Dumbest Things People Have Said About Your Chickens/Eggs/Meat

[Peep_Show]

LOL! Will have to remember that about only Hollywood roosters crow just in the morning.

(And usually in bright daybreak. Couldn't sleep last night, so at kitchen table computer with screen door open and neighbor's roo is sounding off at pre-5:00 a.m. PITCH BLACK OUT)

 

[7 Biddies]

Are you sure your ancestors didn't have domestic help? Even my grandparents had a "girl" who helped in the kitchen and they were by no means wealthy. Quite the contrary. The cook book I was referring to was not written for the wealthy either. It tells how to put on a dinner party with no servants and how to make the most of inexpensive cuts of meat and leftovers. As for meal size, I remember what my aunt put on the table for her family and the farm hands. When my mother was a girl she spent summers on a large sheep ranch. One of the things she did was to help prepare meals for the farm hands. She told me what was served in the mess hall. People doing hard physical labor burn a lot of calories. I think the problem with obesity in today's kids is half what they eat (sugary snacks and prepared foods) and half what they are doing (sitting on the sofa watching TV and playing video games). They don't spend much time running around outside and few of them walk to school any more. Back in the Dark Ages when I was growing up kids walked to school, did farm chores (fed chickens, milked cows, slopped hogs, helped with the gardening and housework, played outside and wherever it was we wanted to go we walked. Soda pop, chips, and ice cream were a rare treat.

It doesn't stop with physical labor and health. I see so many kids whose cognitive skills are under developed, and I think part of it is from the current time's slothful lifestyle. For example, LOTS of kids have poor auditory comprehension skills; they just don't understand what's said to them. Some of that is from poor vocabulary skills, but more of it is (I believe) from just not listening. When kids played games like Simon Says, they were learning to listen carefully to what was being said, and to process the directions. Same thing happened when parents gave them directions like, "Feed the chickens, collect the eggs, slop the hogs, and take out the trash" Supper time was when the family sat down together and discussed their day, or current events. Where do they get that kind of listening practice anymore? I gave my kids games like Simon to play in the car while we traveled. Excellent for developing their speed of mental operations, and sequential reasoning (following steps). The video games they play now don't require the same kind of skills. I'm not saying this is the cause of these problems I see, but when I'm writing recommendations for things the kids can do and play to develop these skills if the lack of doing them doesn't have some negative impact on development.

I know this is the nature/nurture argument all over again, but I've always felt it's a matter of both nature AND nurture. Things don't exist in isolation. People are born with different skills, obviously, but we also have to remember to try to develop those skills and I wonder how much of that is being neglected because of the modern lifestyle.

Let's not even get into the benefits of fresh air vs air conditioning which the kids of today (or adults) rarely leave. I'm always amazed when on beautiful days, like today, while I drive along with my windows open reveling in the wonderful fresh air, why people are driving with their windows up and the a/c on. Or, even at home. I'm the only nut on my street who throws the windows open to the fresh air the minute the weather turns nice. Every other house on the street is locked up like a tomb.

 

[7 Biddies]

Had someone ask how I sanitize my eggs today.

The conversation went something like this...

Her- So, how do you sanitize your eggs?

Me - I don't, there's no need to do that.

Her - Well, how do you get them clean so you can eat them?

Me - I don't do anything. There's nothing on them to clean off.

Her - Um, well, how do you get them clean so you can eat them?

Me - I DON'T DO ANYTHING TO THEM. They are fine as they are.

Her - Well, uh, how do they get clean? Aren't you afraid of getting sick?

Me - We've been eating fresh eggs for months now and never had a problem.

Her - Ummmm, well, aren't chicken eggs, like, contaminated or something if you don't sanitize them?

Me - Only the ones you buy at the store...

Her - But those eggs are clean!

Me - Yeah, not so much. Do some research and see for yourself.

Her - The grocery store can't sell anything that's bad for you!

Me -

The conversation was pretty much over at that point.

OMG. I just rolled my eyes so far back in my head I could see myself thinking.

