Did the Waterglassing Eggs Experiment Work?

This is actually our second time trying this technique in preserving eggs.  The first time we tried it, we documented the process here: Water-glassing Eggs  At the end of the experiment, we opened the bucket and were greeted with floating eggs.  That's a sure sign the eggs are rotten!  It didn't work.  We are thinking it was an issue with the lime.  But the old saying goes, "If at once you don't succeed, try, try again."  We decided to do just that.

In the winter time when the length of daylight hours is short and the nutrients out on the pasture is low, so the quantity of eggs from our flock of hens plummets.  In this time, we stop selling eggs and stop giving them away.  We were thinking that if we were able to preserve some eggs, it could get us through the low production months.  (It also helps to have some squirreled away due to supply chain issues.)

So back in August 2021 we put the project back into gear.  We purchased some new lime.  We blogged about the process.  You can read about it by clicking this hyperlink: Trying it Again!  This morning we opened up the bucket.  What would we find?

We put these eggs in back in August - a dozen eggs on 8/15 and a dozen eggs on 8/16.  We are five months out.  Would they be rotten like last time?

Well, all of the eggs are resting on the bottom of the bucket.  None are floating.  You can see some of the lime on the surface of the water.  Looks good!  But we're gonna test...

We pulled out two of them and washed the lime off of them.

We wanted to compare with a fresh egg, just laid.  So, in the photo below, the fresh egg just laid is the one on the left, and the waterglass egg is the one on the right.  A few things:  First, no bad smell upon cracking the waterglass egg.  Second, you can see that the "just laid egg" is a little different.  The "muscle tone" of the yolk is better.  It is standing up taller than the waterglass egg.  Finally, the egg white of the "just laid egg" is firmer, holding together more than the waterglass egg.  Its white kind of ran.

The egg is still good!  Notice that both of the eggs were dark yellow, rich and healthy.  Only one other test to do...

We ate them and they were delicious.  There was no difference in taste.  Now we know that we can preserve eggs safely and effectively.  For now, the hens are starting to lay more, but we know now that we can successfully preserve them.  Experiment worked!

Pulling Down The Widow-makers

Hurricanes Laura and Delta rolled through here about a year and four months ago, leaving a wide swath of destruction.  We posted about it several times back then.  Our son's home was finally repaired after a year.  There are still plenty of "blue roofs" around.  I'm speaking of the blue tarps used to cover leaky roofs.  I assume some did not have homeowner's coverage or are waiting for final settlement.

We were so fortunate to not have damage.  One thing we did have is a LOT of branches/limbs down.  If it would ever get cold here, we'd burn some of the firewood in the fireplace that we got from a bunch of the larger limbs.  I've been splitting them up with an ax.  There is one hazard remaining, though.  Widow makers.  Widow Makers are large limbs that were broken off by the hurricane force winds.  They hang downward, but are caught by other limbs that prevent gravity from doing its job and bringing them down to earth.  Some are WAY up there and some are BIG!  If they would fall on you while you were walking underneath them, well, there is a reason for why they are called widow makers.  We'll leave it at that.

Tricia has been telling me that they were dangerous.  She mentioned that we could just be walking out to the fire pit or simply walking in the backyard and a gust of wind would blow and POOF - a large limb would fall on our heads.  So I was sort of inspired to do something about it.  The other afternoon I did.  Here is one widow maker that will not cause an outlay by our life insurance policy.  It took me a while, but I got it down.

And here is another.  This one was way up high in the tree.  It took probably 20 minutes to get this one down.  It crashed to the ground and broke in two.  Yeah, that would have left a scar on my head for sure.  What's that long rope on the bottom left, you ask?  That is my nifty ACME Widow Maker Removal Apparatus that I invented.

All it requires is a long rope, something heavy like a log to tie on the end, and a lot of patience to operate this device.  You throw it up in the air, trying to make it loop over the widow maker.  When you miss, you just have to have quick reflexes so the log you've tied on the end doesn't hit you.  Then you throw it up there again.  Over time, you'll get it.  The important thing is that once you've looped it over, you quickly wrap the rope around the log 'anchor' that is up in the tree by running around several times.  This is crucial.  If you don't wrap it around, when you pull it, the rope and log will simply pull over the widow maker and plummet back to earth.

We got 'em down!  Now we can walk in the backyard in peace without hard hats! 

2021 Meat Birds - Week Four

Here we are at Week Four.  If things go well, we are at the halfway point as our goal is to butcher at the 8 week point.  At the end of this post, we'll show where we are at this stage of the process in comparison to previous years based on today's weigh-in data.  Despite a few nights of temperatures in the mid to upper 20's, we had no fatalities.  We still have 50 Cornish Cross Meat birds and they are about the size of Cornish hens right now.

You can notice that our gutter that we use as a feed trough will need to be supplemented at some point in the upcoming week with a second gutter.  The birds have grown and have filled up all the spaces around the table to eat.  I have a second gutter out at the barn just for this purpose.  Humans (and birds) need a little elbow room at the table, don't they?

