Snow Rollers!

The weather has been brutal in central Ohio this winter. Snow, wind, frigid temperatures, more snow, and more frigid temperatures keep us rushing in from outdoor chores and not spending any extra time outside. Or so it was until Monday morning when we looked outside and saw what appeared to be snowballs littering our lawn.

Further inspection revealed that each rosette snow roll was preceded by a wispy trail like that of an airplane in the sky. Some seemed perched atop wind-carved pedestals reminiscent of sandstone formations in the desert South West.

Meteorologists say these very rare formations occur when an inch of wet snow tops a layer of icy snow. High winds push the wet snow into natural snowballs, also called snow donuts, snow logs, or snow bales.

With a gentle touch, we can scoop up the snow rollers. They're more delicate than a well-packed snowball but made a lovely snow roller girl.

Thank you, winter, for a new way to play in the snow!

Snow Rollers!

The weather has been brutal in central Ohio this winter. Snow, wind, frigid temperatures, more snow, and more frigid temperatures keep us rushing in from outdoor chores and not spending any extra time outside. Or so it was until Monday morning when we looked outside and saw what appeared to be snowballs littering our lawn.

Further inspection revealed that each rosette snow roll was preceded by a wispy trail like that of an airplane in the sky. Some seemed perched atop wind-carved pedestals reminiscent of sandstone formations in the desert South West.

Meteorologists say these very rare formations occur when an inch of wet snow tops a layer of icy snow. High winds push the wet snow into natural snowballs, also called snow donuts, snow logs, or snow bales.

With a gentle touch, we can scoop up the snow rollers. They're more delicate than a well-packed snowball but made a lovely snow roller girl.

Thank you, winter, for a new way to play in the snow!

Alex's Baked Chicken Wings

 

We like chicken wings. Who doesn't? But chicken wings at restaurants are often disappointing and almost never from locally sourced meat.

Alex has been honing his homemade version for years. His secret is not a special ingredient but a specific methodology.

The recipe starts with a spice rub. Paprika is a major component in our rub but you could add any dry spices you want. I prefer a little cayenne but this batch was for Lil too so we left it out. Add a little ginger and garlic and you'll have a teriyaki flavor. Skip the paprika entirely for a plain chicken wing to douse with barbeque sauce later.

 The key to great no-fry wings is to steam bake them at a middling temperature first. During the baking phase, layer rubbed wings on a cookie cooling rack that fits inside a covered cookie sheet. This way, the baking sheet catches the drips but the wings cook without browning.

Turn up the heat or fire up the grill to finish the wings. The high heat will give wings a little char and ensure that the skin is succulent and crisp. If you're making wings for a party, bake them and hold in the fridge for up to a day before the final broil or grill step.

While deep fried wings have their place, we don't always want to fire up the oil. These oven wings will satsify completely  - even cat Moonshine found them irresistible.

Baked Chicken Wings Time: 3 hours (30 minutes active) Makes: 2-3 dozen wings

1/3 cup salt 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup sweet paprika 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper 2 teaspoons coriander seed, ground in mortar and pestle 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, optional 3 pounds chicken wings

1. Mix first five ingredients. Pour over chicken wings in a large bowl, turning to cover evenly. Set aside for at least thirty minutes and up to four hours. 2. Shake off excess rub. Place wings in a single layer on a cooling rack nestled in a baking sheet. Cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil, crimping at the edges. 3. Bake wings in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 30 - 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. 4. Remove from oven. Optionally, cool and store in the fridge for up to one day. 5. Heat oven to high broil or light grill. 6. Place wings under broiler or on very hot grill for 2 minutes. Turn once. Cook again for 1-2 minutes or until skin is crispy. 7. Enjoy immediately and protect from marauding cats.

Alex's Baked Chicken Wings

 

We like chicken wings. Who doesn't? But chicken wings at restaurants are often disappointing and almost never from locally sourced meat.

Alex has been honing his homemade version for years. His secret is not a special ingredient but a specific methodology.

The recipe starts with a spice rub. Paprika is a major component in our rub but you could add any dry spices you want. I prefer a little cayenne but this batch was for Lil too so we left it out. Add a little ginger and garlic and you'll have a teriyaki flavor. Skip the paprika entirely for a plain chicken wing to douse with barbeque sauce later.

