Chicken farming: Where to begin?

My husband has decided he'd like to try his hand at chicken farming. He's been itching to raise some egg-layers for some time now, long enough that the idea made it into last year's Christmas letter in the "things you will most likely see in next year's installment" section. Having grown up on a dairy farm and knowing the responsibility that comes with owning livestock made me wary for a couple reasons: 

1) Although I loved many of the experiences associated with farming and working with animals, I had my share of moments where I may have cursed their constant need for attention, every single day, rain or shine. 

2) I know nothing about chickens. We never had them, just cows and sometimes pigs. I think this stems from a few traumatic incidents in my mom's past involving one very aggressive rooster. In any case, I felt wholly unprepared to take on this challenge.

Alas, my husband is never one to half-ass anything (pardon the language, but it's true), so if he's said he's going to do something, he's going to do it and do it well. 

So, the first step: Chickens, chickens, chickens!!! There are so many types, where to start?

Some might say egg color.

http://karias.webs.com/images/image2.jpg

Others might base the decision on plumage vibrancy.

http://www.familiesraisingchickens.com/images/roosterwithbeautifulplumage.jpg

Still others might try to pick the most, shall we say, interesting.

With so many out there, it could be difficult to choose.

Lucky for us, we have one major requirement to help us narrow the field:

Cold tolerance! 

What makes a pie a pie?

http://boulderlocavore.com/2011/09/gratitude-
and-grasshopper-pie.html

That is what our pie club pondered this week as we enjoyed a delicious grasshopper pie (similar to the one on the left here) made by one of our members.

Yes, I am a member of a pie club. One of my coworkers started the club, and it is by far the best club I've ever been in.

Here's how it works: Every couple of months, each member of the pie club signs up for a week to bring in a pie. It can be any type of pie you want, and you can bring it in any day of the week you've chosen. 

Sound easy? It is! Make one pie, enjoy pie for weeks. It's a no-brainer.

So, back to the question at hand: What constitutes a pie?

We decided at the very least there needs to be some type of crust and filling, but shape or container was also a possible constraint. A quick search on the internet says that a pie is "a baked dish of fruit or meat and vegetables, typically with a top and base of pastry". Seems about right, but does that mean that some "pies" are really impostors? Are moon pies just trying to crash the party? Are some pies getting left out because they have names like "quiche"?

The good thing about pie club is that we're not very picky and we don't discriminate. As long as it's edible, it works for us!

  

Too many cooks? Not so much.

My husband are enduring long distance for a while, and I've realized one of the things I miss most when we're apart is cooking a meal together.  We make a pretty good team in the kitchen; one of us will chop while the other is tending to a pot or pan on the stove; he'll prepare the meats while I mix a sauce; he sets the table while I put the finishing touches on a dish.

We have a few dishes that we really like to make together, one of which is butternut squash risotto.  The risotto's a bit time consuming, so while I'm slowly adding broth to my butter/onion/wine/risotto mixture, M takes on the squash. First there's rinsing, then peeling, then removing the guts and dicing before cooking it to soften, either in the microwave or the stove.  M does it all without complaint, and we catch up on the day's events while we work (and enjoy the wine that had to be opened for cooking purposes anyway). At the end we have a delicious batch of hearty risotto to enjoy with a loaf of sourdough bread, fresh from the bakery.

During our most recent visit, we found another meal that will most definitely become another favorite to make and consume. A spin-off of chicken and wild rice soup, we came up with a recipe (below) for a soup a bit more "northwoods" by substituting in grouse M had hunted last fall instead of chicken. We fell into our respective roles quite naturally with M cutting and inspecting the meat for any stray buckshot while I prepped the veggies. After a bit of relaxing while the stove did the work, we enjoyed our soup, which turned out wonderfully despite some earlier concerns*.

But perhaps everything tastes better when you're sharing it with a loved one :)


Grouse and wild rice soup recipe:
Meat from 2 grouse, cubed
4 c chicken broth
2 c wild rice (uncooked)
1 1/2 c chopped carrots
1 1/2 c chopped potatoes
1 1/2 c wild leeks
water (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Bring broth to a boil, then add grouse and reduce to a simmer.
Add veggies after 5-10 minutes (earlier for larger chunks, later for finely chopped).
Add wild rice about 5-10 minutes after veggies and cook for another 20 minutes or until rice is soft and grouse is cooked through. More water may be added if soup thickens too much as the rice soaks up the broth.
Serve with bread or a salad and don't forget the wine, if you're so inclined.

*Most wild rice soup recipes my mother-in-law and I found didn't include any herbs or spices besides salt and pepper, which I thought a little weird, but not to worry, the rice and grouse lend plenty of flavor!

Let's get started...

In my profession, people always say you need to get noticed online, and you should do it by starting your own website or blog.  I respond with, yeah, that sounds nice, but I don't have anything to blog about, and even if I did, who would want to read it? Well I've finally caved in to the pressure and started one.  If you're worried that this is going to be all work and no play, don't be.  The original motivator was in fact professional advancement, but I think this will mainly serve as an online journal for my non-work activities with a bit of science mixed in :)

I'm not exactly sure what general topics I will blog about yet, but I figure I can start with my two passions: plants and baking.  These were actually the inspiration for the name of my blog, considering "butter and eggs" is both the common name for Linaria vulgaris, a weed that I noticed growing in my home town and of course every baker's essential ingredients.

“Linaria vulgaris” by ArcziPL licensed under CC BY SA 2.5

More on this later...