens will also announce they are laying or have laid with an individual "Cackle Song", that won't take long to recognize. Hens will lay steadily for five to ten years or more, then they are ready for the stew pot.
Chickens make wonderful companions and pets, and there is no better way to get Organic free range eggs and meat.
Organic home layed eggs surround a grade A store egg
Bottom left corner is double yoked
This weeks self imposed challenge has been, learning to make homemade yogurt. I know there are three groups of thought on this one: (1) Come on, "learning", yogurt is soo easy. (2) Why? It comes in perfectly good little pots from the store. (3) Yogurt?!? Eeeew Gross!
First off, my family eats a crazy amount of yogurt. I buy several large 2lb. tubs a week. We don't do snack foods, puddings or junk foods, but we do "do" a lot of yogurt. Yogurt is very versatile and can be turned from a breakfast food to a dessert smoothie, to any stop in between in just a few minutes. While I can get the large plain tubs in organic, I have to flavor them myself or settle for the non-organic little single-serving tubs which I am sure are full of rBGH/rBST, not to mention the other ingredients which are just not needed.
Secondly, I used to get quarts of wonderful homemade yogurt, as a gift, from my Amish neighbor Lizzie Stoltzfus and I can tell you the store bought kind, like most things can not compare to homemade. Besides, what kind a Food Renegade would I be if I didn't reclaim this bit of domesticity for my family and myself.
The making of homemade yogurt is so simple, especially compared with the making of cheese, I am a bit embarrassed that I have just now learned how to do it. It really is just a few simple steps that even my kids could follow.
Heating milk
Step 1 Heat a quart of milk to 180* or boiling, careful not to scorch it. you know it's hot enough when it starts bubbling and climbing the sides of the pan. This step ensures that you only grow "safe" bacteria in your yogurt.
Step 2 Let milk cool down to 112*, if you don't have a thermometer, this is when you can stick a finger in and keep it in for 10 seconds with out it burning, it will feel very warm.
Step 3 Whisk in 5g. of freeze dried yogurt starter or 3 tbsp. Organic live-culture plain yogurt. Directly after this step is also the time to add any other ingredients that you would like: 1/3 cup of milk powder for firmer yogurt or 1/3 cup of a natural sweetener like: agave nectar, simple syrup, honey, maple syrup. You can also add a flavoring at this time.
Yogurt-maker
Step 4 Incubation period : choose whatever heat proof jars you would like, making sure they are super-clean, and fill them leaving a bit of head space at the top. Place them where they can incubate in the correct temperature undisturbed for 8-10 hours. The correct temp is above 90* ( which is cold to grow the culture) and 120* (which will kill the culture) Just right is 112*. In the video below, they show how to use your oven. I used this little machine, theEuro-Cuisine-Automatic-Yogurt-Maker
Step 5 After the Incubation time, the yogurt must be chilled in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.
Booger, my oldest
That's it, all done, Yogurt!
Raspberry yogurt
We made a simple Raspberry syrup for ours and it didn't last very long at all!
Here's a video, showing how you can do this at home without any special equipment.
This time of year gives me a particular kind of spring fever. I don't know what makes me susceptible; if it's because I have farming in my genes or just being sick of eating flavorless produce shipped in from countries where it is warm enough it can still grow. But, '"gardening Fever" has kicked in full force and there is nothing I can do about it; I have no yard. well that's no technically true, I have a yard, but it is only big enough for the dog to have a "potty" and I'm not digging in that dirt.
While living at Genoa, though I had more than ample room to sow my seeds. Plus there was already an orchard full of fruit trees. There were: apple, pear, plum, cherry and peach trees. We also had raspberry, blackberry and grape vines, although those nasty Japanese beetles ate every last grape. The orchard trees and vines did all the work, while we reaped the benefits of organic fruits in pies, cobblers, jelly and jams.
The vegetables were a different story. We started seeds in mini-green houses which sat on top of my washer and dryer, in the sunny laundry room. While the seeds did their "magic" by sprouting in to beautiful little plants the kids and I spent two weeks busting our buts preparing the soil, by tilling and hoeing in what would be our garden. By the way, if you ever pass a market stand and the farmer selling those "goodies" happens to be fat, don't trust him cause he didn't grow em' , I can tell you there are no fat gardeners in the south. ;)
We used a soil tester to see if we needed to add any missing nutrients, (besides I was counting this garden as science and health for our Homeschooling). We lucked out and our soil was very near perfect. I also found out that children will do a lot of work, as long as they don't know its work. They helped plan the garden, pick what went it it, plant it, water it, weed it, and ultimately harvest it.
Bubble hoeing down a thistle
We planted cucumbers, radishes, zucchini, yellow squash,onions, okra, beans, onions, carrots, and tomatoes. We also planted a garden bed of kitchen herbs: parsley, rosemary, thyme, cilantro, and sage. Kitchen herbs nearly take care of themselves, you can buy the little plants at Lowe's, pop em' in the ground and water once or twice a week ( if it doesn't rain). They are super useful in the kitchen and medicine cabinet.
We ate ourselves full of fresh organic vegetables. I only had to go to the store for meat and grains. We were getting raw milk from some dear Amish neighbors, which we made into butter and cheese. It was something really wonderful to have a meal on the table that was made available by the work of your own hands.
As my Mother found out when she took several of her Grandchildren to the Co-Op to look at garden seeds. Of course what Grandmother would be able to say "No" to such sweet little things?
