every day is a good day
Eggs don’t always come as ovals. Sometimes they can be quite pointed. The most interesting ones stay here. That’s the privilege of having your own eggs. The “boring” ones go off to market. Though, none of the chickens at a man and his hoe® lay boring eggs.
I don’t need to travel all the way to Nanzen-ji to view a beautiful garden. I found an exquisite moss garden much closer to home. The moss is soft and plump from the cool autumn rains. This time of year, the Skagit River Valley turns into mossland.
And where was this exquisite moss garden? I discovered it alongside the road on the way home from the post office. Maybe there are beautiful gardens alongside the roads you travel. Sometimes, all it takes is for you to stop to see them.
It’s summer again … for one fantastic day. Resting and sleeping in the warm sunshine is pure bliss for my chickens.
Often, the only view you have of a chicken is their butt. Much of the day, they have their head buried in thick grass, hunting for bugs, mice, frogs, and other good things to eat.
The dogs are having fun too. They are after a chipmunk hiding in a woodpile. BB and Echo have demolished woodpiles before, looking for chipmunks. Fortunately, they gave up today before damaging this woodpile.
When you’re picking beans or leafy greens or fruit from a tree, it’s easy to forget the importance of dirt. You can’t escape dirt when you’re digging up potatoes. Digging up potatoes on a wet, windy day can be downright dirty. You have to overcome your fear and disdain of touching dirt and mud.
Potatoes clean up easily. I recommend washing off all the dirt and mud outside. It also gives you a chance to give bits and pieces, you don’t want to bother with, to your chickens. Freshly dug potatoes are full of starch and you can make some great, chewy dishes with them. Let the potatoes sit too long, and the starch turns to sugars, changing the texture and flavor of your potatoes.
Not too long ago I watched a show on some interesting dishes you can make with new potatoes. Sorry, but the show was in Japanese 新ジャガ！感動５連発 常識破り調理で新食感. One dish they showed, and you must use new potatoes, was a mochi. Usually, mochi is made by pounding steamed sticky rice until it becomes a sticky, gluey mass. You then shape it into balls and eat it while it is still warm and soft, or let it dry out, and later cut it up and add it to soups or broil it. You can make something similar with new potatoes. You first peel and quarter them. Wash them and boil them for 30 to 40 minutes. Then you let them cool until they are room temperature. This is a critical step. Once they are cool, drain them, and pound them. It can take a fair amount of muscle as the potatoes get very gluey as you pound them. You will end up with a gluey mass which you can then shape into balls.
One thing I learned from the show was that no country eats more potatoes per person than Belarus: over 400 pounds per person each year (185 kilos). In the USA, even with all the French fries consumed, the amount is a paltry 119 pounds (54.2 kilos). There are more than 300 potato dishes in the cuisine of Belarus. Here is one for Belarussian Potato Babka.
Svenda, a Swedish Flower Chicken hen, is over a year old now. He brother, Sven, is king of the flock. The two are such a wild mix of colors. Sven’s been a busy rooster this year, and many of the upcoming chicks definitely have Swedish Flower Chicken in them.
Svenda has changed a lot since she hatched. As a mostly dark chick, there was no indication of the sophisticated coat she would wear as she matured. As soon as her feathers started appearing, her colors started to show.
Take a close look at her feathers now, and then intensify the hue of their colors. You end up with a dazzling kaleidoscope of brilliant colors. Maybe that is how she would look if she went dancing in a disco.
