Goodbye Hounds and Kitchen, Hello Canadian Wilderness!

We're off on our adventure to Canada.  The car is full of food, gear, and toys.  Guest posts are scheduled and ready to keep you entertained for the week. Tune in Sunday for our 19 person paddling meal plan.

We ate our 'last meal' tonight, a frittata of backyard chicken eggs with homegrown tomatoes, green beans, garlic, shallots, and herbs.  On the side were our very first new potatoes of the year.  (They really shouldn't be harvested yet but I was watering the other garden the other day and couldn't resist seeing how the tubers were progressing.)  I savored every fresh delicious bite, knowing that plenty of fast food and dehydrated meals are in my future.

I was reflecting that this trip will be the first time in years that I will be truly electronic free.  Because of owning the online store and writing this blog, every vacation I've taken since Lil's birth has included at least some phone and Internet communication, i.e. 'work'.  Between Sunday and Friday, no work will be done by me at least.  (Someone, ahem Alex, is bringing several communication devises...)

In the absence of the computer and smartphone, I expect to enjoy:

writing with a pen and paper

wildlife

clouds and stars, uncut by wires and airplanes

fully present family

silence

May you also experience peace this week.  I look forward to sharing pictures and stories upon my return.

Raising Children with Chickens

There is no doubt that the true chicken keeper of our family is four and a half year old Lillian.

She named the chickens and feeds them scraps. She takes them on bike rides and returns them to the coop after free ranging in the yard.

Lil recently petitioned to be in charge of collecting eggs.  This is no small feat; Lil climbs headfirst into the coop and reaches into the nesting area.  She pulls out eggs one at a time and gently carries them into the house.

Sometimes the chickens have had enough child's play.  Recently Lil came crying to me with a blemish on her eye lid.  I asked what happened.  "I was holding Sussy by the wings and pinching her comb."  I don't have a lot of sympathy for her injury but hopefully Lil learned something about treating animals gently.

Here are Lil's thoughts about the chickens in her own words:

We have come to learn that a flock of laying hens is a delight for most children, including Lil.  Keeping livestock teaches responsibility and biology with a healthy dose of fun.

Asparagus Relish Deviled Eggs

When one of the Wild Goose Creative board members asked me to be part of the Asparafest cooking competition, I couldn't refuse. I debated my options for a few days and entered with asparagus deviled eggs.

I decided to challenge myself not only with creating the recipe but sourcing the ingredients. In my entry, all ingredients excepting salt and pepper were produced by people I know. The eggs, garlic, shallots, and herbs came from my own garden. The asparagus was from Schacht Farm in Canal Winchester, Ohio. The cider vinegar is home produced by Charlie of Windy Hill Apple Farm. Roger's Honey sweetened the relish and I made the butter myself from Vernon Yoder's raw milk.

I didn't win the competition and it's debatable whether the eggs taste any better than if the ingredients were sourced from a big box grocery, but it was a fun exercise nonetheless.  Asparagus the movie was entertaining and enlightening.  If you have a chance, catch a viewing or buy it on DVD.

[print_this]

Asparagus Deviled Eggs Makes: 12 deviled egg halves Time: 10 minutes assembly, 20 minutes + overnight for relish

6 eggs, boiled and halved

2 tablespoons hand-shaken butter

3 tablespoons asparagus relish, see recipe below

salt and pepper to taste

optional: chili powder, paprika, asparagus tips

Remove yolks from eggs and place yolks in a medium sized bowl.  Mix in butter until yolks are smooth and creamy.  Stir in relish, salt and pepper.  Fill egg white halves with the yolk mixture. Top with a sprinkle of chili powder, paprika, and/or roasted asparagus tips.

Relish (needs two days preparation)

Marinated asparagus: 1/2 bunch blanched asparagus 3 cloves garlic, chopped 1 cup cider vinegar 3/4 teaspoon salt and pepper 1 tablespoon fresh sage

Mix all ingredients except asparagus. Pour over asparagus and refrigerate overnight.

Relish: 1 cup minced marinated asparagus 2 tablespoons minced garlic, sauteed in a little butter 1 tablespoon each fresh rosemary and oregano, minced 1 tablespoon honey salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients and refrigerate overnight.

