Cookie Tin Water Heater

Once the weather turned cold and the chicken waterers began freezing up, I was about to pull my hair out. How many times a day can one person be expected to tromp up to the chicken coop, get the frozen chicken water, bring it back to the house and thaw everything out in warm water, refill the waterer, haul it back to the coop? Once is plenty, thank-you!

Fortunately, I'd been sent a link for a homemade water heater, that, as it turns out, is very effective and inexpensive to make. This thing saved my sanity this winter. All that is needed is a cookie tin, some electrical stuff and a low watt light bulb; the instructions call for a 25 watt bulb, but I think we're using something lower than that. The bulb is placed inside the cookie tin, and the chicken water sits on top of the tin. The bulb, of course, keeps the water warm enough that it doesn't freeze. Amazingly simple! The ONLY problem I had with this set-up is, the chickens occasionally knocked the waterer off the heater. We simply need to rig something up that will prevent that, otherwise this works like a charm.

From Scratch

My niece, Sarah, has a charming blog over at 8 Muddy Boots. She's been doing a weekly "From Scratch" series, of which I'm envious. SO, since I've been so lax in writing in MY blog, perhaps you can enjoy hers while I try to find the time/energy to update my own!!

An Abundance of Eggs

Silicone muffin pans make an excellent "mold" for freezing individual eggs

So, what does one do when there is an abundance of eggs? I'm getting anywhere from 12-18 eggs a day from my 26 girls...at least this is how many I'm finding. Little stinkers like to lay all over the place, which makes daily egg gathering something of a daily Easter egg hunt.

My husband and I can only use so many eggs; the rest I'm trying to sell, and that's hard to do here in the country when so many of my neighbors have eggs for sale or are giving them away for free.

A friend suggested freezing eggs in silicone muffin pans. Brilliant! I'd been cracking the eggs open and freezing them in containers, intending to use them for scrambled eggs or omelets. Freezing individual eggs in each cup of the silicone muffin pan enables me to place these frozen eggs in a plastic bag and freeze that. Then, when I need a single egg, or a certain number of eggs, I can just open the bag and count out how many eggs I need. And unless I let the eggs thaw a bit then re-freeze, they don't stick together.

Bag of individually frozen eggs

A single large egg, frozen and freshly popped out of the silicone muffin pan

The silicone muffin pan is wonderful for freezing eggs for several reasons. They're just the right size for large and jumbo-size eggs. I suppose one could use very large ice cube trays for smaller eggs; I seem to recall reading that someone had done this, but haven't tried it myself. Silicone is supposedly a food-safe material and won't leech dangerous chemicals into your food. Getting the eggs out of the muffin pan couldn't be simpler....just turn it inside-out and the eggs pop right out. Clean-up is easy.

I'm assuming my girls will slow down their egg production over the winter months, which is when I'll dive into the frozen eggs. These eggs won't be suitable for making fried eggs (sunny-side up type), but should be perfect for baking, scrambled eggs or omelets.

**NOTE. I hadn't used these frozen eggs at the time I wrote the above. Since someone had asked me how they were after being thawed, I thawed a couple to see what they would be like. Interestingly, the yolk becomes somewhat solid, so I'm thinking I'll try stirring the white and yolk together before freezing to see if that makes a difference. Taste is fine. More updates to come...

They Stink. They Bite. They Swarm.

Close-up of a Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle that landed on my jeans

And today is the day they invaded the earth...or so it seems. My sister-in-law in Indiana told me they saw their fist invaders today. People here in Central Pennsylvania have been telling me they've noticed the invasion today for the first time this fall.

What are they? They're often mistakenly called ladybugs, but these are no ordinary "ladybird beetles", though they do look similar. These are the "Multicolored Asian Lady Beetles", or Harmonia axyridis. H. axyridis was introduced to the United States in the late 1970's as a biological control agent, and feeds on such pests as aphids and scales. You can read more about these beetles here, or do an internet search and find a plethora of sites on the subject.

View of the house from our garage...you can see the air is filled with swarming beetles!

One article that I read dealing with these beetles stated that the beetles do not bite or sting. Huh? Either I've got a different kind of beetle swarming here, or the person writing that article hasn't been under siege by these beetles. If what I'm feeling isn't a bite, I'd sure like to know what on earth that sensation is!

Part of the garage being overrun by beetles

Today while doing chores, I felt like I was living in a horror film. The beetles were swarming all over the garage and chicken coop, and when I'd get near those areas, I'd be instantly covered with beetles. They have a peculiar smell, and they crawl all over the place, including under my clothes where I'd often be on the receiving end of a bite (or whatever that is!). The chickens didn't seem to be interested in ingesting any of these creatures, sadly.

I can only hope that they do indeed annihilate aphids, scales and psyllids, because anything this annoying certainly must have some special purpose in life.

Old Habits Die Hard

Welsummer egg in a hidden snow nest

It's been quite a long time since I've written anything here....so much catching up to do!

Let me jump right into things, then play catch up later. My chickens began laying on August 20, first one egg and now we're up to well over a dozen eggs a day. The record so far is 20 eggs in one day from my 26 girls.

