D-Day for Chickens

Well, we knew it was coming.  The old chickens had lived out their useful life.  I know, I know...as a vegetarian I should be opposed to any animal deaths.  And I am opposed to animal cruelty and useless suffering.  But I am also a realist and I understand that these are not wild animals that have been penned up cruelly, but are animals bred to provide eggs and meat.  They wouldn't exist without human intervention.  So when they started loosing feathers and their keels started showing out of their breasts, we knew it was time.

Mom, Dad, Pat and I all helped.  It was a group effort.  It was very humane.  Mom even prayed before we began to thank the chickens for all the eggs they provided our family and for the yummy chicken soup that would be to come.  With that, we began.

We set up on the driveway and in the garage.  Pat had built a killing cone.  Dad put the chicken head down inside the cone, pull its neck straight and slit its throat.  It bled out into a trashcan filled with sawdust. 

Then Dad dunked the chicken in 150 degree water, in a big pot on the camp stove in the garage.  Once the feathers pulled off easily, he gave it to Mom and me and we plucked it.






Mom and I plucking chickens.




  

Then Pat gutted them, I helped too. 


 

Dad, showing off one of the finished birds.


Final step, hose everything off and then spray with bleach-water.  And pack the chickens in vacuum-sealed freezer bags.

  They're not "oven-stuffers" but they will be good to use for stock or to pick off of the bone for soup.

Shingles!

We've got the shingles, finally, for the cabin.  After much ado, and missed delivery dates, we drove to York and picked them up ourselves--all 1600 lbs of them!  We got cedar shingles from Canada and they were supposed to be delivered to our farm, but things got mixed up and they kept being delayed.  But here they are, safe and sound on our porch:

There was a little bit of learning curve, for me, to hang them.  But once we got a system going it went pretty quick.  They have a 5" overhang, and we snap a chalk line to line the bottom up against so they are nice and straight.  

We started on the side.  This is what we got done after one full day.  Not bad!

The tricky part is around the gables under the roof.  Lots of angles and takes some time.

Most of the first side is done.  We'll use some kind of stain to finish it once they are all up.  I haven't decided yet if I want a colored stain to keep it the cedar color, or if we should just keep it clear and let it age naturally to a gray color. 

Flycatcher family

We had a family of flycatchers raised on our porch!  They watched us when we were sitting on the porch or having breakfast.  Frank and Fiona Flycatcher would hang out on branches and chirp at us.  They built their nest out of lichens and mosses up on the top beam of the porch roof.  They finally fledged last weekend.  here are some pics of their family

Here's their nest the first time we noticed it.  There may have been eggs inside, but I didn't want to disturb them to find out.

Mother or father  

Mother and father!

Kind of blurry, but this is the mother flying away after feeding the babies.

Believe it or not, there are five little birds up here.  They are just about to fledge and they've been trying out their wings...to the detriment of their nest.  Some of it is falling apart now.




Below is the mother feeding the babies, one has its mouth open.  They were gone the next weekend. 

Chamomile

I cut my chamomile this weekend.  I have a patch of it by the pool, but it gets weedy-looking and Mom wanted to neaten things up before the big 4th of July party.  So I cut it--which it needed badly any way.  I cut the stalks, since she wanted to get rid of the plants themselves, but then I cut the flower heads off.  I transported them back home and dried them for about a week on the food dehydrator.  I love chamomile tea for evenings when you need to unwind a bit.  I have asked for a chamomile rake for my birthday--it is a hand-held tool with teeth to pull off the heads and a basket to catch them.  Would be a lot easier than cutting each one individually!

Napa Cabbage

One of the most wonderful things we get early in the season is Napa cabbage.  If you haven't had it before, think of a cross between regular cabbage and iceberg lettuce.  It has that delicate, lacy texture, with the punch of cabbage.  It makes great cole slaw, but it is most often used in Asian cooking.  In fact, Pat's friend Carol from Taipei loves it and gets excited when she hears about it.  We found a lot of new ways to cook it, but one of the best ways is in dumplings or pot-stickers.  Shredded cabbage, carrot and red pepper with tofu and asian dressings folded together in a little purse of a wonton wrapper.  Then steamed, and if you want, deep fried.  Apparently Carol says that is how they do it in China but we just steamed ours.

Another great way to cook Napa cabbage is to make stir-fry.  We found a recipe for stir-fried Napa cabbage with ginger and marinated tofu.  Even though I'm a vegetarian, I am not a huge tofu fan, but this stuff is good!  It is marinated then broiled and basted with the asian dressing.  Then added to the Napa cabbage and ginger.  We have made this quite a few times!  (although i have to admit, the pic doesn't look all that appetizing)