[/print_this]

Easter Weekend Workout

We weren't in a gym, but Alex, Lil and I exercised our bodies this weekend!  We were outside almost all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  We're exhausted and exhilarated.  Here's what happened:

The deck was torn down.  Lucky for us, the builders were poor at concrete setting and posts came out fairly easily.  They also used subpar techniques for covering the crawl space and we got to replace wood on the sides of the house; not so lucky.

Alex built new stairs.

I built a raised bed from some reclaimed deck wood.  And I took a crummy picture. The sun was setting and I was TIRED.

Our hens gave us three eggs yesterday. It's fascinating to me that each breed has a different egg shape and color. From top to bottom, these eggs are from the Sussex, Australorp, and Orpington breeds.

Lil played in a post hole.  Why not?

Lil and the dogs hunted for Easter eggs this morning.

We planted one potato tower, two potato buckets, and one straw bale potato bed.  We have even more seed potatoes to plant in our rented plot.

I dug furrows and planted three asparagus crowns in the new raised bed.  I also tucked three crowns into the strawberry bed.  I'll write more about asparagus later because it's a fascinating plant.

We hiked, slowly and with many stops, around Highbanks Park today, studying wildflowers, birds, and the sound rocks make when thrown in streams.

We shared dinner with my parents and sisters, Alex's parents and brother, and two of my grandparents.  Lil was showered with more gifts including the bunny above, hand sewn by my grandmother.

Our faces are sun kissed and the floor inside is muddy.  Dirt and seeds have new homes as we have new stairs to walk upon.  It was a great weekend.  How was yours?

The $175 Scrambled Egg Breakfast

Yesterday we collected the first egg from our backyard chickens!!  Our guess is that one of the Buff Orpingtons laid it, as they were particularly vocal yesterday.

Today we collected another egg.  This time we saw an Orpington in the nesting box so it surely came from her.

We scrambled the two smaller than average eggs together for breakfast and served it with homemade bread buttered with home shaken raw milk butter. It was the most delicious egg breakfast we have ever tasted!

At $175 (the price we paid so far for the chickens, coop, feed, and bedding), today's breakfast was also the most expensive we have ever consumed.  Our average cost per egg will obviously decrease over time.  The chickens should lay about 250 eggs per year.  At 33 cents per egg (the price I pay for farm fresh eggs), we will break even after egg number 530.  If the four girls lay every other day (an underestimate but it makes up for future cost of food we'll need to purchase), that's two eggs a day, or 265 days until we reach the tipping point.  265 days from now is approximately Thanksgiving.  And there you have an insight into how my strange calculating mind works.

I added this post to the Fight Back Fridays roundup, even though it is Sunday.  I'm just so pleased with our chickens!

Update on the Girls

The girls, aka. birds of very little brain, are our four heritage breed laying hens adopted two weeks ago.  They have become quite the center of the homestead since arriving.

The two buff orange Orpingtons are most friendly and accept being picked up and petted.  The spotted Sussex least likes human attention.  The black Australorp is clearly the dumbest, which is really saying something because no chicken is an IQ prize winner.  She doesn't find food, roosts last, and is generally unaware.  Good thing we're around!

The coop has required two modifications.  First, we (meaning Alex) built a feeder that mounts on the side of the run from PVC.  The girls were knocking over their feeder four or more times a day which wasted food and frustrated us.  The new feeder was quick and cheap to build and hasn't been spilled yet.

Alex is also adding a rain proof roof.  During last week's rain we covered the run with a blue sheet of plastic that was less than classy.  We searched all over the city for clear fiberglass corrugated sheeting to no avail yesterday.  I finally found out that Sutherlands carries it and Alex picked some up on his way home from work today.  He'll install the roofing tomorrow.

Our backyard chickens have been visited by family, friends, and local bloggers.   Lil loves to tell kids about taking care of chickens and reminds everyone they have to wash their hands after petting birds.  Our chickens have inspired at least one family to make plans to raise their own hens.

Some have asked questions about the legality of raising chickens in the city.  In Columbus, the Health department regulates keeping livestock through a permitting process per this document issued by the city veterinarian.

Even with a wonderful coop and lots of attention, our chickens have not yet started laying.  We added a bit of cayenne pepper to their feed to stimulate production at the suggestion of Denise from 2Silos farm. They are young (23 weeks) and daylight is still minimal so it might take a little more time before we collect that first precious egg.

----

I am not sure how much you all want to know about backyard chickens, so please leave a comment with questions or encouragement if you want to read more about city chickens.  Better yet, take our blog survey and help shape the future of Hounds in the Kitchen.