On Recent Foods

i strongly recommend that folks

should eat a lot of artichokes.

steamed or sauteed, stuffed or dipped,

i am fully arti-whipped.

these were from a local farm,

pricey? yes! but what's the harm

in steaming up a few to see

'bout total veggie luxury.

pull a leaf off, scrape with teeth:

discard, repeat, 'til a wreath

of cast-off leaves rings 'round your plate,

and leaves a heart you're glad you ate.

grass-fed, local, gently raised--

one tastes the plants on which s/he grazed.

within the parthenon of meat,

little lamb chops reign elite.

garlic shards and fresh green beans,

lightly butter-sauced and steamed

lend the taste of summertime

to any plate they touch of mine.

early corn! the sun's warm rays

are captured, into sugar made

and packaged into rows and rows

of tasty kernels. tall it grows,

'til harvested and grilled in foil.

corn demands such little toil--

touched with salt and kissed by butter,

it makes gastronomics flutter.

seek the holy leafy grail?

look no further than sweet kale.

green of leaf, oft veined in red

kale is cabbage, finely bred.

chopped, sauteed and garlic-blessed,

this queen of greens outshines the rest.

Fiftieth

this moment i sit on my back porch balcony, having concocted this adult beverage.  it's a fancy affair of orange juice, grapefruit preserves made by a good friend and traded for eggs, organic strawberries, and local vodka.  _lovely._ as is the weather, warm and breezy and greensmelling.

i won't lie to you, Dear Reader.  i've been holding out.  holding out for that most holy of theoretical days, the Five Egg Day. i've got five hens a-laying, and i really wanted to mark the Fifitieth Post with a Five Egg Day.  i also realize that april 10th marked the anniversary of my very first silly post, and i kind of wanted all these stars to align, you know?  fiftieth post, five egg day, year of TUF.   how poifect would that have been?

but nothing is ever perfect, which is exactly how everything should be.  the ladies and gentleman have the full run of the yard now every day, and seem absolutely thrilled.  we will occasionally leave them in their orignal run for a day, which they dearly loved at one time, but now they spend the whole time in there looking exasperated, as only chickens can.  so these days they are pretty much as free-range as it gets for a Totally Urban (chicken) Farm.

i can't believe i ever thought
he was a girl.

tumblr, while nearly intolerably loud, appears to be a fine czar of the yard. he is vigilant and watchful, and often puts on a showy, strutting, clucking display for the benefit of his hareem.  all the ladies have accepted his leadership at this point, and he seems to do a good job of attending the whole flock while devoting some individual attention to each hen.  i know that sounds ridiculous, but i swear he takes them on dates.  and he makes a variety of strange dinosaur noises: various forms of alarm or annoyance, surprise, his odd clearing-the-throat-while-howling crow, and the occasional elongated string of rythmically delivered clucks punctuated with bwak-KAWS turned up to 11.  i have decided this particular sound is the chicken mantra, actually....they all do it, though tumblr does it at a spectacular volume, and when they are at it, it is unstoppable. bok bok bok bok BWAK bok bok bok BWAK KAW bok bok bok BWAK etc.  happily, it doesn't happen THAT often.

the ladies have discovered that the yard is large and harbors many delightful nooks and crannies for surprise egg laying.  i have had an easter egg hunt every day since easter, and now i completely understand where the tradition originates!  why lay 'em in a logical place like the coop nesting box when you can lay them in grassy corners, between slats of leftover lumber, randomly on the ground...

so i sought to create some cozy egg-laying spaces in the exciting (to chickens) area under the porch/balcony in the back yard, with the intention that i could facilitate fun egg-laying practices while somewhat reducing randomness.  we also stashed the haybale dan brought home the other day under there, since we have graduated beyond the $4 bag of hay days (and the bales are only $15!).  we logically put it in the wheelbarrow, which we logically wheeled into the under-porch area for easy coop access.  WELL.

the very next day i discovered this very ILLogical egg placement.  spurning my delightful boxes, ninja and sammo laid their eggs right smack dab on top of the  haybale!  i guess no one ever accused chickens of being especially logical.

today, however, i found two eggs nestled in the big blue box.  twitter and pearl seem to get it.  oh well, as long as we're getting two and three eggs a day, i don't much care where i find them.  the ladies take turns being the super egg champion!

sometimes we get weird ones.

bolo

sammo

pearl

ninja

twitter

per usual, i have been enjoying some delicious egg dishes...

poached eggs perched over quinoa over refried black beans over organic salad greens, drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette....fast and fabulous!

migas (scrambled eggs/leftover salsa/bottom of bag tortilla chip crumbles) and toast!

more soon, Dear Reader, i promise!  because i have many more pictures of food and adorable pets to blither on about.  i can hold out no longer.  

and yet-the theoretical Five Egg Day  awaits.

