Poor Elsie

Chickens are SO MEAN.  I guess I already knew that, but the last several weeks have provided further evidence to the cruel, cutthroat nature of hens.  Elsie, being smart for a change, started molting two weeks ago.  I consider this a smart move, because she will have all her new fluffy feathers by the time the nights actually get into the thirties.

But then again, maybe it's a defense mechanism because she knows her place in the pecking order.  Being at the very bottom, she generally gets bullied and is last to the food.  She also doesn't get to cuddle with the other three when they go to roost at night.  Abby, Frannie, and Pearl are all snuggled up together and poor little Elsie is stuck a few feet over, all by herself.  Normally this is ok, but when you're half naked and sleeping in a coop that gets to 43 degrees at night, risk of hypothermia is a real concern.  So she's smart for doing it now and not when it's 33 degrees in the coop at night, which is what it will be in the next few months.

So to compensate from the lack of love she's get getting from her own species, she's been getting some much needed love and affection from us this last week.  I came home to Shawn cuddling her in the living room the other day, and she's gotten some alone time, away from the others with the feeders.  She's been looking and feeling a little skinnier lately, and spends half the day up in the coop to get away from the constant pecking that the others are inflicting on her.  So she's been getting extra bowls of food in there to keep her company.  We've also been cooking her up some special meals: scrambled eggs with sunflower seeds and carrots, leftover beans and rice with corn meal, and extra piles of corn scratch that she can eat in peace away from the others.  She needs lots of protein and fat right now to help with the regrowing of her feathers, and she's getting there.

But MAN, chickens are mean.  I hope she dishes some back to the others when they decide to start molting in the next couple weeks.  But then again, she's so sweet, I'm sure she'll still get bullied.  (Sigh.)

Poor sweet Elsie.

She was looking like a porcupine for a while.

How do you say Bagel?

Bay-gle?  Baggle?  How about delicious?

Yeah, I had the energy to make these yesterday.  They're so damn delicious, but they do take some time so it doesn't happen very often.  Let me explain.  (These aren't quite the same as the ones you can get in a bagel shop, but WAY better than the crappy doughy ones you can get by the half dozen at the grocery store.)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups warm water
3 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (you know, to make it ok to eat more than one at a time :))
3 tablespoons sugar or honey
2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1 package or 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast
1 teaspoon salt
Optional: an eggwhite for brushing the tops and your choice of topping. (Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, coarse sea salt, dried onion flakes...)

*a pot of boiling water with a 1/4 cup of sugar in it.

In a large bowl, combine water, salt, sugar, and yeast.  Let sit for about 10 minutes to let it get frothy to make sure those yeasties are up for the task of making you delicious, fluffy bagels.  Add the oil and flour, one cup at a time until you get a good dough consistency that is easy to handle.  Knead for about 15 minutes or until the dough is nice and stretchy.  Pour a tiny bit of oil in the bottom of the bowl and place the dough back into it, rolling it around so that it has a nice coat all over it.  Let rise in a warm place for an hour or two.

Once it's doubled in size, punch it down and shape into bagel shapes.  I made 10 smaller ones, but you could also make 6 giant ones if you want.  Let rise for another 30 minutes until they get a little fluffier.  In the meantime, bring a pot of water to a boil and add the sugar (or some honey if you prefer.)  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  If you have toppings (other than the salt), sprinkle them onto a smaller plate so that they are ready to be dipped in. 

Now, boil each of the bagels for a minute on each side.  Remove them from the water with a slotted spoon and dip the tops into the toppings.  (You can also brush them with an egg white wash before dipping them if you prefer.)  Arrange them topping side up on the parchment paper.  Bake them for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Try them toasted with cream cheese and lemon curd and ENJOY!  I promise, you will.

Greens are Yummy

The results are in: the ladies LOVE the greens. Here they are, being enticed by the tray.

The chicken yard is growing but still too sparse to let them at it. We still have another tray for them and will plant more here soon. It fells really good to be able to grow something just for them.

