Lost a Chicken

Posted on December 31, 2010 · 3 Comments
Jeanette giving the hen fluids

We lost a chicken last night.

It started at about 2pm when we were out in the barn to feed the critters and collect eggs. Jeanette looked into one of the next boxes and found her. She wasn’t looking good. She was very lethargic, had her eyes closed and was emaciated. She pulled her out and we brought her into the house. We made a concoction of pedilyte, greek plain yogurt and molasses. After about 5cc she perked up a bit and became more alert. About an hour we gave her more. Unfortunately it was too little, too late and she passed around 7pm.

The mystery was what she died of. We checked all of our other hens, much to their chagrin and they were all healthy and of good weight. This was one of our younger hens so chances are she was not egg bound. Not to mention we couldn’t feel anything. Her crop was completely empty as well. However, her comb was purple which leads to the idea that she may have a circulatory problem.

The only other explanation that we can thing of is that she never figured out where the feed was and was trying to subsist on the kitchen scraps and yard waste.

Survival of the fittest I guess.

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Filed Under: Chicken Health, Chickens, Livestock Tagged With:

The California Rare Fruit Grower’s Scion Exchange

Posted on December 30, 2010 · 6 Comments

Hoping to find scions for Arkansas Black Apples
What’s a scion you ask? A scion (not the car company) is a plant shoot, bud or small branch that you graft onto rootstock of another plant. The California Rare Fruit Growers have an event every year during bareroot season where people can go and exchange scions of plants they have for scions they don’t have.

When is this?
The Golden Gate Chapter will be having a scion exchange on Saturday, January 22, 2011 from noon unitl 3:00pm.

Where is it?
It will be at the First Baptist Church in El Sobrante. The address is 4555 Hilltop Drive, El Sobrante, Ca.

How much?
A $4 donation to enter

Who will be there?
We will! We’ve been invited to have an information table there. Other groups that have been invited include Hayes Valley Farm, City Slicker Farms, Urban Tilth, the Richmond Seed Lending Library, the Martinez Permaculture Center, Slow Food Berkeley and a whole host of other organizations. There will also be growers of rare and interesting fruits that we can grow in the Bay Area offering scions of what they grow and a class and demo on grafting.

You can find out more about this event on the Golden Gate Chapter’s site along with information on what you can grow here and how to graft. We hope to see you there!

P.S. I’m already making a list of what I want to add to our garden. ;)

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Filed Under: Current Events, Gardening, Growing Tips, Varieties

Flickr of Inspiration – Winter Wonderland

Posted on December 28, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Photo by Susan Robitaille

This is Milo, my mom’s husky (?) mix hanging out in the first snow of the year. This is his first year living in snow and from what I hear, he’s in love with it. Milo has spent the last 9 years of his life living in California. This past September they moved to Ohio to a home with 3 acres. He gets to chase deer and squirrels pretty much all the time – two of his favorite pastimes. It’s a life I think most dogs want.

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Filed Under: Flickr of Inspiration

The Front Yard

Posted on December 28, 2010 · 4 Comments

Back in July I wrote about our plans to change our front yard into vegetable beds for our neighbors. Since then we haven’t done much of anything to the front yard and that gave me a lot of time to think about our plans.

While I really want to share our food with our neighbors I’m realizing that it’s not a very good idea. The first is our dog. She goes pants-on-head-crazy when anyone comes into our fenced front yard so the chances anyone would actually pick food is slim to none. Add on that if someone was brave enough to venture into our front yard she will try, and possibly succeed going through the front window. Not good.

The second issue is the crime rate around here. We recently found out that a friend lives near us – literally a block away. He’s lived there for 10+ years so he knows a lot of dirt about our neighborhood. And he’s told me a lot of stories. I am now pretty uncomfortable inviting people onto our property.

The third issue is safety. People are so sue-happy nowadays I’m not sure I want the responsibility of someone coming onto my property and then suing us because they got injured. I don’t think our insurance agent would much care for that. Not to mention what would happen if our pants-on-head-crazy dog actually got through the window to go after someone. It wouldn’t be pretty.

