True Free Ranging Chickens

Oh my goodness, I was looking out the window and noticed a light colored circle in the back yard. I am not permitted to rake or much of anything right now. I hate confinement. What a pain in the arse. BUT, I know my chickens have been busy turning up the moss..

If you notice the lighter colored area, that is all moss. Just after I noticed the circle a few minutes ago, all of a sudden 8 hens and the rooster came running over to it. So I got a few shots of them working. I love it!

I could watch the chickens working for hours. They are funny. They will get all excited about one area and be there for a while. Then wander off, then like a ADHD person, remember it and come running back to a spot.

This is our white silkie rescue rooster. Yes a bantam, but he seems to be servicing ok, according to DH. That is one of his hens that will snuggle with him at night.

So I should probably tell the reason why my chickens free range. Aluminum. What?! Aluminum in their commercial feed. WHAT?!?!  YUP. I had some blood work done last year and they found my aluminum levels dangerously high. Well after I did some investigating online, I discovered a family in Utah suffering from aluminum poisoning also. Turns out, they linked it to the eggs they were eating. Their chickens were not let out, they were only fed bagged feed. Well, their feed was tested and turns out it has aluminum in it. AND the FDA has approved this practice!
As most know, whatever an animal eats, that is what is in its meat. .or in this case meat and eggs. Well, I didn't have to worry about eggs during winter as they stop laying for 2 months, but during this time, we finished using up our feed in bag and as usual still gave them kitchen scraps. And we kept them cooped during winter due to all the rain. Wet chickens are pathetic and they take shelter where they can find it when it rains hard, including on my front porch! YUCK!  I don't like chicken shiz. It stinks, it sticks, and it is slippery!

So, when the feed was gone, I started giving them some of my grains that seemed to be starting to turn a little rancid. And yes, still giving them chickens scraps daily. They actually liked this better! They started eating better, had more energy, and started scratching more.

Finally the rains let up enough to let them out. They followed me as I shook the grain container, and we went to a mossy patch somewhere on the property where I would sprinkle the grain. And they would find every morsel, and bugs and other fun things to eat. Including WEEDS!!  Hurray!! The best part? The eggs have rich dark orange yolks, and the eggs taste amazing! The flavor is just amazing!

Chickens love to forage. Really they do, and they get all excited when you turn a log over for them. My goodness, they all dive in! The one downside to free ranging is if you have inexperienced hens, they will lay in the yard and cover their egg to keep it safe. Fortunately with this group of 3 year olds, they run to the hen house and lay there. BUT....

The new ones won't have that luxury. Well, they will, BUT they will be in a tractor for their first summer/fall. Why? Because they lay and cover the eggs. These guys will have to learn to use the nest box. Which we will provide in their tractor. This is simply done with a covered cat litter box. Chickens like to lay in a dark quiet spot, so the covered litter box with bedding in it is perfect. AND this way we don't have to carefully rake where they were tractored to in order to collect eggs.

We are excited for our replacement flock. The one above is a california white. They are popular in Canada for their winter laying. So I am excited. Although with most chickens their first year, they still lay in winter. These are white eggers. We haven't done white eggers before. We always have Americaunas which lay green eggs, and then some sort of brown eggers as well. This year we are doing Americaunas, Buff Orpingtons (dual purpose) and California Whites. I am hoping one of the buffs is a rooster so we can hatch out our own chicks for meat. But we'll see. I don't want to order meat only breeds because I want the eggs too. We go through a lot of eggs here.

Trying to be self sustaining is hard, you have to sustain it! Gardens, animals, home.. wow.. but you know, if my ancestors could do it without power.. I can definitely do it with power, and then if I have to, I can do it  without. Either way, it makes me much more comfortable knowing how to do what I am learning.

We have been doing chickens for 12 years now. WOW, 12 years!! I have butchered chickens, I have cooked chicken, and we have collected hundreds and hundreds of eggs. And we love it!

