Ode to Muppet

It's true. We lost our most beloved chicken. She went broody (sat on invisible egg babies to hatch) for about three weeks and when she came out of it we noticed she was ever so slightly favoring her right foot. Mike took her to the avian specialty hospital and they sent him home with chicken-ibprofen to reduce swelling and reduce her pain. It got worse and turned into an all out limp. We finally took her to the local avian vet down the street from our house and he was AWESOME! He suggested Merik's disease. Merik's disease is a actually a common avian virus which all hatchery chickens are vaccinated for that eventually leads to degenerative paralysis. Unfortunately, we got Muppet from the feed store who got her from thier neighbor who hatched her in their backyard. Hence, she was never vaccinated- we didn't even think to ask. The feed store owner felt awful, we felt awful, and the vet made the best of a sad situation with jokes about taking her temp and being a muppet (use your imagination . . . ) So after a good laugh it was pretty clear when her leg and wing were effected and she fell on her face a couple times that it was time. We brought her inside and she shared mike's office for a week and when it got to the point when we would hold her, she would fall asleep like a wet noodle that we knew it was time to take her in to the vet for the last time... The vet did a chicken autopsy (necropsy) and found evidence for Merik's which couldn't be confirmed until after . . . We will miss her coos of baBuhhhh and fluffy waddle. May she be scratching around the clouds and flying without effort . . .

I do feel obligated to politically comment on the issue of backyard hatches. Hatching on one's own as a chicken enthusiast does help to keep heritage breeds of chickens around. This is important because they are threatened to be lost to more genetically bred super chickens whose legs break under their rapid growth in order to provide juicy juicy boneless skinless dinner. I do believe there is a difference between pets and food and I believe both can be chickens- I love a good stir fry or taco as much as anyone but as is the current trend it is important not to loose our historical knowledge and access to our food sources. Maybe pet chickens are one way of preservation in the same way that victory home gardens have come back in vogue. However, vaccines are made in batches of 1000 with a 12 hour shelf life which makes backyard hatching unrealistic to vaccinate. Thinking of vaccinated populations continuing the Meriks disease to infect future chickens feels irresponsible and hits close to home in seeing a poor chicken fall- literally. What do you think?

Yes we are lame but we are BACK!!!

So we have proven to be about the lamest blogger's on the blogosphere and to all 2 or 3 of our followers we apologize for being so lame, or more accurate --lazy? no matter, we sucked, we know it and that's aboutall we will say about that.

hmmmm.... now where to start? how about a quick summary on the last 5 months with more to detail to follow on future posts. Our garden was a great success, we had a huge harvest, with tomatos leading the way and a few snags with brussel sprouts causing us the most dissapointment (they were infected with a bazillion aphids and were a 100% waste). All in all, we learned a ton, had a bunch of fun and were able can about 100 jars of sauce, salsa, jelly's and a whole lot of other good stuff. We also transplanted many of our herbs/spices to the front yard to keep them out of chicken reach and for easier cooking access. The chickens were every bit as fun and rewarding as we both ever imagined and could have hoped for. we started out with 3, gave one back (rooster), got 2 more, then another, and sadly lost one to Merek's disease in early December (see future post entiteld 'Ode to Muppet' for the hearthwrenching details) so we ended the year with 4 pretty cool birds. 4 of the 5 ended up laying eggs but currently only 2 of them are producing right now. We expanded the chickens Run by about 40% and now wonder how the poor little birds ever survived prior to our expansion (they are a bit spoiled to say the least). We also started a kitchen remodel in December, dressed up as the Kardashians for Halloween and made some very good friends in our neighborhood that we hope to see much more of in 2010.

Going into 2010 we have a lot planned and unplanned -here is just a sampling: we will be getting at least 3 more chickens (YES!!!), changing up our fruit trees, adding a bunch more berries & adding a greater variety of veggies, add some flowers and other non edibles, limiting chicken access to the whole yard so we can actually use some of the yard that is free from chicken Sh*t, redo our chicken roost (the place where they sleep and lay), be a stop on Portland's Tour de Coop (a city-wide tour of backyard chicken wierdo's), brew our own beer and wine (if we get enough grapes), install a pathway in the backyard, and a whole bunch of other things we haven't even thought of yet... oh yeah, and we are going to blog the entire year!!

...and finally, here are some random photos...