And let’s not forget the whole urban agriculture situation. Do I really want to be attracting attention of nosy neighbors that don’t like what we’re doing? Do I want those that may take issue with chicken or goat noises to actually figure out that it’s us? Do I want the City knocking on our door to discuss the “unacceptable use” of the front yard to then discover what we have going on in the backyard? No, not really. I’d also like to add the caveat that the City has volunteers that go around and record which houses that have front yards they deem unacceptable so that the City can swing by and visit you and write you a ticket. Yeah. Good times.

So the plans now stand at fruiting shrubs and trees only. We’ll still be producing food but it will be landscaped. The food will be hidden among ornamental plants.

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Filed Under: Farm Diary

Fleur de Sel (Salted) Caramels

Posted on December 26, 2010 · 4 Comments

Last year I ill-advisedly picked up on one of those “the first 5 people to comment on this will get a hand-made gift from me” kind of memes floating around facebook. The caveat, as is often the case with these things, was re-posting it on YOUR page, thus continuing the cycle of gift-making.
Right.
So I posted it. Because I somehow thought I’d actually follow through and make something “before the end of the year” and send it out to those lucky 5 people, and wouldn’t they be SO PLEASED!? I mean – come on – this isn’t just a hand-made thing by anyone. I’m an ARTIST.
Ahem.
So, bursting to the gills with ego and self-proclaimed benevolence, I immediately signed up for all sorts of other folks’ stuff and then promptly forgot all about the project.

That is, until I got a call from a friend of mine, asking if I was home, because he owed me something and wanted to drop it off. I couldn’t for the life of me think of what he could possibly owe me, but agreed that yes, I would be home in 20 minutes, and he was welcome to come by. I wondered what it could be? Was it my birthday?

And then I panicked. I remembered that stupid meme. Oh boy, I was a bad friend. I didn’t even remember which 5 people I’d promised gifts to, and though I know that facebook saves everything posted on it FOREVER, the odds of finding that post again seemed slim (let it never be said that I am unapologetically flaky. In fact, I will beat myself up and tilt into ever-widening guilt-spirals if given half the chance. Especially about art projects).

I paced. I made tea. Maybe he wouldn’t ask about MY gifts if I kept him busy. “I know – I’ll show him the garden! The chickens! YAY chickens!” I said to myself.
The doorbell rang. Leigh and his daughter Genna came in, hung out with the chickens, and then handed me a tiny box. A box full of THE BEST SALTED CARAMELS I HAVE EVER TASTED.

I don’t remember if they asked me about my gifts. I probably told them I was a horrible flake and hadn’t done anything. I was beyond caring. I was lost in a world of delicious caramel-y goodness the likes of which I had previously believed were unachievable. Unless they were magic.


It’s possible I actually asked if the caramels were magic. The rest of the visit was kind of a blur.
This year, when I was thinking about what I would like to make to give to my friends and loved ones during the (insert special winter celebration here) holidays, these were the first things I thought of. I called up Leigh and Genna and asked them if they would prettyprettyplease with fleur de sel on top teach me to make salted caramels, and they gladly agreed.

Turns out there’s not much to them, once you get the proportions and the science down. Yes, they take some time to make. Yes, they make a bit of a mess, and YES, hot sugar is equal only to MOLTEN LAVA in it’s powers of burning and making things (fingers, ahem) hurt. Yes, this process takes LOTS OF HOURS. But they are so oh-my-god-I’ve-died-and-gone-to-heaven-and-not-even-the-normal-heaven-but-a-special-heaven-just-for-foodies good that it’s worth any amount of work.

Heck, I might even send some to those 5 folks on my list. If I can ever remember who they were.


Fleur de Sel Caramels

(aside from the food ingredients, you will need several pans: one sauce pan for heating the cream and butter, one big high-sided pot for boiling the caramel, and a double-boiler for tempering the chocolate. A saucepan with a heat-proof bowl on top can be a fakey double-boiler in a pinch.

You’ll need a large pyrex (or other non-stick) casserole or cake pan, roughly 11″ x 15″, buttered completely on all inside surfaces.

