R.I.P. Barack O. Rooster

I found Barack dead in the hen house when I went out to pick up eggs this evening.

Rouse said he forgot to tell me, but Barack didn't look so good last night when he opened up the chickens to free-range. He was a little "hunch-shouldered". In fact, as he thought about it Rouse recalled that the rooster was a bit lethargic coming out of the hen house on Sunday morning as well. So he was definitely showing signs of illness yesterday.

Personally, I was in a big hurry this morning. I had to get to my 8:15 yoga class. I ran out to the chicken yard, dumped the yuck-bucket (aka kitchen scraps), broadcast a good helping of two-grain scratch, and was surprised that the chickens weren't piling out of the coop as usual to get at all those goodies. It was a cold morning. Maybe they were reluctant to jump out into freezing temperatures?

But something else did get my attention. It was uncharacteristically quiet in the hen house. I heard some movement, but there was no cock crowing. I thought I'd better check in case some predator had created mayhem in the chicken house overnight. I cracked the door and looked in. I saw most of the chickens sitting quietly on the perches against the back wall and figured all was well. I didn't bother to actually account for each one of them, nor did I check the shelf where Barack and several of his ladies prefer to roost. What can I say? I was in a hurry. I suspect that Barack was either dead or dying at that point. That's where I found him later in the day ... in his favorite spot on the ledge in front of the window.

Barack took good care of his flock. We will miss his leadership in the chicken yard.

Another Type of Cabbage Worm Found

First it was invasion of the cross-striped cabbage worm. Then I find this lone pest on one of my cabbage plants.  At least I hope he's a loner!  He's a Cabbage Looper, another common enemy of the brassica plant family.

I have a special name for his type ... Chicken Feed!

Gallery of Autumn Crops

Cabbage Heading Up

Baby Red Russian Kale

Tender Black-Seeded Green Leaf Lettuce

Butternut Squash Ripening

The Leveling of the Garden

I hate to admit it, but summer is over.  Out with the old, in with the new.  The garden is becoming a lot less vertical.

Yesterday I harvested the Sweet Basil for the last time this year.  Everyone in the house enjoyed the aromatic scent while I processed it into pesto to be frozen for use this winter.  I will miss that heady smell of summer!  The plants are still growing in the garden and will be good until frost, so fresh cuttings of basil are still possible.

I spent some time cleaning up the garden today.  I removed the following plants:

• Thai Basil - lovely to look at this time of year with its long purple flower spikes, but very weedy once it goes to seed.
• Most of the pepper plants - leaving the cayenne peppers and the jalapenos until frost takes them out.
• Okra - the pods are no longer maturing.
• Rattlenake Pole Beans - I've been 'saving up' the beans this past week.  We have one more big pot of beans to look forward to.

I left the cherry tomatoes, even though I know the yield from here on out will be limited.  The fruit is still ripening, slowly but surely, but then falls easily off the plant.  I'm picking what's there every day to take advantage of the last few tasty snacking opportunities.

Great Green Globs of Cross-Striped Cabbageworm Guts

Where there's poop there're caterpillars, and caterpillars are very hungry little critters.  They can transform a healthy leaf into a leaf skeleton in no time.

This year I failed to cover my brassica plants with a lightweight row cover.  As a result, the cross-striped cabbageworm moths found the cabbage, the collards, the broccoli and laid eggs on the underside of the leaves, ensuring a good supply of tasty meals for their hungry hatchlings.  Now I'm having to make daily inspections of the plants to remove these pests by hand.  I have to admit, when I say "remove" I mean squish.  I've become jaded to the slimy mess that that makes.  My #1 concern is the health and well-being of my plants, which, of course, translates into the tasty food I plan to put on my table.

My efforts are paying off.  The plants are bouncing back nicely.  New growth is uneffected.  Collards are ready to cut.  Cabbage is starting to head up.  Broccoli is yet but a dream.

The official name of the cross-striped cabbageworm species is evergestis rimosalis.  Isn't he cute? This guy's looking pretty guilty, though, pictured here with tell-tale caterpillar dropping and worm-eaten leaf.

Surprise, surprise!  If left to feast in peace, the colorful caterpillar will eventually morph into a non-descript moth.  Not on my watch!

Worm-infested collard plant

Healthy collard leaves

2" rain last night + 4/10" today ...

... perfectly timed to soak my newly sown seeds.

More greens seeded ahead of expected rain ...

I need more greens in the garden.  As the summer crops play out I'm using up seed that I have on hand.

Added two more 12' rows of kale, my favorite cooking green - one row each of two varieties:

• Spring (smooth) Kale
• Red Russian Kale

Added two 12' rows of salad greens:

• Spicy Mesclun Mix
• Red Cardinal (smooth leaf) Spinach
• Spargo (savoyed leaf) Spinach

Three Blue Eggs!

We were beginning to think two of our four "ameraucanas" had missed out on the blue egg trait.  Come on #4 ... waiting for some product!