On another note, I haven't posted any Sunday harvests lately but we have been harvesting things here and there. Unfortunately, I haven't been keen on vegetables lately and have been too tired to be out there much so things have been neglected.  But, the other day we thoroughly enjoyed a dinner that was made up of at least half things from the garden.  It was so damn good.  I kinda want it again.

Edamame and potato salad with home grown carrots, onions, and cucumbers.

I also made a delicious zucchini bread and have been enjoying delicious sandwiches with all the tomatoes I'm getting. We have some serious potatoes in the ground too.

Sometimes Life is Extra Interesting

So some of you may be wondering what happened to that experiment where I was going to try out all those eco-friendly menstrual products.  Well, trust me, I haven't forgotten about it and I still can't wait to do it.  However, it is very likely that I will be trying out eco-friendly baby diapers before I get around to trying the pads and diva cup.

Yes indeed, Shawn and I are expecting.  Ooooh, boy. (Or girl.)

If you're not planning on reading the rest of this post, read this first before you click away:  PLEASE let's keep this whole thing off the wonderful world of Facebook.  Though we are not keeping this news a secret, we are also not wanting the WHOLE WORLD to know about it.  At least not yet.  I'm sure it'll get there somehow, like a herpes virus, but for now I'm not ready.  We've told the important people in our lives and now that it will be on this here blog, I think everyone who needs to know and has the right to know will know.  Eventually, I know that it will become too obvious to keep it much of a secret, but for now, I'm not ready for the barrage of Facebook likes and comments.  There's just something fake and overwhelming about it, you know?

So what does this all mean for this blog?  First of all, it will not turn into a mom blog.  Not that there's anything wrong with them, I've been an avid reader of several mom blogs for a few years now.  In fact, this blog was started because of all the mom blogs that started cropping up several years ago.  But there are lots of them and I feel like I have something special and a little different going.  (Well, not that I have the only urban homesteading blog in existence, either.  But I'm special, dammit!)

Over the years, this blog has become an extension of myself.  A lot of the goings-on in my life (that pertain to the theme of the blog) are shared here, and I have found myself being more experimental, ambitious, and motivated to try new and fun things so that I always have things to write about and to keep things from getting stale.  Considering this relationship I have with the blog and since it mirrors much of my everyday life, I'm sure this whole baby thing will indeed make an appearance from time to time.  I just hope that it doesn't become an everyday thing and a place where I post incessant pictures of every cute thing the wee one does.  And yes, I know I will think everything is cute, but I also know the rest of you won't give a sh** most of the time.

So there you go.

I'm 14 weeks now, feeling fat and bloated.  Overall, being pregnant has sucked donkey balls.  I have almost every side effect possible, from nausea, to constipation, to constant heartburn.  I get sick when I move too fast and too much, but I also get sick when I sit for too long.  So I have to maintain a constant life rate of two and a half miles an hour to stay comfortable.  I've probably gained more weight than I should have at this point and I can't wait to have a legitimate belly so I have a reason to have a belly beyond the fact that I've eaten too many carbs and haven't worked out for 3 months. 

I could complain a lot more but I'll spare you the pain of reading it.  Hooray for getting all knocked up and stuff.  I haven't told my boss yet, that's causing some anxiety.

Chickie salad bar

Like everyone else around here, we have a very sad looking lawn indeed.  Quintessential of all Seattle lawns, it's crispy, yellow, and we haven't had to mow it in several months.  Though I don't personally care since I know it'll be back as soon as the rains start, the chickies aren't quite enjoying it as much.

Our ladies love the greens.  They love dandelions, clover, grass, and almost any other leafy green thing growing in the yard.  This also includes my lettuce and kale.  Unfortunately, my lettuce is also completely gone so I can't even provide them with the gross, bitter, overgrown stalks that they like so much.  I would also rather they not eat all my kale.

So last weekend, we took some steps to mitigate the situation and also provide our lovely ladies with their very own foraging space.  And no, we didn't just start watering the lawn.