 The key to great no-fry wings is to steam bake them at a middling temperature first. During the baking phase, layer rubbed wings on a cookie cooling rack that fits inside a covered cookie sheet. This way, the baking sheet catches the drips but the wings cook without browning.

Turn up the heat or fire up the grill to finish the wings. The high heat will give wings a little char and ensure that the skin is succulent and crisp. If you're making wings for a party, bake them and hold in the fridge for up to a day before the final broil or grill step.

While deep fried wings have their place, we don't always want to fire up the oil. These oven wings will satsify completely  - even cat Moonshine found them irresistible.

Baked Chicken Wings Time: 3 hours (30 minutes active) Makes: 2-3 dozen wings

1/3 cup salt 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup sweet paprika 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper 2 teaspoons coriander seed, ground in mortar and pestle 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, optional 3 pounds chicken wings

1. Mix first five ingredients. Pour over chicken wings in a large bowl, turning to cover evenly. Set aside for at least thirty minutes and up to four hours. 2. Shake off excess rub. Place wings in a single layer on a cooling rack nestled in a baking sheet. Cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil, crimping at the edges. 3. Bake wings in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 30 - 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. 4. Remove from oven. Optionally, cool and store in the fridge for up to one day. 5. Heat oven to high broil or light grill. 6. Place wings under broiler or on very hot grill for 2 minutes. Turn once. Cook again for 1-2 minutes or until skin is crispy. 7. Enjoy immediately and protect from marauding cats.

Doing What's Right On A Friday Night

I don't know about your Friday nights but ours are usually pretty tame. We switch off cooking gourmet dinners with friends. We come home, put Lil to bed, and maybe watch a movie. I try to go to sleep early because I work at the Farmers' Market in the morning. No big deal. But this week, the homestead necessities interrupted our relaxing week end plans.

We canceled dinner with friends because Lil has been battling a cough for days on end. It comes on at night and we're all beyond exhausted from 3 am coughing spells. We planned a quiet evening at home.

Chores still had to be done, of course. On my afternoon visit to the chicken coop with fresh warm water, I noticed Cirrus, our Salmon Faverolle chicken, with what looked like a shell-less egg and some poop frozen to her rear. Ick. I knew there could be several causes of this but at a minimum the frozen stuff had to come off.

I brought her inside for a soak in warm water. She didn't resist and I added 'bathed a chicken' to my homesteader resume. Next came my 'cloaca anatomy' test. I don't claim expert knowledge in this area, but anyone could tell Cirrus was not well back there.

Lil helped me set her up with water, food, and bedding in a dog crate so she could dry off and we could see if she improved with a little warmth and rest. I consulted with local chicken folks and BackyardChickens.com, determining she had a prolapsed cloaca.

Culling a Sick Hen

I'll spare more details but after Lil's bedtime, Alex and I  determined that Cirrus was not well and very unlikely to heal under the circumstances. We looked at a shivering restless bird and knew our Friday night must take a dark turn.

Alex did the deed and I heated a pot of water. If the issue was only a physical abnormality, we could make soup from her, wasting nothing from her well-lived existence. I plucked her prodigious creamy orange feathers, marveling at how different this heritage bird was from the creepy meats. Alas, the plucking revealed signs of infection. The ground frozen, we had to throw her body in the trash rather than bury her. Rest In Peace, Cirrus.

We never want to cull a sick hen, least of all after an exhausting week. It took several hours for me to wind down from making the unfortunate decision to end an animal's suffering. While the evening was decidedly more grueling and stinky than expected, we know we spent Friday night doing what was right.

Doing What's Right On A Friday Night

I don't know about your Friday nights but ours are usually pretty tame. We switch off cooking gourmet dinners with friends. We come home, put Lil to bed, and maybe watch a movie. I try to go to sleep early because I work at the Farmers' Market in the morning. No big deal. But this week, the homestead necessities interrupted our relaxing week end plans.

We canceled dinner with friends because Lil has been battling a cough for days on end. It comes on at night and we're all beyond exhausted from 3 am coughing spells. We planned a quiet evening at home.

Chores still had to be done, of course. On my afternoon visit to the chicken coop with fresh warm water, I noticed Cirrus, our Salmon Faverolle chicken, with what looked like a shell-less egg and some poop frozen to her rear. Ick. I knew there could be several causes of this but at a minimum the frozen stuff had to come off.

