February Spring

Here are my two Sebastopol geese Ella and Fella splashing in our pond along with the ducks. I took this video last year . Ella and Fella spend part of every day in the pond but lately have taken to hiding themselves in unlikely places. I have found them in the wood shed, the kiwi arbor, the hay shed,  behind the veggie garden hiding in the long wild grasses on the other side of the fence, and behind a tall shrub in the front yard flower bed. I had a suspicion that proved true...

 ...they're ready to lay and hatch a clutch of eggs. My husband found the first goose egg of the season today. Look at the size of it compared to 3 large chicken eggs I just gathered. I am going to try to incubate the eggs in a small incubator I own. The last 2 years Ella and Fella were diligent parents and tended their eggs faithfully. For some reason all the eggs developed fully but the goslings were unable to hatch and survive. ( Even with help.) This year I am hoping to accomplish what Ella and Fella were unable to do and return successfully hatched goslings to the nest for them to raise. We'll see.

The weather has been warm for this time of the year and the sound of the frogs at night is almost deafening. Our honeybees have been out and about and it is a good thing my husband supplements them with sugar boards he places in their hives because there are not enough flowers or trees blooming to sustain our hives at this time.

My Jacob sheep were sheared last month and I can see 9 of my ewes seem about ready to pop with lambs. Their udders are full and lambs should begin arriving any time from now until the end of March. The ewes ( female sheep) seem almost comatose in the sunshine as they lean against fence posts or soak in the heat of the compost pile. It looks so funny to see sheep literally stretched out all over the pile. Later on after the lambs are born they'll have fun leaping over the pile. Who knew a manure pile could provide more than garden enrichment ? SHEEP ! ( 11 year old and very pregnant Sassafras shown in the picture )

I know the calendar says it is still winter but our animals , bees, and wildlife say it is spring.

Tea Time Tuesday ~ Prudence Olive-Egger

 I featured Prudence and her brother Cheepers in a blog post* awhile ago. There she is , a cute little chick sitting in one of my teacups.

 Prudence is all grown up now, and at almost 7 months of age she is a sleek black hen whose feathers give off a beautiful metallic green shine when the sun lights on them. Her mother is an Americauna hen who lays minty green colored eggs. Her father is a Marans , a breed of chicken noted for their dark chocolate brown colored eggs. I was excited to see the color eggs Prudence would lay. Last month she laid her first egg...

... and I am so happy to say she is Prudence the olive-egger ! Yes, she laid the olive egg in the center of the eggs I gathered on her first day of laying. I don't think I'll be bringing her indoors to sit in a teacup for any more Tea Time Tuesdays ,but I will give her a special treat of cracked corn and maybe some of the pumpkin left over from our fall decorating. I think she'd appreciate that more, but not as much as I appreciate her olive eggs.

Linking up to a new Tuesday parties ~

Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage ~ No Place Like Home*

Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden Blog Party *

 

 ~Thankful today for a warm home , abundant food, and my husband's love.



Thinking About Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

 I have been working on a baby quilt for our little grandson due to be born soon. As I sew the minty green and chocolate brown flannel fabric squares together I keep thinking about mint chocolate chip ice cream , then I gather the green and chocolate brown eggs my hens lay and they make me think about mint chocolate chip ice cream. I love mint chocolate chip ice cream.

I think I am going to have to buy some mint chocolate chip ice cream .

Spotted Chickens , More Eggs, & A Plan

 Spotted chickens seem meant for me don't you think ? After all I have spotted sheep, spotted ducks, and a blog called Spot on Cedar Pond ! These are my new chickens, Paint Silkies. They are immature half-grown chicks,  and I am pretty excited about them.

My hens are finally laying more eggs . Next month I can begin to expect lambs , order my new chicks, and begin thinking about..... well, check out some of my goals for my poultry here* and tell me what you think !