Spring Break!

with the spring comes warmth and rains, so trees begin a-budding
and fowl, freed from coop constraints, go merrily a-mudding
to seek and ingest grass and seeds with eager scratch-and-pecks,
while drunk on pollen from the weeds are slow-flying insects.

the sun climbs back from southern climes a little more each day,

giving light for longer times, inspiring hens to lay.

finding four eggs in the nest is common happenstance;

the rooster preens his feathered breast and struts his mating dance.

the coop was scrubbed, vinegar-spritzed, and stuffed with brand new hay,
we held a household/closet cleaning blitz the other day.
springtime zephyrs whistle by and tease all windows open;
out the doubts of winter fly to make way for new hoping.

yesterday's experiment was mini pita bread.
puffed pocket bites were what i meant to get; i got instead
a kind of tender flatbread, small in size, and good with dip--
i cannot escape hummus and its culinary grip.

and that's the word from 'round the TUF. happy spring break all!
here's hoping hope and weather hold; we'll spring it up 'till fall!

TUFiatus Ending I: Cookery

i realized the other day that i COMPLETELY SKIPPED JANUARY.  i just missed it!  zip, bam, january good bye.  so i guess it's accurate to say that we have been on hiatus a bit here at the TUF, working on schedules and jobs and life and growth.  there's much to catch up on from the kitchen and the yard! so here is part one of the two part "End of TUFiatus."

happy 2012, year of the water dragon, by the way. late but sincere!

the original goals of the Totally Urban Farm still stand, though cooking has become a less frequent activity since eating together is less common of late.  we tend to fend for ourselves during the week due to our different schedules, and when we do have our weekly common nights off, it often results in some dinner adventure out on the town! i may have to do a run down of these local dinner adventures in a near-future post. but, we have been making an effort to shop and cook more at home, as such excursions get a bit rich on many levels. and of course cooking together is a rare delight anymore!

the deliciousity pictured above is a butternut squash home-made turkey-helper concoction.  a pound of lean ground turkey was browned, then combined with penne pasta, chicken broth, seasonings, and the diced flesh of a medium sized butternut squash.  all this, brought to a boil, covered, and left to simmer for 30-45 minutes, rendered a delicious pasta dish.  but then it got ridiculous.


as demonstrated in a previous discussion of the butternut squash, dan has traditionally viewed the gourd as decorative rather than edible.  having discovered the butternut goodness, however, he resolves this decoration vs. real vegetable problem by doing stuff like this:

squashman, as he came to be known, hung out while everything was simmering. he then was stuffed and surrounded with his own flesh, now transformed into turkey penne tastiness.  wooden skewers helped to keep his head on during the (about 30 minute) baking process.  in retrospect, it would have been good to have given squashman a pre-bake, as he himself was still a bit overly firm when the casserole was heated through.  but i tell you what....with a green salad on the side and a sprinkle of goat cheez over all, squashman was MOST delicious.

i've been trying to cook more just for myself lately, since when left to my own devices i tend to be a snacker and grazer in the evening, which is really not the best way to go.  i have been exercising quite regularly, and have been enjoying the benefits of that.  let's hear it for wii fitness games!  EA sports active! if you have a wii and won't exercise unless it is SO convenient that you have absolutely no excuse not to, get that game.  it's fabulous. but i digress.

naturally, i am drawn to dinnery egg dishes, as we have quite a few eggs from the dear ladies in the back yard. they are delicious and quick!  this was my first attempt at a single-egg omelette; i received a tiny perfect-sized cast iron skillet for xmas in a "skillet chocolate chip cookie" kit, and i am determined to make the tiniest, most delicate silkie-egg omelettes with it.  this one ended up being mostly just scrambled egg.  but with goatcheez (my favorite) and a spinach/mozzerella/cherry tomato/balsamic vinaigrette little salad, it was a perfect and nearly instant evening repast.

another night, i tried two small over-easy eggs over quinoa and black beans, made spicy with salsa!  with a salad once again alongside, it was super delish and rather healthy. and quinoa is quickly becoming my favorite grain.

finally, sometimes you have to have pancakes for dinner, as dan and i did one night recently.  nearly instant comfort food.  i like to make them small and light...one should have to glue them to the plate with syrup and butter, lest they fly off! dan likes to arrange his artfully, with a cascade of syrup:

and that's pretty much it from the TUFkitchen recently!  stay tuned for TUFiatus Ending II: Chickenry.  as always, thank you for reading, Dear Reader.

