Eggs and More Eggs

Wow, has it really been over a month since I last posted? My summer has been much busier than I had anticipated! A busy one, but a good one!

Here is the latest update ... eggs and more eggs. Last Tuesday, one of our gals started laying and each day we are finding more and more eggs. Sometimes, it has been a teasure hunt as we have one or two gals that are leaving their eggs in the coop, but not in the nesting box! This is just so much fun! Well, until we get to the part that out of our 18 chickens, we may have 4 roosters! That part isn't so much fun. Not sure how that happened, but we are working on that part. Must say, nothing like fresh eggs in the mornin'. The kids will tell you, when that first egg arrived, by my excitement, they weren't sure if it came from the chicken or me. I was "cackling" all day!

The garden is still flourishing with peppers, squash, cucumbers, beets, and occasional tomatoes at the moment. We have planted fall plants of green beans, broccoi, lettuce, spinach, and beets. We will see what they bring. It has been so nice having all these fresh veggies in our house. I just love not having to buy from the store. I have to admit, I was skeptical about whether I would be able to keep up with the garden this year and so far, it has not been too bad. I have made several loaves of zucchini bread to freeze and have been able to can 10 jars of tomatoes and have more to do! We were even fortunate enough to sell some of our cherry tomatoes in which we were told were simply delicious.

We have been quite busy here getting things ready for our upcoming school year. My goal is to post at least once a week, but with hopes of keeping my blog up on more of a daily basis. Thanks for checking in on our journey and please don't hesitate to share my blog with others.

Fresh From The Garden

I just love fresh vegetables from the garden. This is just some of the produce that we have brought in from our raised beds this year. We are currently getting zucchini and green beans too. I have been so excited to store some of this food up for the winter! I made 4 loaves of zucchini bread today. I also made a fresh squash casserole. I am looking forward to canning some green beans this week and we have been eating many fresh salads. Sharing my Zucchini Bread recipe this evening. This is a very moist bread.

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs

1/2 c. honey

1/2 c. sucanat

1 c. coconut oil

2 c. packed, grated, unpeeled zucchini

2 3/4 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 T. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 c. unsweetened flaked coconut

Cream together first 4 ingredients. Stir in zucchini, then add dry ingredients and mix well. Bake in 2 loaf pans or 1 large 13" x 9" cake pan at 350 for 1 hour.

Meet Pinkerton

Rooster? Say what? Yes, you read that right... I am pretty sure that we have a rooster in our flock. Meet Pinkerton. He has been named after the famous spy, Allen Pinkerton. Guess what? We have another rooster too! Yep, his name is Webster (named after another famous spy too). I got a little more than I bargained for with roosters. I just can't believe how fast they have grown. They are now 12 weeks old. We are still anxiously awaiting eggs here. I think we have at least another 6 weeks.

In case you haven't noticed, I have taken an extended break (not intentionally). It has been since May that I have posted. Wow! Well, most of our busy summer activities have slowed down here so ... it is my intention to keep you more informed of how God is actively restoring our health. I look forward to some posts this week updating our garden and some fresh new recipes that I have tried. Also, I am starting a new book, Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst. I look forward to sharing some of my reflections on this book as well. So, stay tuned and check back in to catch up on the latest! Hope you all are having a blessed summer.

Yummy Aspargus!

I know that I promised more chicken pictures and yes, they are yet to come. I am still having some technical difficulties with getting them onto the computer. Hoping you should have them by tomorrow at the latest.

In the meantime, I would like to share one of our favorite recipes right now! With fresh Aspargus from our garden, we have been finding different ways to fix it and experimenting with it. Here is the best one that we have come up with so far. Hope you try it out! Also, I must tell you my aspargus story. We planted aspargus BK (before kids) twenty years ago. We were able to keep up with it for about a year or two before the kids needed more of us and we saw less of our garden. Over the years, the aspargus plants got uprooted and moved by accident. Who knew that 18 years later, we would have discovered that patch again and be receiving such yummy aspargus to eat! Enjoy!

Baked Aspargus

Cut each aspargus into three portions. In a bowl, combine aspargus, olive oil (enough to coat well) and sea salt. Place in a baking dish and sprinkle with garlic. Sprinkle with bread crumbs (I use a rice crumb coating that I found at Giant) and bake on 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until it is cooked to your liking. Yummy! You can also add basil, parsley, lemon zest, cilantro, etc., when sprinkling on garlic. It is fun to experiment with the different spices/flavorings.