Tea In The Garden ~ From The Porch

 Today ( Tuesday) is Tea In The Garden  time hosted by Terri * and I am so excited to be able to participate in this. I marked this event on my calendar as soon as she announced it. I had big ideas I'd already begun putting into action when events in my life decided against my plans. I had thought to set a romantic tea table near the new fountain my husband & I bought as a gift to each other in celebration of our 40th wedding anniversary coming up very soon. Oh what plans I had...

 ....but the pounding summer rains and life-demands not anticipated dashed those plans. The gardens are squishy wet and the trees, bushes, and flowers are drooping with the weight of the raindrops. Priorities needed to be honored in right order. Thusly, tea-time diminished but did not disappear.  

 I settled for Tea In The Garden ~ From The Porch. This is our table in a corner of the front porch where my husband and I sit in the mornings drinking our coffee and watching the birds at the feeders. We have our bird books here, the binoculars, a notebook to record the birds we see, writing paper & pen for me, gardening magazines to read, space to eat meals together, a place we love to rest and reflect on God's bounty. Perfect for tea don't you think ?

 I chose to make a simple dinner to accompany tea. Freshly gathered from my hens , these eggs will be tasty scrambled with chives from my herb garden.

 Asiago cheese bagels with cream cheese & chives ( I love chives ) with the scrambled eggs and grapes...yum.

 The binoculars are always on the table because you never know when the antics of the squirrels or a new bird at the feeder will need closer examination. My home-sewn black toile tea-cozy keeps the tea in the pot hot, and the issue of Tea Time magazine I picked up at the post office today sits nearby ,just waiting to be read. Can you believe it ? Here I set a blue & white tea table and this issue is all about blue & white teacups & settings , I can't wait to read the magazine !

 But first, there is dessert. Ah, dessert !

Tea in the garden from the porch !

 

I hope you join Terri today to enjoy Tea In The Garden* !

 

 

Pumpkins For Eggs

 Huh?

 It's big !

 What is it ?

 I break open the pumpkin for my new laying flock.

 They are intrigued.

 My bantam flock of barred Cochins is too.

Feeding frenzy!

 This is a great time of the year for me and my new laying flock of chickens. For one thing, they are all finally laying eggs. We are cleaning up the vegetable garden, the windfalls of apples are abundant, and there are plenty of pumpkins available, and after Halloween, even more, FREE! This means the chickens are eating very well because they get all the old produce we choose not to eat, and they turn it into yummy eggs!

 

 

Spot On Freshly Gathered Eggs

I just gathered my eggs and took a picture of them. Aren't eggs beautiful? These eggs come from the chicks I posted about last year. The chicks that grew up into chickens.The chicks were Ameracauna and Cuckoo Marans. The Ameracauna hens are Aracauna chickens bred with different varieties of chickens and the shade of green, from blue to mossy green depends upon which variety of chicken the Aracauna is bred with. If an Aracauna is bred with a brown egg layer the hen will lay the darker mossy green eggs. If the Aracauna is bred with a white egg layer the eggs will be a light minty green to almost aqua or blue. These are my favorites. The Cuckoo Marans lay a dark brown egg. The best of the Marans lay an egg that is a dark chocolate brown, my desired brown egg color. My favorite way to eat freshly gathered eggs is to whisk 3 or 4 eggs with a dash of soy sauce and Johnny's seasoning salt to taste. I cook the eggs in a small frying pan turning and turning with a spatula until the eggs are JUST done and not a bit more. I then add a lot of grated cheddar cheese, turn over in the pan again until the cheese is melted then flip it onto a plate. I pour myself a cup of freshly ground and brewed coffee and butter bread right out of the toaster to add to the plate. This is the best brunch ever!( I don't eat breakfast, my tummy does not desire it) A brunch like this is often all I need to sustain me for the whole day and I am very happy to repeat this again the next day.If you're unable to raise chickens yourself it is well worth it for you to find a source of fresh eggs from a local egg seller, the difference in taste of fresh eggs versus the best eggs from the average supermarket is vast. Try it, you'll like it, fresh eggs that is.

