Yard To Table Chicken Dinner

Sustainable farming is growing in popularity, and on our farm we are enjoying a bounty of fresh vegetables and this week, chicken. Raising birds is, well, for the birds, but when I pull that fresh roasted chicken from the oven for my family, its worth all my husbands hard work. From the yard to the table, it averages about three hours. Now that's what I consider FRESH.
    This summer we have chickens, both meat birds and egg- layers, geese, ducks of two varieties, and turkeys. Some of the disadvantages of having our various flocks include : poop,  feathers and bird dust constantly swirling in the air, and the actual butchering itself. Looking at what I've written, one might assume bird poop is swirling in the air, and honestly sometimes it seems to be. Wherever we don't want to walk in it, there it seems to be!

    Some of those feathers are being incorporated on craft projects. When I saw stamped goose feathers at Michaels, I had to get in on that action. Rainier even taught her dad this technique in a recent class in our craft room.
The butchering so far has fallen entirely on Rays (strong) shoulders. Im afraid that being involved at that level will ruin me on eating the meat, and so far Ive been lucky enough to be hard at work watching the children while the er, cleaning happens. He has not only impressed me with his butchering skills, but his coop building skills are way cool too. Thank you YouTube! Seriously, you can find how to make just about anything on there.
    Advantages that have me looking forward to more bird raising include sharing their caretaking with our girls. I love seeing them looking intently into their coops as well as hearing the names and stories they come up with about their feathered friends. So far, only one turkey has a name, and his story will need to be shared in anothr post. Knowing our food is free of commercial antibiotics, bleach, etc is an amazing benefit and Im sure enhamces the flavor mentally as well.

Another benefit is that we can make plenty of our own chicken stock. Added to the many soup-like dishes we consume, it's full of flavor- and good ol' healthy fats. Sometimes Ray will even take a mason jar full with him to work for when his stomach is rumbling on the job. Better than a candy bar!

We save all of the bones, cartilage, feet, and extra fatty bits in a freezer bag, and then throw it all in the crockpot for a full day to cook down. Drain off some of the juice and refill with water again to soak out all the yum you can if you're trying this at home. The fat layer that accumulates on the top once it's cool is especially good when used as oil in a pan of- warmed up chicken!

I never would have imagined I would be growing up to live on a farm, full of animals who aren't just backyard pets. Interestingly enough, I find myself enjoying it... especially at the supper table :-)

Ciao!

Our (Orthodox) Paleo Food Choices

Sometime near the end of last year our family began an even more basic food eating strategy. The Paleo Diet, in short, consists of meats and vegetables and fruits that would have been consumed in a non agricultural society. No, we are not on diets, but this way of eating can be really helpful if you suffer from gastronomical distress, as well as if you are looking to develop a lean muscle physique.
Some of the things we used to eat a lot of, like for instance, oatmeal, and cheese, are now "off the plate" so to speak.   We eat very little in the way of animal dairy products and grains are pretty much taboo! It has taken some adjusting, mostly on my part, as a cheese sandwhich is just about heaven for me, but fortunately, our kids have always eaten really heartily of all things healthy, so they are not begging for food like others might. Our kids haven't had wheat based products, like noodles or bread, so that hasn't been a problem to exclude those from the menu.
Like most kids, my older daughter still enjoys cereal for breakfast, but now that bowl consists of chopped up apples, pears, bananas, blueberries, raisins, and blanched almonds roasted in coconut oil (yum!), about ten corn flakes and coconut milk to top it off. Whereas before she would get two bowls of oatmeal with raisins. She loves this combination! I'll bet its because of all the textures and flavors and because, she can still have seconds :-) She loves to add cinnamon and Macca, which is one of those add-it-to-anything kind of powders full of all kinds of ancient goodness.
For lunch we usually eat eggs with avocado, sometimes a little leftover rice which we are eating once or twice a week now. Another fun concoction I've come up with is "Caterpillars" which is shredded carrots, chopped apples, celery or parsnips, raisins, and sometimes a bit of pineapple or orange thrown in. I mix all this with some coconut cream and it is really delicious. Then I plop a couple of balls onto the plate, add some avocado "feet," and my kids happy as can be! Baby really likes this combination too, so its nice that I can make one bowl and everyone's eating basically the same thing.
At night, like most families, we eat meat! Chicken and beef, mainly, but occasionally we will have uncured bacon or pork, or white fish like cod and tilapia, or salmon. Sweet potatoes, spinach, and or broccoli, and, maybe every other week, a legume, i.e. lentils, beans, or peas. Like I said, we do occasionally have some grains like basmati rice or quinoa. Other nights we will have cabbage and hamburger soup, which I'm surprised to be enjoying so immensely!
My husband has started making his own broths and drinks those while on the job. He has commented that the broth really helps him get through the day without feeling so starved. Before, stopping for a bag of chips and eating nearly the entire bag would be considered lunch, so his now at least the salt intake is coming from a very healthy source. I'll go into the broth making process in another post, but basically he just throws a bunch of bones in the crockpot, fills it to the top with water, and then cooks it on high overnight. This we put into mason jars for convenience sake. The kids really like to drink this too and its really easy to add to soups. I've even seen dad use the "soggy bones" to enhance their breakfast cereals (not mine)!
If you're looking to lose weight, this is a great way of eating. It takes about two or three weeks to kick the bread habit as I call it, but one way to think of food is that it is a habit. If you habitually put sugar in your coffee, well, it would take practice in developing the habit of not doing that! So changing your food habits takes practice too. I'm always surprised by how easy it is to maintain my weight when I'm not tempted by snackies on the cupboard shelf :-)
I know we hear all the time in the news about the hormones added to just about everything, as well as all the pesticides etc. Almost everything we buy is organic, and our beef is grass fed hormone free. This of course costs more, but we feel its an investment in our children's future, and well worth the extra effort it takes to prepare their food to take with whenever we are eating elsewhere. Most restaurants are offering more gluten-free options, and I've never had a problem getting things left off the plate.
If you're interested in learning more about the Paleo Diet, do some research. The above information is my most non-technical way of explaining to people some of our food choices, and should in no way be considered expert advice :-) Thanks for reading!