Overgrown Okra

Nobody cut the okra while I was away.  Too bad, because these overgrown pods will probably be the last we see this year.  The plants are still blooming, but past experience tells me that maturation of pods will slow considerably in early / mid October.  Why?  Because cool weather is okra's number one enemy.

Okra plants like it when nights are in the 60s and days are 85 degrees or warmer.  Our nights are dipping down into the lower 40's this week, with daytime temps in the 70's.  Very pleasant autumn weather, indeed, but surely the end of okra season.

Black Swallowtail Butterfly Caterpillar

a.k.a. Parsley Worm   So bright! So colorful! So ... hungry!!

Here's what a few can do to a healthy parsley plant in just one week:

BEFORE
Photo taken Sunday
October 9

AFTER
Photo taken Saturday
October 15



Yes, we have no more parsley!

Sue is NOT in the garden ...

... while attending a week-long hammered dulcimer workshop with 15 other advanced players and their guru, Ken Kolodner, at Sandbridge, VA.

www.KenKolodner.com
www.SueWilsonDulcimer.com

Saving Seeds

The Asian Long Beans are on the way out.  I'm still harvesting a big handful of tender green beans daily, but I'm allowing many of them to mature and dry on the plant. My original long bean seeds were given to me by my hairdresser, Lek, hence my name for them ... Lek's Long Beans.  I've saved seeds every year since, planting a new crop each year and sharing extras with friends and family.

The Rattlesnake Pole Beans are essentially finished.  The plants are losing leaves and looking pretty sparse. Many of the latecoming beans are deformed or shriveled. We loved this bean. Thinking about saving a few of these for next year ...

It's easy to save beans for planting in next year's garden. Beans rarely cross-pollinate, so seeds may be saved with confidence, knowing you'll be getting the same type of bean year after year. Just be sure you're growing a non-hybrid variety.

1. A hybrid bean won't come true from seed, i.e. seedlings won't be exactly like the parent plant. If you want to get the exact same plant, make sure you're saving seed from a non-hybrid variety.
2. Let the beans dry completely on the vine. This is best done near the end of the growing season. Once the pods start to mature, growth of the bean stalk slows down quite a bit and bean production drops dramatically.
3. When the pod is completely dry, remove it from the plant and open it, revealing the dried beans inside.
4. Remove any chaff or pieces of pod. Discard beans that look moldy or have worm holes. Store your dried beans in a labeled envelope, inside a marked canning jar or other container in a cool, dry place.
5. Plant the beans next year. Share your seeds with a friend. Start a tradition!

Here's more information about seed saving:
http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenmaintenance/a/SeedSaving.htm

Fried Green Tomatoes

I wondered once, at the peak of tomato season, why anyone would sacrifice a perfectly good tomato by picking it green in order to make fried green tomatoes. Don't get me wrong. Fried green tomatoes are very tasty ... but an entirely different beast compared to juicy, red, ripe tomatoes fresh off the vine.

Maybe the invention of fried green tomatoes came about due to an abundance of fruit. Having lived through the seasons of a garden, however, I would find it more believable to discover that the idea of fried green tomatoes came about as a way to use up the stragglers at the end of the season ... those little green tomatoes that are as likely to rot as they are to ripen.  And if frost threatens, there's no choice.  Those tomatoes must be harvested.

Today, I cried, "Uncle!" I picked all the green tomatoes that linger on the remaining tomato plants. I uprooted the plants and pulled the stakes. It is the season. Fried green tomatoes will be on the menu this weekend. My favorite way to eat them?

• Slice the tomatoes - not too thick!
• Batter them as you like
• Fry them until golden brown
• Stack them ... alternating three tomato slices with two thin slices of smoked gouda cheese

That's gourmet!

Home Grown Chicken in the Pot

Chickens can provide:

• Healthy, home-grown eggs and meat
• Quality, nitrogen-rich fertilizer
• Effective pest control
• Pleasant companionship

Most folks can understand chickens as "pets". Getting some help ridding the yard and garden of ticks and Japanese beetles is considered a good thing. Natural fertilizer for the garden is a plus. "Free" eggs are a bonus. But many people would have to draw the line at eating their chickens for meat. We have crossed that line.


After allowing our recently harvested chicken to rest in the refrigerator for 48+ hours, I prepared it for the crock pot. The recipe?

• Stuff the bird with loads of fresh garlic cloves, onion quarters, celery stalks, and stems of rosemary
• shower with the juice of one lemon
• sprinkle with paprika, salt, and freshly ground pepper
• cook for two hours on high, then two hours on low in the crock pot. 

Mmmm ... mmmm ... mmmm! What a treat! Slow-cooked "made from scratch" good ol' yard-bird for dinner on a Monday night. It was delicious, if I say so myself.

We were afraid the meat of this older hen might be stringy or tough, but it wasn't. It did, however, taste different than grocery store chicken. There were four of us around the table - Rouse the Spouse; our daughter, Abi; my sister, Janet; and me. We were all trying to describe the difference ...  