You will also need a candy thermometer, a heat-resistant rubber spatula/whisk, a roll of wax paper, a roll of parchment paper, and a long chef’s knife with a sharp edge.)

foodstuffs:
2c heavy whipping cream
10 Tbsp butter (plus more for buttering the pan)
2 tsp sea salt (plus more for sprinkling on top)
3c granulated sugar (I used organic evaporated cane juice)
1/2 c light corn syrup
1/2 c water (a little more or less depending on the humidity where you’re making them)
dark chocolate (we went through a little over one large bar, which was maybe 2 or 3 cups when chopped)
In a large, high-sided pan (I used a large stock pot), mix the sugar, corn syrup, and water…keeping in mind that higher-humidities will need slightly less water than called for in the recipe. Once the ingredients are incorporated, place them over medium heat to start melting together.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, melt the cream, butter, and salt together and bring to a boil (remember that the cream will increase in volume dramatically when boiling – consider this when choosing your pans). Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside until needed.
The butter and cream will separate somewhat as this mixture cools, but that’s OK – the violent bubbling in the next step will assure that everything incorporates fully.
**Make sure at this time that you have prepped your pans for the caramel to set. You want something with a wide, flat base that is heat-proof (no plastics) and sturdy (will not warp). Large pyrex/heavy glass casserole dishes or cake pans are ideal for this. Coat all inside surfaces with butter and make sure you do not miss any spots – the caramel can get pretty sticky.**
Once the sugar mixture comes to a boil, keep an eye on the color: you want a deep amber, but there’s a fine line between golden-brown and BURNT. Do not cross that line. You’ll notice that at a certain point, the bubbles will change size and consistency somewhat (bubbles will be bigger and seem thicker-walled). This is a good sign that you’re getting close.
Once you have reached a good golden-brown color, it is time to add the cream. Be careful here – the mixture will easily triple in volume as it boils away the water in the cream, and is molten-hot. NO TOUCHY.
Now’s the time for your candy thermometer. You want this mixture to boil until it comes to 248 degrees (if it is very cold or wet outside, you can take it up a few degrees higher. On the night we made ours it was raining and very cold, so we took it to about 253).
Pour the mixture into the buttered pans and allow them to cool. If you are in a rush, you can cool them to where they are cool enough to handle on a counter, and then pop them in the fridge or freezer to speed up the cooling process.

Ours took about 2 hours to completely set.
Once the caramel is set, you can turn the whole slab out onto wax paper. You’ll generally need to pry it up with a butter knife or an icing-knife, but it’s not too hard to extract once you get it going. Smooth out any gashes from errant knife-slippage, and then cut the caramel into 3/4″ squares.

**Note: we discovered that having two long chef’s knives in a vase of hot water is KEY here, because you can use one until it starts to stick to the caramels, then trade out for the other heated one. Lather, rinse, repeat. **

If you do not know how to temper chocolate for dipping, there are many good methods online. We followed these instructions and were very happy with the results (because David Lebovitz is a genius and everything he does is wonderful). Basically, you have to heat the chocolate, then cool it, and then keep it within a temperature range where the crystals set in the proper way to get a hard coating that is shiny and solid at room temperature.


Once you have tempered your chocolate, you can start dipping your caramels. Leigh brought over some chocolate tools he got for cheap at the craft store, and they were fabulous…but I think a spoon and some chopsticks would do fairly well.

Once the caramels are coated in chocolate, set them out on parchment paper and sprinkle with just a bit of fleur de sel (Leigh spoiled us and brought some he’d bought in France!), and set them to dry for at least a half hour before eating.

…Right.
TRY to leave some to dry all the way?
This recipe makes several dozen caramels, which is enough to keep some and share some. We made a double-batch and they covered the whole kitchen table!

Now the trick is how to stop EATING them.
THINGS I LEARNED:
*Making caramels is hard on the back, the hands, and the waistline.
*it takes for-freakin’-EVER if you want to make enough of them to have around for a bit.
*there IS such a thing as too much salt. Some of the pictured caramels had to be brushed off to be fit for consumption. A light touch is good, here.
*I do not, despite being told that I would, get tired of eating these.
Help. Please.