The Great Egg Watch

First, a small update. No more bees . . . well less bees. Our green exterminator was more afraid of bees than Mike but he did is job and we reinforced with a few traps.

Now the girls are free to move about the yard and check in on Mike while he works in the office. "Whatya doin in there and where's the corn?"

I finished my first year of grad school and have been given a little time off of school. And I quit my job in order to make time for my internship which starts in early Spetember. We had my work team over to celebrate summer vacation and to say goodbye as two of us are leaving to persue school. I made "dirt cake" (left pic) - yum. And couple weeks ago we built this canapy (right pic) to provide some shade for our guests- indespensable!

Good thing i have a couple weeks free because August means it's time reap the rewards of watering and waiting. My first week off I feverishly canned. Here's the list: 13 pints pasta/pizza sauce, 4 quarts of pickles, 4 half pints of zucchini relish, 5 half pints of salsa, 3 half pints of tomatillo salsa verde, and an assortment of jams in strawberry, plum, lime-blueberry, and fig flavors. Most of this came from our garden with a few additions from nearby friends' gardens for plums and when we ran out of garlic and onions we did purchase them along with citrus. Next year we will plant dozens more onions, garlic, and maybe plant a lime and lemon tree in a pot so we can take it inside during the winter. Hmmmm . . . . Oh, I also canned 10 pints of chicken stock which has NOTHING to do with our garden as our chickens are our dear pets. Jeezles- Mike won't even eat chicken from any source in any form!

Here's my recipe for all purpose red sauce which I use as lasagna, pasta, and pizza sauce: Place one rough chopped onion and a good pour of olive oil in a large sauce pot over medium high heat. When the onion are a little translucent I add a grip of rough chopped garlic (about 7 medium cloves) and a handful of italian seasonings, and some red chili pepper flakes. After it smells crazy yummy I add the tomatoes. You can use 1 large can but with fresh tomatoes (about 7 medium romas or early girls) I blanch them first by putting them in boiling water until the skin breaks, remove skin and the stem and the core. Let it all simmer for awhile. I usually get impatient at about 20 minutes and puree it all. I recommend an immersion blender if you do a lot of soups or sauces so you can puree right in the pot without creating another dish to clean or risk cracking the glass blender with hot sauce- I still pine over the best blender I lost this way :( As you can tell this is a very technical recipe so make sure you follow it exactly! The picture on the left is grilled heirloom tomatoes from the garden being grilled for salsa.

In other news- Mike and I got the opportunity to go salmon fishing. My father was so gracious to have us and extend the invitation to my dear friend Kate who has inspired my interest in food sustainability (her grocery bill is less than $50 a month for two persons!!!). Dad took us to Astoria, Oregon and we fished just off the coast. I caught one fish and Mike caught three but we could only keep one of Mike's due to fishing regulations. While Mike is quite the angler he is not a good salt as he spent much of the day feeling sea sick. Afterall he is the only human I know who takes Dramamine for lap swimming at our gym pool. A very special thank you to my dad for taking two days out of his busy retirement life to spend some time with us and taking us out. There are yummy lox and cream cheese on bagels in our future!! Maybe we'll get pics of that later . . .

Chickens lay eggs around 20+ weeks of age. So about a week ago we unofficially started an egg watch. We certainly thought Gladys would be first with her giant comb and waddles (the red stuff around her face) but it was our newest addition of Muppet who (at 16 weeks) left a perfect antique white egg which we found after a very long day of fishing! They will get a touch bigger in the next week or so but they will always be smaller sized eggs because she is a small breed of chicken. We are just so proud of her. She even layed in the nest box right where she is suppose to. I ate a lovely egg-muffin sandwich this morning for breakfast- O.M.G!!! best b-fast ever!!!

Lessons~ 1) If your interested in knowing how to can I recommend a local extension class or thorough reading online. It really is easy and simple but there are very important rules so you don't die of botulism. 2) When chickens are ready to start laying they let you know by doing the chicken squat. This is also their way of saying "Hey big boy I'm ready for you- wink wink." Makes sense right? Ready to to mate, ready to lay, ready to have chick-babies. So the squat occurs when you go to pet the chicken and they squat down with their wings a little lithe, do a little shake, and fluff their tail up to expose the vent. It is just the cutest thing!! Muppet started doing this about a week before her first egg. 3) Chickens bathe in dirt to prevent and rid themselves of mites and other parasites. Here is a video of Elinore and Muppet taking a dust bath- they really get into it!!