A Cuckoo Maran Worth A Second Chance & Glance

I gathered these eggs last week, my first eggs from my new flock. I am now getting at least 2 dozen eggs a day from my old and new flock. My new flock consists mainly of Cuckoo Marans, but also a few Welsummers and Americaunas. ( They lay blue to green eggs) So I am getting baskets of pretty eggs, kind of looks like I get to gather Easter eggs all year round. I LOVE it!

Awhile back I posted about this little Cuckoo Maran. She is at least 3 years old now and I do not how how she manages, but she does.

As a new little chick she had curled up feet. I kept thinking she would die , but she did not. As she got older it was hard for her to get around the pen, or to perch...but I just could not cull ( kill ) her because she was so plucky. She just had to work very hard to do what came easy for the other hens, but she did not seem miserable. She touched my heart and I decided as long as she did well she could live, if she seemed to suffer I would remedy that.

Look at her curled up toes. She wobbles-falls, wobbles-falls, every where she needs to go. Well, she is still alive and doing very well...wobbling-falling everywhere,....

....And she is still regularly laying eggs. I don't think she read the poultry books that say she should be a very un-thrifty animal and not worth the effort and expense of keeping.Just goes to show we can't ALWAYS predict the outcome of some things in life and sometimes even the most pitiful creatures are sure worth a second glance and chance.

No Lounging Around & Eating Bon Bons, Thankfully!

Except for the basil, this harvest is but a little bit of what we are harvesting from the garden and orchard my husband has planted and tended. Now I need to be busy about preserving it. Fresh plums, apples, beans, tomatoes ,cucumbers, pea pods...they don't keep for long in the summer. The basil is from our daughters' family garden. Tonight my husband put the basil, garlic and olive oil through a food processor and then froze the concoction in an ice cube tray , to then put in a Zip-lock bag for future use in spaghetti sauce. Saturday was the local 'Saturday Market' our Community Club, and in particular, Robin Griffin , is trying to get going in our community. Here is my booth , with our dog Beatrix as my companion . People in our community are welcome to come and sell what they produce from their gardens, flocks, and crafts. I sold some almost grown Frizzle Bantam chicks. The Frizzle chicks have been very popular, and I do not have enough chicks to meet the demand for them. Good thing the bantam hens love to hatch out and rear the little feathered cuties.

I sold 2 wethered ( castrated ) ram lambs this weekend also!

My husbands' vegetable garden is producing lettuces enough to give us salads galore and share with a lot of people . These lettuces , when combined with our cucumbers, tomatoes, and herbs , are more tasty than the usual salad and it is probably because my husband planted a big variety of them and they are prepared fresh from the garden.

I sold all our extra eggs at the Saturday Market.

And for this Saturday gathering in our home, yes, after spending all day at the Saturday Market, we had a big pot of our fresh from the garden green beans with bacon to add to the potluck. A very busy weekend for us. Harvest season is upon us, not much time for resting, but we did get a nap in anyway. Now I need to make sure I do get the beans canned, the plums jammed, the lettuces cleaned and prepared for salads, the remaining chickens and sheep readied for the fall and winter. So much to do , and the abundance so richly provided by God is not to be wasted and squandered. No lounging around whilst eating bon bons for me these coming weeks. Thankfully!

Spot on Cuckoo Marans ( chickens)