The next photo shows a couple of things.  First, we have the chicken tractor in the back yard instead of in the pasture.  Ideally, the pasture is the place for this operation as the chicken poop fertilizes the grass, the grass grows, the cows eat the grass and convert it to milk.  A happy, healthy cycle.  Only one problem, we also have goats on the pasture.  Goats are curious and nosy and destructive.  They would climb all over the chicken tractor and destroy it in an hour.  So, the chickens will be fertilizing the grass in the yard.  In the spring we'll set up the portable electric fence in the yard run the cows through the yard eating the grass fertilized by the meat birds.  It'll work out just fine.  Darn goats!

You can see the areas where the chickens were.  There is a trail of brown and that is chicken poop, but is also dirt.  The chickens are eating the grass and that's good.  In a few weeks, the grass will be lush and green in those patches of brown.

So, without further ado, let's weigh the bird.  As usual, I grabbed the bird nearest to me to avoid picking out the largest (or the smallest) bird.  It is healthy and feels heavy and solid.  I carried him into the garage and put it on the scale.  I had to move the scale to another location as the birds have grown and no longer fit under the work light on the work bench where I usually weigh them.

And here is the verdict:  On week 4, the bird weighs 2 pounds four ounces:

As you can see, the weight was 2 pounds 4 ounces this week (Week Four 2021).  Last week they weighed 1 pound 8 ounces.  So that is a 12 ounce gain over the last week.  Here's a comparison of same period, previous years:

In Week Four 2019, the birds weighed 2 pounds 8 ounces

In Week Four 2018, the birds weighed 2 pounds 15 ounces. 

In Week Four 2017, the birds weighed 2 pounds 4 ounces 

In Week Four 2016, the birds weighed 2 pounds 15 ounces

As you can see, they are a little light in comparison to prior years.  I will go up a little on their feed to see if we can catch up.  See ya next week when we check in on their progress.

Planting Onions in Early January 2022

My onion sets I purchased arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago.  I've been too busy with work to get them in the ground.  I am studying to pass the State Licensing Exam for Insurance Adjusters.  It's a big test (150 questions with 160 minutes to take it).  I'm taking it Monday after studying for over a month.  I need a 70% score to pass.  This has taken up a lot of my time and so I haven't been as diligent in getting things done that I normally do.

Time to do something about that!  Tuesday afternoon, I got some baling twine (so useful), a hoe, a rake, and determination and headed out to plant roughly 250 onions.  As described in a previous post, they are short-day onions and I got Red Creole, Texas White, 1015 Sweet, and Yellow Granex.  They will do fine for about 3 weeks without planting, but I needed to get them in the ground!

Onions are planted four inches apart and one inch deep.  You don't want to plant them any deeper or they won't bulb.  I forgot one essential tool in planting onions - the rolling seat you see on the right below.  It was my grandmother (Bumby's) gardening seat.  It sure comes in handy and saves the old back!

Once you get one row planted, you mark off 6 inches from the onions and dig a trench four inches deep and four inches wide and sprinkle 1/2 cup of organic fertilizer and then cover.

Then you mark off 6 inches from your fertilizer trench and plant another row of onions.

Once I got all the onions planted, I watered them in.  Onions are a hardy crop, but they require lots of water and lots of weeding.  They don't like competition from weeds for their nutrients.  I'll mulch around them to accomplish this once they show some good growth.

It took me two hours to finish, but at the end, I had four rows of onions.  Hopefully, we will have a good crop again in 2022.  2021 was a record year for us with onions and we're trying to repeat it.  The cows look on approvingly at the onion planting.  Below you can see from left to right: (Elsie, Clarabelle, Rosie, and LuLu sitting)

We'll post and show progress on the onions throughout the growing season.  If you're ever interested, we get our onion plants from Dixondale Farms.  Check them out on the Internet.  They are a good outfit and I highly recommend them.  I'm looking at picking up some seed potatoes from the feed store tomorrow and will cut them so they'll scab over.  Once that's done, we'll get them in the ground.

Harvesting and Cooking a New Vegetable From our Garden: Kohlrabi - A Review

As I've mentioned before, ordering seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds at www.rareseeds.com is great for several reasons.  One of those reasons is the FREE SEED they send you with your order.  It is always a seed or a variety of seed that you've never grown.  It is a good way to get you to expand your horizons and broaden your experiences.  I like free stuff.  I like fun stuff.  I like trying new stuff.  It reminds me of many years ago, we'd order our baby chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery.  They ran a promotion in which they'd throw in a "mystery chick" with your order.  As the chick would grow, you would try to guess the mystery bird by comparing it to photos of chicken varieties.  Fun!  But I digress, back to our mystery seed.

We got a packet of Early Purple Vienna Kohlrabi.  I had never grown nor eaten kohlrabi.  It is in the brassica family and is a pre-1860 heirloom.  I was eager to try them so we planted them this fall.  Today, we decided to harvest the biggest and give it a try.  We figured at worst, if we didn't like it, we could feed it to the cows.  Here is the ripened Purple Kohlrabi in all its purple glory:

Isn't that the strangest thing?  Tricia said it reminded her of a UFO.  I told her I thought the same thing - that if aliens grew vegetables on Mars, this would be what it would look like.

