Two Egg Happy Dance

Yay! The Ladies gave me 2 eggs today.

One from Lavender, who has been laying very regularly, and one from Zela.

Zela hasn't layed an egg since Aug. 11th, the day they were taken.

I am so happy!

I think it means they are finally settling into their new home.

Lavender's green egg.


Zela's brown egg.

Silly Little Ray!
He looks so scary in this pic, but he's actually saying,
"Can I come in there? My tummy needs rubbing!"



Lavender

Pixie

Queen of all she surveys.

Goaties, Sheep and Chickens

Who lives in this cute little house?

It's a duplex!

On top live two spoiled goaties.

And on the bottom two shy sheep.






Hello sheep!

"Lemme see!"

"No, me first!"

"Is that food?"

"Yes f-o-o-d. Is it?"


"Food? Is it, huh, is it?"

"No. Boo."

Pouty goat face.

"Maybe I should taste it and make sure."

"You never know, it could be food."

"Where are you going? I was going to eat that!"

Ladies on the lam.

or

Chicks on the praire.

I like this hen - she has attitude!

I think I'll call her Decca -

"get outta her face she 'gonna decka' you"

Or not.

Ho hum, another day, another egg.

This is Cinnamon 2 Wing.

Don't bother her on the nest.

She hisses.

Wink.

These are all Carol's pets. She doesn't have names for her chickens, so I just gave them some nicknames. Hope she doesn't mind!

Cheddar Chiles

Check out my harvest!

All of the vegetables pictured have been processed and stored.

I used the chiles to make cheddar chiles.

Wash chiles.

Slice in half and remove seeds.

Place center up on a cookie sheet.

Fill center with shredded cheese.

Bake at 450 until cheese is bubbly.

Eat warm.

Also, freezes very well.

This Is Moulting

Poor Butter!

I always wondered what moulting would look like.

It isn't pretty.

Last tail feather.

The temp. has been dropping into the 40's at night

I hope Butter is cuddling up with the other girls.

Poor featherless baby.

Butter and Pixie

Poor Butter.

On Monday, when I visited the girls

I thought that something had attacked one of them.

There were feathers everywhere!

But I couldn't see any injuries,

so I though perhaps a neighbor chicken

had jumped the fence

and gotten the sharp end of Lavender's claws.

Tuesday there were even more feathers in the run.

It's official: Butter is molting.

And really hard too.

As of today, she has a solitary tail feather loosely hanging on.

She looks so rough - poor baby.

And she is really crabby.

She wants to be held,

but she doesn't want me to touch her.

I suppose the new feathers

growing in are strange feeling and poky.

Well, she ends up pecking

me on the head to get held

and then complaining when I hold her.

Very frustrating.

~

And Pixie is growing up into a pullet.

She squatted for me today. Twice!

It's the first time she's ever squatted.

I see silkie eggs in the future.

~

My friend, Carol, that took in my ladies, has a big barred rock rooster.

He is so gorgeous.

But he loves to chase me!

I have a cut on my ankle he gave me today.

He is so sneaky.

Bad rooster!

~

Another thing I'm worrying about right now:

Last year Carol lost more

than half of her chickens

and all of her ducks.

They disappeared

after some migrant workers were working

in the soybean fields next to her house.

They are back working in the fields right now.

Please don't take my ladies!

Update On the Dill Crock

I canned my dill crock today.

First, I strained the brine.

While the brine warmed up to a boil, I packed the veggies into hot jars.

All canned up.
I think it looks very pretty.

Goodnight Ladies

I took my camera with me this evening when I visited the Ladies.

First, lets meet their neighbors.

The rooster.

He is a real meany!

He looks gorgeous, but

I'm scared of him, because he tries to flog me all the time.
I nice little red hen.

I have trouble telling them apart, but they have the softest feathers.

Some of the flock.

Butter!
Checking out the neighbors.

Zela and Butter munching on the snack I brought to them.

Right behind the waterer you can see Little Ray, the cat.

Pixie!

Lavender getting ready for bed.

Butter and Zela getting comfy in their little bed.

They also use this crate to lay their eggs in.

Butter and Zela

Pixie hiding underneath my leg.

She pushed underneath me like a baby chick.

Too cute.

Sleepy.

Eggplant Burgers

These are so yummy!

My mom made these for dinner and invited me over to eat.

Thanks Mom!

I have about 50 ripe eggplant, so I think I will make a few of these and freeze them.

-

Eggplant Burgers

2 med eggplant

salt

4 cloves of garlic

3/4 cup nut butter - almond, peanut, ect.

2 cups soft bread crumbs

-

Slice eggplant into 1/2 in thick slices and sprinkle with salt.

Let eggplant drain in a sieve for 15 min.

Char-broil eggplant on the barbecue until eggplant is soft.

In a food processor blend together eggplant and nut butter.

Mix blended eggplant and bread crumbs.

-

With the eggplant mixture, make patties.

Place patties on a baking sheet

with the cloves of garlic

and bake at 375 degrees for 15 mins.

OR

return the burgers to the barbecue and cook for 10 to 15 mins.

-

Squish the roasted garlic onto the burgers

and serve with toasted hamburger buns.