The Chicken Song

Upon planning for our chickens next spring, I thought of a camp song we used to sing. I always forget the lyrics so here they are so I never forget them again;

Roofus Rustus Johnson Brown

Whatcha gonna do when the rent comes 'round

Whatcha gonna do and whatcha gonna say

When you can't pay the rent 'till the end of May

You know, and I know and everyone else knows

You can't pay the rent if you ain't got the dough

Roofus Rustus Johnson Brown

Whatcha gonna do when the rent comes 'round

C - that's the way it begins,

And H - that's the next letter in,

And I - that's the middle of the word,

And C - that you've already heard,

And K - that's the name of a hen,

And E - now we're nearing the N

C-H-I-C-K-E-N

That's the way you spell Chicken!

Can't "Flew the Coop" Now!

Another fall project that we've been working on is the construction of our chicken coop. We started last week by building the base (10'x12') with 2x6 lumber and chip board. We set the base up about a foot high on cement blocks. We also insulated the floor using Styrofoam insulation. We made the frames next. We made space for 4 windows, 2 in the east and 2 in the west. We made an insulated door that's 2'x6'. We got the chipboard hung on the outside and tonight we got the "rafters" in place and the chip board sheets in place on the roof. We still have to vapour barrier and insulate the roof as well as the walls which in hindsight could have been done in a different order... but, since the weather is getting colder and snow could be expected pretty well anytime, the roof needed to get on. We have to cut out the smaller door for the chickens, build the run, shingle the roof and trim and paint the building, but the main structure is up, which is the most important part. According to one estimation, a chicken needs 4 square feet, so with 120 square feet we could keep up to 30 birds! That would work out to a lot of eggs. We also have the run to build which will give them more space yet. Unfortunately the birds wont be free range, because of high traffic on the roads, but they will get rotation around the yard, and freedom in the garden in the fall. If only I had them this year, then I would have to manure my garden!

A Partridge in a ... Casserole Dish

The other day we went partridge hunting. We were only out for about 15 minutes and we got one! My husband showed me how to clean it off, its really simple. You split the bird and the breast comes off really easily. That's the only part that's really worth eating. When we got it home I washed it off really well. There were some feathers that were still attached and you've got to watch under the wings for feathers. I decided that Id like to try roasting it, so I braised it in bacon fat then roasted it at 325oF for about 35 min. I put the bacon fat in the casserole dish with the bird and seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder and basil. Every 10 minutes or so, Id take it out of the oven and baste it with the bacon fat. When it was done it smelled so good I could hardly wait for supper! At supper we chewed off every precious bit of meat from those little bones. It tasted a lot like chicken, but better! And did I mention that there isn't a drop of natural fat on partridge? So partridge hunting definitely isn't over for this year, we will go again!

Wonderful Wednesday

Well, no new projects in the last couple of days. I was out to the farm again this morning at 7:00am to milk some cows. I took home another 3 litres of milk and did the routine milk/buttermilk/butter thing (which after 3 times of doing can be justified as routine). It was a beautiful morning and again I felt displaced into a story book listening to the cows mooing and roosters crowing with the frosty air hovering around. Yeah, that frosty air... Even though I had mitts on this morning my hands were cold, and poor old bossy didn't like that. She kept moving around and trying the hide her teats. But the milking got done, nevertheless. I did some more double digging when I got home. My plot is now 12 feet by 12 feet. Officially 1/4 of the way done. So is my back, haha. I sorted my tomatoes and when I have the chance Im either going to pressure cook them or make some garlicky tomato sauce and try canning it. With thanksgiving coming up I have a couple of pies to make. Its hard to believe that winter will soon be here. Trying to get everything done before winter is like swimming against the tide!

That Classic Rag Rug

Last night I had a brainwave to try making a rag rug. I grabbed three old mens t-shirts, cut the shirt up the side seam and the armholes/neck holes. Then I cut a 2 inch width strip around the perimeter of the shirt, making one really long strip. Then after doing that with three shirts, I braided the shirts into a long rope. The braiding was a bit tricky, because the three sections kept twisting together. I eventually found what worked best. After each cross over, I moved the pile of that shirt so that the three sections didn't get tangled. I also put the start of the braid under a chair leg to hold it from flipping around. I used two black t-shirts and a white t-shirt and I came out with approx. a 15 inch wide "rug." I tied a knot at the end of the braid so that I can continue on as soon as I get more old t-shirts. What a great way to use up the rag bag!

Double Digging

I decided that I needed an additional garden, specifically for potatoes next year. After reading the digging debate in John Seymour's "New Self-Sufficient Gardener" I decided that double digging would be best for my garden. I liked the fact that you could remove the sod, but just move it within the same plot so you're not robbing the soil of that valuable layer. Double digging is a method of lifting the sod from a trench, 2 feet wide. Then removing the first 5 inches or so of dirt. When the dirt is lifted, you take a spading fork and aerate about 5 inches deep. Then you make a second trench the same width, put the sod upside down in the first trench, chop the sod best you can and pile the dirt from the second trench (again about 5 inches deep) into the first trench. And continue on, using the dirt and sod dug from the first trench and putting it in the last trench. (There's some great diagrams on Google images that illustrate the process.) So that's what I did, anticipating that Id get a lot further than I did. I got 3.5  12 foot trenches completed. So if I work as long and hard as I did today, it should take me 6 days to complete my garden. Weighed with the option of tilling multiple times over several months, Im not sure which the better option is. I guess the fruit of my labour will be the judge. (I better get some mighty big potatoes out of my garden next year!)

The end product looks like this, its end size is 12'x21'. + decorative fence to grow my sunflowers against.