I pulled all the leaves off of the "bulb" and fed them to the cows and then brought the bizarre brassica inside.  It was as a sign from God that this was going to be a good experience.  The late afternoon rays of sun filtered through the western window, giving the kohlrabi a halo of sorts as I cut it in half.

I peeled the purple skin off of it by slicing it carefully with a butcher's knife.  The bulb was about the size of a softball.  I was a little concerned that it would be too big and would be hard and "woody," but it didn't seem like that as I was cutting it.

I quickly cut it into 1 inch cubes.  I found a recipe for Roasted Kohlrabi with Parmesan.  We preheated the oven to 450 degrees.

I drizzled olive oil over the top and then kosher salt and then followed up with a dusting of Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning.

Then I put it in the oven for 30 minutes.  Every ten minutes, I would open the oven and turn the kohlrabi with a spatula to ensure it was roasting evenly.  At the end of 30 minutes, the kohlrabi cubes were golden brown and looking pretty doggone good.  I pulled them out and grated some fresh parmesan cheese over them.  The recipe called for sprinkling fresh parsley, but I didn't want to walk out to the garden and get some when we had fresh cilantro in the fridge.  That'll do instead, right?

Here is the "money" shot.  That looks good, doesn't it?

But things can look good and taste bad.  Time to give it the taste test.  DELICIOUS!  These won't be getting fed to the cows.  In fact, Tricia and I almost ate the entire dish.  Tricia asked how many more we have in the garden and I told her 6 or 8, so we'll be eating more of these.  What do they taste like?  The best description is one I read:  "It has the consistency of a turnip, but the taste of broccoli."  I think that is an accurate description.  We'll put Purple Kohlrabi into our winter garden rotation from here on out.  Highly recommended.

Oh Lord, Lettuce Have a Great New Year!

On New Year's Eve, we always get together and celebrate Russ' birthday.  We very seldom make it to midnight, though.  That's past my bedtime.  We toast (before midnight) with some sparkling apple cider.  It's delicious!  Happy New Year, everyone!

The lettuce crop from the garden has been phenomenal.  We have been having the best salads every single day.  We plant five different types of lettuce varieties.  At first the germination was "spotty" and there was a lot of gaps, but they have really grown and filled in all the open spaces.  Now, we have more lettuce than we could eat.  

We like to mix a little bit of each variety in the salad bowl along with some fresh spinach.  The red and green colors and the different textures and shapes of each make it an interesting looking salad.

The red romaine against the oak leaf lettuce is a visually appealing color contrast, don't you think?

Why is it called oak leaf lettuce, you ask?  Well, I'll show ya.  Here is a leaf from the oak leaf lettuce:

Makes sense, huh?  Our family at Our Maker's Acres Family Farm wishes you the Happiest 2022 greetings.  Oh Lord, lettuce have a great new year!

2021 Meat Birds - Week Three

Thursday afternoon means that the weekend is almost here.  It also means that it is weigh-in day for the Cornish Cross Meat birds.  We like to see how they are growing.  No fatalities this week.  All fifty of them look healthy as can be.  We moved the temporary brooder out of the way in order to give them more room to stretch out and run around and eat grass.  They appear to have enjoyed that!

We also moved in a gutter that we use as a feed trough.  This ensures that as they grow, they all have room "at the table" to eat.  When they get a little bigger, we'll add two gutters.  We also removed the gallon sized waterer and replaced it with the old trusty bell waterer.  It is kind of hidden by one of the heat lamps, but it is gravity fed by a five gallon bucket of water we have outside the chicken tractor.

We only turn the heat lamps on at night since it is 82 degrees (in December).  It is so warm, today I cut the zip ties off the side of the tractor and rolled up the tarp to allow some air flow through the tractor.  It was just too warm and uncomfortable in there.  50 birds put off a lot of heat.  It made them happy to have some fresh air blowing through there.  Once it cools off - it is supposed to be blow freezing next week, we'll tie down the tarp again to protect the birds from the cold.

Alrighty, time to weigh in.  I picked the first bird I could grab from the tractor and brought it in the garage and put it on the scale.  As you can see, The bird is stretching out.  It feels plump and healthy it my hands.

And as you can see, it weighed 1 pound and eight ounces today.  It weighed right at a pound last week.

So in week 3 of 2021, the bird weighed 1 pound 8 ounces.  That's up half a pound from last week.  How does that compare with previous years?

In week 3 of 2019 - the Cornish Cross weighed 1 pound 10 ounces.
In week 3 of 2018, the bird weighed in at 1 pound 10 ounces.
In week 3 of 2017, they weighed 1 pound 9 ounces.
In week 3 of 2016, they weighed 1 pound 15 ounces.

In comparison with previous years, we're off by a few ounces on average, but still on track.  

Ya'll have a very Happy New Year's Celebration!  See ya next year.