I have to start out with something bloody, like this frozen cow tongue! Once I had the idea to try some tongue I waited a long time for the cow to go to the butcher, then be processed, then finally make it into my hands.

Here is the tongue after over 4 hours of simmering. Some of the skin has already been peeled off. After this we made tacos and serving it to friends.

Mike is getting a bit too friendly with the cow.

Oh yeah, We also had a ton of peaches that needed to be made into jam.

Now that its summer I have more time on my hands. I started sewing and made this amazing skirt along with another plain red one.

The top of this quilt was completely hand sew! It was a great way to use up a bunch of scrap fabric I had. However, I had to stop once I ran out of fabric. It was a really good project to work on while listening to all the Harry Potter books (except for goblet of fire, that one just sucks) on audio book.

Rainbow Elephant

Felted elephant with eyes. I turned her in my "Philosophy of Art and Beauty Class" Along with a short paper about Kendall Walton's philosophy about art and its relation to make-believe. One major problem with the felt is that it picks up cat hair and dirt very easily.

Creepy crawly themed handmade matching tiles. Given away as a gift, however I saw sad to see it go. I really enjoyed the process. I cut the pine wood, heavily sanded the edges, burned the outline of the images, painted with nontoxic paint, then sealed with natural bees wax. Safe for little mouths to chew on.

Urban Sprawl displaces deer into suburban neighborhoods. Domesticated feline has a sense for adventure. At one point Benvolio got a couple feet away from the deer. She started stomping her hoof and made a hissing sound to teach him who is boss.

My neighbors tend to leave piles of trash on their back porch. This particular squirrel is making the best from their laziness.

Pickled Jalapeno Peppers

From our jalapeno plants we got plenty of peppers. Usually the only time I buy jalapenos is when I make salsa. I buy the can filled with whole jalapenos and use just a few for each bath of salsa. Unfortunately, not all of the grocery store in my town carry canned jalapenos. Rarely can you find fresh jalapenos in the produce section.  Now I wont have to go to multiple grocery stores to get my jalapeno fix.

Ingredients:

3 pounds Jalapeno peppers

7 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar

2 1/2 tablespoon canning salt

1 3/4 cups water

Three large onions

1 tablespoon mustard seeds per jar

1 1/2 teaspoon celery seed per jar

1. Cut Jalapenos and onions into slices. Whenever handling sliced Jalapenos use gloves so hands don’t feel like they are throbbing afterward. I learned the hard way.

2. Sterilize Jars and lids

3. Bring the cider vinegar, water, and salt to a boil.

4. Put mustard seeds and celery seeds in the bottom of each jar. Add Jalapenos and onions leaving 1/2 inch head space.

5. Remove air bubbles and whip the rims.

6. Boil cans for 10 minutes (I am almost at sea level, but it changes depending on elevation)

7. Wait 7 weeks before eating the jalapenos.

Not only have the chicken out grown the chicken tractor, they have started to lay eggs (Sep 24 was the first egg). They may be small eggs, but they’re chicken eggs non the less. I’m very excited and have been telling people I barely know from my classes about my chickens and their egg laying abilities. Its kinda magical.

We needed a new place to keep the chicken. Ideally, we would purchase and electric poultry fence, however, those cost money. Instead, we decided to fix up the old existing chicken coop for free. I think it turned out wonderful. Mike up a lot of work in to making it just right for the girls. He even made an unsolicited video tour of the coop.

Chickens work wonders. Here is the pathway from the field through the weeds left by the chicken tractor after only a few short days. Not only are they taking care of the weeds, but also fertilizing the ground. I fear the catch 22 is that they are fertilizing the ground for more weeds to grow.

Have you ever touched the comb on a rooster? Its soft and fleshy. Just do it.

Here's a beautiful hen modeling the ladder before checking out the new nest boxes.

The finished product; active-culture homemade yogurt.

I have been reading Wild Fermentation and Nourishing Traditions, which both boast the benefits of eating cultured food. However, I am not exactly a big fan of sauerkraut and pickles. I need to start out slow, with foods that I am already familiar with, yogurt being one of them. It is also insanely easy to make. Great to have on hand, I can make a quick banana yogurt smoothie and eat/drink it on my walk to class. Also eating the homemade yogurt eliminates yet another source weird additives, not to mention the refined sugar.  I find that I like my yogurt on the tart side so I let it sit over night. I find myself making it in the evenings, once I am back from class and have had time to reenergize. In the morning its complete.

Ingredients:

Thermos

Candy Thermometer

Tablespoon Yogurt from a previous batch (For your first batch use Dannon plain yogurt)

Quart of Milk

1. Slowly heat a quart of milk to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Stir often to keep the milk from burning and a thin film from developing on the surface.

2. Once at 180 degrees, remove from heat and let it cool to 110 degrees. Keep stirring.

3. Meanwhile, boil of a bit of water and fill a thermos with it.

4. When the milk is at 110 degrees, pour out the water from the thermos and fill it with the majority of the milk.

5. Add a heaping tablespoon of yogurt from a previous batch to the remaining milk. Stir it in. Then add the rest of the milk to the thermos.

