Well, hello there everyone! It's been a while since I posted an update about the chickens so I thought it was time.
from left: Twilight, Tang, Zip, Pedro and Lorelei in the front
and Reepicheep (the roo) and Lady Wellington in the back. Missing one? Where's Pippin???
As most of you know, the girls recently got a mini coop makeover when we opened the nest boxes for business a few weeks ago. Well, I have to tell you that they took to them like they were pros. Our little bantam hen has been busy every day laying like crazy. She is now, over the course of two weeks, being joined daily by most of the other ladies as well, though Pippin (the bantam hen) has appointed herself egg-sitter for most of them. She loves the nest boxes and has established herself in a specific box. Aunt Kathi wasn't kidding when she told us that Banties will sit anything! For the last few days, Pippen has felt rather broody and despite the fact that we faithfully collected all the eggs each morning, we still find her sitting the golf ball we put in the nest as "inspiration" :) I recently removed all the golf balls with the hope that she would not feel the need to inhabit the nest box ALL day long and would maybe join her fellow sister-hens in the pen for a while, but as of this morning she seems resigned to hatch SOMETHING!
Oh there she is! This is where we find her most of the time.
For those of you who are shocked at the lack of proper nesting materials in this box, let me reassure you it is not a lack of provision on our part! For whatever reason, all the chickens have repeatedly scratched all the nesting materials out of the nest boxes preferring to sit on the little amount you see here despite our attempts at refilling them. We have given up and forfeited to the chickens' preferences. They seem to enjoy the boxes and are giving us the reward of healthy and plentiful eggs so I guess that is how I will leave it.
We are averaging about 4-5 eggs a day from them and several have been double yolkers! I haven't had to buy eggs in a few weeks and I'm so excited! Yesterday was a banner day and we got 6 eggs. Aren't they gorgeous? Yum yum!
In other news.....
I was on facebook recently and read a post my neighbor had posted asking about once a month cooking. Having been interested in that topic for several years, I piped in on the conversation and before long I found my self suggesting the idea of a cooking swap. I remembered reading about the idea and had to go hunt down the article as a reference (because that's just how I am). You can read it
HERE if you're interested.
In case you have never heard of a cooking swap, there are several different ways of doing it (which you can read about in the above article). I will focus on the the one I find most appealing. Basically, you gather some of your friends, family, coworkers....anyone really and talk about your family's food likes and dislikes and any allergies there may be and pick a meeting/exchanging date and location. Then each family picks a recipe that is a family favorite and instead of making it once like you usually would for your own family, you make enough to serve each of the other families involved, separate it into the right portions and freeze it in freezer bags or containers. When the time comes to exchange your ready-made dinners, you pack them up in a cooler and swap with the others in your group. You should come home with a cooler full of a variety of ready-made meals to pop into your freezer and pull out as you need without all the work.
I have a total of 5 families (including my own) in our group. That means I could potentially have at least one night off from cooking dinner each week of the month. Sounds wonderful to me. We are just now in the beginning organizational part of the idea, so I will have to let you know how it goes after we get it up and running. I am excited about it. I think it will be a wonderful blessing to all of us.
On a personal note.......
I have been meeting every Thursday evening with a group of ladies from church who all struggle with weight loss in one way or another. There are probably 7-10 of us in all. I have to confess that when the opportunity came up to join this group I was hesitant and, infact, had resolved NOT to go to the first meeting up until about 10 minutes before it began using the excuse that my husband was not home from work yet (never you mind that I have a 14 yr old and a 13 yr old well capable of keeping an eye on their siblings while I go to the store). I am not comfortable with new or large groups of people. It is something WAY outside my comfort zone and when I can I will completely avoid them or evade them all together. BUT, my husband arrived just in the nick of time and convinced me to give it a try. That was back in July. Over the course of the last two months, I have formed a bond with these women, my "LiveStrong Ladies", and I have faithfully attended every meeting I could. I look forward to my time with them. They make me laugh, cry and share the deepest parts of me every week.
We are currently working our way through the book
Captivating by John and Stacy Eldridge
and it has been wonderful. I would highly recommend that book to any woman anywhere. It should be mandatory reading (and likely will be for my girls once they reach an appropriate age) for all women.
Well, I think that's all I have to share for now. I have another post brewing, but I'll save it for another day. I hope you all have a wonderful evening. If anyone has any experience with Cooking Swaps I would LOVE to hear from you. Please leave a comment and share what you did or learned from.
Take care,
by Mary Ann Pickard is a wonderful little book full to the brim with natural recipes. I fell in love with some of the recipes I made for my grandma and me to try and when it was time for me to move back to Montana, she gave me her copy (with a handwritten inscription by the author to my grandma). I've made several of the bread recipes as well as some of the others and can attest to their yumminess.