• First, the fat was different. It was more yellow in color and more "gummy" in feel.  It reminded us of pork fat.
• The dark meat was darker in color and richer in flavor. At first we were laughing and said it tasted more "chicken-y", but then Janet said it sort of tasted like roast, and she was right! But not quite as strong as beef roast. We decided it was more like a pork tenderloin.
• Upon reflection, I think it tasted more the way chicken used to taste!

I cooked up the liver, gizzards, heart, and neck to make giblet gravy, which I served over rice. (Note: The neck is still on the uncooked chicken in the photo above. That's not a third leg!) After dinner, I removed the remaining meat and cooked the carcass overnight with onion, celery, and carrots covered with water in the slow cooker.

The resulting broth - plus leftover meat and rice - made a delicious batch of chicken and rice for supper the next night. The last bit of chicken breast went into a lovely mixed green salad of leaf lettuce and our own arugula - fresh out of the garden - enhanced with backyard green beans and potatoes, hard boiled happy chicken eggs, onions, and real bacon bits.

We provided for our chicken. In turn, our chicken provided for us. For that I am grateful.

Big Step toward Conscientious Consumption

"To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of creation. When we do it knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, destructively, it is a desecration."    ~ Wendell Berry, from The Gift of Good Land

Today was a big day ... a rite of passage sort of day ... an "I know where my chicken comes from" kind of day.  Today I harvested one of my chickens.

My friend, Betsy, had offered to help a friend slaughter his three "extra" roosters.  She had two ducks herself that needed culling.  She invited me to bring a chicken or two and join the fun. 

I've never been against the idea of harvesting our chickens.  I do EAT chicken, after all.  Isn't it important to be fully aware of what eating chicken means?  Understanding that that drumstick or chicken breast was once part of a living animal?  I think so.  But I was a bit intimidated by the whole idea of slaughtering, de-feathering, cleaning.  It seemed like an overwhelming job.  Besides, I'd never seen anyone actually do it, let alone participate in the process.  Did I have what it takes?  This would be my moment of truth. I accepted the invitation.

I was glad to have Rouse along.  He was good support.  Plus, I'm counting on him to help me remember what to do next time.  We arrived at Betsy's house at 9:00am.  It was a beautiful, blustery, cool morning.  She had already assembled all the necessary supplies, including the following:

A small metal garbage can with a block of CO2 in the bottom.  Birds were moved one at a time from their respective holding cages to this can.  The lid was closed and the CO2 worked to render the bird temporarily unconscious, allowing time to place it head down in the killing cone and take the necessary action.  This may have been an unnecessary step, but it did make the slaughter more pleasant all around, serving to inhibit excessive struggle on the part of the bird which can lead to bruising of the meat.

Three homemade metal killing cones, nailed to an old playground structure.  Once a bird was positioned head down in the cone, head pulled through the opening at the bottom, two quick slices with a sharp knife opened up the main blood vessels on either side of the neck.  Death came quickly, and it didn't take long for most of the blood to drain into a bucket below.

A large pot of water heated to 140 +/- degrees, with a squirt of detergent added.  Once each bird had bled out, it was dipped up and down in scalding water to soften the attachment of feathers, then hung on a nail for plucking. It was surprisingly easy to remove the feathers after the hot water treatment.



Cooler of ice water slurry to chill the bird.  Briefly chilling the bird makes it easier to get a handle on the innards.  Leaving it in the icy water too long makes it stiff.

It was time to clean and eviscerate the bird.  Betsy taught us how to do each step safely and thoroughly:

• Remove head and feet.
• Remove oil gland at tail.
• Cut through skin and fascia to reveal abdominal cavity. Avoid nicking the intestines!
• Remove the internal organs. Save the liver, gizzard, and heart if desired. Don't nick the bile duct!  The gizzard must be cleaned separately.
• Remove lungs.

Last Steps:

• Wash the chicken, removing blood and other soil from the carcass.
• Weigh it if you wish. My prepped bird ended up weighing 3 pounds 5 ounces.
• Package it in a plastic bag.
• Chill to prevent bacterial spoilage.

This happy hen was apparently well fed.  She had an excessive amount of fat in the lower abdominal area.  It actually helped protect the intestines from my sharp knife, which made it a little easier to do preliminary cuts before gutting.

I have no way of knowing which chickens are laying in our hen house.  All the Dominiques look alike!  It turns out that this old girl was still laying well.  We removed the egg that she would have laid today.  Future yolks were lined up, large to small.

Now that the mystery has been removed, I'm ready to do it again.  I might even consider raising a small flock of  birds for meat ...  I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of myself for having done it.  The whole process made me feel strangely empowered and, as one might guess, connected to the great Circle of Life.  I am thankful for that.

Working alongside Betsy turned what could have been a grim chore into a celebration of friends working together to accomplish a shared goal. I'm grateful for her calm and patient guidance.