Spring is so Close!

The rain is back and the flowers are blooming! I love the rain, even when we get a lot of it. I think about all the good it brings. Sometimes the timing is inconvenient, but I love it nonetheless. It may have arrived at a critical time the first time earlier this month. Many of my fruit trees were in bloom and the rain would seriously hamper pollination. The shortage of bees is bad enough but add bad weather to it and its almost a guarantee that the summer crop will be low.
My daffodils,
violets, oxalis and nectarines
are blooming now. The lilacs and my pomegranate are leafing out. Spring is so close I can almost touch it.
I have started my tomatoes and something called Salba in my jiffy pots. Trying my hand at Cherry Tomatoes, Big Boy, Delicious, Beef Steak, and some Heirlooms.

Betelgeuse

One of my companion animals is a Meyers parrot I have named Betelgeuse, no not after the movie Beetlejuice, after the Red Giant Star Betelgeuse.
I was going for a Science Name. I like Sci-fi and was going to name him Andromeda after a show I was following at the time I bought him, but was discouraged from doing so. After much deliberation Betelgeuse was found to be acceptable so from henceforth he was so named.
Last fall he began his usual moult, only this this year he hasn't stopped moulting. At first I noticed his legs were looking a little bare, then it is his sides. Not really noticeable as he needs to lift his wings to see the loss of feathers.

Now his chest is beginning to look "ratty" It is not barren, yet, but certainly not the smooth sea foam green it should be.
I have tried to google the condition to see if there is any information, but so far have not turned up anything. Except for the loss of feathers he is fine. Great appetite, active, no change in personality, just the loss of feathers. I can't afford to take him to the vet.

Brussel Sprouts, Who knew it could taste good!

Brussel Sprouts are one of those vegetables that I never thought I would say I enjoyed eating but, I can say that now. As I wrote earlier one of my egg customers brought some Organic veggies over. How could I not eat them? I had Cabbage Soup earlier this week, then I used the Broccoli in a delicious Stir Fry (I blanched all the Broccoli and froze what I did not use for later) and now I will share the Brussel Sprouts Recipe I used.

Brussels Sprouts Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh brussels sprouts
• 4-6 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• Salt and Pepper
• ¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese

Method

1 Steam brussels sprouts for 3-4 minutes until just tender. Split one open to see if it has cooked to the middle. Strain and place in a bowl of ice water to keep the color bright green. Cut into halves.

2 Sauté onions in 2-3 Tbsp of butter in a wide sauté pan until the onions are translucent. Add the brussels sprout halves and 2-3 Tbsp more of butter and cook on medium high heat for several more minutes, until the sprouts have reached your desired level of doneness. Add salt and pepper to taste while the sprouts are cooking. Whatever you do, do not over-cook, as the sprouts will be bitter.

3 Remove from heat, put into serving dish sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top. Add salt and pepper if needed.

Serves 6-8.

Rain and Animals

The weatherman has threatened rain on and off for some time, but each instance brought little or not rain. Today was to be another deluge, but although cold, showed little evidence that the prediction would come to be fulfilled.
And then it happened......RAIN and lots of it!
It did not last long, but while it did it poured!
I went out to take pictures to find the rooster and one hen standing by the dog trying to get out of the rain.
Poor Sterling, he looked so unhappy. The rooster usually gives him such a hard time and now their he was right by him. Oh my, I took pity on the poor soul and shooed the rooster on his way.
I loved the way the rain dripped off of the Wisteria.
While snapping some shots I got a lovely gift, the first of the Tom Thumb Daffodils have begun to bloom.

Cabbage Soup

I could not let that beautiful head of cabbage go to waste. Even though I had never made cabbage soup before, I thought I would give it a shot. I went online found three recipes, combined them and came up with this one.

Beef Cabbage Soup
Cook Time: 9 hours

Ingredients:
1 small head of cabbage, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
1 medium potato, cubed
2 ribs celery, sliced in 1/2-inch pieces ( I used dried celery leaves and seeds)
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 cups beef broth (can make from bouillon or base and hot water)(I make stock every time we have chicken or turkey so I had some frozen that I used)
1 steak or other meat, about 1 pound (I used elk)
1 Bay leaf
1 tsp coriander seed, ground
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp nutmeg
coarsely ground pepper
salt to taste

Preparation:
Sautee’ onions until translucent remove from pan and quickly stir the meat into the hot oil to brown. Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker/Crock Pot. Cover and cook for 8 to 10 hours on low. Taste before serving; add salt and more pepper if necessary.
Serve with biscuits or crusty bread.
Recipe serves 4

It was surprisingly good! I had two bowls and so did Gary and he is pretty picky.

Fruits of the Winter

One of my egg customers, (see my blog on Crazy Pat for more chicken news), brought me some wonderful organic veggies from her garden. I have never seen veggies like these at the store so I took some pics. Tonight I am making stir fry and I am using the Broccoli. I went ahead and blanched all of it so that I could freeze what I do not cook tonight. Tomorrow I will make Cabbage Soup and use the cabbage and the broccoli

New Life

I am trying to inject nature walks into my schedule and in doing so was amazed to discover hyacinths poking up their little heads next to my dwarf iris.
Thought I would also like to shall my narcissus. They are almost spent but still fragrant.

The Geese

I just had to post pics of Jay Jay and Peaches. I let them and the chickens out every afternoon for a couple of hours to graze. When it rains a puddle forms in the cull-de-sac and the geese love it! When fun time is over I whistle and they all come running (usually).
I have my bucket of flock starter, but you would think it was New York cut the way they act.
I spent a lot of time with them last Spring to have them respond to me and it worked! They bring me a lot of joy, especially Jay, Jay, he seems to be content to be close to wherever I am. That may change this Spring though when I let Peaches incubate a clutch of eggs.

