CSA Veggie Adventure - A Bust?

Oh noes, dental woes! Haven't been eating much of anything these past few weeks, due to dental work. Keeping fingers crossed that the latest adjustment of the porcelain fillings will do the trick. This week's CSA veggie bounty: dandelion greens, beets, carrots, radishes, elephant garlic, and flowers.

[pic: one of the geese trying to figure out what the heck these tiny winged creatures are doing.]

Independence Days Check In

Time for the Independence Days Challenge check in! I'm finding this weekly check in to be very helpful, as I sometimes think I'm not doing much, but looking back can see that indeed "stuff" is getting done. More about the Independence Days Challenge at Sharon Astyk's blog.

Plant something: Missed moon-cycle for planting above-ground produce such as new pasture grass and lettuce. Hope to make the next cycle.

Harvest something: Eggs, natch. The geese are starting to slow down their egg production once more, hopefully this is the last of the season. I want my sweet geese back!

Preserve something: Sorta - froze bulk garlic and ginger concoction, see Prep & Storage below.

Reduce waste: Continuing to re-use old and/or soiled critter drinking & pool water to water fruit trees, herbs, veggies and poultry pasture. Also using soiled water to keep compost pile “hydrated”.

Preparation & Storage: Purchased dried raisins, cherries, sliced almonds, ground flax meal. I use these in home-made oat-based meusli, of which I presoak a serving the day before in soy milk. Spouse got a good deal on fresh ginger and pre-peeled garlic at the asian grocer, and made a garlic/ginger blend, portioned and froze. Ordered 10# of food-grade diatomaceous earth.

Build Community Food Systems: Attended co-op “meet & greet” as a farmer/vendor, and gave presentation on differences between caged chicken eggs and pasture-raised chicken eggs. Red, White & Grew (twitter @redwhiteandgrew) used a quote and a photo of my preserves for an article on the MySanAntonio site - as I joked with her later, “does this mean my fifteen minutes of fame are up?”

Eat the Food: Not eating all that much, actually. Dental problems!

[Top pic: photo that was used in the article. Bottom pic: photo taken of me at my little vendor table, showing the differences in egg yolks, and talking everyone's ear off.]

Locavorism for the Win!

The co-op through which I sell eggs - the Bountiful Sprout - held a vendor/member/advertising "meet and greet" at our local community center today. There was a free showing of the documentary "Food Fight", live music, face-painting, and hands-on crafts for the kids. The vendors ranged from bakers to herbalists to ranchers to veggie farmers, and members got to meet and talk to the vendors more in-depth about their products and philosophies.

I provided examples of the differences between commercial, caged chicken eggs and pasture-raised chicken eggs. "City" folks and teens were amazed at the difference in yolk color, and most had never seen a goose egg before . "Old"-timers told funny stories about being raised around chickens and geese. Folks who know me, know that I'm pretty shy and don't talk about myself that much (well, except on this blog), but I feel so passionate about local food systems - and my girls, of course! - that I about talked everyone's ear off.

Fell into a discussion with one of the co-op's board members, who is putting together a town-focused social network where folks can skill share and call out for assistance. We talked about how many are craving a sense of community and connection, and that this can be one way of creating a more cohesive community. Especially if the economy continues to tank.

I was thrilled to talk more with local producers of pasture-raised pork and beef, and made plans to budget money for shares in the upcoming harvest.

Meeting with everyone, making presentations, and seeing people's excitement in what we're doing with the co-op has left me feeling re-energized and re-motivated to push forward on developing our orchard. There's a huge need for a larger variety of local, organic fruits and nuts. Our town also has a small food bank, and it'd be great to have something to give every season. I may even set up a gleaning opportunity if we have enough trees/produce to do so.

One thing I forgot to bring - snacks and drinks. I started to have a sugar crash, and ended up eating a coconut/date macaroon from the vendor next to me, and drinking a cup of organic coffee from the vendor across the way. This means Spouse gets to watch me bounce off the walls for the rest of tonight, lucky guy! ("no, not really" I'm sure he'd say) Think I better find a project to pour this energy into while it lasts.

Round and Round We Go

Our very first batch of chickens did this. The second batch, not so much because they followed the first batch everywhere. Our third batch of chickens, a herd unto themselves, are taking up the tradition once more. The tradition? "Aiiieeee, we cannot find the opening to the poultry pen!"

The poultry pen is pretty darn big, I'll admit. There's approximately 500 feet of netting that gets electrified at night. There's only one way in and out of the pen, a gated opening that's about four feet wide, and is left open for the entire day.

The chicks get out. Dizzy with the heady scent of freedom, they get confused as to how to get back in. I'll go out with a stick, and try to "herd" them back into the pen. The chicks will run opposite of where I want them to go. So I run them along the fence-line the opposite way until we get close to the opening. Then the chicks will change their mind and head away from the opening once more, in surety that the opening lay "elsewhere". I run them back around the fence-line again, get close to the opening once more... yeah, you know how this goes by now.

If I'm lucky, Bandit will be nearby and she'll help herd the chickens into the pen. If I'm unlucky, Maggie will think I'm playing and will bounce through the chickens towards me, causing the chickens to scatter. The chickens will figure this all out eventually, just like the first batch did. In the meantime I'm getting sunshine, exercise, and the opportunity to inspect the fence (again and again and again) so it's not all bad, eh?

[pic: one of the Barreds.]

The Great Escape

They must have been plotting, that's all I can figure. I thought I had securely closed the opening to the chick run, I really did. Alas, there was one teeny, tiny gap between the closing gate and the run. No sooner had I turned my back to refill their food that a dozen chicks came pouring through that gap like water through a sieve. The remaining six were still eyeballing the opening when I finally turned around and witnessed The Great Escape.

It was too darn hot to chase them all. Decided to do what some parents do with their children: "think you're old enough? Go ahead, be my guest!", and opened the run completely.

The geese came by and glared balefully.
The dogs came around and tried to eat the chick food.
The older chickens then came by and gave the "newbies" a lesson in pecking order.

During this brief time, the chicks have learned how to dodge and run VERY quickly.

So far no permanent injuries, and hopefully a few cocky Leghorns now understand that they are not Kings of the Land. Frau rules the roost here, and you better not forget it.

(No worries, I'll scoop up the little buggers and put back into their run at dusk, when they go into their sleep fugue.)

[Pic top: one of the Leghorns. Pic bottom: Her Frau-ness.]