Today it’s been practically t-shirt weather.  And since a lot of the eggs Emily has been bringing in from the coop have been dirty, I decided I’d use the warm weather to see how coop winterization was faring.

NOT GOOD.

People take care of their chicken coops a lot of different ways.  Some people use hay or straw, some people use pine or hardwood mulch.  I’ve even heard of people using grass clippings.   Personally, I like to use pine shavings.  They’re nice and fluffy and comfortable for the chickens’ feet, and they do a great job at drying out all the many droppings that chickens leave behind them and absorbing extra moisture and odor.  I’ve used hay and straw but find that the poop doesn’t get dried out at all and the hay doesn’t break down as easily.  If you’re going to use hay or straw, you’ll need to clean it all out more frequently.   As for grass clippings….I imagine it would be like the hay but even less absorbent.  The last thing you want is a moist coop to harbor bacteria and parasites.  You’re going to have those anyway, but you don’t need to put out a welcome mat (and you don’t want to chance introducing any droppings from wild birds that might be on that grass).

Anyway, pine or hardwood shavings.  You don’t want to use cedar because the aromatic oils are bad for the birds.  I really wish that wasn’t the case, because my coops would smell SO much better.

I do a thorough cleaning out of the coop twice a year, in the spring and the fall.  At those times I’ll completely remove all bedding materials and the leave the doors all open for a few hours to air it out well.  If you’ve had a bad time with parasites or illness this is the time when you also want to scrub the surfaces a bit with some hot water and dish soap.  You can bleach it if you’re so inclined, but be careful to dry it out completely and remove any residue before the chickens go back in.

Personally, I like the method that Zac over at Juniper Moon Farm used this past spring after a bout with mites.  He used a propane – fueled weed burning tool (read: flame thrower!) and lightly charred the entire inside of the coop.

Anyway, once the coop is aired and dried out I dust it down with Poultry Dust.  This is an insecticide powder to ward off lice and mites.  Then I add the pine bedding and let the chickens back in to mess it all up.

Like I said, unless we are having an infestation of some sort or there is some major illness afoot, I only do this twice a year.  The bedding and the poop break down together and whenever it’s looking more “muddy” than “piney” in there I’ll throw a layer of more pine on top.  The composting of the under layer of poop and pine creates some heat and insulation during the winter that helps keep them warm.  In the summer, it breaks down a lot faster with the heat and I replace bedding a lot more often.

But back to today.  Today I intended to check the bedding and add some fresh stuff on top.  That’s not what happened.

The winter this year has been very mild and very, very, very wet.  The chickens are spending more time inside trying to stay dry and therefore pooping a whole lot more inside.  It hasn’t been cold enough to keep the waste in any kind of deep freeze, and it’s been just cold and wet enough to keep everything gross and damp.  No drying.  Not breaking down as fast.  Gross.

Today I cleaned out the coop.

The good news is that all the “muddy” compost I shoveled out can be used as……. compost.  I chucked it all over the area that will be the garden this spring.

And while I was at it I spent time listening to the chickens, observing their behavior and taking stock of their general health and well – being.

Speckles – our Egyptian Fayoumi – just started laying for us.  We’re getting the cutest little cream – colored eggs from her.  And it took her long enough – she’ll be a year old in about a month and a half.

Miss Harriett, a pretty black Cochin.

Roobert, the resident jack-ass.  He likes to attack boots.

ETA: Emily and I have been calling him “Mad – Eye” because he lost an eye a few years back, and that’s when the bad behavior started. Nothing worse than a grumpy one eyed rooster.

This handsome boy was one of the batch we hatched out in August.  He’s  called “Tevye” and he’s a bit off a mutt.

One of Speckle’s adorable little eggs next to a normal – sized egg.

And speaking of eggs: last summer our hens were on strike.  Nobody was laying.  For months we were in an egg drought.  I couldn’t figure it out.  I treated them for every possible ailment, checked thoroughly for any and all problems.

We’re pretty sure they were all in a slow molt.  Nobody looked bald or shabby, but there were a whole lot more airborn feathers than usual.  So this fall we installed a light into the back coop so that once the molt was over they wouldn’t go immediately into winter mode.  ( chickens stop laying in the winter due to loss of daylight, not the cold temperatures.  Increase their light, and they won’t stop laying)

Now it’s January and we are overloaded with eggs.

There are no fewer than 6 dozen eggs in my fridge at this very moment, and we haven’t collected yet today.

Anybody want an omelet?

