Chicken Wars: Evita and the Hawk...

or HD's Vengeance.

Chickens Are Way Smarter Than People Think, Says Heroic Anonymous Daughter*

*(Who doesn't want her friends to know she's a fearsome combatant and defender of the home front).

So Heroic Daughter ("HD") heard an awful commotion in the chicken yard today and flew out the back door to confront our fourth type of urban predator in this season of fowl loss. Evita, our Aracauna chicken, one of our blue ...egg layers, was in the talons of a hawk, struggling in her last moments of life. My doughty daughter seized Craig Maxwell's hockey stick, our weapon of choice for the protection of the farm. "Maybe you should have something a little more effective than sports sticks," my mother commented after Jere's fierce battle with the possum. "He finished him off with a shovel," I said grimly, to close the topic of weapons escalation. So Aubs-- whoops, HD-- gave a guttural battle cry, grabbed the hockey stick and slashed at the hawk in the air as it dove and menaced her, trying to get back to Evita as HD stood over her to protect her. If she'd been close enough when the attack began, I know that she would have prevented the hawk from making contact. Even though she doesn't want people to think she's mean and tough, my money's on HD if I'm in trouble. She's watching us all now, at our flanks, alert and poised for action like she'd be ready in a second to save all of our lives. Chickens are way smarter than people think they are, she says. She had a moment of horror in the silent chicken yard as she stood over Evita after the hawk finally fled, frustrated if not terrified. She thought that she had interrupted the final kill, and all of the others were already gone. The rest of the chickens, silent while awake for the first time we know about, slowly crept out from behind the dog house and recognized Aubrey as their leader.

When I first started on this adventure two years ago, after wanting a flock of chickens for ten years or more, I told Jere that keeping chickens was a meditation on the food chain. What I meant was that we would be more intentional about kitchen and garden waste, giving the chickens leftover or wilted salad, rice or pasta, compost all their waste for our garden, and that we would appreciate the wholesomeness of the eggs, and thereby be more aware of our food sources generally. I had not, in thinking about the food chain, imagined our chickens being one link up from garden waste and compost, food for predators we wouldn't dream of consuming. RIP Evita. The chickens are locked in tight. Aubrey is on watch.

Della Wager Wells

December 26, 2012 near Elloree, SC via mobile

Thinking of the New Year

Well, I've decided that I will not do raised beds this coming year. The cost of building the raised beds is pretty high. Borrowing or renting a tiller is very much cheaper. I'm also not sure of how successful we'll be in growing and maintaining all those vegetables. Also, I don't know what we're going grow either.

Thinking of the New Year

Well, I've decided that I will not do raised beds this coming year. The cost of building the raised beds is pretty high. Borrowing or renting a tiller is very much cheaper. I'm also not sure of how successful we'll be in growing and maintaining all those vegetables. Also, I don't know what we're going grow either.

Fellas Talking Butter

Pearce had to show Papaz how to make butter in the stand mixer. I just hope he keeps liking to make stuff this much as he gets older. I think he's explaining how the butter gets in there to Papaz in this picture.

What I NEED For Christmas

I need some Ryobi 18 volt batteries like the one pictured or the lithium version. The one pictured is the last one I have and it doesn't last more than 5 minutes per charge. The rest (I used to have 6) got gone when all my equipment got "borrowed" indefinitely. I have a sander, lawn equipment and a flash light that uses them. Just an idea.

My First Cheesepress

I have developed a desire to make dairy products at home. I've always made yogurt and labneh (yogurt cheese). Now I want to try hard cheese. Well, to do that you need a cheese press.

Expensive and dream dies before it gets to thrive? Nope.

Mine cost all of parts was about... Oh, wait... it was all free. I was about to say $5 dollars for the coffee can, but Mom and Dad gave me that coffee. Everything you see in the picture was a gift.

Here's how to construct your cheesepress for turning one (1) gallon of milk into hard cheese. First things first, you'll want to go buy coffee in a tin can. Drink it all up. Cut both ends of the can off/out and retain. The can is 4" in diameter and about 5-6" in height which is what is called for in pressing the curds from a gallon of milk. You now have the main body. Next, you keep the solid end (like pictured), the other end is probably going to be an open ring (recycle it). This is going to be what is called the "follower". The follower is the mechanism for evenly spreading the weight of the press (in this case the big ol' book) to the cheese curds. Between the press and follower you need something to transfer the weight down to the follower within the main body. That would best be done by a glass or cup that is smaller than 4" in diameter and greater than 5" in height. You will also need an old fashioned hanky or cheese cloth. My hanky is in use making labneh or it would be in the picture too.