6. Allow the thermos to sit undisturbed of around 12 hours.

7. Pour the finished yogurt into a jar.

8. Optional Step For Creamier Yogurt. Take a piece of Muslim cloth or layered cheese cloth and fill it with half of your yogurt. Tie up the four corners with a rubber band and hang it. This will allow the whey to drip out leaving the yogurt to be super thick. Then mix all of your yogurt together.

I think the reason for heating the milk is to pasteurize it. Although the milk at the store is already ultra-pasteurized (which means it has been brought to an extremely high temperature in a matter of seconds, destroying healthy enzymes and bacteria) New strange things could be in the milk, and could breed during the yogurt making process. I want "lactobacillus acidophilus" in my yogurt and not much else.

I found that the easiest place to hang the yogurt is on the stove light.

The whey is still very nutritious. Body builders drink whey protein to help build muscles.

What does it mean to slaughter a chicken humanly?

The Mirriam-Webster dictionary defines Humane as an adjective that is marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans or animals. This definition is subjective, leaving everyone to their own interpretation. For example, television shows such as “animals cops” often show people who hoard cats or other small animals. Many times the animals have plenty of food and water and are in relatively good health. However, several dozen feral cats left to breed uncontrollably in a confined space will ultimately wreak havoc. When the owner is confronted they are often confused. They feel they are providing a service by taking in stray animals and providing shelter, food, and water. That’s all the animals need right? The same show often features people who engage their animals in dog fighting. They have cruel techniques that leave animals either dead or badly wounded. Generally, these people believe that animals are not capable of suffering.  On the other end of the spectrum, some people believe it is morally wrong to hurt animals. Many Buddhist would say that a human could be reborn as an animal. An animal could be the incarnation of a dead relative. What all these people have in common is that they are technically being humane towards the animal, because they have evaluated the animals intrinsic ability to suffer and met it to the level they have deemed appropriate.

I would like to take the definition of humane one step further. There is an ultimate process to slaughter a chicken, unfortunately it is an ideal which I cannot fulfill. Based on the previous definition, I am being humane although I am striving for perfection.

First the animals must be raised with the utmost respect. The animals should not be teased or frightened. The shelter should be outside giving the birds grass and bugs to forage for. Clean water and food containing no animal by-products, hormones, or antibiotics should be provided.  The birds should have access to clean water and shade. The ground should not littered so they could peck without picking up scraps of plastic or metal. The chickens should express their inner “chickenness” by having room to run, fly, and take dust bathes.

One area that we need to improve on is giving the chickens more freedom. Although the chicken tractor has plenty of room for all the birds, there is a limited space for them to fly and roost. Ultimately, purchasing a portable electric fence with a solar battery charger would be best. Also our feed comes from Purina Mills, which is a large animal food company. I would rather feed my birds from a local organic feed company, or possibly growing all the feed myself.

The actual slaughtering process should be quick and painless. The handling of the bird should be not arouse the bird into unnecessary stress. Unfortunately, it is difficult to distinguish whether the birds movements are conscious attempts to flee, reactions from the pain, or a senseless motor functions. Without being in the mind of a chicken we cannot knowing the precise moment of death or when the bird looses consciousness. Is it seconds after the artery is cut? or when a knife splits the brain in two? How about when the spinal column is disconnected? Perhaps I have not made it around the learning curve yet. Emotionally, this is my least favorite part. I need to do more research to determine how a chicken suffers.

The final step in humanly killing a chicken is to eat every last piece of the chicken possible. The animals life has been sacrificed to feed a human, so don’t let it go to waste. Use more than just mussel meat but the offal and feet. In fact, many of the less-desirable pieces of meats are highly prized in some cultures for their nutritional content. I need to become creative in my culinary endeavors.

Killing a chicken was the first time I had intentionally killed another animal. I can justify this killing because we raised it with the intention of eating it. As a novice, I was able to approach the slaughter with a blank slate. With most of my projects I consulted the internet.  The best to restrain the bird is using a killing cone or in our case a milk jug with the bottom and top cut off. Using a sharp knife cut the artery on the neck, but avoid cutting the windpipe or spinal column. That way the heart will beat the blood out of the body. The bird will just “go to sleep”.  As a second precaution, we jabbed the knife through the palate and into the head to sever any consciousness in his brain. Keep in mind that its not a myth that chickens run around with their head cut off. The bird continues to move its legs and flap its wings while its draining the blood. He will even open and close his eyes and “gasp” for air. This is the most terrifying part. I question myself whether if we did it correctly.

I feel my experiment has been a success. I hope to be able to recreate it in the future and make improvements. Thanks to everyone for your support!

Basically, if you order a chicken you will receive a whole bird including the heart and liver. Instead of selling per pound, we are just doing one price. Mike and I will be doing the dressing ourselves. I encourage you to fill out the online order form which can be found here —->  Order Chickens!!! If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail us at weedem.reap@gmail.com.

BTW, mike made the wonderful flier to advertise. Whenever you see him give him compliments Oh, and he is available for freelance graphic design.