Amber's Garden

It is finally done! It took a year! But we have finally finished Amber's Garden. Here is Amber:

Here is the only picture I can find of Amber's Garden BEFORE renovation:

To the right of the tractor you see a giant rhododendron. That is one of five rhodies! You can't see the one Amber liked to lay under, it is next to the tractor, behind the giant one. This garden is in front of our home.

Amber loved her kids, loved her family, loved to watch the kids outside, play in the snow, snuggle. She was truly a part of our family. And on hot days, she would go down to the creek, get wet, then come up to the front garden, dig under the rhody and cool off. HER SPOT. Amber's Garden.

Amber loved to be outside, watching the kids, watching what was going on. She loved being with her family. In this photo she looks tired. She looks tired because it has been an exhausting day! Playing in the creek with kids, kids running every direction, cars coming and going. Lots going on in the farmette.

Here she is with her treat for a hard long day of watching children and goings on. She loved carrots! If you asked her if she wanted a carrot, her eyes would dilate and she would go sit by the fridge waiting for it. Yes her bed is in a crate, she actually preferred it, as she suffered from anxiety when we weren't home. She felt safe here, we called it her cave. OH, and YES, she used both front paws to make the carrot stand up so it was easier to eat!!!

Ever diligent about being with her kids outside! She was hit by a car one summer, and so enjoyed it when it snowed, she would go outside and rest the injured hip in the snow, and you could here her groan with delight! She would also wade out into the river in summer as the water was extremely cold and soak her hip.
Amber came to us a rescue from an abusive home. She was not even a year old yet. She was one of the biggest best blessings given to us! After a year, you could not tell she had been abused. She didn't trust men she didn't know. And in fact took a bit to warm up to DH. She would walk on his toes, she would step on his feet. It wasn't until the earthquake we had  3 weeks after we got her that she learned to trust DH. I worked her hard with training. I worked her hard with exercise as well. She loved to play, and we both lost weight together (which helped her shoulder injury from her abuse).
She learned that  chickens were not toys, she learned not to go into the road. She learned that kids were fabulous. She had never been around kids when I got her, but she LOVED all the attention! Brushing, petting, playing.. And we loved doing it with her and for her.

Amber passed away in April of 2012. It was painful, it was hard, it was peaceful, it was our last gift to her. No more pain. Her last few months she was diagnosed with diabetes, and no matter what we did she kept losing weight. Her body was failing her, but her mind wasn't ready. I finally made the decision, and we had a family meeting and let everyone know that it wasn't fair to Amber to make her hold on for us. So we said our goodbyes, and our beloved veterinarian came over and helped Amber to cross over.
Oh it was painful, but at the same time it was gentle. It was so hard, but seeing her in pain and suffering was harder.

She was there for everyone. Including our other rescues. If she let you out of the the car and let you talk with me or DH, you could come in the house. But if she stepped between the person and us. There was NO GO. I trusted my Amber and she knew a person's true spirit, and I will always be thankful for her watchful guard. 

This is Amber's final resting place.

She is buried under her favorite rhody.

This will be our cold garden.

Lettuces, spinach, kale, chard, peas & cabbages

Looking through the tunnel to the rhody.

I will be making a sign for Amber's Garden. It will go on the old totem pole support. We all miss Amber so much, but we wanted her place to be nice. When she passed away it was being neglected, lots of weeds and such. We took out all the rhodies except Amber's. We just moved them out of this garden. They are to the left of her garden, in a row.

In honor of Amber, this will be our four season garden. Why? Because no matter what she was there for us. And she is still talked about as if she is still walking beside us.

What have you done in your garden today?

GF MINI LOAF

I found this by chance. It was supposed to be cooked in microwave, but since I don't believe in microwaves being safe, we bake it. And it works out great!  YOU need to use the GF flour mix recipe I have on the site, as it has the baking powder in it.

GF Mini Loaf

1 egg or 1 TBS flax meal AND 3 TBS water
3 TBS buttermilk*
1/3 cup gluten free flour mix
1 tsp. honey or sugar or agave

Combine wet ingredients first, then dry. Stir well. Pour into small loaf pan (SMALL, like one from a kids baking set). Bake at 375 for 20 minutes in the MIDDLE of the oven.