Yesterday morning Paul underwent his neck surgery at our beautiful new  local hospital while I waited it out in the hospital lounge.  I brought my knitting (and finished a hat for myself) as well as plenty of reading materials and the time flew by.  It helped that my lovely friend Sallie brought me lunch and offered a friendly face amid the sea of waiting and worried strangers. Staying connected to the outside world via social media was a great help and I am ridiculously grateful to everyone who wished Paul well.

Maddie stayed with the girls and they got her hopelessly hooked on “Dr. Who”.  In fact, they stayed up ALL NIGHT watching it (and eating ice cream).

I got to spend time with Paul as he recovered from the anesthesia and adjusted to having a neck full of staples (seriously – staples.  They come out next week, thank GOD).  I spent a lot of that time helping him in and out of bed for potty breaks and fluffing his pillows, switching out ice packs and holding a straw to his mouth so he could have water.   He does fairly well on his own now for short bursts during the day, but it’s going to be a long couple of weeks for me helping him manage.   So, if the winter gods would just smile on me and dump a bunch of snow right now, we’d all be pretty happy since we can’t go anywhere anyway!

I’m doing my best to enjoy the temporary quiet that has fallen around the house as the girls are reading by the fireplace, and Gully is curled up in his new dog Snuggie on my lap.  I think it might even be time for a cup of Harney & Sons tea.

You can read more about current SOPA news here, and you can sign Google’s petition here.
Back later for our regularly scheduled blogging (unless SOPA has its way………)

The snow barely stuck and was over too quickly, but it was lovely while it lasted.  Oona kept begging to go play in it – but it was too wet and muddy out.

I did manage to block a sweater I finished back in November after we finished up school for the day, and installed our new National Geographic Complete Collection onto my computer (the girls will be using this for social studies).

Paul will be having back surgery soon (nothing to worry about – we are looking forward to some relief for his pain) and I am hoping for winter to finally show up in force afterwards since he will have a several week recovery at home (and we won’t have to go anywhere).   For now the kids are indignant that the sun is out and temperatures are hanging in the 50′s. So am I.

So these days, in between cleaning and dentist visits and getting school plans back in order, we are enjoying the cozy.  What are you doing to stay cozy?

Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Bread

Harney & Sons “Hot Cinnamon Sunset” tea – my absolute favorite.

Local Kitchen‘s version of Jamie Oliver’s Chicken in (Butter)Milk

Quick knitting project: a light hat I can wear around the house when I feel chilly.

So instead of something witty or profound, I will use this chance to catch up on a few things.

I’ll start with bread.

One of my early Christmas gifts this year (and Susan got me a second one in a different size!) was an enameled cast iron dutch oven pot.  I’d been wanting one for quite awhile, after seeing this book about baking artisan bread in a pot rather than on a peel.  I tried some when Zac made it at the farm and was in love with the results.

You pre-heat the empty pot in the oven and throw your risen dough into it.  Once you place the lid on, the  water in the dough creates the steam needed to properly bake and finish the bread.  The crust in crispier without being too chewy or dense and the crumb is more reliably cooked through this way.  Plus the pot is such a pretty green!

Thing number two I need to show off is the lovely ornament my friend Amy found for me.

I just love her!  I love the creamy white colors, I love that it’s a shepherd with her sheep, and I love the vintage look about it (in fact, it just may BE vintage: Amy has quite a knack for finding amazing vintage and estate items for a steal).  It’s so hard to find sheep – related trinkets that aren’t totally tacky.  I don’t know where she found this, but I am thrilled she did!

Speaking of all things sheep-ish, I finished one of my super – secret holiday knitting projects in time to gift it!

A Sluggy Bonnett for my mother!  I can’t even believe how fast this knit up – it only took me 2 days!  I should have started earlier and made Sluggy Bonnetts for everyone!  I still have 1 super secret project on the needles, but it’s just about done.  I’ll be sending it off to its intended recipient just after the new year.  But here’s a sneak peek of the yearn sitting on my new swift:

Today and tomorrow will be spent cleaning up the holiday clutter and making room for 2012. The girls and I are headed to a get – together this evening (after which I’ll have to talk them out of staying up until dawn watching Dr. Who) and then we’ll spend the first cold months of 2012 doing a lot of what we do best:

Reading!  The girls all got Kindles for Christmas (mostly for school, but when you enjoy reading as much as we do……..).

Enjoy the rest of 2011 and I’ll see you all on the other side!

Susan called me one evening and I asked if I would like to help her pick up some baby cows.  An hour and a half away.  In my truck. The thing about this kind of this is that YES.  Yes this is the kind of thing I would say YES to.  Also, Susan and I haven’t been on a road trip together in ages, and this mini trip promised the kinds of fun we could talk about well into the future.

