The Old Folks Home

[drumstick diva]

Vehve - wow super nice coop- the flooring would look good in my kitchen. Hope the hens don't smoke their litter. Love the curtains Vehve, one of your nicer touches. Don't blame Karin for them

 

[Peep_Show]

Vehve -- Great job cleaning the coop. Come and do my house, pleeeeeease!

 

[drumstick diva]

I was thinking the same thing, he has master the manly art of coop cleaning. I bet his home is immaculate too. have always heard a cluttered desk(home) is the sign of a genius.. Obviously some of us (me,me,me) are more genius than others.

 

[Peep_Show]

I've got a magnet that says "A clean house is a sign of a wasted life"

It has a circa 1950's depiction of a June Cleaver type cleaning the bathtub.

 

[vehve]

Sadly I can't take all the credit for cleaning the coop, it was a shared effort. The fabric was chosen by Karin too (from Ikea, you can probably buy it online from them too), although I did get approval rights. Normally, I'm really lazy when it comes to cleaning. I bought a vacuuming robot even, but I'm a bit bad at emptying the dirt bin in it.

The flooring is vinyl, got it for free in a hardware store a couple years back when I was making a dog cage at our cottage. I built it as a permanent fixture under our bed, with a dog gate functioning as the door. I have to brag a bit, I also made a chest and some shelves that I think turned out pretty nicely. The mess in the room is a good indicator of my normal cleanliness level.








I've only bought the bedding once, then it was imported stuff from another source, costs 24 euros for a 150 liter bale. I don't know what this stuff will cost, I'm guessing if I order a cubic meter I'd get it for about half that price, so maybe 70-80 euros.

 

[vehve]

I've got a cluttered desk too, my office is the messiest room in the house. I would need to find the desk I'm looking for and get this room sorted, this one is temporary and way too big for the room.

 

[hennible]

I've got a magnet that says "A clean house is a sign of a wasted life"

It has a circa 1950's depiction of a June Cleaver type cleaning the bathtub.

i need that magnet
or perhaps a large sign on my front door....

 

[ronott1]

Vehve - wow super nice coop- the flooring would look good in my kitchen. Hope the hens don't smoke their litter. Love the curtains Vehve, one of your nicer touches. Don't blame Karin for them

Hemp does not have enough THC to get one high. I think they banned it because it looks too much like the version that does have THC in it.

It is a different Variety and has been selected for the low THC content.

Quote: It is still funny to think about them smoking it!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Never tried tripe. Here in the South, a lot of folks like chitterlings. I have never tried them and don't intend to....smelled them cooking once and it made me gag. I was told they shouldn't smell if prepared right...but still don't want them.

I use Uncle Bens rice and it's never sticky. Just don't overcook it.

We always used Uncle Ben's growing up but haven't used it in many years. We use lots of different kinds of rice now.
For sushi, you need a special sushi rice and you want it very sticky.

Being from the deep south and knowledgeable about southern cooking, ha, I thought that tripe and chitterlings were the same thing. Whatever,still yucky. One thing I've never been about to try. It took forever for me to try Calamari. It's okay, but not to die for. I'd rather have fried Oysters.

The best calamari dish I had was at a restaurant in Copper Mountain, CO. I've duplicated it at home many times. Basically it's equal parts of squid and a white hot banana type chili. Both are sliced into rings of equal thicknesses. Saute the chili till almost tender with garlic in a marinara sauce and then add the squid without the tentacles. (save them to bread and deep fry later). When finished, the calamari and chilis look identical. So you don't know which you are getting a bite of. It's a very spicy dish but delicious.
A bunch of buddies and I went back every night to that restaurant to split an appetizer of the calamari before we went elsewhere for dinner.

LOL... my family roots are southern.... My grandpa on my fathers side was a Sharecropper. My Grandma on my moms side was born at home on the homestead... nothing wasted in either family.

I have never had Chiterlings But I suppose Tripe may smell like that. I have had a Mexican version called Tripas.... which is pork intestine that is cooked a very long time in a copper pot... once cooked its kind of crispy and chopped up and thrown in a corn taco... with a liitle guacamole and cilantro and chopped onion.... Squeeze some lime on top.

So Tripe or Tripas is the term for what we call chitlins... or intestines.

Its very rich kind of livery a bit and definately an acquired taste... But I loved them.... I was fortunate because the company I worked for was mostly Mexican and Potlucks were really a treat.

deb

Chitlins is just a shortened way of saying chiterlings. They're the same thing. A lot of people around here eat them, mostly people of color.
A lot of the good stuff from LatAm cuisine has made its way into southwest foods. Especially the cilantro and guacamole. Pico de gallo.

It takes practice to cook Calamari properly... My favorite is thick pieces that are scored in a criss cross fasion and deep fried in a tempura batter.... Then dipped in a Hot and sour/sweet dipping sauce.... I could eat a pound of them.... I like oysters just about any way.... Half shell... Deep fried....
Asian style Oyster shooters with Ponzu sauce is my favorite though.

Chowder or stewed.... Yum O.

What I havent had is good Crayfish. I dont know if its the way they are prepared here or if the little bugs are too old when they are prepared.... But I keep trying them and I keep saying... Mheh....

