Coming Soon: Sugar Snap Peas

 

Sugar snap peas are a cool weather crop that we grow in the spring and fall.  If we don't get a hard frost, we should have some sugar snap peas in the coming weeks.  Eat them raw, pod and all!

Mail Order Chicks

In addition to the various chicks that hatched on our farm this summer, 50 day-old chicks arrived via the U.S. Postal Service!  (They're still nervous around us, so they tend to huddle up in the corner while I'm trying to take pictures.)  The chicks are black and white, but the adult birds will be all black with a beautiful iridescent green sheen.  In addition, the hatchery sent a bonus, unknown breed.  We will have to wait and see what it grows up to be!

They should begin laying eggs in about 5 months.

Homegrown Chicks

Here are two of the chicks hatched out by mother Henrietta.  She took the chicks on their first outside tour today, now that we've finally gotten a break from the rain.

New chicks!

We had eight baby chickens hatch last week! They are zooming all around in their enclosure, and Henrietta (the mother hen), is teaching them all about the ways of the chicken. We'll get some pictures posted soon!

We're Expecting (Again)!

Last week, one of our New Hampshire Red hens "went broody," meaning she stayed on the nest to hatch some eggs. Hatching eggs is quite an undertaking, so hens don't do it very often.  (We've only had three hens go broody in two years!) She sits on the nest for three weeks, getting up only once a day to eat and drink.  She flattens her body out to make sure the eggs are covered, and she turns them frequently--not that easy when you don't have hands!

We moved her to a separate location so she wouldn't be disturbed, and sneaked a few more eggs from other hens under her. Adding eggs is a delicate process. We place the eggs in the nest box near her, and she pecks us fiercely as we're doing it to "protect" the eggs she already has under her. (Gloves are recommended for this operation.) After we back away, she uses her beak to push the eggs under her where it's nice and warm. Timing is also an issue. To move the hen to her separate enclosure, we have to relocate her at night so she'll be too sleepy to get upset. The next day we add some additional eggs, once we're sure she's going to stay on the nest. We want all the eggs to hatch around the same time, so we don't add any more after the first day. 

We hope to have some more little chickies running around here in a couple of weeks.

Chicks @ 2 Months

Here are some new pictures of the chicks--they're almost two months old now. 

We think this chick is a hen, due to the small comb.  She's a mix of Barred Rock and ...something. We're calling her "Barred What" or "Not Rock" for now. I love the delicate feather pattern.





Our black chick has developed a lot of red in her head, neck, and breast feathers. Again, small comb size, so it's probably a hen.

We keep some cinder blocks on bare earth, and flip them over to reveal tasty (in a chicken's opinion) worms underneath! Probably a rooster: well-developed comb and wattles, and a hint of iridescent green on the tail. 

Boy or girl?  I'm still not sure!  

Fresh Lima Beans

 

If you think you don't like lima beans, do not count them out until you've had fresh limas. They are tender and delicious--we consider them a totally different food than frozen and canned lima beans from the grocery store.

Cooking is simple:  put the shelled beans in a pot and add enough water to cover them. Boil them until they are tender.  Season with butter, salt, and pepper.

Here's the hard part: the shelling process before cooking.  We sell our lima beans still in the pod, which must be removed to get the beans inside. The fastest method we've found is to cut part of the pod edge off (opposite where the beans are actually attached to the pod). You can determine where to cut by holding the pod up to the light--you don't want to cut the beans inside. Once you've removed some of the edge, use that opening to pry open the pod and retrieve the limas inside. (It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.) Limas freeze well, too!