So we loaded up our “Ram Cram” box into the back of the suburban and headed out after a quick run through the Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru for large iced coffees all around.  Did I mention Zac came with us?  I think he was picturing a fun and relaxing road trip.  I think Susan and I were thinking it would be fun to have along someone else to do all the hard work.

Fortunately we had great weather and the drive was easy.  Before we knew it, we were there, staring down the reality of cramming 3 calves into the truck.

One cow in place.  At about 2 and a half weeks old, these guys are just under 100 lbs each.  In a year’s time they’ll each top out around 1,000 lbs or so.

Cow number 2 in place.  These two are called “Madison” and “Monroe”.

And cow number 3!  This cute little brown guy is called “Jefferson”.

With some trepidation I closed the hatch and we started our drive back to Juniper Moon Farm.  They were a bit anxious and had trouble adjusting to the movement at first, but after a bit they settled down (and thought the lights and hooks in the ceiling were teats).

Susan got to hang out in back and get lots of cow kisses.  These little boys are very friendly.

We felt quite smug cruising down the highway with our haul.

Caroline was thrilled to come out and help us get them all situated in the barn and nuzzle their sweet faces.

Once they’re full grown it’ll be hard to believe we ever managed this, but we certainly won’t forget how much fun it was.

I can’t wait to see what she’ll ask me to put in my truck next!

This recipe comes via my husband’s family.

Ready?

2 bars of butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup orange juice

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

4 cups flour

Solo brand fillings of choice  ( we like apricot, prune, strawberry & poppy seed)

Start by creaming together the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs, orange juice and vanilla.  In a separate bowl mix together the flour, salt & baking powder.  Add this mix slowly to the wet ingredients.  Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour  – or overnight.

Once chilled, roll out the dough to about 1/8″ thickness.  Using a round cookie cutter (or glass) cut round shapes into the dough.

Place a dollop (about 1/2 tsp) of filling in the center of each circle.  Next, you’ll need to fold in the edges to form a triangle.

Start with one side.

Fold it over at a jaunty angle. The, fold the oppostire side at a jaunty angle, so they slightly overlap.

Now fold up the bottom.

Now you’re ready to bake them.  375 for 15 minutes.

Voila! Delicious Hamantashen!!!

And with that, I have completed my self – imposed 6 days of baking challenge.

I am exhausted.

But Santa is coming tonight!

Merry Christmas / Happy Hanukkah – and I hope all of your crafty and foodie dreams come true this holiday season!

Today I made Florentine Cookies.  You can find the recipe online HERE.

To start, I made candied orange peel.  This is the step that took the longest.  You can certainly buy candied orange peel to save time, but it won’t be quite the same.  To candy orange peel you cut it into little strips or squares and boil it in water, drain it, and repeat 2 or 3 times to remove the bitterness.  Then you boil the peel again with a small amount of water and some sugar.

Once your orange peel is done, the cookies are a snap to make.

Boil together your milk and sugar, add your orange peel (I didn’t use citron – I doubled up the orange peel), almonds, extract, flour and butter.

Once all of this is boiled together it looks like this:

It’s pretty gooey.  You have to use a teaspoon now to drop small little rounds of dough onto your cookie sheet.

While baking they will SPREAD, so you have to be sure to use no more than a teaspoon.

See? You end up needing to reshape them somewhat since they don’t always spread out evenly.

Once cooled, you can spread melted chocolate on the back of your cookies, and, using a fork, make little zig-zag designs in it.  This is really just for fun, though.

I like to stick them in the fridge or freezer at this point to speed up the cooling process so the chocolate hardens back up.

These are unbelievably delicious and mouth watering.  I like to hide a few of them from the rest of the family for me to enjoy when no one’s around.

Don’t tell.

Three cows in the back in my suburban, yes.  There are pictures to come, I promise!

But for now, Linzer Cookies!

First, you’ll need to start out with the same butter cookie dough I used for the frosted cut – outs: Susan Branch’s ‘Annie Hall’s Butter Cookes’.

The dough gets rolled out once more and you’ll need your cookie cutters – or better, linzer cookie cutters.  I have a linzer set I use which consists of a star – shaped cookie cutter and several very small cutters of various sizes for the center.

You cut out as many stars as you like, and half of them get the centers cut out (2 stars become 1 cookie).

Then you bake them and let them cool.  Once cooled, spoon a small dollop of jam (or whatever sweet filling you prefer) onto a whole star.  On a separate plate, dust confectioner’s sugar over the stars with the centers cut out.  Then place the sugar stars on top of the jam stars and voila!

Linzer cookies!

These don’t last very long around here, let me tell you!