Later, I shall endeavor to create a 6" diameter press for making 5 gallons of milk into cheese. The main issue is finding metal coffee cans that size. Everyone I've seen so far is cardboard. I may attempt to use one of those with some slight reinforcement with duct tape. But first I must be successful at the 1 gallon level.

BTW cheapest press I've seen is $30, and its not much more advanced than mine.

Pass It On

Pearce and I made some butter this morning. I wanted to see if pasteurization did anything weird to the cream. It doesn't, really, the color is off, and maybe taste, but it works.

We salted it this time. The ratio was 1 tsp salt to a pint of cream. Kristi will have to give a judgement on the amount when I thaw it out.

I froze the butter before I realized I didn't have the flour I need to make my home made baking mix. I freeze the butter so I can grate it instead of cutting it in to the mix.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well, it's been a busy weekend at Casa della Elkins. Kristi's gallon of unskimmed milk is now 3 quarts of yogurt, a ramikin of fresh butter, and a pint of real buttermilk. Last weeks' yogurt is now Labneh.

The three quarts may have to last for two weeks with Jere and Christina's wedding coming up next weekend. Next time I go crazy making stuff I will be making Neufchâtel. That might mean a cheesecake in the near future.

I have several cheeses in my sights. However, I am reading up on making soy milk and tofu. That might happen some time this week. I'm so excited.

"Mr. Elkins of the City, an eminent cheesemonger."

Not often I get to quote my favorite author in such a personal way. Well, any how, I just realized I've been making a Lebanese cheese for years and didn't know it.

I like making yogurt and have done so for several years. At least in three different houses. I also like draining all the whey out and have been pleased to call it yogurt cheese, not knowing any better.

Well, I started to read up on making cheese after Kristi got the urge to make butter. I was looking at butter videos on YouTube and found one about cheese making for beginners and wound up at a site devoted to craft cheese making. The long and the short of it is that the second step to learning to make cheese, after making yogurt, is making Labneh. Labneh is the real name of my yogurt cheese.

So, I've already covered the first two bases and next time I get some milk from Kathy I'm going to try Neufchâtel.
Yep, the cream cheese of choice for the famous Elkins cheesecake.

Oh, does anyone know where the quote I titled this post comes from? You have to get the book right.

Kristi is Going to Butter Us Up

Kathy, she works with Kristi, is our milk supplier and has now gotten Kristi into the homemade bug. She gave Kristi a gallon of completely unskimmed milk. Back up a little. When Kathy sends milk home with Kristi she has typically skimmed the cream off the top to make butter. This time she didn't. Not only did we get all of the cream Kathy gave Kristi the directions for making butter.

WOOHOO!!!

I guess I'll be making my yogurt with blue-john this week. I like all this homemade stuff we got going. Laundry detergent, yogurt, BUTTER, and more to come no doubt.

Now That's Some Grease Mister

Halfway There

The Greasing Begins

One Resuscitated Tranny Coming Up

Dr. Ken has performed open transmission surgery and it is a success. He has tested it out and it works without the old noises. Kristi likes the idea that it will have brakes now. My yard is so ready for the John Deere. Claire might go missing if she were to wonder into the back yard.

Grow More Vegetables with these Seven Gardening Secrets: Organic Gardening

http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/7-secrets-high-yield-vegetable-garden?cm_mmc=facebook-_-OrganicGardening-_-Content-LearnGrow-_-high-yield+gardening#.UBnj7b2h5JI.mailto


Andrew Elkins

Look at the Size of That Okra

That has got to be the biggest okra I've ever seen.

Open Transaxle Surgery

"Currently on the rebuild bench: Tecumseh Peerless model 840A 5-speed transaxle from a John Deere 170 lawn tractor."

The JD 170 In Traction

The dynamic trio delivered the John Deere 170 to Berry Tractor Medical Center. The transaxle finally crapped out and Kennedy offered to attempt rebuild it for me. In the words of the tractor whisperer. "Everything is off and out of the way, so now it is time for the transmission to come off."

