I am thoroughly enjoying these glorious days of June. Cool at night
while sleeping with the windows open; comfortably warm in the afternoon; rain
on a regular schedule. Lovely. My very favorite time of year.
Jackie and the broilers are settling into their new space. I put the feeder
10 feet or so away from Coop 2 to force the chicks to get some exercise. I went
down to see Jane Friday afternoon to do my shopping and have Girls’ Night Out
with my old friends from the Girl Scout Office. When I returned, Hilda reported
that the chicks didn’t like to be out in the sun. She watched them dash out to
get food and dash into the coop. So she put the food in the coop. “They were
starving!” she said. “They acted just like they do first thing in the morning.”
One look at those fat chicks should be enough to assure her that they
are NOT starving, but she’s gone all soft. I’m personally very pleased that all
of our chicks are still able to walk. That’s the danger, you may recall. If fed
too much, they outgrow their legs. Watching them run is hilarious. They can
hardly be called athletic. But the point is they do run and flap their wings besides. It develops flavor.
Saturday I set about building a shade for them. I got a piece of fence
from the “boneyard,” as Terry calls his collection of odds and ends, a piece of
landscape cloth, and two posts. I whip-stitched the cut ends of the landscape
cloth to keep it from raveling and attached it to the fence with cable ties. Done.
And the chicks liked it. They did hang out in the shady side of the feeder more
than in the sun.
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| Hanging out in the shade |
There’s no dust on the perch in the coop anymore. Someone has been up
there. I haven’t seen who. I’ve got some pictures showing the odd physiology of
the broilers—heavy breast meat; fat, red, featherless buttzles, and enormous
feet. Jackie’s head feathers are standing straight up.
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| Fat, pink, naked buttzle |
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| Look at those huge feet! |
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| Jackie next to a buxom coop-mate |
Our June cooking project was Ragu alla Bolognese from America’s Test
Kitchen. The recipe called for six meats. We skipped the chicken livers. I
defrosted ground beef and bought pancetta, mortadella, ground veal, and ground
pork when I was shopping with Jane on Friday.
Other than the shopping, the recipe was pretty easy. After we cooked
the meats and chopped vegetables, we put in the chicken and beef stock and red
wine, and left it to cook for an hour and a half.
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| Pancetta, mortadella, beef, veal, and pork |
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| Plus chicken stock, beef stock, and red wine |
I made pasta to serve with
it. And it was good. I made a salad with lettuce and radishes from the garden.
The harvest begins.
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| Ragu alla Bolognese with tagliatelle and fresh garden lettuce and radishes |
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| Pecan caramel rolls for Dad |
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