Sometimes when I'm roasting a chicken I wonder whether the hens out in the yard know what's going on in the house. Wonder what was going through this hen's pea-sized brain as she roosted outside a McDonald's.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Roost-er-Rama
As I may have mentioned, many changes coming to the mountain, with the slicing and dicing of the farm down the road (now they've put in a flagpole), and new residents at the house up the road. Yesterday I heard something interesting: another rooster crowing in the distance. Could it be a rogue travelling rooster out in the woods?
Dan heard it, too.
"What did you do to that extra rooster?" I asked--I knew, but--I didn't know. Rooster reduction is the man's job. The rooster left one day in a pillowcase in the backseat of Dan's car and didn't return. Call me Carmela.
"I took him to the 'farmer in Vermont,'" he said. (This is the expression we used to tell our daughter.)
"You sure you didn't just drop him in the woods?"
"No, I'm sure," he said. So the mystery continues.
More on the topic of roosters today from washingtonpost.com's Celebritologist, Liz Kelly:
Dan heard it, too.
"What did you do to that extra rooster?" I asked--I knew, but--I didn't know. Rooster reduction is the man's job. The rooster left one day in a pillowcase in the backseat of Dan's car and didn't return. Call me Carmela.
"I took him to the 'farmer in Vermont,'" he said. (This is the expression we used to tell our daughter.)
"You sure you didn't just drop him in the woods?"
"No, I'm sure," he said. So the mystery continues.
More on the topic of roosters today from washingtonpost.com's Celebritologist, Liz Kelly:
Also, my favorite tidbit from today's Morning Mix was the fact that Matthew McConaughey has a brother named "Rooster." I mean, why don't we just go one step further there? Also -- David Sedaris fans might be interested to know that Sedaris also has a brother who goes by "Rooster" and one of his stories about The Rooster's relationship with their dad is one of the funniest things you'll ever read. I'm linking to it now here, but trusting that you'll hold off on reading it until after the discussion: You Can't Kill the Rooster (David Sedaris, 1998)Check it out. It's one of the funniest things I've read in a long time.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Eggistentialism
Sold a dozen eggs yesterday to a passerby who'd seen the sign I just put up at the bottom of the road. Three bucks a dozen. Then I get a copy of this week's New York magazine and see that we're at the low end of the pricing cycle!
Here's an interesting take on eggs at the supermarket.
And here's another take from Gourmet on eggs.
Here's an interesting take on eggs at the supermarket.
And here's another take from Gourmet on eggs.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Urban cowgirl
Years ago when I wrote a story for the Boston Globe about our foray into farming via a backyard chicken flock, I heard from lots of people, including a woman who had her "backyard" flock in her Jamaica Plain apartment. She must not have had a rooster, or the jig would most certainly have been up.
Since then, I have noticed that the chicken-human link has only grown stronger, as more people start to grow their own food, etc., and it's apparently happening even in urban areas.
We've been on this mountain for 25-plus years, but we're thinking about moving to a more urban spot, given the price of gasoline and the fact that the old farm down the road is being divided up for houselots.
Every day, we pass this place, and the view is different. Oh sure, it's always mountains, but the colors are always changing, depending on the seasons, and the mood changes with the weather--some morning severe-clear, and at other times, it's like a Chinese scroll painting--the clouds nestling in among the mountains.
Now, though, the blood pressure goes up when we pass this place and watch, as the falling-in barns are torn down, the driveways go in, big old trees are hauled out, and the hayfields are tamed and manicured into lawns. (This weekend's development: an "island" plunked into the lawn, which will soon probably host rhododendrons.) Goodbye Winslow Homer, hello Thomas Kinkade.
This fate is the end of a several-year-long story, however. Live in the hills long enough and you know this: for all our romanticizing of the New England family farm, it's an endangered species that faces impossible odds.
The farmers are getting old, the kids may be uninterested or too inept to take over. It takes as marketing skill as agricultural skill to survive now, and a lot of farmers just don't have it.
Sunday's New York Times Business section had an article with the astonishing data that the number of dairy farmers has declined from 99,000 in 1997 to about 59,000 last year, according to the USDA.
This is the stuff you don't read about in those Gourmet magazine local produce articles!
Anyway, one topic when we talk about when we discuss leaving the countryside is whether we could raise chickens in anyplace but here. That, plus, what would we do with the tractor?
Since then, I have noticed that the chicken-human link has only grown stronger, as more people start to grow their own food, etc., and it's apparently happening even in urban areas.
We've been on this mountain for 25-plus years, but we're thinking about moving to a more urban spot, given the price of gasoline and the fact that the old farm down the road is being divided up for houselots.