I brought her inside for a soak in warm water. She didn't resist and I added 'bathed a chicken' to my homesteader resume. Next came my 'cloaca anatomy' test. I don't claim expert knowledge in this area, but anyone could tell Cirrus was not well back there.

Lil helped me set her up with water, food, and bedding in a dog crate so she could dry off and we could see if she improved with a little warmth and rest. I consulted with local chicken folks and BackyardChickens.com, determining she had a prolapsed cloaca.

Culling a Sick Hen

I'll spare more details but after Lil's bedtime, Alex and I  determined that Cirrus was not well and very unlikely to heal under the circumstances. We looked at a shivering restless bird and knew our Friday night must take a dark turn.

Alex did the deed and I heated a pot of water. If the issue was only a physical abnormality, we could make soup from her, wasting nothing from her well-lived existence. I plucked her prodigious creamy orange feathers, marveling at how different this heritage bird was from the creepy meats. Alas, the plucking revealed signs of infection. The ground frozen, we had to throw her body in the trash rather than bury her. Rest In Peace, Cirrus.

We never want to cull a sick hen, least of all after an exhausting week. It took several hours for me to wind down from making the unfortunate decision to end an animal's suffering. While the evening was decidedly more grueling and stinky than expected, we know we spent Friday night doing what was right.

Heating With A Woodstove

We bought a woodstove at Menard's on clearance last spring. In October, Kicking Ash installed it for us. Heating with a woodstove is a romantic homesteading ideal and we do enjoy it. But today I thought I'd uncover some of the not-so-fun reality:

1. The hearth will be messy. Keeping a fire roaring requires moving and adding logs every few hours and clearing out ashes every couple days. This will necessitate sweeping at least every other day, something that annoys my lazy housekeeping self.

2. The entrance to your home will also be messy. We store a week's worth of kindling in the not-quite-finished mudroom and bring in bigger logs daily. Every movement of wood fuel creates a trail of sawdust, bark, and leaves.

3. The air will be dry dry dry. After getting by with an open stainless dish of water for a little while, I found a large vintage cast aluminum tea kettle that we now keep filled with water to humidify the air.

4. Your daughter might see wood ash and a slate hearth as an art medium. Her kitten might erase all the images with a swish of his tail. Now the kitten will be, you guessed it, messy.

5. Your pets will gather as close as possible to the radiating warmth. This is charming and you will feel sorry that you have to disturb them to add another log to the fire.

6. You will underestimate the amount of wood you need for a given day or week or season and be out at the woodpile chopping in all weather. Splitting logs is good, empowering exercise. It's also a never-ending exhaustive task.

7. You will feel deep satisfaction from harvesting renewable fuel and using it to fill your home with beautiful warmth.

Heating With A Woodstove

We bought a woodstove at Menard's on clearance last spring. In October, Kicking Ash installed it for us. Heating with a woodstove is a romantic homesteading ideal and we do enjoy it. But today I thought I'd uncover some of the not-so-fun reality:

1. The hearth will be messy. Keeping a fire roaring requires moving and adding logs every few hours and clearing out ashes every couple days. This will necessitate sweeping at least every other day, something that annoys my lazy housekeeping self.

2. The entrance to your home will also be messy. We store a week's worth of kindling in the not-quite-finished mudroom and bring in bigger logs daily. Every movement of wood fuel creates a trail of sawdust, bark, and leaves.

3. The air will be dry dry dry. After getting by with an open stainless dish of water for a little while, I found a large vintage cast aluminum tea kettle that we now keep filled with water to humidify the air.

4. Your daughter might see wood ash and a slate hearth as an art medium. Her kitten might erase all the images with a swish of his tail. Now the kitten will be, you guessed it, messy.

5. Your pets will gather as close as possible to the radiating warmth. This is charming and you will feel sorry that you have to disturb them to add another log to the fire.

6. You will underestimate the amount of wood you need for a given day or week or season and be out at the woodpile chopping in all weather. Splitting logs is good, empowering exercise. It's also a never-ending exhaustive task.

7. You will feel deep satisfaction from harvesting renewable fuel and using it to fill your home with beautiful warmth.