Scenes from a weekend

Taking pictures like Mama

A morning chat

Most awesome chicken

Tomato in progress

Tomato filched by a squirrel and left half eaten to taunt me.

Feathered friends

What are YOU lookin' at?

Jumping for joy when the coop is opened

A New Story that Generates Current and Hope

Most of the time when you read about books on Green Eggs, it will be Jenny reviewing them. This is mainly because Jenny is a voracious reader and I am dyslexic. I love to read, it just takes me a long time to finish a book.


That said, I just finished an inspiring read: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. It is the memoir of William Kamkwamba, a young boy that grew up in rural Malawi who carried his family (and town) out of threat of starvation and poverty by building a windmill out of bicycle parts and junkyard debris. While reading physics textbooks in the local library, he learned about the basic prinicples of electricity, magnetism, and induction. Armed with this small bit of knowledge, a few diagrams, and his strong will, William is able to generate enough electricity to light his house, recharge cell phone batteries, and run a small water pump. The book reads quickly and is easily aproachable as William Kamkwamba and Brian Mealer tell a mesmerizing story of innovation and ingenuity.

Chicks: The first full day and night outside

Dinosaur feet

Braving the ramp

Eliza posing for her close-up

Ruffled feathers

A golden hen in the sun

She's slowing changing colors

The last to lose her baby feathers

We finally finished some of the added security features to the coop this weekend. Though we are worried about unknown predators, we are a little more concerned about the predators that live in our house. Specifically, a small toddler boy who would love nothing more than to hug a chicken and two very patient dogs who have been wondering when we're going to let them eat the snack we've been raising in the laundry room.

The chicks weren't so sure about using the ramp, but the large black hen, who seems to be top bird, went for it eventually. She's not only physically the largest hen, but she also seems the most curious about us. She likes to get very close to the camera - too close for me to focus on her - and peer at me with one eye. I wish I could capture it on film.

Chicks at 4 Weeks

Photographing chickens is much harder that you would think. Since they are flighty (ahem) they tend to not stand still. This last picture is of my favorite chicken. We are naming her Eliza after Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady. Doesn't she look like one of those crazy ladies with the huge hats at the horse races? She is a white crested black polish. They aren't supposed to be the smartest chickens (on a sliding scale I'm assuming), but she's charming anyway.

We also signed up for the CPS Energy Windtricity program this week. As of May 1, we are 100% wind powered. I had been meaning to sign up for this program, but it slipped my mind. The recent coal mine disaster reminded me that in addition to the environmental cost, our energy sources have enormous human cost. I'm glad San Antonio is offering this option. I know there are some problems with bird and the windmills, but we have to start somewhere. If we don't support the green energy options, it will be hard for the utility companies to make a case to expand the programs.

My Easter Eggers

Amongst chicken enthusiasts, Easter Eggers (EE) refer to chickens that lay green or bluish green eggs. An EE is a cross-bred chick with one parent being an araucana, a pure-bred breed of chickens that lays green eggs, and another chicken.

My baby chickens are Easter eggers for another reason. They have been helping us eat all of our leftover Easter hard-boiled eggs. My father-in-law thinks that I am raising cannibals. The truth is egg whites are one of the first treats that chicks can handle eating. Embryonic chickens find their nutrients from egg whites so it makes since that young chicks would enjoy them and be able to digest them easily, too.

Finished Chicken Coop!

Here is the finished coop!

It took a few weekends, but I am finally done. It was my first attempt at chicken coop building, but I am pretty proud of it. There are two main parts to the structure: the coop and the run. The coop is the small green shed in the far end of the picture. That is where the chickens will be closed into at night and where the nesting boxes are. The run is the screened in area that allows the chickens to have fresh air and ground access. The run is necessary because we have several birds of prey and small mammalian predators in the neighborhood that would love a little chicken snack. A small ramp (not pictured) connects the coop to the run.

Here are a few of the cool features.

1) Mobility - It is designed to be movable by one person, and I have been able to move it around the yard. If a dolly is under the coop-end, the 1.75x6 board that runs the length of the structure can be used as a handle/lever to pick it up. I will try not to get all science teacher on you and lecture you about how it is a compound machine. Just believe me, it is and I wanna splain.

2) Roofing - The metal roof on the coop has a slight pitch that will divert water off the side of the coop. It will reduce the mud factor for chickens and egg-retrievers.

3) Egg Door - The rear wall of the coop has a small door that we will use for egg retrieval.

4) Overhang - The coop does not extend to the ground. This gives the chickens a more secluded, shady spot that will come in handy during the Texas Summers.

5) Recycled Materials - Jenny and I are trying to keep our global footprint as small as possible. This extends to the coop construction because many of the materials I used we reused from other projects. In fact, all of the framing for the coop and run were recycled display shelves from a Cost Plus World Market that was going out of business. They practically gave us the material.

Recipe: Mustard Rainbow Chard

I don't like chard. Or, at least I didn't until we found this recipe.Every time I would try to cook it, the end result tasted muddy. This is super fast and simple and very tasty.

Ingredients:

- 1 large bunch chard (we used rainbow, but we've used other kinds)

-1/2 large white onion

-crushed red pepper

-1/2 c. broth

- 2 garlic cloves

Slice onion thin and sautee in a large pan on medium high heat. While the onion is cooking, cut out the ribs of the chard and set the leaves aside. Chop 1/2 the ribs thinly and add to the onion mixture. Cook until onion and chard ribs are soft.

Add 1 - 2 Tablespoons crushed red pepper. Grate the garlic into the pan. Stir in to combine and let cook for 2 - 3 minutes or until you can smell the red pepper.

Add the chard leaves and briefly sautee until they begin to shrink down. Add the broth and 2 heaping scoops of a whole grain mustard. We used a locally made mustard that is super tasty! Let cook a few more minutes until all the chard is wilted. Serve piping hot or cold over noodles.

And this was our dinner for the night while watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. If there is ever a show to make you think about dinner, that's it. We also had leftover roasted garbanzo beans with tomatoes and spinach from the farm share.

Around Our House this Week

Freshly dyed eggs

Painting with a toddler

A very successful batch of yogurt.

Not pictured: the onrush of the end of semester and accompanying frantic late night typing; a garden in progress; muddy puppies; a precious child in 3D glasses who has decided to be a dragon.

Chicks at Three Weeks

Sorry for the delay in the pics. Here are chicken pictures from earlier in the week.

Here are the chicks on their first day out in the coop. We are taking them out for a little bit everyday.

Mr J loves chasing them around the coop and talking to them all about being a chick!

Biscuit and Huxley were very curious about the new additions to the yard.