Angry Bird

We thought our Rhode Island Red was so nice, but after we added the new chickens last summer, she showed her true nature. She's reeeallllly mean! She jumps on the tops of the younger birds and pecks at the back of their heads. They all look like they've lost chunks of feathers here and there from her. I don't think she actually hurts them, but we did see blood in the coop once. We've pretty much just let it be and resolved ourselves to watching the pecking order in action. The other chickens have learned to live with it, too, and for the most part and get out of her way when they can.

We're adding more garden space! I can't wait for Spring, I know the northeast has been hit way worse than NC but man, this has been one rotten winter.

Here are some new pots I've been working on. I've been obsessed with patterns lately.

A First for Us

A couple of weeks ago, our friends asked if we'd like to come over and help slaughter their chickens. We'd talked about this a lot and wanted to see the process in person so Aaron went over to help and learn.  I didn't expect it but he came home with a freshly killed chicken in a freezer bag. Thanks Eli and Carolyn!

I wanted to make a special meal from this chicken, so I simmered the whole bird for about 4-5 hours with some pot veggies. When the bird was tender I took about half of the meat and made a chicken pot pie. We ate it last night and it was delicious, great for a chilly night. I'm going to make soup from the remaining meat and broth. 

Here's a photo:

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked chicken, chopped

• 1 cups chicken broth

• 1 purchased or homemade pie crust

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• 1 large sliced celery stalk

• 3 carrots

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 cup half-and-half

• 1/2 cup frozen peas

• 1 egg, beaten

Preparation: In a large saucepan, melt butter. Add onion, celery and carrots. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Stir in flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt (less if using salty broth) and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add the broth and milk; cook and stir until thickened and bubbling. Stir in chicken and peas; pour into a round casserole dish. Brush the edges of the casserole with beaten egg to help the pie crust adhere. Place pie crust over the mixture; cut to fit and crimp edges all around. Cut steam vents in top. If desired, re-roll and cut excess pastry into strips or decorative shapes and lay over the crust. Brush chicken pot pie with remaining beaten egg. Bake at 400° for 30 to 40 minutes, or until crust is browned.

The Last of the Fall Garden

This week I went out and gathered up what I could from what remains in the garden. We're supposed to get several nights in the 20's. There are still some carrots, beets and onions in the ground but they should do okay with the weather. We were surprised how big the carrots got so fast, I think it's because I planted them where the potatoes were so there was a lot of loose dirt for them to grow in. Here's a photo:

This week I'm catching up around the house. I've been so busy with getting ready for my Fall shows, everything else has taken a back seat. Yesterday I cleaned out the attic so that Aaron can put insulation up there this weekend. There's absolutely no insulation in this house and we feel like we've been wasting a bunch of money in heat that's going right through the ceiling. 

Day 2 of Demolition

It's Spring Break and Aaron's off school so we decided it would be a perfect time to take off the addition that was added to the house in the eighties. It's on the south side of the house so it blocks sunlight and makes it REALLLY dark in the rest of the first floor. What they did was enclose a porch to add rooms and we're going to tear off what was added and make it back into a porch and half bath. In order to save money we decided to do the demo work ourselves and hire the contractor to do the finish work.

We started yesterday by tearing up the roofing... that took pretty much all day. By today we had filled a big dumpster with stuff we had torn off. Today it's starting to look more like a porch.

Here are some photos of the progress.

Here are some random shots from the weekend, we've had beautiful weather here, all of the trees are in bloom. The little girl in the photo is Flora, the daughter of our good friends, Eli & Carolyn.

chickens, lights & vegetable beds

Last night we were woken up around midnight to the sound of squawking in the chicken coop. Aaron went outside to find a possum in the coop, we opened up one side of the and poked him out with a broom handle. Then we went to bed thinking everything was okay. Well, this morning I went out to check on them and the Americana doesn't have any tail feathers. Poor thing, she's the skittish one, too. When we lived in Durham she almost got eaten by the neighbor dog. Anyway, I looked her over and she doesn't appear to have any wounds. And today I'm going to put bricks around the outside of the coop to see if I can't tighten it up a little, he probably squeezed in under one side, either looking for feed or eggs.

This weekend we put in two 12x12 vegetable beds, well... Aaron did and I helped. He put down plastic over the one to discourage weeds. That's going to be it for the summer garden, in the fall we're hoping to start another bed or two. We went and bought a bunch of seeds and when we get back from Atlanta plan to start some plants in the greenhouse. I also put in some daffodils and planted some shrubs near the road.

On Saturday I bought some awesome vintage light fixtures. Peters Design in Downtown Durham is going out of business, they're an architectural salvage place that I've always loved but never had a reason to buy anything. Well I bought 4 old light fixtures and an old doorknob since we were missing one. Hopefully Aaron can get these working, I think they'll look great.

Oh, and we now have heat and hot water!