framing fowl -daily living

[framing fowl]

Thanks for the heads up! I'd really like to find hens from last year though. The first time I had chickens, I messed around with chicks and they didn't lay until late summer, early fall. I really want adult chickens this time so I can enjoy them the whole time. Then this fall, I'll either sell them on again or butcher them.

I'm going into this as a fun project just for the summer and then they're gone again. I don't want to deal with overwintering them because hopefully, next summer we'll move.

 

[BarredBuff]

Ohhh I see........

 

[savingdogs]

I wish I could give you some of my chickens, FF. I'm over-run! I have around 20 chickens currently....and we had 17 eggs today! That was really good for lately (especially since one is molting and one is a roo!

 

[BarredBuff]

I dont have any good ones to let go only culls.........

 

[framing fowl]

Thanks SD! Maybe sometime we'll end up in that part of the country again...

James, love ya but I know the only ones you're getting rid of are culls . Just the sort of thing my little brother would try and pull on me though!

Okay, so I'm putting my Sundays in captivity to good use. Time to start making good on my New Year resolution to do menu planning.

Here's what I'm trying to do...

Breakfast: veggies, protein
Lunch: veggies, low gi carb, protein
snack: fruit
dinner: veggies, low gi carb, protein.

So here's my weekly menu:

Breakfast is either eggs or sausage and lightly steamed zucchini.

carbs: black-eyed pea salad and rosemary roasted sweet potatoes.
protein: salmon quiche and venison tenderloin with thyme mushroom balsamic vinegar sauce.
veggies: sweet & sour cabbage, and carrots and whatever else is on sale at the grocery (beans? winter root vege?)

 

[BarredBuff]

I wouldnt intentionally give you culls....

 

[framing fowl]

I believe you!

 

[savingdogs]

Your menu looks wonderful! Salmon quiche? Do you cook the salmon first? That sounds really interesting.

So you are deciding where to move? We have never regretted moving to Washington State. Right now, there are many many properties here for sale cheap, too. I suppose that is the way all over the country. Our economy is very depressed though, that is why there are so many homes for sale. In my family, both my brother and my sister (who have always been employed) are looking for jobs right now.

 

[framing fowl]

I'll post the salmon quiche recipe over in the kitchen section. It is really yummy.

My DH's family is all in OR and mine is all in MT. The only reason we would move back there would be if something drastic happened to either family where we had to go back. We lived in Spokane as a 1/2 way point for 5 years before moving here. Nope, we're staying put for right now due to jobs/finances/debt.

 

[framing fowl]

Stayed on task this week with menu and eating plans! I'm finally getting the hang of it I think. This job thing has been an exercise in self-discipline. If I don't get things done when I'm supposed to, it sets the whole week off. Amazingly, now that I'm getting used to buckling down and sticking to the routine, I'm getting more accomplished, and have more "me/free" time. Every week I'm adding a little something that makes things go a little more smoothly. I have always been busy but now looking back I wasn't always accomplishing things.

Today my project is to find a good cookie recipe that I can premake the dry ingredients so I can have time for fresh baked cookies once a week. MyT Man will love me forever and it will be just a little less drain on the grocery budget! My other project is to find a good seasoning blend for pork. DH bought some "tenderized ham" at the butcher and thought he was doing so good. Basically, it is some kind of pork run through a machine that gives it the texture of cardboard and about the same taste, but we've got 20 lbs of it. Maybe I could season it, grind it, and turn it into sausage.

Found some speckled sussex hens on CL. Maybe if she still has them and the weather is better next weekend, we can go on Saturday to look at them. I'll have to see what I have on the schedule when I make it up today.

This month we also switched from using the debit card at the grocery and tracking that expense in quicken to cash in an envelope. I've heard this preached for years from many sources but thought I really knew a good deal and had discipline. Whoot! Never using that debit card again!!! Using cash has made such a difference and surprisingly, I was buying better quality vegetables at times.