Gains, Loss, The Future

ah, the beginning of fall.  when the temperatures drift down into the balmy mid-nineties, and there is a chance of rain sometimes.  actually, all facetiousness aside, the mornings and evenings have been beautiful!  and enough rain has fallen that the back yard is full of chickweed and egg production is ramping up again. i'm excited about the change of seasons, and fall air is some of the best air.

sadly, we have lost another chicken.  this time there was no disease or predation involved...earlier this week bolo vanished without a trace! there she is to the left, the big black one, having a roll in the dust with pearl last sunday.  by tuesday, however, she was gone. just gone!  no feathers, no yard kerfuffle, everyone had been in the run all day.  all other fowl were fine and normal. but when i went out to the yard after work to give the ladies and gentleman their yard time, she simply was nowhere to be found.

i keep hoping she might come back, but i think it's been long enough that such hope is lost.  my best thought is that she's been bodily assumed into heaven, rapture-style.  at least that's my favorite theory...several others make perhaps more sense but are far more depressing.  she was a non-flyer, but had accidentally hopped out of the run once a long time ago--she was never one for adventure.  

needless to say, all remaining chickens now have flight feathers 1-8 clipped on their right wing, like i did sammo a couple months ago, to prevent further chicken raptures.

i wonder if she accidentally hopped out again, went for a mosey, got lost....and then was bodily assumed.  at any rate, wherever she is, i hope she enjoyed her life here and is enjoying her next life.  if not, i'd like it if she would come back.

in other, better news, we recently acquired two new girls to bump up egg production and add some new feathers to the flock.  introducing tony parker and scotty pippen!

tony parker

tony parker is a lovely young barred rock hen, a classic breed. true to her name, she is especially quick and agile, and does not seem to like to get picked up yet.  however, once caught, she will happily sit on the available lap for pets and chicken talk.  she should start laying big brown eggs any minute!

scotty pippen

scotty pippen is a beautiful red star chicken who, unlike her new sister thus far, is quite friendly. she seems to enjoy being picked up and cuddled, and even hangs around waiting for such attention.  her breed is also an egg-laying machine, and so we are much anticipating her egg scene debut.  in fact, she was destined to go to an _actual_ egg laying machine--a big production chicken house--which explains why her beak was cut.  but here on the TUF, her beak can grow back in all its glory and she can party in the run and yard all day.  i look forward to seeing her beak back!

all chickens have made the adjustment seamlessly, both to the new additions and the loss of dear old bolo.  the flock numbers six once again--tumblr (the rooster), sammo (easter egger), pearl and ninja (original silkies), scotty pippen and tony parker.  we pause to remember the TUFlock chickens who have gone on to the great free-range in the sky: soft grey twitter, baby lil' bitz (we barely new ye!), and big black ol' bolo.  thanks for all the eggs and fun.

milk snail enjoying a fall morning

and finally, a bit about the future: dan and i are pleased to be expecting a new HUMAN addition to the TUF to join us in early march 2013!  all is well so far, and of course we will appreciate another TUF hand around to help care for all these crazy creatures. that's why people originally starting having kids anyway, right? more help around the farm?  maybe we can actually start that garden i've been screaming about since the beginning of this whole experiment!

speaking of experiment, and as a final note, here is a picture of the fantastic carrot soup i concocted the other day.  i had also (true to TUF philosophy) used a bunch of farmer's market vegetable odds and ends, and the frozen carcasses of a roasted local duck and chicken, to make a killer-awesome no-waste stock as the base for this soup.  i basically used this recipe, with lemon juice but no zest, a zillion cloves of garlic, and only 1/4 cup of cream, and it came out pretty dang delightful.  and healthy! mostly!

anyway, there is much coming up to discuss, what with the changing seasons, new girls, new food, new future prospects and all.  thank you for reading, Dear Reader, and though i'm clearly not the best at it, i'll renew my efforts to keep y'all posted and document the process!

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.

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!