They May Not Make a Gumbo...

I may have forgotten the pumpkins but the deer didn't. The baby fruit is not harmed, yet. I have watered them but I don't hold out much hope.

The okra however is doing awesome. Yet another little victory in my wayward year of the garden.

The eggplant may still surprise. I threw it off the deck half dead. I just saw it this morning and it may have a bloom or two on it. That is still a long way from fruiting, but hope springs eternal.

One More Producer

Finally, got a cucumber. Makes feel almost successful. I planted corn, zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, and okra. Harvested some corn, lots of tomatoes, a decent amount of zucchini, a cucumber and still hoping for some okra (got a late start on all of it). The eggplant had a lot of blooms but nothing viable. Maybe I'll get off to a better start next year.

Moral Victories

I have never successfully grown corn on my own before. This is the extent of my corn harvest for the year. The corn is nice sized and edible. Since there were only five stalks and one got taken out by hail, I think we can call this successful. I'll put another picture up when I shuck it all.

Growing Sweet Potatoes: Organic Gardening

http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/sweet-potato?page=0,0


Sent from my iPhone

Check 1,1

July 16 09:00

The Farmer

The John Deere Tech

Ken came up yesterday to work on the the 170's brakes. He got to the point of figuring out that they are really messed up. Hopefully cogitation and computer postings will shed some light on the braking issue.

Thunder Cracking Around the Place

We are having some serious thunder and lightening and joking rain. Last Thursday we got some serious rain and hail. Not much damage, but we did lose some corn. The tomatoes are doing decently despite a blight going around. Two thirds of them are surviving until they get on the plate.

First To Bite the Dust

Pulled up the zucchini today. They were not maturing and rotting on the vine. The last bloom I saw was about a week ago. Til next year on the zucchinis. No relish this time. At least we had some bread.

Andrew Elkins

Pumpkin versus the Creepers

I know I put the pumpkins in a less than ideal place, but they seem to be surviving with a little help from me. I don't even know what kind of soil it's in. That's what ya call promiscuous punkin planting.

This Means Waaar!!!

Found this nasty bugger on one of my 'maters. All I got to say about his disposition is that his innards are fluorescent green. Just saying.

Punkins

Did I tell ya I put a couple of pumpkins in. Well, I did and they are growing nicely. I put them in a sketchy spot, but I've about got them big enough to hold their own against most of the weeds near by.

A Constant Source of Water

The air conditioner condensate pump is working properly once again. It was just clogged. With the nights we are having recently I'm collecting about a half barrel a night. When it rains again I'll empty the barrel and see how long it takes to fill up. It can't hold a candle to roof run off from gutters but it does a decent job for what I've got going right now.

First Fruits of the Season

Got these in last week and there are more coming. The zucchini have about four or five ready to go in the next few days. The corn has tasseled and there 4-5 cobs with silk on them. There are a bunch of 'maters just waiting to turn.

Look At The Size of That Poke Salad

Yeah, and that's not all of it either. That's all I got out today while everyone was napping.

The Cobs are Coming, the Cobs are Coming

Kinda happy to see those little guys sitting there. I'll be ecstatic when we pull and eat full grown cobs off those corn stalks.

Neighborly Figs

Can't wait to get my hands on these guys when they ripen up. Ran into the folks that own the house next (absentee landlord) door and got the good word to take what I want. Fig preserves here we come.

Snacking Tomatoes

Can't wait for the kids to be able to eat 'em off the plant.

More Zucchini

Zucchini Ready to Bloom

These are planted with some of my corn. We've got some tomatoes on the "vine".

Three Varieties

The one in the middle is my favorite with the deep purple middle. Yes, the leaves perked back up in water.

Calling All Calla Lilies

Well, we cut the Calla Lilies by the door today. Pretty aren't they? There are more in the next post or two.

Moving Locations For My Blogs

If y'all want to keep getting posts as they are made head to swordfishandtuna.wordpress.com
and/or thefarmatkeownrd.wordpress.com when you get there click on the follow button. I have not figured out how to create a mailing list yet.

Andrew Elkins

It's Going To Be a Dry Year Folks

I'm going to have to replace my air conditioner condensate pump. It's not pumping the water out of the pan at all. I'm going to need that condensate water to get through the summer without a giant water bill.

