Week in photos

Free range afternoon

Mouse always has his eye on me

Jay has taken up juicing. Apparently all the guys in his firehouse are doing it? The first few rounds did not go well. I'm thinking that recipes are there for a reason.

Our septic tank runneth over and started backing up into the downstairs shower. Talk about gross. So we had to get our tank pumped and the line flushed. Farewell $460, I will miss you!

Gorgeous church  outside of Chestertown. My friend Christina is thinking of getting married there next year. I had to go to our Chester River Hospital last week to train my vacation back up. Afterwards, Christina took me on a tour of Kent County. We also visited her parents' gorgeous home in Rock Hall, where we had a few glasses of wine on the porch. Her mom also made some heavenly guacamole. It was a nice visit!

This beautiful tree on the church grounds is 400 years old

Marker from the tree

Jay hard at work on chicken coop #2. It will comfortably house our entire flock!

Mouse was about to attack Jay, so he gave him a good chase around the yard

Mom visited for a Scentsy party over the weekend

She loves her grandpeeps

And she brought me some flowers for my birthday

After mom left on Sunday, I went to Martinak for a long walk and some photos. I was taking pictures of this cherry tree sapling when this tiger swallowtail came out of NOWHERE and landed on the branch. It's not nearly warm enough for butterflies to be making an appearance. It reminded me of my dad. Maybe this was his way of saying hi. 

Watts Creek... kayakers enjoying the spring day

More cherry blooms

An osprey left its nest after I got too close. :(

Early spring at Martinak

Cedar Run Trip

Well I have some wonderful news... Dresden is alive and well at Cedar Run Farm!

On our way to pick up our meat, Jay and I were wondering if we would be seeing our little buddy again. We were prepared for the worst, thinking that his previous injuries and stupidity with picking on the wrong guy would finally catch up with him.

Turns out that we were happily wrong!

Jay goes, "I see Dresdy!!" I didn't believe him, but then there he was. We called him and he came running over to check things out.

Then, he ignored us. After all, he has an image to keep.

Cedar Run also has a host of free-range turkeys. I wish that we were hosting Thanksgiving this year so that we could get one. When they say that their poultry is free range, it really is. I'm happy that what I'm eating is kept humanely and has lived a happy life before it's sacrificed for my dinner.

A member of the Cedar Run Cattle herd... their cattle lives much longer than most other beef producers. While most commercial operations slaughter their animals at an average of 18 months of age, theirs average 4 to 5 years old.

 I hope that we have enough meat for our party... a 16 pound pork shoulder, 5 pounds of London Broil and a free range chicken for the buffalo chicken dip. Plus a few pounds of spicy sausage, which is AMAZING. I will never be able to enjoy sausage from anywhere else now... they have ruined me for life.

Oblong eggs, rowdy roos and getting fit

I’m sure that this one wasn’t much fun to lay!

In other news, I found a new home for Dresden. Last week, I contacted the people at Cedar Run Cattle to place an order for the meat for our party in October. On a whim, I asked if they knew anyone in the area who might be interested in a rooster. Their response:  “We will be happy to take your rooster, we have done this for others who could not keep a rooster & wanted a good home.”

Woohoo! So that problem was solved. It’s a win-win and I'm so happy that I asked them. I’m buying meat from a local farmer who raises happy and healthy animals without antibiotics and steroids, and Dresden gets a happy home full of new hens to chase. 

It was all just going entirely too well. When I got home from work yesterday, I quickly changed into my workout clothes for my Pilates date with HotFrugal Angela at the Y. I ran out to the coop to check for eggs (where I found the behemoth egg that begins this post). I’d just gathered all of the eggs when Dresden ran up to me. His head was COVERED in blood. Great. After some panicked moments, I hunted down Mouse, whose head was also covered in blood. Well, at least I figured out that they were fighting with each other instead of being attacked by another animal.

When I got back from the gym, I got a better look at both of them. Their wounds looked to be just from their combs and wattles… apparently those bleed a lot, so the blood made things look worse than they really were. But seriously, what are the people at Cedar Run going to think when I bring them a bloody rooster? One of my girlfriends already joked about me running a cockfighting ring in Hobbs. :-P 

So now I’m likely going to have to give Dresden yet another bath before we take him to his new home. I’m hoping that some peroxide will work for getting the blood out (I poured tonic water over their heads last night, but it just got them wet and pissed them off). It wouldn’t be so bad except that he’s white and has those furry feathers, so it looks really gross.

