Cluck, cluck, squaaaawk, squaaaaawk, eeeek, squaaawk, cluck, cluck, squaaaawk!

Cluck, cluck, squaaaawk, squaaaaawk, eeeek, squaaawk, cluck, cluck, squaaaawk!

 

We moved into our new house last year.  Recently the 35 year old air conditioner Q * U * I * T !!  Oh my, it's hot.  To beat the heat, our family spent last Saturday morning in the breezy back yard.  Lucky us, the air conditioner broke at the perfect time for us to listen to our first egg being, uh, born? ... nope, layed.  Without a rooster, no fertilization is happening in our back yard.  Earlier, I noticed one of the hens spending quite a bit of time sitting in our strawberry patch.  I had some concern that she planned to lay an egg there.  However, soon I heard clucks, squawks and other painful birthing noises coming from the coop.  After the sounds subsided, we went to check it out.

 

 

Little two-year old Clara got to pick up our first egg from the nesting box.  I am impressed, no golf ball, ceramic egg or white door knob let this hen to know where to lay.  Instead, she was smart enough to figure out where we wanted her lay, without any artificial signal.  Good girl!

With excitement Clara carried the egg all around the yard.  "An egg, the chicken laid an egg!" she exclaimed.  Then...

Yup, she dropped that egg, splat, right next to the concrete.  "I wanna 'nother one...I wanna 'nother one...I wanna 'nother one...," she repeated over and over as we answered, "You'll have to wait another day or two until the chicken lays another egg."  This is hard for a kid to understand when they are used to going to the fridge or store, and getting an egg.  What, wait for food?  Why in the world would we have to do that?  Food becomes incredibly precious when you produce it yourself and realize the time that goes into one, precious egg.  It also forms the virtue of patience in a budding little two-year old and her much older parents.  Here's to fresh food!

Sweet, sweet strawberries!!

Oh the sweet, sweet strawberries!

 

 

Last night our family went strawberry picking north of Wichita at Jester Creek Farms.  Without many words, here is our wonderful experience...

 

 

Oh, the excitement!

Three generations, picking strawberries together.

 

 

Part of our efforts.

 

Taking a break to picnic.

Cutting fresh picked strawberries for...

 

...enjoying strawberry shortcake in the patch!



 This morning, as Chris and I sampled the strawberries, we compared them to some we purchased at a local store.  A rare event, the ones at the store were actually ripe all the way through, instead of white.  Can you guess which is which?

Left:  Jester Creek Farms  Right:  Store bought

The store bought strawberry was almost right on the fresh picked in taste, but what was that missing  A zippy flavor at the end of the tasting experience.  I quizzed Chris, thinking my mind was trying to make the fresh picked taste better.  His response, "It's the full strawberry flavor with something missing."  Yup, something is missing, it's a small difference, but it's there.  And yes, it was worth a few hours, on a beautiful evening, in a strawberry patch a few miles from my home.  Building an experience with my family and friends, getting fresh air, learning from my parents about the strawberry patch my grandparent's owned.  What's that credit card commercial say...Priceless. 

While discussing the tasting experience, I discovered that women have better taste sense than men.  Chris learned in culinary school that women can often dissect a dish by the taste and smell better than men.  And oh, the smell.  Chris processed our strawberries after I was in bed with the kids, and talked this morning the wonderful smell of strawberries. 

How did the end of our evening go? 

Well, the baby screamed all the way home, but the strawberries were worth it!



Chicken Wrangler in Training

"I wanna take her in da house Ma"



It's chicken time again.  Chris and I have been married almost four years, and for one reason or another, we've raised baby chicks three of those years.  Watching their antics as they grow is much more fulfilling than sitting in front of the TV.  Even better, we now watch their antics coupled with our two year old's antics.  Slide anyone? ... Priceless.

This year we are growing our largest flow, a group of five.  Two years ago one of the ladies in our flock of four ended up with a deep voice ("cockadoodledoo") so he got sent to the farm.  As our family grows, we need more eggs, so we'll see how these five do for us, so far, no crowing.

Homeless for a month last year between selling our old house and buying our new one, we lived with my parents.  My Mom fell in love with our chickens, so we left them and the coop with her.  Chris intended to make us a chicken tractor that we could move around the yard, but it's a little too heavy for that. This spring it has served two purposes - holding chickens and entertaining kiddos.

We love our chickens and look forward to getting fresh eggs again soon.  And just let me say it again for all those skeptics, raising chickens is way easier than I ever expected! 

From "Awwww, Nuts" to "Ahh, Nuts!"



If you've read my other blog (which I totally abandoned upon the arrival of kids), you know I had an "Awww, nuts" experience that I blogged about (here).  Well, I'm happy to say my experience on the local foods blog is instead called, "Ahhh, nuts!"  A couple weeks ago my friend sent me the following Craigslist posting.  After reading it, you'll see why I was happy - a local source of nuts!  I only got 5#, wanting to test the quality of the product before buying more, but after tasting them wish I would have just trusted the advertising and gone with more.  They are worth the drive (er, well, they are worth the drive my friend did to pick 'em up for us)!

Pecans Fresh 2012 Organic

Date: 2013-02-24, 11:48AM
Fresh 2012 Organic Pecans. Partially removed, easiest picking of cracked pecans you'll ever do. Every pecans is hand cracked by me so I inspect every pecan. This is not commercially cracked, it's better.

A ton easier than removing native pecans!

5lbs cracked $18

10lbs cracked $34

20lbs cracked $62

40lbs cracked $115

Uncracked in shell $15 per 5lbs

Removed/Shelled $8 lb

Ward 316- 777- 1349

• Location: Mulvane
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

And a new local producers category is created on this website's Wichita Area Local Producers page...NUTS.  Now, I'm still looking for a local source of edible oats - email me if you have one!