Wordless Wednesday

Fat Tuesday

Happy Mardi Gras! This is not usually a holiday we celebrate up here in the cold north, but a holiday with such a yummy cake needs to be remembered!

King Cake with powdered sugar and crunchy sprinkles.

 I made this recipe and it turned out fantastic. 

We shared it at work, and now many more people in Minnesota appreciate King Cake.

Feb 15-21 Meal Plan

Delicious egg white souffle with blue cheese

Roast beef, baked potato, stewed tomatoes

Beef and cabbage soup (slow cooker)

Sausage, kale and squash soup (slow cooker)

Chicken Bread pudding (slow cooker)

Sourdough rye crepes

Sourdough crepes - used 3 eggs

Egg souffle with blue cheese - 8 egg whites
Yum! Great use of leftover egg whites.

Chocolate Pudding - used 2 egg yolks

Sourdough pound cake - used 5 eggs

Chocolate pudding made with arrowroot

Chicken Feed Calculation

Bags and buckets of ingredients.

Since one week after the chicks arrived here last March, I have been making their feed.

Now this requires several bags of bulk grain to be stored at any given time, but it has provided much freedom in what my chickens are fed. I typically mix up 50 pounds of feed (equivalent to most pre-prepared feed bags) every 2 weeks. 

I am only over-wintering 10 chickens - 9 hens and 1 rooster. 

Antique coffee grinder works hard (and creates lots of dust).

I follow the idea of Harvey Ussery, found in his book, The Small-Scale Poultry Flock, or also his amazing website. 

Over this past (almost) year, I mixed my organic whole grains, knowing that I was feeding my chickens the freshest and best possible feeds. 

I also listened to my husband's comments on the regular purchases of expensive materials. I know that there are certainly cheaper feed options out there, but in keeping chickens for food, I want to raise them to be as high-quality as possible. 

I thought that I was spending a lot more on my prepared feed, but compared to a popular organic feed, my mix is actually less expensive. 

That made me happy.

Ingredients, price per pound and amounts of protein.

The table shows that my feed is about $60 per 100 pounds. To compare it to Scratch and Peck, which comes in 40 pound bags, mine is about $24 while theirs is $28, when discounted. I did not expect that! 

If things change and I no longer have the time to mix feeds, I'm sure I will switch to Scratch and Peck, but in the meantime, my feed is certainly more fresh, and apparently slightly less expensive. Yay!

Fermented feed with a side of stale bread crusts.

I will also continue to tweak the feed, and enjoy having that freedom. 

I recently started fermenting some of the feed, which is supposed to help lessen anti-nutrients along with increase absorption, just as it does for people food. 

One day I will try sprouting grains as well, but I have barely gotten around to that for us, so the chickens will have to wait a bit for that.

Feb 8-14 Meal Plan

Sourdough Rye bread - soured for 2 days - nice and sour!

Chile (grass-fed beef, half of a beef heart and a sliver of liver all ground) with black beans, jalapenos and bell peppers. Slow cooker.

Cheesy chicken and bean tortilla casserole (used up leftover homemade corn tortillas, and chicken from making stock)

Lamb, black beans, peas and rice. Slow cooker.

Corned beef, marrow on toast, green beans

Frittata cups (eggs, mozzarella and cream cheese, kale and bell peppers) baked in 1/2 pint mason jars for at-work snacks

Grass-fed T-bone steaks, baked potatoes, maple glazed carrots. Delicious Valentine's dinner at our warm home, in our pjs!

Wordless Wednesday

Jan 31- Feb 7 Meal Plan

Tuna Pot Pie

Turkey, squash and tomato soup (Slow cooker)

Pork chops, rice and broccoli (Slow cooker)

Beef, corn, peppers and rice soup (Slow cooker)

Corned beef and cabbage