TUFlock 2011: Pictures

after a few weeks full of rain, mud, and fowl pox, the ladies of the TUF have been enjoying good health and sunshine of late.  it was nice to spend some time with them in the yard yesterday.......

they all act a bit dubious of the camera at first, but then tailfeathers get shaking.

pearl is looking all nice and white again after a few days of muddy dinginess.  feathers have an amazing ability to clean themselves!  what a great adaptation!  good on ya, birds.

bolo's comb was glowing in the sunshine.  she is the biggest softest blackest cochin chicken ever.

tumblr is impressively colorful...she should start laying eggs any minute!  and they may be green or blue!  i can't wait.....

she also has awesome beard and shoulder feathers.

twitter was probably the most affected by the gross dots of the fowl pox, but she is making a beautiful recovery.  she also gets the maddest when i try to take pictures of her, but when she paused for an irritated glare, i snapped this shot.  she has such pretty soft bluegray feathers!

she should start laying any minute as well, and her eggs should be dark dark brown.

sammo has the best cheek feathers ever, and lays big green eggs. she is the chicken in charge at the moment, and nobody crosses her, although i have seen tumblr start to challenge her authority. 

pearl and ninja, the two original TUF chickens, are still best friends.  though smaller than the other ladies, they manage to hold their own high in the pecking order, and have formed strategic alliances with other chickens.  (the politics of the coop is worth its own discussion, perhaps in the near future!)

anyway, hooray for the TUFlock 2011!  we look forward to 6 egg layers very soon, and of course much more fowl play in the weeks and months to come.

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!

Grocery Store Adventure Part Deux--Double TUF

i know i said that the next post would be the bread post, but i recently had another important Grocery Store Adventure that i have to discuss first before i forget.  this one was a combo GSA--i went to a new grocery store this time knowing the following things: a) we would be making a trip to the downtown farmer's market the following weekend; b) between the grocery and the farmer's market, i needed to make an Epic Shopping Trip, replenishing all aspects of our usual stockpile.

usually, this would mean going to the big box, grabbing whatever i need without even thinking about it, then shuddering while swiping a chunk of my checking account away at the register on decidedly non-TUF stuff.

today's adventure would take place at Wheatsville Co-op, a longtime austin institution of local and ethical/organic grocery shopping.  like my first GSA to the natural grocery by vitamin cottage, this would be meticulous: calculator out, everything accounted for, sticking close to a prescribed budget.  i was interested in spending no more than half of the most i'd ever spent on a big box grocery run, taking into account both our low larder level and our planned trip to the farmer's market.

wheatsville has really done a great job with the inside of their store!  i hadn't been there in years, and it used to be a little scruffy-lookin', but these days it looks great.  they have a wide variety of produce, much of it locally produced, and many different all-natural and organic products to choose from on the aisles. they also boast a fish/butcher counter, a deli, a fancy cheese section, and an extensive bulk section.  it definitely has that expensive natural grocery store smell, and i shrunk a little as i walked in....how was i going to get a hefty haul at a good value from here?

BUT.....i did.  i went right up to my budget, but i got EXACTLY the produce, frozen vegetables, dry goods, dairy and seafood that i wanted--too many to bore you with a list!  now, i didn't get the free stuff and rather attentive treatment that i enjoyed at the natural grocer--wheatsville ain't new in town, and they don't have to scramble to impress all the curly-clectic austinites that pass through there.  but i did bring all my own re-usable bags this time (another TUF first!), and they gave me a nickel back per bag, which i was then able to donate to their charity of the month.  all with friendly, chatty service!  i will definitely be going back to wheatsville!  (and shhhhhh, i totally liked it better than the natural grocer, even though those guys were REALLY NICE.)

now for the second part of the Epic Shopping Trip, enacted at the downtown farmer's market.  if you haven't been to your local farmer's market, please do go just for fun sometime.  saturdays here in the ATX, all the people and kids and dogs are out with the fruits and vegetables and tacos and vendors, and it smells great and looks vibrant and that cantaloupe rosemary lemonade is so delicious....

and you get to take home amazing food!  we have been getting all of our non-seafood meat and poultry from the farmer's market, which is expensive, but worth it.  and why buy cheap factory beef from the big box when you can get...

--ethically-raised bison (ground and steaks)
--free-range organic chicken (whole)
--grassfed lamb (chops)
--ethically-raised pork (chops, ribs)

...all from less than 150 miles away, and so flavorful you can taste the wildflowers that animal ate. as far as produce, we also got: peppers, chilies, rainbow chard, rainbow carrots, garlic, pickles, raw sauerkraut (SO GOOD), a snow leopard melon, and some zucchini.

final financial assessment: farmer's market meat+produce+wheatsville co-op food run = (a bit) less cashola than the most i've ever spent at the big box on an equally Epic Shopping Trip.  and we have full meals for weeks!  another Grocery Store Adventure affirming the original purpose of this TUFsperiment.  whoopeee!

now for real this time: THE BREAD IS COMING. stay tuned.