My next planned post will be about meeting our dinner (tomorrow night when we drop off Dresden). We’re ordering beef, pork and chicken from Cedar Run, and I get to meet some of their animals tomorrow. I don’t want to feel as disconnected from my food… meat doesn’t come from the grocery store, it comes from real animals. If I’m going to be eating them, I should at least have the courage to meet my dinner and say, “Yup, you’re cute, but you’re also delicious.” I want to see that they’re being treated humanely and not living in cramped quarters. I want them to have access to plenty of fresh air and pasture with room to run. When I talked to the owner, they said that they’re thinking of adding some ducks to the mix. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they do! I’ve wanted to find a good source of fresh duck for about a year now.

I'm also hoping to blog more about getting back into an exercise routine. I slacked off after I started the new job, but I'm getting back to it. Although getting through Pilates yesterday was brutal, I felt great afterwards. I also felt great this morning. My plan is to get to the gym tomorrow morning before work. We'll see if I can drag my sorry ass out of bed at 6 a.m. I have no excuses now - somehow I managed to get to the gym 3-6 times a week when I worked in Baltimore. Now that I'm local, I get two hours of my day back. I can use the Y in Easton (in walking distance of the hospital) or I can use the Y in Denton. No more excuses not to be fit and healthy.

This time I'm going to get in shape without obsessing over the scale or tracking my exercise and calorie intake. The best shape I've been in over the past ten years was when Jay and I first started dating. I didn't even watch what I was eating all that much. I exercised nearly every day. Back then I was running, but I don't know if I really want to get back into it. I found that I was more likely to hurt myself, plus I don't have the great trails like I had when I lived in Piney Orchard. For the first year that Jay and I were dating, both of us lived in the city and we walked everywhere. I figure that I'll walk a few times a week at work, take some classes at the gym and use the elliptical machines. I am also not going to weigh myself more than once a month (if at all). The scale is going to fluctuate every day, sometimes by multiple pounds up or down. Getting on the scale makes me crazy and discouraged. I'm not going to do it.

That's it for now. Hopefully when I get home, the blood will have mysteriously vanished and I'll have a coop full of normal sized eggs.

Mouse and Ginger

Took some photos with a real camera today instead of my cell phone... I downloaded a ton of photos from this spring and summer that I'm hoping to update my blog with sometime this week.

I love the way that Mouse's comb falls to the side

A handsome boy

 Oh hai

Ginger, our first layer

Mouse running off to check on his girls

I finally mounted the shutters and window box on the coop. I think it's freaking adorable... just wish that the petunias were doing better

Mouse is a big chicken, bad hens, more eggs, and happy birthday to Julia!

For starters, we are finally getting the egg production ramped up, hurray!

We got 4 eggs on Tuesday, 3 on Wednesday, and yesterday we had 2 eggs. I've heard that production can be a little spotty until it gets going. So far, everyone has been laying in the boxes, except for one sans-shell egg that I found outside. It's kinda gross, but I have to show you what it looks like:

It looks like it's actually two eggs, one with a yolk and one with just the egg white. Pretty nasty. Hopefully that will be the only one!

This was the collection from Tuesday. It looks like one of the girls (I think it's the black stars) is laying an egg that is almost a pinkish hue. That is going to be awesome once I get some Easter Eggers (Americauna or Araucana chickens)... I will have quite the lovely assortment of eggs. The other eggs are a light, creamy brown color. Ginger's eggs continue to get larger. They're about medium sized now. She's continued to lay almost every day since she began. I think she's only missed a few days. 

So far, we've collected nearly two dozen eggs in the past week. I hard boiled some last night and had them for breakfast today... they were delicious, but nearly impossible to peel. I've decided to put aside our pullet eggs to make deviled eggs for our party in October. I think they'll be a great conversation piece. And yes, they will still be good in October... eggs are good up to three months! The eggs that you buy in the grocery store are often already a month old. Older eggs are also better for boiling; they're easier to peel. 

Why are fresh eggs better?

Well, the naughty chickens that get into your garden and destroy your tomatoes! That is Queen Mab, perched on top of a tomato cage. We've probably lost a quarter of our crop to the chickens... not to mention that they've also eaten the tops off of the onions and garlic, destroyed the cucumbers and green beans and are now hard at work flattening my eggplant and zucchini. Naughty girls!!! I really need to find a way to keep them contained. We have a 4' high poultry fence AND we've clipped one of their wings. They can still fly. Ninja chickens.

I love them though... when I get home from work, they run up to greet me and they'll follow me around the yard. Of course, I always reward them with scratch or some kind of treat. They're oddly a lot like dogs, except that they don't sit and stay very well.