Winter. Break!

i always look forward to this time of year so hard. school's out for a restful moment, some nights get down to freezing, people put up lights and make plans and give presents.  and make food!  the days blend into a warm and fuzzy blur, and round about december 28th i have the following thoughts:

1) xmas is already over? whoa!
2) the YEAR is nearly over? WHOA!
3) what all just HAPPENED??

And that final question, my dear reader, i hope to answer here--mainly for myself, though i deeply appreciate all y'all out there who pursue a mild interest in the various TUF antics.

now for starters, let's push all the holiday warmth and romance aside and talk chicken issues.  i spend a fair amount of time discussing the cute and fluffy aspects of urban chicken keeping, and haven't had to explore too many ugly or less desireable topics so far.  until the foul Fowl Pox!

that's right, people get chicken pox, chickens get fowl pox.  it's a virus spread by mosquitoes that is also communicable between chickens, so it gets the whole flock.  it causes little gross dots on your birdz. (here's more info from the backyard chicken peeps, if you are interested.) they can only get it once, thankfully (just like people chicken pox! ......what?) and it isn't too bad and goes away after awhile.  but it was GROSS, and it caused the ladies to be less lay-ful.  which was really just as well, because the good people at callahan's recommended we do a round of tetracycline antibiotics to prevent secondary infections.  and, of course, when they're on the antibiotics, you don't eat the eggs!  fowl pox is totally the worst!

anyway, we are recovering, and egg production is coming back slowly but surely.  all the ladies look better than ever, and seem to frantically enjoy the sunshine we've had for the past couple of days.  i'm sure there will be a fancy chicken photo shoot in the near future.


on to more pleasant things:  my 31st birthday came and went delightfully, thanks to my amazing family and friends. the most TUF-related treasure i received was this MARVELOUS ceramic egg tray! it fits perfectly in the egg compartment in the fridge.  i love how the eggs look in it!

this year the TUF hosted our first xmas banquet, gathering family from near and....well, mostly near.  san antonio and austin o'neils and camerons were present, and our brother-in-law-to-be braved the long and squishy drive from houston.  the normal TUF living room was transformed into the Banquet Hall, and we were a merry bunch, all 8 of us!  i made ugly-but-tasty cabbage, roasted carrots, mashed potatoes and cloverleaf rolls; our auntie brought a green salad, grilled asparagus and bread puddin'. gwen brought key lime pie, killer cheezcake and the cameron traditional Christmas Salad. and dad--oh holy night!--brought the Beef Tenderloin.  the wine flowed like.....um, wine!  the bread was broken!  seconds were had! deliciouscity ensued!

image credit: jb o'neil

and gifts and hugs and kisses were exchanged, as befitting a proper xmas.  but then, after all the anticipation and cooking and present-hiding and aromas and unwrapping, it's over!  december 26 comes, and everything goes back to normal.

....except not QUITE, ever, here on the TUF.  we happened to have a pheasant thawed on this weeknight-after-xmas, and some organic butternut squash.  that's right, a pheasant!  ha! why not!

we treated it just like we treat most birds headed for the rotisserie, as discussed before...rubbed and trussed, and rotisseried for about an hour.  this time we stuffed it with half a squeezed-out lemon, a carrot and some garlic cloves.

i threw the giblets in a pot with some water, more carrot, the other half of the squeezed lemon, some spices/garlic and a frozen leftover roast chicken...um...carcass (sorry) to make a quick broth for gravy.  i know, totally ridiculously un-necessary, but it's a pheasant, it should have gravy. i don't know why.  it smelled DELICIOUS.

while the bird roasted and the broth bubbled away, it was time to deal with the two tiny butternut squash.

dan cut the tops off, hollowed out the bulbs, and diced the flesh to stuff back in the center later. the shells went in the oven first, at 350 degrees, for about 15 minutes.

we sauteed the chopped up fruit from the necks and bulbs for a moment, to soften and garlic them up before replacing them in their native gourds to finish cooking.  then dan decided that these squash had faces.

without further ado, the squash guys were carved and stuffed with more of themselves and some shredded cheddar, much to their apparent displeasure.  they finished baking while the pheasant, rice and broth turned, boiled and bubbled away toward dinner.  everything cooked for just about an hour.

though FAR too much food for even us totally urban farmer types (ha!), it turned out to be an amusing and deliciously fancy dinner.  note to self: no matter how tiny you think it is, ONE BUTTERNUT SQUASH is all you need for two people!  just one!  see how grumpy they get!





anyway, new culinary and farming adventures await in 2012....new egg layers!  massive compost production! the fabled garden?  who knows!  i can't wait to find out. and i also hearby resolve to try not to let so many weeks go in between posts again. it results in long and blithery posts like this one!

as always, Gentle Reader, thank you for your time and attention.  stay tuned!