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Since Spike is about the same size as my camera and the big scary thing freaks him out, I don’t often get pictures of him. But, I had my phone out taking a picture of the girls, so I decided to freak him out by getting some video. He’s so fierce! (He’s a feather plucker, which is why he looks so raggedy. Don’t judge.) The girls are getting old and sleeping a lot more, but we’re hoping we’ll have them with us for quite some time longer.  What are you looking at? Wile we’ve had a mild winter so far this year (today, it’s 50 degrees and raining, which is what it’s normally like in November here, not January), this is pretty typical for kale in winter in central Ohio.  Kale in winter, a little droopy, but just fine! We actually have some other kale that has happily lived through about three winters now. It doesn’t always look the greatest, but it sure tastes good! Today, I’ll be harvesting some of this to add to some sweet potato white bean soup that’s cooking in the slow cooker. Kale is easy to grow and thrives on benign neglect. Give it a shot in your garden this spring! One of the things I’ve been trying to do lately is to make it easier and cheaper to cook good, healthy food. The main thing I did last spring was to start using Green Bean Delivery, from whence I get a big bin of vegetables delivered straight to my house every week. Besides making shopping easier, I find I feel guilty if I don’t eat everything in the bin every week, so I eat more veggies. If I can’t use everything I’m trying to make a real effort to freeze or otherwise preserve it. I’ve chopped and frozen peppers, sweet potatoes, broccoli, spring onions, garlic, cilantro, squash … not only does that reduce my waste, but it makes it a lot easier for me to get meals together quickly since things are chopped and ready to go. My mom got me a foodsaver which makes sure that freezer burn isn’t an issue. I also make and freeze beans. I’ve been doing that for a while now, but with the foodsaver, I make a pound at a time, which takes the same amount of time as making a smaller amount. Now I usually have black beans, chickpeas, and another random bean in the freezer. Making my own bread is another way I’m making my cooking life easier and cheaper. Since I’m using the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day method, I’ve always got dough ready for a quick pizza or stromboli. Here’s what I made for dinner last night:
That’s a Thai pizza with homemade crust, frozen peppers, broccoli (the rest got blanched and frozen), frozen spring onions, faux chicken, on a sauce of roasted peanuts, frozen cilantro, frozen garlic, frozen ginger, soy sauce, and crushed red pepper. One of the best pizzas I’ve ever made. Not bad for a spur of the moment idea just using stuff I had around the house! Yes, it’s been a while, but since August, I have … Gone to the Canfield Fair.  By the cow barns, I believe Gone to an OSU game (though I’m done with college sports, especially football).  I can't remember who OSU played Spent many days with our elderly pups.  If you look in the back, you can see Cordy hiding in the shade Had a lovely holiday and 12-day vacation.  Pink stars! Yay! Happily lazed around for those 12 days with the family.  A lazy day at home One day’s harvest.
(sorry for the lack of picture before. apparently wordpress for android is being testy.)
It’s really that time of the year now! Yesterday, I canned four things: crushed tomatoes, pickles, tomatillo jam, and strawberry-blackberry jam. For the crushed tomatoes I got to use my new food mill strained thingy and it’s fantastic! I crushed tons of tomatoes in minutes!
So this is it. A 45 gallon plastic tub with cups for food and water attached to the sides and holes cut to slide a perch through. Not exactly the Hilton, but pretty comfortable for a recovering chicken. Noodle seems to be a bit better today. She showed some spunk when I gave her medicine and ate some scratch grains. She’s still a bit dehydrated (her comb isn’t nice and firm), but she is drinking water. Time will tell if she beats whatever infection it is that she has |  | |||
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