Back At The Chicken Shack

[Lauravonsmurf]

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Found this in one of my old cookbooks
Cajun-Creole Cooking by Terry Thompson copyright 1986

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Hard Boiling 3 dozen plus of our eggs for various dishes this week, giving dozen plus eggs away latter today… still will have 4 dozen for other recipes this week… might take a dozen or more to work to give to co-workers.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Grilled Lemon Asparagus​

Ingredients​

500g fresh asparagus
¼ fresh lemon juice
¼ olive oil
1 tsp castor sugar
Salt and pepper

Cooking Instructions​

• Mix all the ingredients (except the asparagus) together to form a smooth consistency.
• Place the asparagus on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Grill under a preheated oven until just done, with tips slightly browned.
• Serve with the lemon dressing drizzled over.

Serves 4 people
Claudia Miceli, Muizenberg, Cape Town

Castor Sugar = Superfine Sugar (it mixes up easier but you can use granulate).

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Peepers… starting to see more black and white spots…

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Going through my seeds getting ready to start germination… and direct sowing.

Korean Green Chili


Korean Vita Green Chili


Korean Gochujang King Chili


Korean Red Hot Pepper


Sweet Pepper Carnival Blend


Grand Bell Mix


Serrano Pepper


Cayenne Thin Pepper


Poblano Pepper


Cubanelle Hot Pepper


Jalapeño Pepper


Korean Sweet Pumpkin


Korean Round Green Pumpkin


King Richard Leek


Scarlet Nantes Carrot


Calliope Blend Carrot


Long Purple Eggplant


Cherokee Wax Bean (Yellow)


Royal Burgundy Bean (Purple)


Blue Lake 274 (Green)


Lettuce Chef’s Medley


Arugula Rocky


Parsley Moss Curled


Watercress


European Chives


Korean Chives


Bok Choy


Basil Genovese


Cilantro


Chun Yeon Gold Chinese Cabbage


Korean Perilla


Green and Red Japanese Perilla


Mustard Jeok Gat


Mustard Mizuna


Daikon Wakayama White


Daikon Korean


Daikon Korean Alpine Gold


Sun Gold Pole Cherry Tomato


Shirogoma Sesame White


Kurogoma Sesame Black


Kingoma Sesame Tan


Wilfordi Root


Adenophola triphylla


Ixeris dentat Nakai


Nasturtium Jewel Blend


Hollyhock The Watchman


Borage


Sunflower Mammoth


Morning Glory Sunrise Blend


Okra Clemson Spineless 80


Okra Emerald


Okra Louisiana Green Velvet


Okra Clemson Spineless


In addition from the Kitchen and Bird Feed…
Popcorn


Garlic and Onions


Black Sunflower


Various grains and seeds from poultry and bird seed mixes


Pinto Bean


Kidney Bean

Potatoes


Other Tomatoes, vegetables and spices from cupboard and store


I need some summer squashes, cucumber and melon seeds it seems. I need to replace some herbs as well in the garden probably using transplants.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

I am finishing up this book… I have got to get it back to the village library this week. My husband ordered us a copy so we can reference it as we want for various reasons… Okay this is a good all around gardening book that seeks to incorporate your chickens into your garden and also use your garden not just for your needs but your chicken needs too. It includes butterfly garden, them herb gardens, lists of plants, container garden ideas, various projects such as building chicken tunnels between or rows, raised beds, composting, putting your chickens to work tilling, ideas for protecting your plants from chickens, herbal garden remedies for plants, explains why herbs are used for this or that for chickens, about good and bad bugs and more… the only thing I totally disagree with is in my experience chickens can fly, some breeds are very good at it. So you will need to be aware of your flock’s abilities, clipping wings is really not that difficult or dangerous and yes you will need to cage parts of your garden at times… but on the whole I found it useful, so we ordered our own edition.

I took some snap shots of pages so I can figure out what plants I already have and which ones I will add…

I have some of the above in my yard… heads up if you can get rid of “bedstraw” do it, purge that puppy as soon as it comes up… it does have a medicinal use but it is a weed you don’t want taking over, it’s seeds catch on everything and so does the plant, pull it and feed it to chickens ASAP. Trust me on this. Some of the above I encourage to be weeds in my garden.

I don’t have dill or chervil in my garden yet, I may need to replace the oregano.

We are planting Cayenne, Nasturtium, Parsley again this spring… I need to see how the Marjoram has fared… and we have Fennel well established.

All are being planned to be planted already.

Again all on our spring herb list, I purposely spread Dandelions in my yard and protect them, so we can harvest and eat them. I had a garden company mow my front yard years ago, one day the guys were going to spray for lawn weeds… I stoped them and took them on a medicinal and food foraging tour of my weeds… they all were from Mexico I became a Curandera instantly in their minds (which I do not think I am) I also explained using grape leaves and other parts of plants in cooking. Anyhow Dandelions are on my grow babies grow list.

Okay I need to find two of the above… I have regular Purple Echinacea, Rosemary and Thyme… but one can always have more!

I am planning to plant these… I have most of the seed together. It is not a spring garden for me if I don’t have Sunflowers. If only my garden was this organised.

I need to get together my fall seeds still, I only have a few things.

I need Catmint and Lavender, my lavenders were crushed by a tree… I had a cool collection of many different ones. More Marigolds needed. I do put herbs in my nesting boxes already Mint family plants being most common.

Note my hens go crazy over Baby’s Breath and will eat it the ground… I grow mine in the front yard porch area to protect it.

I have a Rose plant…

Honestly I need to research this more… I am more inclined to use a traditional worming herb… probably some reason why those are not listed… again research required on my end. But all of these I grow or will be growing anyway.

Again either I got it or it is being planted.

I have a couple big pots and I think this would look lovely in them.

I am getting the book for more than the planting ideas… but nice to see I have a lot of these plants or the seed for the spring planting already.

 

[Sally PB]

I think I need that book...

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

How the babies are growing…

I think it is time to move the older chicks to an outside pen. Though I am going to keep Peepers with the younger chicks for now.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

I moved the 8 Week D’Uccle and the various breeds 6 Week chicks out into the mini-coop AKA ”the play house” and have added two of our smallest older mellow hens with these younger birds. So far so good. The two older girls from the established flock, were more upset about not getting to free range with the rest of the flock and being separated from their best buddies then worrying about the new younger birds, latter this week I will swap them out with other hens. “The playhouse” is right up next to the house the big girls all are using at night. So they see and hear the 7 new birds… so introductions are underway. The other 5 chicks are still in the house, they need to all be a bit older before going outside.