On to our handsome rooster Mouse... protector of the flock. We still have Dresden, but I can't wait for someone to respond to my ads. Dresden and Mouse both try to mate with the same hens at the same time, and I'm afraid my girls are going to get hurt. :(

He is definitely a gorgeous bird.

However, when it came to protecting the flock from a stray neighborhood kitten....

He was a big old CHICKEN!!!

This kitten was about 8 weeks old and a third of Mouse's size. First he puffed up and flapped his wings... then (above) he turned around and RAN! Of course the kitten gave chase, all he wanted to do was play with the feathery things! It was hysterical... I could not stop laughing. I wish that I'd had the chance to grab a real camera instead of using the camera on my cell phone.

And last but not least, I celebrated Julia Childs's 100th birthday by making Connecticut-Style Lobster Rolls for dinner. Simple and delicious!

Anytime I travel to CT or MA, I simply cannot leave until I've had a lobster roll... either Connecticut style (hot, with melted butter) or New England style (cold, mayo salad type).

Jay and I attended a wedding in the Berkshires last weekend, and I was determined to find a lobster roll while we were there. We arrived Friday night and by Sunday morning, I had resigned myself to not getting a lobster roll. So, thinking that it would at least be cheaper to buy lobster up there, we stopped at the local grocery store, first stopping at the deli counter to see if they sold cold lobster salad. They did not, so I proceeded to their seafood counter and bought 2 frozen whole lobsters (already cooked) for $20. Good deal accomplished. If I couldn't find the lobster rolls there, I would make them myself once I got home. We went over to the Great Barrington Bagel Co. for breakfast before we got on the road. I ordered an everything bagel with lox and red onion & chive cream cheese. We sat down to enjoy our bagels when I saw a huge sign:  LOBSTER ROLL SPECIAL.  You have got to be freaking KIDDING me. They sold them as a sandwich and also sold the filling by the pound. So I ordered a pound of New England lobster salad. 

I'm happy to report that all were delicious, although I think I'm going to have to give the edge to the CT style lobster roll. There is just something that makes me happy about hot buttered lobster, fresh, with nothing but chives and basic seasoning. Fresh food doesn't need a lot of other flavors to mask it... seasoning should enhance a dish, not overwhelm it.

To make 4 CT style lobster rolls, I did the following:

Clean meat out of two 1 1/4 lb lobsters, claw, knuckle, tail & whatever you can squeeze out of the legs

Roughly chop meat

Throw lobster in saucepan over low-medium heat (if cold - if hot lobster, melt butter first)

Butter 4 hot dog buns (I like using potato rolls) with 2-4T of butter

Lightly toast buttered buns under low broiler or in a toaster oven

Melt 4-6T butter in saucepan with lobster

Once heated through, toss with 1/2-1 T freshly snipped chives

Salt & pepper to taste

Throw it on a bun and ENJOY!

Can't make eggs without a kitchen!

Our cabinets have been sitting on the porch for the past month, while the house was being sided. We also had to rip out the old tile, which was a DIY disaster that was installed last year. It turns out that you can't expect thinset to bond tile to plywood. Who knew? So our tiles kept popping up and breaking. We of course spent a large amount of money on said tiles (not to mention the time and back-breaking work). Sadly, our beautiful Canyon Slate tiles couldn't be reused. We had to buy all new tile for the kitchen.

This time, we used tile adhesive when installing the tile. Another problem that we came across was the quality of the tile. It turns out that our tile was on sale for a reason - they weren't perfectly square. Yes, it's an old house and there were imperfections in the floor and walls... however, we found while using the spacers that things weren't lining up quite right. We did the best we could, and the tile actually turned out pretty well this time around. The grout also seemed like it was in more firmly this time and we finished sealing the grout this week.

The tiling job took forever because we had to do it around mine and Jay's work schedule, as well as a friend's wedding. Had we had those 3 free days to work on the kitchen, it would've been done already.