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Filed Under: Desserts, Recipes Tagged With: ,

A Little TLC Can Go a Long Way

Posted on December 23, 2010 · 9 Comments

Today we have officially owned our house for 2 years. We’ve come a long way since then and have done a ton of work. Some of you may be familiar with what we acquired when we bought our place. Basically we had a field with lots of very poorly maintained trees. We cut all the trees down except for one spindly little citrus tree.

It was a sad little tree. We didn’t know what kind of citrus it was. One of our neighbors thought that it might have been a lemon tree. That year we cut all the dead wood out and I sprayed it regularly with chelated iron. We also dumped a bunch of chicken manure around the base and hooked up irrigation to it. This year this little tree decided to show us that it’s actually a navel orange and it’s completely covered with fruit.

Yep, that’s the same tree. It’s so happy now. Just goes to show that proper care and a little TLC can go a long way.

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Filed Under: Gardening, Growing Tips, Pests & Diseases

Flickr of Inspiration – Rose Hips

Posted on December 21, 2010 · 2 Comments

Rose Hips, originally uploaded by Bates’ Photography.

A long forgotten fruit. Roses are now primarily used for the floral industry. But rose hips were once commonly used from jams to candies. They have one of the highest levels of Vitamin C among fruit. If you’re interested in exploring rose hips try growing some Rosa rugosa plants as they are the main species of rose that have been utilized for their hips. They have gorgeous shocking magenta single blooms as well.

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Filed Under: Flickr of Inspiration

Missed It

Posted on December 20, 2010 · 2 Comments

We bred Lucy, our Californian doe back in mid November. She was due this past Friday. We were going to give her one more chance to have a large litter. Her first litter was 3. One died immediately and another one died in our heinous heatwave. Her last litter wasn’t a litter. She just had one kit. One big healthy kit, but just one kit none-the-less. So we said that if she couldn’t give us a big litter the next round we’d have to retire her.

We’ve tried several different techniques but the one that I’ve read the most about we hadn’t tried. So this was her chance. The technique is to let them breed 3 times, remove the doe and then take her back 8 hours later. The theory is that rabbits don’t cycle until stimulated. After being stimulated they will ovulate 8 hours later, but if they urinate between the breeding and ovulation all is lost. So that is the reason for breeding again 8 hours after the first breeding.

Turns out she wasn’t pregnant. Neither of us have mastered palpating to see if she’s pregnant. But she seemed bigger. She wasn’t though. I’m not going to hold it against her for not being pregnant. Rabbits’ fertility wanes as the days do. She was also really stressed when we last bred her. We bred her with Lou who she wasn’t familiar with and was quite scared of because he’s so much bigger than Ricky, who she lives next to and is used to.

So this time we’ve bred her to Ricky again. She likes him a LOT. She doesn’t run around his hutch like a crazy rabbit trying to get away from him. Plus he’s really sweet and grooms her. So let’s hope this time takes. But since it’s almost the Winter Solstice and days are so short I’m not going to expect much.

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Filed Under: Livestock, Rabbit Health, Rabbits Tagged With:

Duck Fried Wild Rice

Posted on December 19, 2010 · 1 Comment

For the past four weekends, I have been working the Charles Dickens Christmas Fair at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. It is a beautiful reenactment of Victorian London at Christmas time, and a wonderful way to celebrate the holiday season.
It’s great fun. It is also at times stressful, dramatic, and completely exhausting, like any job.
One thing I notice is that after a long day of serving (and then a few hours of dancing, singing, drinking, etc) is that when I get home, all I want is salt. And specifically, all I want is soy sauce. Not quite sure why this is…maybe because it is so remarkably non-English? But all I know is when I drunkenly whipped up a batch of half-assed fried rice (nothing in it, just rice, eggs, soy, ginger, garlic) last weekend when I got home, it was AMAZING.
One of the great things about working in food service at this season is the leftovers. Because we only operate on the weekends, come Sunday night there is always extra produce, thawed proteins that can’t be re-frozen, and various cooked items that will not keep for a week. These things get bagged up, and (if we are very lucky) can sometimes come home with us.

