A Cost of Homesteading

A Cost of Homesteading

Death is not a pleasant topic, but it's something that we found can happen quite often when you are trying to start a homestead. 

About a week and a half ago, Sam and I forgot to close the chicken coop again. To our dismay, another 'possum (we believe) got into the coop and terrorized our chickens. There were feathers everywhere, and one of our chickens, a Cuckoo Maran, was nowhere to be found. To our amazement, the courageous chicken showed back up at our house later in the afternoon. Missing her tail feathers and a good chunk of feathers on her back hind leg, she bore a huge gash and looked a little too like the chickens you buy in Kroger for our liking. Though she fought hard to hang on, she died from her wounds within a few days. It hurts the most knowing that the death was avoidable and that it was our fault. 

Then a few days ago, we lost one of the young chicks. I had taken them outside for some sunshine and left the dogs in charge of baby sitting. Jacks has always been great with the chicks, and I like to call him their "little chicken mama". 

It had been a while since they had interacted with chicks, so I supervised them for about ten minutes before I snuck inside to grab a bite to eat. To my horror, when I returned a few minutes later, I found Jacks eating a dead chick (the white one above--Kita). We aren't sure how she died or even which dog killed her, but I felt horribly responsible. 

On top of all of that, one of the three chicks that we have left is sick. We don't know what's wrong with her except that she doesn't eat, she can hardly walk without throwing her wings out, and she doesn't hold her head up properly. She constantly looks like she is hunching over, and she is about two-thirds the size of the other chicks. Recently it has seemed like we are just patiently waiting for her to die. Another chicken death just looming in the near future. 

After a few days of researching, I found that some chicks just have problems thriving. I have been hand feeding the chick water through a syringe and oats to try and boost its energy enough to eat. Yesterday I fed it yogurt and honey, and I am happy to report that today the chick seems to be on the mend! She is chirping, moving her head, wobbling around, and actually eating on her own. With a little bit more special care, she may just pull through!

Here she is, the little fighter. Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). 

In other news, we have been busy as ever. We picked two gallons of strawberries at a u-pick farm close to our house and ended up making 24 half-pints of strawberry jam, two pints of canned strawberries, and one half-pint of strawberry syrup!

(Mixing sugar and strawberries to make canned strawberries)

(Fruit of our labor)

We (and by we I mean Sam) have made good progress on the deck. We've finished laying the main section, and the section in front of the kitchen door. All we have left of the deck surface are the borders and the section in front of the living room doors. 

We moved the two black chicks that are doing well out to the coop to join the big chickens. They were getting too big and too anxious to stay in the brooder. We had to construct a sort of "chicken jail" for them to stay behind to protect them from the pecking of the older chickens. They will stay separated in the coop for the next week or two, learning the pecking order from body language cues and learning that the coop is their home. Once they are a little bigger, we will feel better about letting them out to forage full time with the adults!

Canned Strawberries

Instructions:

Remove the green leaves and core. 

Chunk strawberries into desired size pieces.

For every two pints of strawberries, mix in one cup of sugar. 

Allow strawberries to sit out at least for two hours (up to overnight). A syrup will form naturally. 

Once the syrup has formed, bring the mixture up to almost a simmer. You want the mixture to be hot without letting it boil. 

Scoop out the strawberries and pour them into prepared jars until they are about 3/4 of the way full. 

Pour in the syrup until it covers the strawberries. 

Put flats and lids on. 

If have syrup left over: 

Put extra syrup into prepared jars to have canned strawberry syrup for later. Imagine using this goodness on pancakes or overtop of ice-cream!

If going to water bath can: 

Boil for 20 mins in hot water if canned in pint jars. 

Boil for 25 mins in hot water if canned in quart jars.  ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------

 And just for fun, here's a recipe that I've been working on perfecting. Shrimp pasta! So yummy that my grandmother (Nene) who doesn't even like shrimp thought it was pretty tasty!

Shrimp Pasta

Warning: the amounts of seasoning and such that I use each time varies, so I'm just going to tell you what I generally use and let you experiment.

For the shrimp:
Coriander (go light on the coriander, it's easy to over-use)
Dill (again, I usually go light)
Chili powder
Tarragon (use really lightly)
Oregano
1/4-1/3 onion (finely diced)
Garlic (I usually use 3-5 cloves depending on the size)

For the sauce:
shrimp spices
sage (ground)
white wine (you shouldn't need more than 2-3 tablespoons)
heavy cream (until you get enough sauce for your pasta)
lemon juice (only about a tablespoon. It's really easy to go overboard) 

Instructions:
Wash and peel shrimp.
Mix up the shrimp spices. I usually use a mortar and pestle to grind up the coriander along with the other spices. Pour about 2/3 of the seasoning over the shrimp and mix until well coated.
Sautee onions and garlic in a sauce pan in butter until translucent
Add shrimp and cook until done. I usually spread them out so they are flat on the surface of the pan, leave them to cook for a couple minutes on one side, and then flip them. Once the shrimp is done cooking, remove it from the pan.
Add the white whine, a splash of lemon juice.
Once the wine has boiled off for a couple minutes, pour in the rest of the shrimp seasoning along with the sage.
Add cream a little bit at a time, making sure to stir really well in between each addition, until you reach the desired amount of sauce. If need be, you can continue to add the seasoning to compensate for the need of more cream. Just taste it every now and then and see what you think it needs.
Finally, place desired amount of shrimp over top of the cooked pasta and drizzle sauce over top.
Enjoy!