Every day, we pass this place, and the view is different. Oh sure, it's always mountains, but the colors are always changing, depending on the seasons, and the mood changes with the weather--some morning severe-clear, and at other times, it's like a Chinese scroll painting--the clouds nestling in among the mountains.
Now, though, the blood pressure goes up when we pass this place and watch, as the falling-in barns are torn down, the driveways go in, big old trees are hauled out, and the hayfields are tamed and manicured into lawns. (This weekend's development: an "island" plunked into the lawn, which will soon probably host rhododendrons.) Goodbye Winslow Homer, hello Thomas Kinkade.
This fate is the end of a several-year-long story, however. Live in the hills long enough and you know this: for all our romanticizing of the New England family farm, it's an endangered species that faces impossible odds.
The farmers are getting old, the kids may be uninterested or too inept to take over. It takes as marketing skill as agricultural skill to survive now, and a lot of farmers just don't have it.
Sunday's New York Times Business section had an article with the astonishing data that the number of dairy farmers has declined from 99,000 in 1997 to about 59,000 last year, according to the USDA.
"Small dairy farmers east of the Mississippi River and in the UPper Midwest are increasingly being replaced by huge dairy farms in the West, in places like New Mexico and western Texas. Few dairy farms are even left in the Southeast."Here in New England, we've got what those places don't: water and proximity to lots of consumers. Given the oil crunch, it is only a matter of time before smaller-scale, local farming could be economically viable again. Meantime, trust funders are slobbering over these big pieces of land (so close to Whole Foods Market!) and the siblings in farm families are feuding over how much they can sell for. Ten-20 years from now, will there be any land to come back to?
This is the stuff you don't read about in those Gourmet magazine local produce articles!
Anyway, one topic when we talk about when we discuss leaving the countryside is whether we could raise chickens in anyplace but here. That, plus, what would we do with the tractor?
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Stewing about the aging bird
The Times Food Section answers a question we've asked several times in the past: What do you do with an extra rooster (or two)?
The roosters I've got, but where will I find the dandelion greens this time of year?
And here's a story on what to do with an old hen, past her prime.
The roosters I've got, but where will I find the dandelion greens this time of year?
And here's a story on what to do with an old hen, past her prime.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Which One of You Bitches is My Mother?
I have always loved that line, spoken by the great Phoebe Cates (Mrs. Kevin Kline), in an old Judith Krantz mini-series about three rich girls who go off to a boarding school in Europe, one of whom gets pregnant and they all cover for each other. I can't remember what else happens, except that Phoebe Cates is the baby, and, grown up, tracks down the three now middle-aged women to find out the answer to above question.
Of course, never did I dream that I would be able to use that line, but now, in my daydreaming, I imagine one of the four little chicks going up to the big hens and posing that question--which, of course, would lead us to the first chicken-based mini-series, hopefully in prime-time, which will pay for the feed.
For the first time, we actually had a hen sit on the eggs last spring--she sat for two weeks, and out of ten eggs, four hatched. It was fun checking them out each day, and even more fun watching them gradually break their way out into the world. But it was an Araucana who did all the sitting, and it's now apparent that the babies are Wyndottes,the offspring of a hen who met her unfortunate end (along with the one-eyed Barred Rock) when an animal burrowed into the coop one night last spring.
And so, as our daughter prepares to "fly the coop" (as in: "I'm 18 now so I can do whatever I want!") and we try to manage two different new flocks--the "teenagers," three Araucanas and two barred rocks, which we ordered from Murray McMurray, and four "babies," we try to remain zen.
Like water.
Yeah, right.
Of course, never did I dream that I would be able to use that line, but now, in my daydreaming, I imagine one of the four little chicks going up to the big hens and posing that question--which, of course, would lead us to the first chicken-based mini-series, hopefully in prime-time, which will pay for the feed.
For the first time, we actually had a hen sit on the eggs last spring--she sat for two weeks, and out of ten eggs, four hatched. It was fun checking them out each day, and even more fun watching them gradually break their way out into the world. But it was an Araucana who did all the sitting, and it's now apparent that the babies are Wyndottes,the offspring of a hen who met her unfortunate end (along with the one-eyed Barred Rock) when an animal burrowed into the coop one night last spring.
And so, as our daughter prepares to "fly the coop" (as in: "I'm 18 now so I can do whatever I want!") and we try to manage two different new flocks--the "teenagers," three Araucanas and two barred rocks, which we ordered from Murray McMurray, and four "babies," we try to remain zen.
Like water.
Yeah, right.
Monday, December 10, 2007
It's time again for The Gift of Nothing
Wondering what to give and what to receive this year?