Maybe next year we'll have some gutters up around the house. More barrels for collecting early rain will help too. If I put in the raised beds I want to I'll definitely need more water.

I Love Corn

Claire joined us this morning to water the corn and thoroughly enjoyed herself.

Farmer Small at Watering Time

Pearce didn't want to get out of bed, he was awake but didn't want to get out of bed. Of course it was 5:30. Then I asked if he wanted to water the corn. Out of bed and straight for the door. He fussed when I made him put on shoes and a jacket. Dang, it was 47 this morning. Pman loves to play in the dirt.

First Planting

The whole shooting match got out on the deck and planted some corn and tomatoes. Kristi, Claire, Pearce,and I all dug in the dirt of our big planters on Sunday.

We're taking a while to get any garden started so I decided to start something on the deck. Planted corn in the two biggest planters. After that gets going good (2-3 feet) I'll plant some beans in there and then some sort of squash. I intend to plant the "Three Sisters" in the garden, but I wanted to do them on the deck as well. I figured it'd be easier for the kids to see than in the garden.

We also started some "jelly bean" tomatoes in the smaller pots on the deck. Doing the "jelly beans" on the deck for ease of access. Those will be salad and snacking 'maters.

I'll post pictures when stuff starts popping up. I should have gotten a picture of Claire. She was covered in dirt from head to toe. She and Pearce really enjoyed breaking up and turning over the dirt from last year.

Farm Mechanicking

Working on the John Deere with Daddy. I'll get this lever to move.

Have Mowers Will Compost

Miles came by Monday and took the broken part off of the Rally and helped me get the blade on the John Deere to engage. Of course I still couldn't get the wheels off. The lock rings on the wheels would not yield to my ministrations. I even kept forgetting to bring home my pump from school to get the tires useable.

Yesterday, we finally got the lawnmowers both working at the same time. Miles installed the replacement part and blade. It took us a few minutes to get the blade engage lever to actually work. Got it working and took a turn or two around the back yard. Then the rains came.

This morning I took the Rally out and knocked the tops off the rest of the backyard. Then I pumped up the tires on the John Deere and mowed down the rest of the "Back 40". The John Deere is better at dealing with the thick overgrown stuff than the Rally.

They now have there assigned purposes. The Rally will be used for catching grass for composting(especially since it has the catching attachments) and the John Deere will be set to doing most of the hauling and heavy mowing.

Home Grown Pecan

I was sweeping off the front walk this weekend and saw a pecan. I cracked it and tasted it. It was small but tasty. I can't wait till fall now.

We're in a Holding Pattern

No new damage from this weeks storms, but we still have a load of cleanup to get done in the back. The trees are almost gone from our neighbors behind us.

Birthday is Approaching

Tops on my list are (and I'm not joking) 55 gal food grade barrels for water storage (2or3), Lowes GC's for the purchase of roofing supplies (under deck roof so I can put the lawn mowers down there), 2 boxes of 3" decking screws (for deck repair and improvements).
You may think I'm joking but I'm not, for the barrels the best place to look is the farmer's and consumer's bulletin. Everything else is self explanatory.
If you want another option I need a new front wheel, a chain, a set of aero-brake levers. All of these are at Ordinary Bicycles (George's Shop) I'll check and see if they're still there.

Andrew Elkins

Not Much Going On

Tim, my "landlord", came by and cut up the trees down on our back fence. He took off two truck loads and we'll decide later if we're going to chip or burn the leftovers.

A Little Help

This pine coming down was a good thing for my veggie growing. It was a big shade problem for the back yard. The nice thing is it didn't do any damage to my neighbor's or my property. That bit of fence is about where the raised beds will go.

Return of the Rainout

I noticed it was getting cloudy so I paused the Wolfsburg match, put on my boots and headed to cut up the last of the trees on the ground. As I opened the garage door it started to rain. Seriously! I went out any way to cut the downed trunks into manageable pieces. Gonna definitely need to do some chain sharpening. I hit dirt on a couple of logs. Well, I'm using the rain as an excuse to be lazy today.