Ducks

I will be talking about the chickens in another blog I created just about them. In this blog I will be talking about other animals and plant life around.
That brings us to the ducks. It may be the same female that set up a nest here last year. She has two males that are courting her. I am unsure as to whether I want her nesting here again or not Last year was so heart breaking. All of her eggs hatched and the little duckling were so very cute, then one by one the crows snatched them up and within one week they were all gone.

Baby Chicks Growing

As the chicks grew it became obvious that they very healthy and probably going to survive. I was going to have more chickens than I planned on. Then a twist of fate: at about two or three months of age a hawk swooped down, caught killed, and ate (while sitting on the pen fence) one of my Australorps. The dog chased one of the Buff Orpingtons to death. (He did not intend to kill it; he just thought it was fun to chase.)

Then for no reason, a jersey giant went to bed healthy, and was dead by morning.

My Crested Polish, one of my Silver laced Wyanottes, one of my Americaunas and the surviving Australorp started crowing. If it crows it goes, with the exception of the Crested Polish. I had secretly hoped that it would turn out to be a male. I liked the idea of having one rooster. Before I could find a new home for them the Wyanotte rooster plucked every white feather off the head off the Polish. (poor guy was as bald as could be.)

This eliminated 6 of my chicks. I was down to a manageable 14.

There personalities and adult colours were becoming more evident so I began naming them. I decided to name them according to their breed, with the exception of the little Bantee and the Americauna. The former Brennan named Frizzee (due to the feathers all over her legs and feet and I mean feathers not the fluffy stuff, feathers just like the wings feather.) The later I named Cinnamon due to her colouring. The Crested Polish became Crazy Pat (also a fitting name because of the wild feathers atop his head.) The Delawares became Daisy and Dot. The Jersey Giant; Jane, the Barred Rocks; Babs and Betty, the Rhode Island Reds; Ruby and Red, the Buff Orpington, Buffy; the Silver laced Wyanotte became Wanda, and the 2 White Leghorns became Lady and Luna. Looking at them a person might wonder how I can tell them apart. Sometimes it not easy, but if I take a moment it is obvious. It is something like telling twins apart. There are always little things that aid in the identification. Owen named the Geese Jay Jay and Trouble. I later changed Trouble to Peaches. I feel that negative names become self-fulfilling and decided Peaches would work better.

Soon thereafter I was getting 7-10 chicken eggs a day!
Peaches was laying every other day.

I had attained my goal: a flock of healthy, happy chickens and farm fresh eggs!

My Adventures in Animal Husbandry Begins

I journeyed to this point in my life of animal husbandry last spring. My husband read an article in his Life Extension Magazine about the benefits of eating free-range laid eggs vs. store bought eggs. The article showed overwhelming evidence that the free range eggs were vastly superior nutritionally.

So in his way he said, we need to eat free range eggs. Loosely translated that means I needed to get some chickens and raise them so that we will have fresh eggs.

Not having any experience in the venture he thought you get a couple of chickens and you will have all the eggs you need. Sounds good, but the reality is someone needs to buy the chicks, raise them up in a healthy way and then tend to them daily, especially while they are very young.

This requires time and money. I spent most of April, all of May and a good portion of June nurturing my brood. Not having a lot of experience with chickens, but quite a bit more than my husband, I underestimated the time involved in raising them the way I wanted them to be raised. I also under estimated the mortality rate, or should I say lack of mortality rate when you really nurture them in a healthy way.

When the decision was made to raise chickens for eggs I went to the internet to research which breeds were the best layers. I narrowed down my want list considerably doing this. I also knew exactly which breed I wanted when I went to the feed store.

I originally bought 2 Chinese White Geese and 20 pullets and one straight run chick, hoping that maybe 12 might survive, and I gave myself a cushion for the “pullets” that would crow. (these are the ones that someone sexed incorrectly). The last time I tried raising chickens, about 8 years ago, 5 of my six Rhode Island Red ”pullets” grew into the biggest meanest roosters.

The result was 2 Leghorn Whites, 2 Barred Rocks, 2 Jersey Giants, 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Delawares, 2 Ameraucanas, 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Silver Laced Wyanottes, 2 Australorps, 1 Crested Polish and one Grandma please, please!!! (a little Mille Fleur Bantam)
The first 18 were pullets; the last 2 were Straight run, so I had a 50/50 chance on the sex outcome.

Every morning I would take them from their night cage and place them outside in
the 6 foot animal pen I had. I covered the top with a sheet to keep them from the site of overhead predators.

By moving them outside daily they could get fresh air, grass and any little bugs that had the misfortune of entering their space. I moved the pen every day, sometimes two or three times a day depending. In the evening and sometimes the morning I would take them from the pen and just sit on the grass with them. I wanted them to become bonded to me so that my presence in the pen would not stress them in any way.

I especially took great efforts to bond with the geese. I had no desire to be
at the other end of an upset goose’s beak, been there, not that, do not want to repeat the experience.

At night I would gather them up place them in their sleep cage, with fresh bedding, water and a warm night light.

The geese were always included with the flock until they became too large for
the night cage. After that I had them in the same area as the chicks so that they
were able to hear each other.

My method worked out better than I had hoped for. The geese watch over the flock and everyone is totally mellow with me. Even my young grand children can go out to the pen, pick up a chicken and not get anyone upset.