Oh and by the way the chicken came out good... the Broth is to die for so I will be Packing that up and freezing it if I can find a decent container. All the goodness got extracted into the juice. OH well.

deb

It's real easy to overcook calamari. I hate going to a restaurant and they tell me their calamari is great and it comes out chewy. I'll have to get in the habit of sending it back. Maybe if I do that enough they'll pull it off the heat sooner.
I also got fed up asking for a medium rare steak and it comes out without a hint of pink. I always order it rare now. They still overcook it but at least it's still juicy and edible.
For the crawfish, maybe they haven't washed them. Sometimes the mud bugs have mud caked under the tail. You'll have to make a trip to Louisiana. I've never had a bad crawdad boil there, they have it down to a science. Or to my house for that matter. Some years we have a big Mardi Gras party. I put up a big long table, cover it with newspaper, get a big sack of crawfish and boil them up, dump them into the middle of the table add rolls of paper towels and beer.
You can use something like zataran's crawfish boil but you still need to add cayenne.
Or making my own, it takes a good bit of cayenne, celery seed, diced celery, sea salt, bay leaves, oregano, fresh ground pepper, mustard seed, lemon juice optional.

Here's the instructions from Ed the Crawfish Master.

Directions (beer drinking optional)

Before you cook them. Rinse them. We recommend that you rinse your crawfish with plain water before cooking. Rinse them until draining water is clear.

Fill the large pot half full with fresh water, place on outdoor propane cooker, and start the fire. Place the lid on the pot and bring water to a boil.

While you wait for water to boil, rinse the crawfish with fresh cool water until draining water is clear. You do not need to “purge” them with salt. Rinsing will do just fine.

Drink another beer. Give one to a friend.

Add about 1 lb of Fruge's Original Seafood Boil to water. Let the boiling water mix it well for a minute or so.

Time to drink another beer. Send sober friend to store for more beer.

Drop in all 8 onions (halved), the potatoes and fresh garlic. Let this cook, keeping an eye on the potatoes. (Check for doneness by stabbing with a sharp knife or fork. If it goes in easy, it is cooked. Hint: Do not overcook potatoes, slightly undercook them because they will continue to steam and cook in the ice chest. You don't want to end up with mashed potatoes.)

When the potatoes are almost done, add the corn and mushrooms. After they have cooked, lower the fire on the burner and remove the basket. Place the vegetables in a small clean ice chest . Time to drink another beer.

Turn the heat up on the burner. Add more spice to the water. (About 25 oz. Save about 1 lb of spice for later.) Take the lemons (halved) and squeeze the juice in the water. Then add the lemons to the water. When the water comes to a boil, place the crawfish into the basket and put the basket in the pot. (Be careful - it's very hot!) Put the lid on the pot and enjoy another beer.

When the water comes back to a rolling boil - keep a very close eye on this part (time it) - let it boil for 2 minutes and turn off the fire. Let the crawfish soak for a few minutes and then remove. Hint: Kill the boil by adding cold water or a bag of ice. Then let the crawfish soak. Most of the crawfish will sink to the bottom and fill with spicy water (JUICES).

Remove the Crawfish from the pot and pour into an ice chest while your friend sprinkles the remaining seasoning. Mix this well and let steam for 5 minutes. Use more or less spice to your taste.

You can dump everything on newspaper on a table or serve it out of the ice chest. Food stays hot in the chest… your choice.

Now it's time to really drink beer and eat. The vegetables are for those guests who cannot figure out how to peel the crawfish. At least they won't starve.

I did add some sourdough starter to some fermented feed. I do think it would make good lacto bacillus quite easily.

Part of the starter I use for fermented feed is a glug of http://www.lifeway.net/Products/Kefir/LowFatKefir/LowFatPlain.aspx with 12 live active cultures including 6 lacto type.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/20...hickens-bacteria-to-keep-them-antibiotic-free

CHECK THIS OUT!!! IMPORTANT NEWS!

That's the latest big thing in commercial production of monogastric animals like chickens and hogs.

Arg.... The duck "pond" is frozen. A balmy -7C.

Wow. It's getting into the 30s F (about 4 or 5C) the next couple nights here. I thought that was cold. I've closed all the windows to retain some heat.

Fermenting feed makes lactobacillus.

You can also make it directly:

http://theunconventionalfarmer.com/recipes/lactobacillus-serum/

Quote from the site:
To me it would make more sense to make this instead of fermenting feed. There is too much of the year at my place when you just cannot do fermented feed.

I keep the buckets of fermented feed on the back porch when it's below freezing outside, much to the wife's chagrin.

To get good probiotics in chickens without fermenting feed, I highly recommend http://www.gro2max.com/. It's pretty inexpensive and a 100 gram packet will treat 28 gallons of water or 400 pounds of feed. I get a lot more mileage than that by sprinkling a bit in each 5 gallon bucket of fermented feed.

Canada doesn't use the Bovine growth hormone in beef production, but we might use others. Also no hormones in dairy production.

How much does that bedding cost you vehve? Or I should say how much will it cost you?

Think I'm going to do fermented feed as a primary food, and the dry stuff in one of those button dispensers for some entertainment this winter. There's a person on here trying fermented veggies for her birds also sounds interesting. And another person freezing dandelions to feed out through the winter...

It would be nice if big Ag and big Food didn't have so much control over labeling here.
The bale of horse stall pine shavings I use for bedding looks exactly like Vehve's. I think it's about $5.50.
I have bulk dry feeders in all the coops for when it's too cold to feed fermented or when I can't get around to it.

 

[vehve]

Yup, this stuff is fibre hemp, you can use the fibres for making rope, fabric, to strengthen cement, as bedding etc. But smoking it won't make you high.