New Compost Bins

Making hey while the sun shines. Cut up the picket fencing, loaded it on the wagon, and hauled it to Compost Corner. Got down there and went to work turning one bin into several.
When I started I wasn't sure how many I'd make. I want to increase my production, but wasn't sure how I was going to go about it. I cut four pieces of fencing down to four foot lengths (the side of my current pallet bin) and started to replace what I had.
Not smart.
First, I realized two things at once. Reuse what I already had and I didn't have to cut all the fencing down. I made a T out of three of the pallets and stuck an unreduced piece of fencing on the front (house side) of the bins. I stuck two four foot lengths of fencing on the ends. Voila, I had two bins instead of one.
Then I tacked up three more pieces of fencing for a third bin. Now I have room to grow and I've got enough pieces to build on one more. Two if I get crazy industrious.
Well, the work isn't going to get it self done. Any who my tea is about ready to pour up.

Rain Out

It was a rainy day in Rome. That equaled a sleepy day of doing nothing much. The kids even let Mommy and Daddy sleep. I'm contemplating asking some of our neighbors if I can mow up their leaves that are still on the ground. Need to bolster my compost production. I think our cross the street neighbor may also have chickens. That would be cool, and might even work in my favor for talking Kristi into letting me keep a chicken or two.

Fencing, Oh the Possibilities

Headed to Mom and Dads to pickup some fencing I had pulled out of a client's yard when I was doing landscape maintenance. I took both of my assistants with me and everyone had a great time. I also got a wheelbarrow and a loungy chair for the basement while I was there. All that and Pearce and I got the trailer back to Rance before the rains came down.

Travel Day

Pearce, Claire and I are headed to Roswell to pick up some fencing, a wheelbarrow and maybe a few other sundries to get the veggies going.
We started the day off right. I cooked up a pound of sausage from a friend of ours and brewed up a pot of coffee. Pearce and I sat at the table eating sausage and drinking coffee like good little farmers. Claire was to busy.

Midweek Musing

I really wish I had some idea what I want out of my desire to grow stuff. Do I just want to play, experiment with different things? Do I want to grow all of our veggies for the kitchen? Do I want to grow veggies to sell? I'm pretty sure I want to do all three. How do I combine the three ideas? Lots of questions without answers.
"Questions are the easy part. Answers raise a doubt."

Hauling

Pearce and Daddy did some yard clean up today. Pearce loves the tractor driving (of course it's turned off w/out Daddy).

Today Was Tree Day

   Started off early this morning with the final bushes in the leafy green patch. It was 7:30 and I put off watching soccer. I took them out one runner at a time. The big daddy root was bullet proof, but I finally split it. I'll worry about taking it out later. Got a little building debris to clean out of that spot as well.

   Now for the trees. I had to get gas for the chainsaw and needed 2-cycle oil. Went to the Home Depot for the squeeze bottle that measures out just the right amount. While there I saw peach trees and plum trees for $20 a piece. I think two or three peaches and a plum will be good.

   Well, after getting the gas I got to work on freeing up some sunlight for my pecans. I took out the tree directly behind the garage that was super shading one pecan. Then I began working on the oaks and other trees surrounding my pecan triplets. I took the top bar off the chain link fence so I wouldn't break it if the trees didn't agree to fall exactly where I wanted them to fall.

   Of course they didn't. The oak landed kind of on the fence kind of on some other oaks. The other tree I took down took off a limb from one of triplets. Otherwise that one came down as I wished it to. Now, all I have to do is clean the mess up and take down one or two more trees around the triplets.

   Next on the agenda is to get the area between the backdoor and the deck clean, and make the front of the house presentable.

Slow Day

Didn't get a thing done on the leafy green spot today. Went to church and tried to nap with the kids. Pearce took an hour to go to sleep, then Claire woke up. It was a fun afternoon. We'll see what we can get done next week. I'm also going to need to start figuring how to acquire the wood for raised a bed or maybe two.
Any ideas will be appreciated.

Prep Work Leafy Greens Day 1

Started clearing the space between the backwalk and the house for some salad greens. That little bit of land was really messed up. It's not quite as messed up now, whew, but there is a bunch of little junk to get up. That's just between the driveway and the basement door. Next is from the door to the deck. I hope to get that knocked out tomorrow and put tree removal off a weekend.
Good footnote to today. I have picked up tomato seeds. Pearce and I will try to get them started inside tomorrow.