From Chicks to Chickens!

Good Afternoon. Today I am sharing pictures of our baby chicks and how they have grown. It is amazing to see how big they get in such a short time. I was hoping to share these pictures much sooner, but I was having trouble getting the pictures from camera to computer. The top picture (really in backwards order) was taken on May 9th and the bottom picture was taken on April 19th. Yes, this was just 3 weeks in time span. I am hoping to post more pictures from today in my post tomorrow.

It is amazing how God has created these birds. They have an interesting pecking order and they are very smart birds. They know my voice already and if anyone else comes in the coop (who hasn't previously announced that they were coming), they go bananas! Everyone here is anxiously awaiting their first eggs. This big event will probably occur in August or September. As usual, I am sure that will be here before we know it too! We are just learning so much about chickens. Yet, everytime I turn around, there is another chicken book to read with more interesting info.

So far, so good ... the garden is growing fast too. The rain really gave it a boost. Tomorrow I am planning on sharing a current chicken picture and posting a new recipe that we tried. Check back in tomorrow for the latest.

Chicks, Gardening, and more ...

Good evening all. Well, a lot has happened in our house since I last posted! This very day a week ago after I posted, we got our first batch of baby chicks! Then, on Wednesday, we got 7 more for a total of 18 baby chicks! Talk about busy. Those little chicks keep us hopping, but we are so enjoying them. This is definitely one homeschool project that my kids have not experienced before. However, I am glad that we did take the time to include this project in our schooling this year as we are learning so much.

Funny thing is that I was only going to look last week as I was quite sure they wouldn't have all 4 or even 3 of the breeds that I was looking for at the feed store as I have been looking for them for weeks. Well, funny story is, they had the 3 breeds (Ameracauna, Buff Orpington, and Black Australorps) that I have been looking for ... indeed. I saw the Black Australorps and then the Buff Orpingtons and then when I heard a customer say to the gal who was waiting on him, "I will take 4 of those Ameracauna's, I almost passed out ... as I wasn't quite ready to be a Mama to baby chicks yet! After trying to rationalize with myself for a minute or two, I asked the lady how long she thought she would have these breeds and she told me that they would be gone by tomorrow. Well, then, I made my purchase immediately! Indeed, I called the next morning and EVERY CHICK they had the previous day was gone! I even went in there a couple hours later to return something and saw it for my own two eyes! Wow, they go fast. I am hoping to post the pictures tomorrow.

Also, we have been trying to garden in between all the rain we seem to be getting here on the East Coast. However, I am not going to complain too much as the garden does need it and as we all know, I am sure it will go dry as we get closer to summer. I believe that I mentioned in an earlier post that when I do things, I have to do them right or should I say BIG? Here is what we have/are intending to plant this year: potatoes, strawberries, aspargus, brussel sprouts, broccoli, lima beans, cantaloupe, watermelon, squash, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, peppers, herbs, and I am sure there is a few more since I don't have my papers in front of me right now! Since we switched to raised beds, everyone tells me that gardening is so much easier. So far, it has been. We will see.

Poultry and Eggs

Good Morning. This morning, I was reading my Refined to Real Food book and have gleaned some more info. on eggs and all the good nutrients that they give us. It is amazing to me that the naturalness of the good nutrients that the eggs give us depends on how they are raised. Eggs from pasteruized poultry (allowed to forage on grasses) contain less fat, more vitamin A, and up to 400 percent more omega-3 fatty acids, and less cholesterol than soley grain fed birds that are caged. I am just so floored by the poultry industry and how it is all about fattening them up for $$. Since our family has been eating better (very little to no processed foods), we find ourselves eating more and more eggs every day. Of course, the cost of the "good eggs" (cage free, grass fed, etc.) is quite expensive. So, I have been working on getting some hens of my own. Realizing that this all takes time, I find God taking us back to the simplier days of life. I actually have been getting outside more to garden and secure a place for our chickens. It has given me more of an appreciation of God's awesome creation each day. God is growing us everyday even when I go kicking and screaming sometimes! I look forward to sharing my chicken experiences with you too. In the meantime, when making changes for your family, consider eating better eggs. Remember ... it is baby steps. Making one change at a time. Enjoy your day!