 

[speckledhen]

Quote: Me, too! Neither of our vehicles have A/C now (they croaked). Our house has a heatpump, but it's never used. We sleep with open windows all summer and way into cold weather. I do have a little 5000btu A/C in the great room for when we have an unusually hot and humid day in the mountains, but that doesn't go on unless I'm positively dying. The 8'wide wraparound porch and ceiling fans in every room are all we have year round. Fresh air! I'm so happy to be out of the city and be able to BREATHE! I freeze in airconditioned houses.

 

[rancher hicks]

I just about fell out of my chair laughing at this one.

My paternal grandmother's idea of breakfast:

Eggs, shredded wheat, several slices of bacon, toast with butter, and jam or jelly.

Lunch:

Ham or other meat, with the morning bacon grease often featuring in the gravy, along with corn, peas, carrots, or some other vegetable. Sometimes a green salad.

Dinner:

Like lunch, only often bigger. I can't even remember what all she cooked, but I know it swam in animal fats. Lots of deep frying.

The paternal relatives in Colorado eat very heavily and do ranch work. When we visited, they were still all getting together at great-grandmother's house (she had all of her descendant generations around her) and eating Sunday dinner on a table that they inserted quite a number of leaves into. There were something like 25 people around it every weekend (not everyone could always make it), and there was darn little room for the plates because of all of the food. They ate enough at Sunday dinner (which was really closer to lunch time) than I was used to eating in a week.

Well now you must have come from wealthy stock. We weren't as far as I can tell. Though I suspect $40 in 1906 went a lot farther. Still most of our neighbors and all weren't wealthy either. Mostly factory workers. Not much for gardens and all that. I did garden but no one taught me much. Fact is we didn't have breakfast and sometimes lunch or dinner. Mom never was very much for setting a table except at holiday time. Not sure why she had eight kids either.

The 1920 census of my mothers family showed no one had jobs. That I don't understand. My great great great grandfather was a cooper and carpenter. There is still a lot of research to be done.

Still most folks had four or five. Some even more.

Sounds like your family DID more and used all that energy provided by all that food and was the exception.

 

[rancher hicks]

I think there are sometimes seeds available for an old Russian/Bessarabian watermelon called something like Moon and Stars. It's pretty good. It has flavor, not just sweetness.

I live in NY and am not good as good at growing things as I'd like to be. I've never tried watermelons. With chickens it's can be hard.

 

[hennible]

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/doctor-started-gluten-free-fad-wrong-23840150

Gluten actually is considered digestible, although there are a few protein moieties within it that are not. For most people this is not an issue.

Thank you for correcting me, it's good to learn. Thanks for the link.

 

[WoodenCoyote]

I live in NY and am not good as good at growing things as I'd like to be. I've never tried watermelons. With chickens it's can be hard.

Chickens go mental for watermelon. If you start a patch make sure it is well fenced off.

 

[chicksurreal]

OMG. I just rolled my eyes so far back in my head I could see myself thinking.

At least you ARE thinking! Lol! I felt like I was talking to a brick wall during that conversation.

 

[rancher hicks]

Why do you think meals were smaller back in the day? Have you ever read an old cookbook? One written in the early 1900's? I have one published in 1919. The proposed menus there would give a modern nutritionist apoplexy. On the farms where there was heavy labor, there were often two breakfasts, a midday meal, and a relatively light evening meal. A lot of cream and butter, but not nearly as much sweet stuff. People were a lot more active. On the subject of hired help, up until WWI almost every household had some domestic help. Usually a girl to help in the kitchen and maybe a housekeeper of sorts. The housewife didn't do everything herself. And then of course the kids did chores.

Why? Take a look at the Roosevelt series being run. Back in the day for me includes everyone. If cookbooks were any indication of how much folks ate, I'd be huge. DW has cookbooks upon cookbooks. Yet rarely does she use one. Fact it I use my jelly books more often and I only make certain recipes.

I have a Southern book that has recipes too and I doubt the average folks made many of these things. We tend to romanticize the "Good Olde" days. Believe me when I say they were not as good as we imagine.

I don't know about you but we didn't own a farm or have hired help. No one we knew owned a farm or had hired help either. Fact is many folks even those with jobs were just getting by. At least where I grew up. I politely disagree with your assessment that every household had hired help. My family would have BEEN the hired help. I don't know where you're getting your information.

Charles Dickens wrote of his time as did many other authors. I'm basing what I said on experience, not romanticized books and magazine articles.