Youtube has some real gems on making sauerkraut. First off Vanessa and Dean have shared such a lovely step-by-step how-to video. Be sure to watch part 2. I imagine that they are filming from somewhere in the midwest and are going to Polka night at the nearest ballroom as soon as they clean up.

The website chow.com makes the best “obsessive” videos, and of course there is one on making fermented sauerkraut. I am not too sure about how economical it is to have a store that sells only fermented food.

This guy is my favorite. He has AIDS and contributes his survival to the nutritional and pro-biotic aspects of fermented foods. He makes me want both of his books, Wild Fermentation, The Revolution Will not be Microwaved, and a large ceramic crock (preferably a handmade one from etsy.com)

Personally, I am not a fan of sauerkraut. Despite my German heritage,  eight plus years of German language classes, and cabbage/sauerkraut being served at many family gatherings throughout the years I never fell it love with the tangy flavor and crunchy texture of the kraut. I figured that if I grew the cabbage in my garden and make the sauerkraut myself then I would like it… Fortunately Michael will eat anything under the sun (correction: Mike will not eat okra, liver, palmetto cheese, black-eyed peas, corn flakes, Vienna sausages, pork feet, spam, bologna, greasy potato chips, or caviar)

Step One: Pick the cabbage and carrots from the garden

Step Two: Rinse carrots and chop off the bad parts. Peel of gross layers on the cabbage. Save a few of the nice leaves.

Step Three: Shred everything. Shred the cabbage, shred the carrots. We used an electric grater/shredder but I think chopping it by hand was just as fast (and less messy)

Step Four: Add about one table-spoon of kosher or rocksalt or pickling salt (no iodine) per head of cabbage. Then mix it all together in a large bowl. I think I was a little to generous with the salt. Next time I will measure the salt more accurately and try to use less.

Step Five: Pack tightly into jar and don’t leave any air. I made sure their was a good bit of brine around the top. I also used the saved cabbage leaves on top of shredded cabbage as a barrier and weighed it down with a smaller jar filled with water.

Step Six: Wait. Leave the jars somewhere out-of-the-way. Ours are on a screen porch, so the temp was just a little lower than the outside temp probably in the high eighties.  We waited one week before trying the kraut.

Our cabbage heads are not as tight and I would like. Perhaps if we left them growing a little longer they would become more firm.

We used smaller jars filled with water to weigh-down the kraut. Another thing I would like to try to boiling small stones to weigh it down.

Of course we used carrots in the cabbage and slices to decorate the sides

For me, that does not look appetizing. I admit I do need to give it a fair chance.

Mike offered to pose for the camera. I got rave reviews such as "Umm, that's good" and "I like it!"

These are not my hands. They are of some unfortunate soul's which I found on the internet.

You will never find me getting that up close and personal with maggot looking things like that. I am a bit too squeamish for worms like that. There was an entire chapter, in my seventh grade biology book about parasitic worms (You know tape worms, heart worms, and hook worms) every time I turned to a few graphic images I would feel sick to my stomach about almost pass out (just so you know I never opened by biology books in high school or college, didn’t need to I am that smart!) However, its ironic that when I look in the compost pile today I got excited when I found these larvae. They are the larvae form of the black soldier fly and they’re compost eating machines. It’s great that they are in the compost bin, but I still want the contraption that harvests the larvae so that I could feed them to the chickens.

The larvae in my compost bin. Also notice the beautiful purple and orange carrots which were harvested from the garden.

Our first watermelon (Moon and Stars). It's just not ready, yet!

The tomatoes are coming along with their little stinkbug friends.

The cherry tomatoes remind me of little bells.

• Build chicken tractor
• Make both a gravity fed waterer and a feeder out of 5 gallon buckets for chicks
• Weed garden :/
• Mow around the garden and walking paths. Although I don’t know of to operate those machines. Perhaps this is something mike will have to do for me.
• Build tomato cages. I think I counted 32 tomato plants without cages… eek!!
• Collect cow manure to add to compost bins
• Make sauerkraut
• Determine if the carrots are ready to be harvested
• Research how to save seeds for the green beans

Here it is, Chicken Tractor 1.0

The hose/rope in front is what we pull the tractor with.

The tin sides will keep the chicks protected from the elements while still allowing fresh air to flow through.

Of course they are still given access to their normal chick feed but also able to forage grass and bugs by themselves.

Eventually the barred rocks (black laying chickens) will be separate from the Cornish Cross (white meat birds). There is an incredible size difference between the two breeds.

Benvolio is chewing on my first cucumber of the season

This is a baby Marketmore cucumber. Isn't it cute with the little spikes? They are very tender the mild tasting. I guess I am use to eating the grocery store varieties which are bland compared.

So, silly me. I didn't realize that the little spikes stay on as they are adult cucumbers. Be careful when picking them or wear gloves.

I already looked up sauerkraut recipes.

When the chickens get old enough they will be put out to pasture. They will have the freedom to forage for their own worms and bugs all day long. However, right now they are confined to the brooder. I thought it might be nice to give the chicks a sneak peak for their future life outdoors. I predict there will be mass panic when they are first put in their chicken tractor, glorious mass panic over bugs.