This Beautiful Boy...

... is heading to a new home. We love how amazing his feathers are but his personality is for the birds.

This beautiful rooster is a cross between a brown Americauna hen and an Australorp rooster. These pictures don't do him justice as they don't pick up the iridescent sheen of his feathers. Sissy hatched him a few years ago. He was part of her first attempt at using an incubator.

Unfortunately, has he matured, he became aggressive. He doesn't get along with the other rooster anymore, to the point of almost killing him. We really have no choice but to re-home him. We hope he does well.

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, [and] look well to thy herds."
  Proverbs 27:23

Fresh Eggs

Our hens have officially started laying again. Here are just a few of the gorgeous eggs that we are getting daily. It's time to start up the incubator. We only incubate the Orpington eggs and that leaves the other's to be used in cooking.

I'm hoping to get some pictures of our chickens. We currently have a buff Orpington rooster, a Ameraucana x Australorp rooster, a white Ameraucana hen, 6 buff Orpington hens, and 3 Australorp hens.

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so [is] a man that wandereth from his place."
 Proverbs 27:8

Todays Harvest

I'm so pleased with our garden harvest today. We haven't worked in the garden for so long that the weed have totally taken over. Thankfully, neglect doesn't stop the productivity of our nightshades.

What a great start to our morning's harvest!!

We originally went out to see if there was anything left of the potato patch. The plants had come up beautifully, grew thick and strong, and then died. I totally missed noticing that they died because the weeds took over so fast that the bed always looked green. By the time I noticed what had happened, I gave up all hope of having a harvest.

The last (and only) time that I left the potatoes in the ground the mice had very nicely eaten them all. When we went to harvest, we found lovely holes where there had once been mature potatoes. After that episode, I vowed to harvest the potatoes as soon as all the plants had died back. That didn't happen this year, of course.

As I was saying, we originally went out to see if there were any potatoes to harvest because I purchased a lot of chicken in my last grocery trip and I had wanted to make chicken in the crock-pot. I'll post the recipe another time. I had just used all the potatoes that I had on hand and my fingers were crossed that by some chance, we could get at least a few potatoes out of the bed. I was well pleased to find half a bucket full.

Then, we all turned our attention to the adjacent beds that were full to overflowing with tomatoes and eggplants. I'm surprised how many cherry tomatoes are still green. But it's reassuring that there will be plenty more in the next days and weeks. A great deal were already split and many more were already on the ground. Those will all go to the hens.

Today's harvest all washed up and sitting pretty.

Until next time,
May all your gardening adventures be a blessing!

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"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." Genesis 8:22

Processing Walking Onions

Today was a very long day in the kitchen garden!! Then it was even longer in the kitchen. Thankfully I have a wonderful, and very helpful, family. They helped cut and chop and bag the onions that I brought in.

Washed and dried and ready to bag and freeze

All of the work of cutting off the roots, extra limp parts and turbans I did in the garden. That way I don't bring all the mess, dirt, and bugs into the house. Once inside, the onion bulb, in this case it's more of a shallot, gets a good wash. The stems do as well.

Walking onion stems to be used as leeks and chives

 I generally don't harvest more onions than I will use at a time but I really wanted to plant that raised bed with something else. Today's work will make me think twice before I harvest so many at a time.

My children and husband were all such a great help in processing the onions.

 Each part of the plant can be used. The bulb of course is used for onions or shallots. The lower part of the stem I use for leeks. The green, hollow tops I slice thin and use for chives. We had a lot of everything today.

We had more than we needed for a very large pot of Cream of Alum Soup. I'll try and share the recipe with you when I have a chance.

Bagged onion bulbs

Bagged and ready for the freezer

My books on canning, freezing and preserving say that onions don't have to be blanched ahead of time. So after cutting and sorting all the parts of the plants, and using a lot for our soup, the rest were bagged and popped in the freezer.


May all your endeavors be profitable,
Jess

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 "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land" Isaiah 1:19