This last weekend, I was the grateful recipient of a gallon of steamed wild rice, and a couple of lovely muscovy duck breasts. What better thing to do with them than to upscale that fried rice a little bit, turning it from a midnight munchy-snack to something I would be proud to serve as a meal?

Thus, this recipe was born. I wouldn’t even really call it a recipe, more of a method. Change out the ingredients as much as you want. Make it your own. Use it as a way to clean veggies out of your fridge. Dice up some leftover cooked pork chops or chicken, some carrots and mushrooms, maybe some leeks you’ve been neglecting in the back of the fridge for almost a month now (not that I would ever do that *ahem*). Fry ‘em up.
And after a long day of being on your feet, if it doesn’t make your little cells feel like they are being rehydrated with pure liquid joy, then…well, I dunno. It will, is what I’m saying.


Duck Fried Wild Rice

6-8 c prepared (al dente) wild rice – about 2 c dry rice before cooking
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large muscovy duck breast, scored through the fat in a one-inch grid
1″ knob of ginger (1 Tbsp, minced)
1-3 cloves garlic (1 Tbsp minced)
2-3 scallions (green onions), whites and greens chopped
1-2 c chopped napa cabbage, bok choy, or other wiltable green (chard or mustard would be nice, but use more greens, as they cook down considerably)
1/4 c mirin (sweet cooking wine – sherry would do in a pinch)
2 large eggs
1/4 c soy sauce
In a large pot with a fitting lid, prepare your wild rice. I do this by feel, but it’s roughly two to three times as much water as rice, steamed in the pan with the lid on until the water is all absorbed or steamed out. You want your rice to still be al dente and not too sticky. Fluff the rice and allow it to cool to room temp.
Meanwhile, in a large-capacity pan or wok, heat the oil and lay the duck breast fat-side down over medium heat to render out the fat. If it is cooking too quickly, turn the heat to low – the point here is to cook out the layer of fat on the breast, not to actually cook the meat very much. The skin should brown, but not burn. When most of the fat has rendered out, add half the ginger and garlic to the pan, and turn the breast over to brown the other side.


There should be a considerable amount of grease in the pan, but if you need to add more olive oil or butter (or more duck fat!) to prevent sticking, do so. Add the chopped cabbage or bok choy, and let the greens begin to wilt a bit while the duck cooks (about 3 minutes). Then add the mirin to the pan, and cover it so that everything steams together.
After a few minutes (the duck breast should still be pretty rare – do not overcook it), remove the duck to rest on a plate and cook off the remaining liquid in the pan until nearly dry. Toss in the rice and the scallions and stir until warmed through. At this point you can add more ginger or garlic, if you like a lot of those flavors – I do, personally.
Break up any rice clumps, and move the contents to the edges, making a well in the center where you can see the bottom of the pan. If it looks very dry, add a bit of oil or butter (or duck fat) to prevent sticking.


Crack two eggs into this well and scramble them, trying to avoid mixing in too much rice until the eggs are about 3/4 solid. Then mix the egg into the rice until everything is incorporated fully. Finally, pour in the soy sauce, mix, and allow it to steam out until the rice is fairly dry again.


Serve this fried rice with slices of the steamed duck breast over the top, and a sprinkling of chopped scallions (bean sprouts or shredded daikon would be tasty, too).

This fried rice recipe can be adapted to any sort of non-sticky rice, and can accept LOTS of substitutions. Had I my druthers, I would have also added sliced water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and fresh sugar snap peas, had they been available.


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Filed Under: Foraging & Hunting, Main Courses, Meat, Recipes Tagged With: ,

Bareroot Season is Coming!

Posted on December 18, 2010 · 3 Comments

Around here January marks the beginning of bareroot season. Fruit trees become available in mass quantities and so many varieties it’s mind boggling. Our first year here we planted 16 bareroot trees almost immediately after moving in. Our second year we planted 9 more. I of course want more but have pretty much run out of room.

Along with trees, it’s also bareroot shrubs and vines that are offered. Everything from blueberries to grapes to roses.

So do you have plant to purchase and plant any bareroot plants this coming year?

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Filed Under: Garden Planning, Gardening
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