The Front Porch Swing

[LindaB220]

Sounds great except for the gators and from what I hear you just might have more venomous snakes than we do - maybe. LOL Thanks for the invite.

No gators in north la. Snakes though.......

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

LOL... Fermented feed.... and some scratch on the side for the cold days... and leftovers...

Did I put my picture of the 4 dozen on here? I don't remember...... Anyway, I had a customer the other day... my first real one that isn't family!!!!! Anyhow... she wanted her eggs washed and clean.... so I was washing eggs at 10:30 that night! They were really pretty all laid out to dry!

Yep. My daily ritual. It's a beautiful thing to see, and it is my favorite part of the day. Though I compulsively arrange mine by color & size and type, then I catalog them.

I think I'm going to have 30 dozen eggs for the buying group this week ... and that's after the other customers took their dips over the weekend.

Unfortunately, the buying group wants duck eggs more than chicken eggs, and I'm back to getting like one duck egg a day again. I don't consider that enough to sell as I like to sell them within a few days of laying. The ducks were so busy playing in that last snowstorm I think they forgot how to lay.

Now is the time I'm going to find out if the people at the fire house would like some farm-fresh eggs. And I have a friend who cooks for a women's shelter ... I'll ask him if he wants eggs for his families there this spring.

And ... I'm going to encourage the buying group to "sponsor a family" in town and agree to donate a portion of their custom buys to that family ... they've been doing a lot of custom butchered beef and pork as well as sourcing some other things and it would be super easy and also it would be a huge blessing to families tight on cash. In Oregon there are some farmer's markets that are set up to swipe food stamp cards, but not everyone can do that ... I certainly can't.

Imagine giving a struggling family with kids a "kit" to make a 12-egg butter cake ... all the eggs, flour, sugar & a pan to cook it in. It would be fun and yummy. Especially with pretty rainbow eggs like these here.

Speaking of the buying group, they are having a HUGE discussion right now about meat birds. They've found a farm they really like ... tested the product and love it ... and had agreed to do two big group buys at a special price. After that agreement was settled and people started signing up for the buy, the farm decided to change their feed and bumped the price of the birds by 20% per pound. It will be Certified Organic feed, and the price per pound is going to be something like $4.20 (which is actually a great price for meat birds in this area). Now people are having to drop out of the buy. They really aren't happy. But I laid out some of the expenses for them ... including the going rate of $1/lb for locally milled organic soy free feed (hahahahahahahahahahahahah!); the $1.00 per chick cost (without shipping); the minimum of $3.75 for off-farm processing so you can legally sell the meat to a group ... It doesn't make it more affordable, but it sure makes it more "reasonable" to know how much out-of-pocket cost can go into the fancy meat birds if you let it.

IF I had a poultry parter I would SO be offering the group a poor-man's version of the fancy birds ... regular feeds, fermented, pastured birds, on-farm processing. Pick the birds up here on processing day or lose your deposit. Done, dusted.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Oooh salmon canned with a little dill and cracked pepper...... Can I come over?

deb

During the last snow storm Dad pulled one of the neighbors out of the ditch and he dropped buy with several frozen packs of frozen fish ... all caught by him up in Alaska where he is from. It looks like salmon and some kind of white fish. The white fish is so chunky and firm Dad thought it was a block of cheese. All that stuff needs is a little heat and it is delicious!

Hallibut? Cod? I'm not great with my fish beyond being able to tell salmon from tuna.

 

[LindaB220]

During the last snow storm Dad pulled one of the neighbors out of the ditch and he dropped buy with several frozen packs of frozen fish ... all caught by him up in Alaska where he is from. It looks like salmon and some kind of white fish. The white fish is so chunky and firm Dad thought it was a block of cheese. All that stuff needs is a little heat and it is delicious!

Hallibut? Cod? I'm not great with my fish beyond being able to tell salmon from tuna.

So jealous!!! Never get fresh fish. Only grocery store.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Wow! That's great to hear! The barter system is alive and well in America!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

So jealous!!! Never get fresh fish. Only grocery store.

It's a perk of being on the West Coast. Our foreman, who lives in "Grandma's House" here on the farm, will often bring me fresh fish (sturgeon, salmon, some kind of monster fish which is probably my favorite so I should learn its name) and crab. Then there is the friend who has a two-man commercial fishing operation and we traded turkey for tuna this year -- reason enough to do some turkeys this year, IMO! And this guy who moved here from Alaska (and actually bought 60 acres of the farm to set up his family compound and oh my! the house they built!).

Sometimes we get game, too.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: It could be anything..... Likely cod.... Oh yumm.

deb

 

[Lacy Blues]

If its a "monster" fish, it's probably sturgeon. I've never had it but I've seen photos of those things. I think small ones are 6' long.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: For what its worth All fish harvested commercially have to be flash frozen before putting them in the grocery stores.... Has to do with parasite control.... So if you see a really good deal on frozen fish grab it up.... I have gone to the store and seen shrimp advertized as "previously frozen" Asked the Counter guy if he still has a box of it in the back that is still frozen.... and bought the whole box. So now I have the sale priced shrimp in the freezer saved up for the day i want to use them. But you could do the same with say salmon or cod.. or tuna. and when you are ready defrost and Can it up....

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Wow! That's great to hear! The barter system is alive and well in America!

I have bartered for many things. For instance the fellow that feeds my animals up in the desert does it in exchange for feed for his own animals as well as the occasional bottle of Gin... LOL

Again up at my house in the desert I pulled my little Geo Metro into a body shop. I had bounced off a pick up in work trafic and bent the hood up so I couldnt open and shut the hood on the car. I asked him IF he he was able to fix it enough so I could open and shut the hood. He didint say a word.... Wen in to his shop grabbed a crowbar and some chain .... dinked around with it straightened the grill and banged the hood flatter.... when he was done it opened and shut just fine.... I asked him how much I owed him... He just said "On the house.... and grinned at me"

I then asked him what kind of beer he drank.... Without hesitation and a big white flash of a grin he said "Coors light" I went and bought him an eighteen pack.... LOL.

deb