Friday Favorite: Being Warm & Toasty
We definitely stay warm & toasty all winter long thanks to all the work we put in cutting & splitting firewood. It’s that time of the year to start working on the wood we’ll be using this coming winter. Mr Chiots has been out the past few weekends cutting down a few trees close to the house that are half dead and have been dropping large branches when it’s windy. Some of them are pine trees which we won’t be using for firewood, but one was a nice big cherry tree. Most of it will heat our home, but there’s one nice piece that he’s going to mill into lumber for further furniture.
Harvesting your own firewood is a lot of work, but it’s satisfying work. Mr Chiots usually cuts down all the trees and when the splitter comes out I step in and help out. It’s a great chore because it makes you get outside in the winter when you might not otherwise. We always enjoy the days we spend splitting & stacking, usually we try to pick a beautiful sunny winter day if possible.
Every year we hope to get a little extra wood put up to get a year or two ahead. That way, should injury or some unforeseen circumstance prevent us from doing it we’d still have enough wood on hand for the winter.
Last year we stacked some of our wood in holz hausens and really loved the look and technique. We’ll be stacking all of our wood in these as we cut this winter.
Do you or have you ever helped with cutting/splitting/stacking of firewood?
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Sad Chickens
I must say, a molting chicken is not a beautiful thing. Some chickens molt a little more gracefully than others. I’ve had a few chickens and you can’t even tell when they molt, they must lose their feathers here and there and the new ones grow back quickly. Then there are other chickens, like Sandy, our poor Wyandotte lady.
This poor lady was in the thick of her molt when the weather was dipping down into the negative 20’s. Poor girl, she looked terrible, she hardly had a feather left on her. Luckily, by the time I took this photo her feathers were starting to grow back in. I almost brought her inside, but then I worried that would not be good for her. I did keep a close eye on her to make sure she wasn’t shivering. Lucky for her, she’s the favorite of Mr Rooster and has the prime roost spot right next to him. She snuggles up close to him every night, no doubt this helps keep her warm.
I’m glad her feathers are finally growing back in. She’s the most beautiful chicken in our flock, I’d love to hatch some of her eggs this coming year.
Have you ever seen a chicken in molt?
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Earning Their Keep
We’ve had a bit of a warmup here in Maine, it’s been in the 40’s the last couple days. I’m not complaining as the inch of ice finally is almost melted off the driveway. I’m not so happy to see the snow melt, it’s provides valuable protection for the garden during the winter. With this warm weather, the risk of predators also goes up. Thankfully, Tara is very aware of this as well.
She’s been patrolling the perimeters and is more alert than usual during the day. Yesterday she spent a lot of time standing on top of the tallest snowbank sniffing the air. Dexter has also been spending the days outside, hunting along the rocks walls in the gardens, rustling up his own meals of tasty little rodents.
The Sweets, our garage cat, is also working hard, though she’s nocturnal so I don’t see her very often. I have spotted her up under the chickens several times late at night when I take Tara out. Thankfully she’s keeping the mice out of the coop and away from all of our outbuildings. Working animals are very valuable when you have a place like ours. It’s great when you can use an animals natural instinct to help you out! They certainly make our lives much easier and do a great job with their appointed tasks.
Do you have any working animals, or have you been around working animals?
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Cultivate Simple 61: Fermenting for the Flock
In this week’s episode we discuss fermenting your own feed for your chickens and other animals.
Why should you consider fermenting chicken feed?
- it increased availability of nutrients for the chickens
- it actually increases the amount of vitamins in the feed and produces new vitamins
- makes the food easier to digest because it’s soaked and soft
- provided beneficial probiotics to help chickens absorb more nutrients from their feed and keeps them healthier
- decreases risk of diseases like salmonella and healthier digestive tracks
- decreases the amount of feed chickens are consuming and they produce less waste
- makes poop small and less stinky (I know amazing).
- egg yolks are bigger and shells are stronger.
- your chickens will be healthier and happier!
Here’s a post from Scratch Cradle with all the scientific studies linked – etc.
In fermented feed phosphorus levels are increased and sugar level decrease, fermenting the feed also increases protein content in the feed by about 3%.
There have been studies to show that hens fed fermented fed develop more villi in their intestines and thus absorb more nutrients from their feed making them more efficient at feed conversion.
Books of the Week
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:31:01 — 63.2MB)
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Quote of the Day: Tamar Adler
“If we were taught to cook as we are taught to walk, encouraged to first feel for pebbles with our toes, then to wobble forward and fall, then had our hands firmly tugged on so we would try again, we would learn that being good at it relies on something deeply rooted, akin to walking, to get good at which we need only guidance, senses and a little faith.
We aren’t often taught to cook like that, so when we watch people cook naturally, in what looks like an agreement between cook and cooked, we think that they were born with an ability to simply know that an egg is done, that the fish needs flipping, and that the soup need salt.”
Tamar Adler from An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace
I loved this quote when I read this book. Many people aren’t taught how to really cook, to cook like you create any other kind of art. Cooking is definitely a skill that you learn, one you learn by really tasting the food you eat. Every time you eat you have the potential to hone your cooking skills.
I love to cook and I’ve been honing my skills for my entire life. Creativity has always been one of my strengths and it really comes out when I cook.
What kind of cook would you say you are?
