Cherwill, I grew tomatillos several years ago, and we used them raw in salads and they were the most delicious part of the salad every time. I loved them. Ours did not grow nearly as large as the ones you see in the store, but they did mostly fill the husks. The only problem was some little bug got into every one of them. There was only one per tomatillo and we would have to dig it out before cutting up the fruit to put in the salad so it wasn't that big a deal. We never had enough to make salsa.
We planted 5 plants this year, I think. I just make small batches of salsa as I can and freeze it. Mine have bugs, too. Some kind of worm. At least half of my tomatilloes have a worm. Some of the tomatilloes are unusable because there's just too much damage, but with most of them, I can use at least half.
Speaking of salsa, I've been making it by the gallon the past couple of weeks. The garden is producing like crazy and keeping me busy preserving instead of being online as much as I am other times of the year. Between the tomatoes, peppers and apples our lone tree is producing, I've been trying to preserve it all so it doesn't go to waste, and that has resulted in rows of jars of salsa and applesauce on the pantry shelves - looking very pretty
.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who stands around admiring my stash. I always get a smile on my face when I'm standing in front of it.
I had to process a cockerel the other day. He had cross beak - the first one I've ever hatched and I decided a few weeks ago that I'd let him go until he couldn't eat well any more, but I wasn't going to watch him slowly starve to death. The other day I threw out some corn and I watched him try in vain to pick up a single piece of corn. He tried over and over and over....but never did get it. So I knew it was time and I grabbed him off the roost the other night, kept him in a small pen with only water until morning, and then processed him. I decided to depart from the usual soaking in the fridge for 24 hours, to see if I could tell a difference in eating him right away, so as soon as I had done removing his organs, I put him in the crockpot with some potatoes and onions and we ate him that night. I couldn't tell a difference with not soaking, so I think I might skip that step more often in the future.
10 days ago I reported a hawk attack and that I had lost 3 chicks to the hawk. Well, there really was a hawk - I saw it with my own two eyes. Also, the birds were really agitated that day - which is what prompted me to look out the window and see the hawk in the first place - but it turns out, I didn't lose any chicks to the hawk. Sadly, I found their remains yesterday afternoon. I think what happened is that the hawk DID come in the yard and was going after the small birds, and in their panic they all ran to hide. The "missing" chicks ran to hide inside a roll of wire. In panic mode they were able to squeeze in there but once the danger had passed, they couldn't figure out how to get back out. I was so distraught yesterday to find their remains and realize they probably died of dehydration/starvation over several days, instead of a quick death by hawk, and I feel terrible that I didn't ever hear them or know to look there.
That's so sad about the chicks. I would obsess for weeks over everything I should have done differently, but really, these things happen. We can't be everywhere all the time. There was no way you could know, and you can't help that you couldn't hear them.