Harriet is one of my Welsummer girls, named after Harry Houdini because she constantly escapes from the chicken run. I discovered that, once Harriet started laying, she began laying in a hidden nest in a patch of beans that I'd been letting go to seed. She's laid an egg in there nearly every day since I discovered the nest a couple weeks ago. Her eggs are a nice dark brown, but not quite as dark as I'd expect from a Welsummer.

Harriet, my Welsummer hen named after Harry Houdini. She's a renegade chicken that marches to a different drummer.

Yesterday we got the first snow of the season, which is quite early for Pennsylvania. It's still snowing today. But, old habits die hard, and Harriet braved the snow and made her way to her "hidden" nest and promptly deposited a nice brown egg. I'd placed a golf ball in her nest to encourage her to return to the same spot rather than lay all over creation, which, of course, would mean I'd have to hunt and hunt and hunt to find eggs.

I'm not sure what goes on in a chicken's brain, but she prefers this spot out in the open to the nesting boxes I have set up in the chicken run. Silly girl.

Just When I Think I've Got Them All...

Blackberries in their prime

I've been picking fresh berries of one sort or another on a daily basis since late May/early June, starting with strawberries. Following closely on the heals of the strawberries were the red and black raspberries, and before they were finished, the blueberries began ripening. The blueberries are still going strong, and now the blackberries are producing in full swing.

A typical breakfast for me consists mainly of fruit (berries!), yogurt and walnuts

What can I say? I love berries. I love picking them every morning for my breakfast of berries/fresh yogurt/walnuts. I'm considering a vegan lifestyle, but I'm not sure I could give up my yogurt...

Toodie, my blue merle Australian Shepherd posing as "Blueberry Muffin" in the blueberry bushes

Anyway, I have lots of help when it comes to picking the berries. Toodie (Australian Shepherd) runs to the blueberry bushes when I ask her if she wants to help Mom pick blueberries. She hovers beneath the bushes, waiting for a handout, or methodically eating the fallen blueberries that she's able to find. Tristan, on the other hand, swaggers out to the blueberry bushes and stands beneath them, eating the berries straight off the bushes like a black bear. Naughty dog! I wonder how many quarts he's eaten this year?

I've learned to be careful when picking blueberries...careful not to pick them before they're entirely ripe. If there's a hint of purple/pink on them, they'll not be nearly as sweet as if they're nearly black, or at least a deep, dark blue.

The amazing new wonder plant that (1) produces beautiful imaptiens flowers, (2) blueberries, and (3) small amounts of silk in the blossom-end of the blueberry!!

I've also learned to examine each berry for impurities, mainly of the bug variety. Some have tiny holes in them, and inside will be a nice juicy worm. Or, the blossom end of the berry will sport a web of sorts...it looks like it's been stuffed with cotton. I'm not sure what lurks beneath that, but I sure don't want to eat it!

Close-up of the web in the blossom-end of the blueberry. Placed in an impatiens flower for lack of a better background.

The blackberries are in their prime at the moment. Again, I've learned to not pick them before their time. It's tempting to pick anything that appears black, but I've learned to not pick them until (1) they simply fall off the canes with the slightest touch, (2) they're soft and squishy, not firm, and (3) they're entirely black with not the least bit of red showing. The best way to determine this is to view them in bright sunlight, preferably slightly backlit. If you should happen to put them in the freezer, the slightly under ripe ones will turn red, while the black ones remain black.

Blackberries in different stages of ripeness...green, pink, red, mostly black, and black

And it never ceases to amaze me how, when I'm picking berries, I think I've got them all, then I'll stoop down or move a bit and look at the patch from a different angle and see dozens that I've missed. Sneaky guys.

And Just Who Did Patty Frolic With Last Year?!

The Squash Thing

Last year the garden just went to pot after I suspected I had lymphoma in September, then had it confirmed in October. Things just didn't get cleaned up and I left a lot of debris lying about the place.

One of the garden leavings was a squash plant, an open pollinated, heirloom "patty pan" squash. I've got two nice, robust squash plants growing in the bed where last year's patty pan grew. Lots of tomatoes were also left, and as a result I'm happy to have a plethora of tomato plants springing up all over the place and producing nicely. And there's the occasional volunteer potato here and there; I just can't bring myself to rip any of these out of the garden when they show up, so obviously wanting to live and be productive members of society.

The other day I had a hankerin' for some fresh squash, so went to check on the "patty pan" since I'd seen blossoms there for quite some time. I spied one infant squash...but wait! That's no patty pan! It's round. How'd that happen? I just couldn't figure out what the squash had crossed with last year as I'd had no other squash, or even cucumbers in the garden. Then I remembered I DID have a muskmelon (cantaloup)...but I've recently been informed that patty pan squash and melons can't cross, so I guess that's not a possibility. Perhaps a nearby (as in 1/2 mile away being the nearest) garden holds the culprit of Patty's cross pollination?

So, I'm watching the bastard child of Patty and Whatever and am wondering what it will be like when it's ripe. And for that matter, how will I know when it's ripe? Do I cook it, or eat it raw?

Next door to this Squash Thing a cucumber plant has been in bloom, and already I'm wondering what's been going on when no one's looking...