TUF Chicks and Other TUF Stuff

we've been experiencing some Totally Urban Farm growth and expansion lately.  sometimes growth and change can be a bit harrowing, and it can make you feel less cute and fluffy and more awkward and scruffy lookin'.  (twitter demostrates this rather well at left there.)  but it's all worth it, because you learn new stuff and get more experience, and continue on the path to mature chickendom. or urban farmerdom.  or whatever path you find yourself on. and though there will always be periods of growth and learning, the awkward doesn't last forever.  we promise, twitter.

the chicks have been growing so fast, and at 4 weeks old seemed ready to meet the big girls and start living in the coop.  we set up a piece of pegboard as a temporary partition, so that the silkie ladies could meet their new coop-mates via sight and smell for awhile before having actual physical contact.  also, the young 'us have to stay on their chick food for another few weeks or so before graduating to big chicken layer food, so we're keeping it all separate for now.  we set them up in the coop on july 3rd with no obvious complaints from the big girls.

twitter and tumblr immediately started running around, checking out their new digs...though not dissimilar from their cardboard box environment, this definitely was bigger and smelled way more interesting!

existentialist twitter eyed the surroundings critically, ensuring she was aware of the food and water situation before beginning to cautiously beak around.  tumblr, par contrast, began to flutter-run and peep recklessly, getting the lay of the land on wild exploratory missions.  all observed behaviors were within normal limits, and we left them to start their chicken maturity lessons, checking up on them over the course of the day.

however, the next morning (independence day, and ninja's birthday!) we discovered a near-disaster...tumblr had taken some kind of tumble, and was flopping around pitifully as though she couldn't walk!  twitter was fine, but clearly concerned about the plight of her sister. i collected the compromised chick and whisked her into the house for some time in the improvised hospital box (actually a sierra nevada 12pk, perfect size!).

that first day, she really had me worried.  i know nothing about chicken medicine, but it really seemed like the little darling was in pain.  she wanted to eat and drink, which was a good sign, but otherwise seemed droopy and sad. she couldn't stand up, and just generally looked pathetic.  i let her rest and occasionally tried to help her stand up, and frantically asked for advice on the (extremely friendly and wonderful!) Back Yard Chicken Forum.   i watched and waited.  my poor little wounded revolutionary!

the next day (yesterday) she had noticeably improved.  she was distributing weight more evenly on either leg, and she looked like she felt a lot better.  she also figured out that she was all by herself in a beer box, and that the huge face/hand (so revolting and terrifying before) was now the only option for company and comfort.  having ascertained these two facts, she began to request that the huge face/hand be present at all times except for brief napping periods, and that the huge face/hand immediately report to its station after the napping for company/comfort/eating moral support/treat distribution/finger snuggling/cheek scratching etc.  her method of requesting the presence of the huge face/hand:

PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP

(i think there is an easter-related brightly colored marshmallow candy reference that goes here, but it escapes me at the moment)

at any rate, i felt terrible that i had missed Ninja the black silkie's july 4th birthday due to the wounded revolutionary, so since tumblr was feeling better, i had to make it up to ninja.  and we had a cantaloupe/yogurt themed birthday party in the run!

ninja celebrated her 1 year old birthday...our friend michelle (whose chicken momma i am, or maybe she is mine?) watched her hatch one year ago this past monday.  and now she's a beautiful silkie with a stellar egg-laying career.  good on ya, Ninja, and here's to many more!  thanks for all the eggs!

even twitter got to get in on the action, even though she's not old enough to party in the run yet...she got to try some yogurt for the first time.  it seems totally bizarre to me that chickens would go nutzo for yogurt, but they do. go fig. 

poor twitter has found herself within limited sight and unlimited smell of the other two chickens, but she is, in essence, alone.  and chicks HATE to be alone.  i think this has given her a chance to do some soul searching around her existentialist philosophy, and has decided that the huge face/hand is worth caring about...it provides treats and comfort, and so why shouldn't it be worshiped? (nietzsche would be proud!) she now approaches the coop window every time we come out, excited to see and interact with the huge hand/face.  her expression of existential adulation:

PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP

i think pearl and ninja are like, GEEZ, it's just the giant, borrrrrring.  they cluck at her youthful zeal.

anyway, things have been going good here at the TUF.  today tumblr continues to improve and demand attention, i am confident that in a few days she'll be lit-rall-y back on her feet again.  other news, in brief:

--we need another grocery store adventure soon

--i made freakishly good carrot cupcakes from a magazine that turned out to be exactly my recipe for zucchini muffins, in which i replaced the zucchini with finely shredded carrots (about 6) and iced 'em with supersimple cream cheese frosting (half of this recipe.) this exercise also reminded me that, though the word 'muffin' somehow sounds healthier than 'cupcake,' really same diff. (sorry.)

thank you for reading, Gentle Readers!  more soon.....stay tuned!