*you can use dairy free milk. Just add a tsp. of lemon juice or vinegar to make it "buttermilk" to make a total of 3 TBS of "buttermilk".

Depending on your flours, and liquids, and weather, the middle can sometimes be sticky, but we like the ease of this recipe, quickness of it, and the flavor can always be changed by adding dry herbs.

Flour Mix for Gluten FREE

Our flour mix changes depending on what I have in stock. BUT, the more flours you use, the better the mix! I highly recommend millet flour (protein!!) and buckwheat flour (texture, protein, low glycemic index).

Gluten FREE flour mix

1 cup white rice flour
1 cup millet flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
2 tsp. xanthum
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix well and store in airtight container.

Now that all said. I have also done this:

1 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup potato OR tapioca starch
2 tsp. xanthum
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Basically, the 1 cup of white rice flour stays the same. But I will mix and match my other flours depending on what I have. We use these mixes to make muffins, cookies, and an easy to make GF bread.

NOTICE we NEVER EVER use soy or corn flours. Due to allergies, but also because all corn and all soy products are GMO, AND our bodies do not digest soy at all. It is actually toxic. And corn (unless you can get it from the people in Mexico that grow the non-GMO heirloom corn that they have grown for centuries) is bad for us as well.

Chocolate Pots De Creme

Yes it is a dessert. But do you know how hard it is to find a dessert that is CF, GF, DF,  & SF that isn't just cut up fruit????? Super difficult! You can use any milk, any sweetener, and any extract you desire. Sorry, no picture, I have made this twice this week, and it just disappears too quickly!

Chocolate Pots De Creme
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips*
1 cup half and half **
2 eggs***
3 tablespoons sugar ****
2 tablespoons rum*****
dash of salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat chocolate chips and half and half, stir until melted and combined. Take off heat. Cool slightly. Beat remaining ingredients. Gradually stir into chocolate mixture. Pour through a fine strainer into four 6-ounce custard cups or a corning ware dish.
Place cups or corning ware dish in pan on oven rack. Pour boiling water into pan to with in 1/2-inch of tops of cups. Bake 20 minutes for cups and 25 to 30 minutes for corning ware dish. Cool slightly. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours. Serves 4

*we used GF, CF, SF, DF semisweet chocolate, or dark baking chocolate (we prefer dark chocolate, for flavor and health benefits)
**I have used half and half, whole cow milk, coconut milk, almond coconut milk..
***we used organic farm fresh eggs (our own)
****I have used sugar, honey, and agave nectar.  I prefer honey. If using honey or agave nectar only use half as much as called for in recipe
*****NO rum here. But I have used a tablespoon of GF, CF REAL vanilla extract, GF/CF almond extract (1/2 tsp and then the rest vanilla)

This recipes is super easy to make, super easy to make dietary restrictions work in. ALL my kids love it. NO I do not refrigerate it for 4 hours. I let it cool 20 minutes, then stick it in the freezer for 20 minutes, and whalaa, yumminess.. if I can keep the kids out of it that long.  Yes I do strain it so there are no chewy egg chunks, which happens when the eggs curdle.. yuck.. But it still tastes good.

Tummy aches

It has not been something I have shared. But here goes.

I have tummy aches, pains, sharp pains.. Pains that send me to the ER to have them tell me, we can't find anything, but would you like some pain meds (even though you are pregnant!)!  AAARRRGGGHHHH

The article on CELIACS is fantastic and tells you about how being celiac or even just gluten intolerant can cause problems from head to toe! Including depression, ADD/ADHD, headaches, vitamin deficiencies and more.

It wasn't until I started going gluten free again that the pains lessened. But then with cravings, yup, I started eating gluten again.. ugh.. OUCH.. In my search for help with my and Peaches tummy aches and other health issues we came across an article that sounded like it was written about us! I will share it at the end. BUT, as many of you know I grind all my own grains. Soft wheat, oat groats, buckwheat (which is NOT related to wheat), hard wheat, triticale, kamut, lentils, rice... millet, quinoa.. I can't remember them all. 

