Washingtonians

[FlyRobinFly]

So sprouted radish is safe to eat? I'm always nervous about eating parts of a plant unless I know it is safe. And - arugula sprouts? Thanks. I'd love to find new ways to make food taste good again.

A lot of sprouts are very peppery and tasty, I think radish is one of them.

Love Mikey's fennel suggestion too.

 

[TerrorBird]

Yup. Twins seem to run in this family. First came the human form, now there's the chick form. This time, mom doesn't know who is who. Hopefully the kids can figure it out.

They are the sweetest little things. Is the leg fuzz different enough that you can tell who's who? You could try to persuade the kids into calling one of the darker birds "Cocoa" if you like the name. It keeps the Fudge theme going!

 

[itsren]

For my fellow Fav lovers that frequent this thread.....my LF black Fav pullet..."Morticia"....

She's beautiful. Are Favs big birds - cause she sure looks big. Are they as big as Brahmas?

 

[RainyDayChicken]

None yet.  I bought some Chick Grit, but was afraid it would be too big for them.  Should I put some in at 2 days old?

I feed my 2 day old chicks grit. I think about it like this if they would be outside with mom they would eat what she eat, that would be sand or small rocks.

 

[itsren]

Quote: Right now it is. I wasn't sure how quick it would grow in on the other one. It hatched a good 12 hours after the one on the left. The white spots on top of their head are slightly different... but not much, and the spots are looking more similar today.

I love the name Cocoa. I'm going to talk to the kids tonight about that one. I don't like the names "Chirpy" "Fuzzy" or "Softie" (I think that's what the names were - they were something similar to that).

I think the name "Blacky" is going to have to stick... I'm going to suggest a spelling change though. My youngest son - who has been begging for a black chicken has claimed the black one as his own. He's not budging on a name change, either. This morning I went to the garage to start laundry and this was taped to the garage door - at MY eye level, not his. LOL! Notice how he's even making sure I sound it out correctly by writing (Black-E). He can't handle it when someone calls something a nickname and he knows I use nicknames frequently. For example, he gets very upset if I refer to Wal Mart as Wally World, etc.

 

[Slinglings]

Quote:
So sprouted radish is safe to eat? I'm always nervous about eating parts of a plant unless I know it is safe. And - arugula sprouts? Thanks. I'd love to find new ways to make food taste good again.
radish sprouts are yummy!

 

[Slinglings]

I know what my next chicken is going to be named! It shall be brown and named Cocoa. I love that name!

 

[UrbanEnthusiast]

Wow! This thread has been moving so quickly, I can't catch up! Hopefully there will be time tomorrow for that.

We finally let Salma out today after 10 days in the crate. After a couple minutes of reorienting herself, she was back into her usual habits, joining the flock in foraging and dust-bathing. We left Gertrude (the mean one) out, too, for a little while - totally supervised, of course - figuring we'd wait until she showed aggressive behavior toward Salma before putting her in the crate. I don't know if chickens are capable of learning but for us it just felt better to let Gertrude prove that she's up to no good before we punish her. Funny thing is, she just sorta came up to Salma and checked her out thoroughly, but didn't hassle her. That is, until, my boyfriend went inside the house. As soon as he was gone, Gertrude didn't hesitate to peck Salma HARD. I have long suspected that Gertrude, if not the entire flock, views my BF as the flock leader - or, another way of putting it, as a rooster. Gertrude in particular will often freeze into a low, wings-apart pose whenever he approaches her. I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure that pose means, "Have your way with me, rooster!"

Anyway, we immediately scooped Gertrude up and put her in the carrier. (And by "we" I mean my BF who came running from inside as soon as he heard the commotion. I can never catch any of our hens!). She raised hell over it. Not a happy hen AT ALL. But I suppose that's the point - to break her spirit just a bit. Poor thing. But I think this really was necessary even if Salma hadn't gotten injured. Gertrude is constantly hassling everyone in the flock except her best buddy Maggie the big dumb Wyandotte. She really needs to bring her attitude down a notch or three.

So, after that, Salma discovered the new and improved coop! She was so pleased, she'd been in there on the roost for a whole hour when we had to leave to go run some errands. We thought about locking everyone out of the coop so that Salma would get back to being a normal chicken on such a nice, sunny day, but figured we'd give her a day to relax and do whatever she feels like before we start worrying.

One thing we really had not noticed until we put her back with the flock is how much weight Salma has lost since the attack. She used to be our biggest hen other than Maggie, and now she's smaller than Gertrude, too. Heck, she may even be smaller than the bigger of my two Leghorn pullets. It's pretty sad. She had been eating well in the carrier ever since a few days after the attack, but I guess it was just the lack of exercise? I don't know. I really hope someone here can reassure me that she'll gain the weight back.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

I have been 

Now that I've stopped reeling in horror at the idea of being allergic to garlic... have you tried adding sprouted radish seed or maybe arugula to give a little heat? It's not garlic, nothing is, but it might add to the complexity and depth of the seasoning.


I'm sensitve to pork, too, and have been dreaming of liverwurst, lately: there's nothing but pork/part pork on the market, chicken liver isn't what I want, and I'm about to track down veal liver and goose fat to see if that's a substitute.

So sprouted radish is safe to eat?  I'm always nervous about eating parts of a plant unless I know it is safe.  And - arugula sprouts?   Thanks.  I'd love to find new ways to make food taste good again.

Radish seed was one of those bases of hippy vegetarian/vegan food when I was at TESC back in the Nixon administration; they still sell radish seeds for sprouting at the Oly Food Co-op and I think through Nichols Garden Nursery. They're very peppery and have a hint of umami ("brown"/soysauce-ish/truffle) which are two parts of the garlic flavor. Another thing that may help is greek-style olives, not many of them but enough to "brown" up the flavor (Kalamatas are cheap at TJ's or you can by an ounce at the olive bar at Freddie's- either way, keep them in olive oil in the refrigerator).

Are you sensitive to all the Alliums or just Garlic? Because shallots can be punchy if you give them a quick sear before adding them to food. Or if you can find real storage onions, they're more intense than the sweet ones which seem to have taken over the market.

OH! and anchovy paste, which is a 100% authentic Italian taste, and full of umami/bitter flavor. A 1/16th tsp is enough to punch up a cup of spaghetti sauce, for instance. It comes in tubes that last forever.

Herbs: fresh basil (which can be rinsed and frozen whole), fresh rosemary (evergreen, beautiful, but buy the ARP hardy unless you've got a very protected southern exposure) fresh bay (again, in pots that can be moved inside if it's below 27F but infinitely better than the dry stuff), and German Thyme, which is evergreen. Winter Savory is good, too. Nigella is pretty garliccy, although not easy to find (The Culinary Herb Shop in downtown Oly has it.

And unless you're 100% sure you are a person whose blood pressure is negatively effected by salt, put a pinch extra in at the end, amazing how good it tastes. If you are, try a squirt of fresh lemon before serving.

Speaking of Mrs. Buck's emporium of wonders: dried mushrooms. Futz around and see which ones you like, they can be a great way to boost the flavor of most foods. I have friends who swear by mushroom boullion but haven't found a local place that sells it, although I haven't looked recently.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

OK, stopped raining again, out to speed-work!