Consider The Gift of Nothing!
Consider The Gift of Nothing!
Why did the chicken cross the road?
Ah, isn't that the eternal question, though?
This was sent along (compliments of the Internet) by Ana Abbasi, a very bright Smith College student taking my class through the Five College Program. She knows we love chickens, and she obviously has our sense of humor.
DR. PHIL:
The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on 'THIS' side of the road before it goes after the problem on the 'OTHER SIDE' of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his 'CURRENT' problems before adding 'NEW' problems.
OPRAH:
Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.
GEORGE W. BUSH:
We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.
COLIN POWELL:
Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road...
ANDERSON COOPER - CNN:
We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.
JOHN KERRY:
Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.
NANCY GRACE:
That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
PAT BUCHANAN:
To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
MARTHA STEWART:
No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
DR SEUSS:
Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY:
To die in the rain. Alone.
JERRY FALWELL:
Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see the plain truth?' That's why they call it the 'other side.' Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media white washes with seemingly harmless phrases like 'the other side. That chicken should not be crossing the road. It's as plain and as simple as that.
GRANDPA:
In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
BARBARA WALTERS:
Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its life long dream of crossing the road.
JOHN LENNON:
Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.
ARISTOTLE:
It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
BILL GATES:
I have just released eChicken2007, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken. This new platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^(C% ........ reboot.
ALBERT EINSTEIN:
Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
BILL CLINTON:
I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken?
AL GORE:
I invented the chicken!
COLONEL SANDERS:
Did I miss one?
DICK CHENEY :
Where's my gun?
AL SHARPTON:
Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.
This was sent along (compliments of the Internet) by Ana Abbasi, a very bright Smith College student taking my class through the Five College Program. She knows we love chickens, and she obviously has our sense of humor.
DR. PHIL:
The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on 'THIS' side of the road before it goes after the problem on the 'OTHER SIDE' of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his 'CURRENT' problems before adding 'NEW' problems.
OPRAH:
Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.
GEORGE W. BUSH:
We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.
COLIN POWELL:
Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road...
ANDERSON COOPER - CNN:
We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.
JOHN KERRY:
Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.
NANCY GRACE:
That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
PAT BUCHANAN:
To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
MARTHA STEWART:
No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
DR SEUSS:
Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY:
To die in the rain. Alone.
JERRY FALWELL:
Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see the plain truth?' That's why they call it the 'other side.' Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media white washes with seemingly harmless phrases like 'the other side. That chicken should not be crossing the road. It's as plain and as simple as that.
GRANDPA:
In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
BARBARA WALTERS:
Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its life long dream of crossing the road.
JOHN LENNON:
Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.
ARISTOTLE:
It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
BILL GATES:
I have just released eChicken2007, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken. This new platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^(C% ........ reboot.
ALBERT EINSTEIN:
Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
BILL CLINTON:
I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken?
AL GORE:
I invented the chicken!
COLONEL SANDERS:
Did I miss one?
DICK CHENEY :
Where's my gun?
AL SHARPTON:
Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.
Monday, October 08, 2007
A rooster too far
What to do with three extra roosters? That's what we have now, as a result of letting an Araucana hen set on the eggs last spring.
We've been through the reverse-poultry-polygamy, ie the more-than-one rooster thing in the past, and we don't want to repeat that.
The first time around it was okay; the beta rooster was an amiable Jerry Zipkin type (you remember him, the guy who "walked" Nancy Reagan to parties when Ronnie was too addled to leave the house?). He got along nicely with the ladies, and seemed content to play second fiddle to the big buff orphington.
But mostly, it's a hassle. These ones are already fighting. In fact, they were only a few weeks old when they started chest-butting each other. We considered putting them up on Craigslist (category: SUCKERS WANTED)
Then I stumbled on this idea, from the it's-so-crazy-it-just-might-work file of warfare. I'm surprised that the Bushies haven't thought of this.
We've been through the reverse-poultry-polygamy, ie the more-than-one rooster thing in the past, and we don't want to repeat that.
The first time around it was okay; the beta rooster was an amiable Jerry Zipkin type (you remember him, the guy who "walked" Nancy Reagan to parties when Ronnie was too addled to leave the house?). He got along nicely with the ladies, and seemed content to play second fiddle to the big buff orphington.
But mostly, it's a hassle. These ones are already fighting. In fact, they were only a few weeks old when they started chest-butting each other. We considered putting them up on Craigslist (category: SUCKERS WANTED)
Then I stumbled on this idea, from the it's-so-crazy-it-just-might-work file of warfare. I'm surprised that the Bushies haven't thought of this.
Monday, October 01, 2007
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