I also sprout alot of them too, then dry them in my dehydrator on low heat (about 85 degrees), then grind them. Sprouting changes the proteins, enzymes and vitamins and minerals in your grains. It also makes the grains much easier to digest.. BUT, it wasn't helping Peaches or me.  Now I know why.

The wheat of Jesus' time only had 10 to 12 gluten strains in it. The wheat of today, that has been bred for shorter height, higher yields, and faster growth, not to mention the GMO stuff from Monsanto has over 100 strains of gluten in it, AND scientists don't really know how are bodies are reacting to these new glutens!
Well for us, we aren't reacting well to them. There is Einkorn, and Jovial wheat, which is like the stuff Jesus had.. but I have alot of kids, and I make a lot of bread... At $6 to $18 per POUND, I just can't afford it.. So what to do??

No bread. Well, not with wheat or gluten in it. We have discovered the GF diet (gluten free). Actually I prefer it. I lost 30 pounds on it!!  And it was weight I could afford to lose!  Peaches, has not gained or lost weight. BUT she can bend her fingers now! HUGE bonus. But, we prefer to stay away from GF breads because they usually contain corn or soy to replace the wheat. We make our own, but the FRANZ bakery also make some in a GF certified plant. They have one bread that tastes like a Poulsbo bread and it has quinoa and millet in it, my favorite.. They also have a white bread that is made with rice (great for eggs and toast). But we have discovered a quick bread to make for when we are having soup, or really want a bread sandwich. I will try to post more GF recipes on here, especially tried and trues!!

People think it is sooo hard to be GF, and when you are just starting it is, but you have to focus on what you CAN eat, not what you may not.
Lettuce wrapped burgers (love the crunch!! and it is soooo much lighter and you feel better after eating it)
chicken salad in romaine lettuce (rolled up, like a wrap)
fruits
veggies
meats
cheeses
buckwheat pancakes or waffles
GF certified oatmeal (usually ok for celiacs too)

If you think about it, eating GF is better for you. Highly processed grains (white flour) is really hard on your adrenal glands, pancreas, liver, GI tract, and brain. It is usually rancid before you buy it, and causes malabsorbtion in most!  Ever wonder why you are hungrier after a sandwich or piece of toast?? Because white flour makes you hungry.

Don't even get me started on the evils of corn syrup, splenda, white and brown sugars... That is another posting..

Anyway, I will try to post GF recipes that are tried and true this coming week.. if I remember. BUT here is an excellent article written by a nurse that explains many of my and Peach's symptoms.. and why we are GF now. Most likely Princess will be GF soon as well.

CELIAC DISEASE HEAD TO TOE

March Madness

I think the real meaning of March Madness is about all the cabin fever, and then Mother Nature teases you with a day of sunshine, even though pretty chilly out still. Then the next day you wake up to rain, or snow.. Yup, that is March Madness..

What have we been up to over here? Well, we are getting Amber's garden ready for planting. We will be doing a hoop house over it and also the other bigger garden. In Amber's garden we plan on planting lettuces, spinach, beets and peas. In the other garden we are planning squashes, onions, garlic, cucumbers and carrots. In the upper garden we are planning on some heirloom tomatoes, runner beans, ground cherries, chives, and maybe chamomile. In the back garden we are planning on some more lettuces, spinaches and maybe some cold tolerant herbs.

We were expecting our first litters this month, but sadly the mommas didn't do a very good job and we lost every baby. We got our chicks, and they are doing great! We are excited for more eggs, as we use sooo many when we have them available.

The last couple days it has rained, snowed, sleeted, hailed, frosted, been sunny and windy. Today it is sunny and breezy right now.. but cold out. It frosted last night, so I my bark piles that need moving are still frozen..

We still need to turn the compost, get the dirt for Amber's and other gardens so we can finally plant. Buy the hoops and plastic for the gardens as well. I hope to be able to do that today.

This next week, we will be sprouting some grains and beans for making bread. Working on a baby quilt, baby drawstrings, getting my room organized, and hopefully finishing up the hoops gardens with planting!