~This is one of my Cuckoo Maran roosters. I love the cuckoo pattern on poultry, for that is what the term 'cuckoo' is referring to. The hens of this pattern or color, are darker than the roosters. The Cuckoo Marans resemble the Barred Plymouth Rock chickens, but the Plymouth Rocks are an American breed and the Marans are French. The Marans and the Rocks come in several different colors. The first batch of Cuckoo Marans I raised came from Sandhill Preservation Center in Nebraska, and true to the breed, some had feathered legs, some didn't. The current pen of Cuckoo Marans came from Murray McMurray, and none of them had feathered legs, and none of them are laying the dark chocolate brown eggs I desire. ~This is one of my Maran hens. Because she has seriously deformed feet I keep her only with a Maran rooster. Really, I should have culled her, but she survives qiuite well and lays eggs most days. The eggs shown below are from her. As you can see, they are not chocolate brown. ~Here is a basket of eggs collected from my flock. You can see the variation in color. I am getting only 2 dark brown eggs every day or so and believe they come from the only two survivors of my previous flock( the rest of the flock was killed by dogs) and 3 year breeding program directed at getting a certain color of brown eggs. ~Here are the survivors( below), and they are 3 generations of Welsummers and Marans bred together for dark brown eggs. I would have my bantams brood only the darkest brown eggs and raise the chicks. I think I am going to find another source of the Marans and Welsummers, the Murray McMurray Marans seem to be laying almost white eggs. Hey, even Barred Plymouth Rock eggs are darker than these. Meanwhile, we will use the bounty of eggs the flock we have produce, and I so enjoy watching my flock of chickens. ~"The Maran chicken was developed in France in the mid 1800's , imported into England around 1920 where most of it's improvement ocurred. The vast majority of the Marans are cuckoo coloured ranging from very dark grey to silver, red / bright orange eye color and white legs. The most notable charasteristic of this hardy chicken is it's very dark egg colour.." UK Maran Blessings: chickens, eggs

Breakfast ! Shirred Eggs With Spinach and Cream

~Fresh eggs, and I want to try something new for breakfast !~~ This recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks, and it is called Shirred Eggs With Spinach and Cream. I very much like everything the recipe calls for, so let's try it, it is EASY!

Here are the ingredients: 2 Tablespoons spinach, fresh or frozen 1 teaspoon butter

2 Tablespoons cream ( your choice, light or heavy)

1 egg Kosher salt freshly ground pepper freshly ground nutmeg 1 tablespoon grated cheese of your choice

~Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees~

~1.Put the butter in a 6- or 8- ounce ovenproof ramekin. Melt in the microwave (about 20 seconds) and swirl around to coat the bottom and sides.

~3. Briefly cook the spinach until wilted , then squeeze out the excess liquid. ( This can be done quickly in the microwave.) Put the spinach in the ramekin.

~ pour in the cream~

~Crack the egg into the ramekin. Grate salt and pepper onto egg. Dust on the nutmeg.Top with the cheese. 4. Place the ramekin in the oven and bake about 15 minutes, until yolk begins to set. Serve hot.~

"A shirred egg is simply an egg baked uncovered in a buttered dish, usually with a few components to give it interest. You have your choice of cheese here. Parmesan is a safe option, but this is a good opportunity to use up that bit of interesting cheese that is languishing in the refrigerator. This recipe serves one. In making these for a number of people, simply multiply the recipe as needed. Always bake in individual ramekins, although the ramekins can be placed in a baking dish so they are easy to handle in and out of the oven. Shirred eggs can be assembled and refrigerated for up to an hour before baking." THE FARMSTEAD EGG COOKBOOK" by Terry Golson

~ I quickly took this photograph of my breakfast, then ate it, piping hot. It was delicious. This is now my favorite breakfast, after left over Chinese food. I also refrigerated a second ramekin of this dish for SEVERAL hours, and baked it for my Hubby when he came home from work. He said it was delicious too. Hubby does NOT say a food is delicious unless he means it..so you can actually refrigerate this quite a few hours before baking.....I think this will be my new breakfast of choice for overnight guests. ~ Terry Golson did not pay me for this endorsement, but I would recommend, nay..CROW and CLUCK to anyone who raises chickens and / or loves to eat eggs ,buy this book! ( or borrow it from the library, as I did before I decided I NEEDED this book ) It is beautiful and practical. Google Terry Golson and you can take a peek at her chickens via her hen cam, installed in her chicken coop. She has compiled so much practical information on eggs and recipes using eggs...