First we took a trip to Skye Nursery and got a couple bags of cover crop seed.  We got a mixed bag that included ryegrass, clover, peas, millet, and some other stuff.  I also got a bag of buckwheat since I've read that chickies like that too.  We also got several bags of potting soil, chicken manure (ours isn't ready yet), and compost to help with the terrible soil situation in the chicken yard.  At home, we covered half the chicken yard area with a couple inches of compost and manure and raked it into the first inch or so of the dusty, sad excuse for soil that was back there. Then I sprinkled a nice layer of the seeds and raked those in as well.  A nice dousing of rainwater and we were all set to wait for sprouting.

I also planted a few portable trays so that there would be stuff for them to eat when their yard is regrowing.  These actually sprouted much quicker than the yard so they'll probably be eating from those in the next few weeks while the stuff out back grows enough to withstand some serious chicken trampling.

Let's talk a bit about why I feel so strongly about the ladies getting greens into their diet.  First of all, they LOVE it, so why not let them have it?  Also, they tend to eat their eggs less and lay more eggs when their diet consists of more than just their boring feed.  Greens also make their eggs healthier for us.  They are higher in Omega 3's and lower in the bad cholesterol, and the yolks are a brighter yellow when the ladies are able to eat more beta carotene.  From a behavioral standpoint, foraging is totally normal for chickens.  They do it all day long because that's how they would normally eat.  And foraging also provides them with extra protein from all the bugs and worms that are found along the way so their diets are more well rounded, resulting in healthier chickens.  Finally, the more stuff they eat that we can grow, and keep growing, the less feed we have to buy.  So in the end, it can be financially beneficial as well.  So there you go.  If that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will. 

So we'll see if they like it.  It might take a bit for them to get used to, but they like green stuff so I have faith that they will thoroughly enjoy their very own salad bar.  I'm also planning on planting the seeds into my garden beds to help with replenishing nutrients that are clearly missing in this year's garden.

They're just itching to get out there!

And since you haven't seen a cute picture if Nikolai in a bit, here he is, in his new favorite lounging space. Maybe he wants to go on an adventure.

Gussy Beans! A Double Sunday Harvest

This might be my most exciting harvest this season.  Or EVER.

I should have planted more!

I'm obsessed.  They are so freakin' adorable.  When I opened the first pod, it was like laying my eyes upon 4 cute little kittens that all looked like my sweet little furry babies. I knew they would look like this but to see them for real coming out of my garden was almost too much to handle. And from the looks of the pods, you would never guess that the beans would look so unique.  Love love love it!  I will call them Gussy Beans.  Gussy Beans will make a delicious pot of chili in the fall.

Look closely...

See the resemblance?

The green beans just keep coming, though I think they are finally closing out, and I spotted some edamame emerging so that's exciting.

These purple dragon beans are just as interesting-looking as they sound.

Oh, and last weekend I pulled my garlic that I planted from cloves last winter since the plants were looking nice and dead.  The bulbil plants just shot up some nice scapes so I harvested those as well and gave them to a friend since I didn't want them.

Dilly Green Beans

Despite staggering the planting of the seeds, for some reason, my green beans still managed to get ready all at once.  Since I didn't feel like eating them, my sister decided we should just pickle them.  What a lovely idea, I said.

These are so easy, I'm afraid they're going to taste weird. They'll be ready in three weeks so I guess I can let you know how they are then.

We started with maybe a little over two pounds of beans. I sterilized 6 taller half pint jars, the lids, and the rings and kept them in the dishwasher to keep them warm.

We mixed the following to make the brine:

* 3 cups of water

* 1 1/2 cups of apple cider vinegar

* 2 cups of white vinegar

* 1/3 cup salt

* one clove garlic, peeled but kept whole

These were all mixed and brought to a boil.  In the meantime, the beans were rinsed and the ends were trimmed. Into each jar, we added a sprig of fresh dill and 1/8 tsp of red pepper flakes.  The jars were then packed with beans standing on their ends.  Once the brine was ready, we filled each jar up to a quarter inch from the top.  We screwed on the lids and let them simmer in a canning pot for about 12 minutes. Once they cooled, all the lids sealed well so we had a 100% success rate.

So now we wait.  I hope they're good...