Jay practicing safe swimming in Strasburg, VA

However, Jay did enjoy his time as a Groomsman, even though he was used and abused. One day I'd like to make a post about how NOT to treat your wedding party. Part of my problem - I'm still bitter since this friend was too busy making mojitos to come to our 30 minute rehearsal the day before our wedding. His wedding was of course a huge production; wedding party dance (in hope of becoming a viral YouTube hit) and everything. A short rant:  If you can afford two wedding coordinators and a white horsedrawn carriage to deliver you to the aisle, you should not treat your wedding party like slaves. They should not be hauling around hay bales and helping set up for 4 hours in the heat on the day of the wedding. Nor should their wives have to run errands for you like picking up beer kegs (and carrying them - I'm strong, but dear GOD those things are heavy!!!) the day before the wedding, or picking up ice and find trash cans and horse troughs to put the kegs in. Nor should you act like a total @ss the night before your wedding and nearly get your friends kicked out of their hotel room. After all of this, you should not give your Groomsman a tie with a giant stain on it as his gift. Another complaint - I was sitting in the dark on some hay bales nursing my migraine which developed during the rather unfortunate salty dinner, trying not to puke. They walked over, "Hey Lauren, we're trying to get a hold of the wedding coordinator to contact the shuttle buses, sorry you're not feeling well. Now, do you mind moving? We want a picture sitting here." In hindsight, I should have not suppressed my horrendous dinner. I should have decorated their wedding shoes. No, I just mumbled my congratulations and was helped over to some other hay bales by my husband.Your one special day is not worth your friends despising you - you're going to need them after you're married!

/rant

So anyway, we got back to working on the kitchen tile. It took us much longer than I would have liked, but it finally got done and Jay wired up the new outlet for the stove.

We could finally have our eggs! By this time, we had 3 eggs to eat, so at least we didn't have to split them.

These are the eggs compared to a regular large storebought egg. Each day the eggs get a little bit bigger. Ginger is still the only one laying, but our Black Stars should lay any day now... they will be 18 weeks old on Sunday. Time for them to step it up!

This is Ginger, the only one currently feeding us.

These are Ginger's beautiful eggs in the pan. We cooked them over-easy and had them on buttered toast. It tasted like sunshine. The yolks were so creamy and rich!

This is our entire flock... one other important update that I forgot:  it turns out that Dresdy is a ROOSTER. I was so mad!! I saw "her" trying to mount the hens and thought maybe she was gay or just confused about what she was supposed to do, but then I heard her crow. :(  I was pretty sure that Mouse was a Roo, and he started crowing a few weeks ago. I was fine with having one Rooster... but TWO? All after I nursed sweet little Dresdy back to health, thinking that eventually "she" would pay me back in eggs and maybe hatch me out some babies (I've heard that silkies get broody, so they're good for hatching eggs). 

So I was willing to give a Rooster a try, but I can't have two roos for 9 hens. Deciding which roo to give away was kind of tough, because Mouse was so friendly early on and Dresdy has always been a little standoffish... but then I also nursed Dresdy back to health and took care of him inside for two weeks. Ultimately, I decided that Mouse is the alpha and is the best protector of the flock, so I posted Dresdy on the Backyard Poultry site. I could probably give him away faster on Craigslist, but I want someone who needs a rooster for their flock, not someone who is going to eat him. Silkies are unfortunately an Asian delicacy, so I'm especially wary of someone who might want him for nefarious purposes. Yes, I know that it is hypocritical to say, since I eat chicken. However, Dresdy is my pet, so it's different!

We are starting to move the cabinets inside and arrange where we want them. Jay's aunt and uncle graciously gave us their kitchen cabinets, since they were remodeling their mansion. So we now will have "Airslie" cabinets. I think just having their cabinets in our house has to increase our home's value by a million dollars or so. Here is a photo of their home: http://www.unc.edu/~wrobel/CSHphotos/WineCSHL.html

There is a great butcher's block counter on one of the cabinets (which we're putting by the stove), however, that is the only existing counter at the moment. We are debating over what to do about the countertops. We are pricing countertops now and debating what to do. The least expensive route to go at the moment is to install tile counters ourselves. Then later on, we can upgrade everything to granite or something else nice. We will also be updating the current hardware on the cabinets, as the brass isn't quite our style. Eventually we may refinish the front of the cabinets, but that will be down the road when we have more time and after Jay builds his shed/work area/thing.

After the kitchen is done, we only have one room left to complete!! Hurray!!! :):)

I'm probably most excited that we've decided that once we're done, we're going to have a professional cleaning crew come through and do a thorough construction cleaning. I'm trying to convince Jay that it will be worth the money to pay someone to clean once or twice a month. It's a huge house and it takes a lot of work to keep clean. The cats certainly don't help - I wish I could shave them! No matter how many times I brush them, they still leave hair everywhere. :( 

Well that's it for now. We're off to another wedding this weekend (one we get to enjoy instead of participate in!)... it's in the Berkshires for Jay's cousin Keith. His parents are the ones who own Airslie. Should be a great time - I've never been to the Berkshires! 

After that, we have no plans outside the area for the foreseeable future and I am so glad. I want to be able to  actually enjoy our house that we've worked so hard on.