We went mushroom hunting today. All we found was this lone mushroom and a stem ... Grampa found them. I'm not known for my mushroom hunting prowess, but Grampa usually finds a few. I don't know if we were to early or to late. Whenever I've been mushroom hunting, I've managed to find lots of toad stools and other non-edible mushrooms, but today we didn't see much of them either. For those of you that don't know, this is a morel mushroom. They are very easy to distinguish from other mushrooms so that makes them very popular here. You don't have to worry about accidentally cooking up a poisonous one!
We also gave all the chickens a haircut this week. We have 168 producing hens and 3 roosters. Yeah, I know, we tried to get rid of all the roosters, but then we were given some chickens with a couple of roosters and one of the pullet chicks turned out to be a boy. It is hard to sex those things when they are little. We decided it would probably be a good idea to keep a few roosters around just in case something happened that would keep us from being able to get chicks through mail order.
Apparently some animal rights groups think chicks shipped through the mail are starved in the process. Not true at all. Just before a chick hatches, the stomach muscles form around the yoke sack. This gives the baby chick a good three days worth of food and water. God created them this way because chickens tend to hatch over a period of 3 days. This way, the mother doesn't have to leave the nest until they are all hatched. She can keep the early hatchers there until everyone is ready to go out and find food. Chicks are shipped priority and generally arrive to their destination within 2 days, most of the time overnight. They do not starve!
Anyway .... rant over ... here's the mess from our barber work. We cut one wing so they can't fly over the fence and into the garden. It's like a haircut. It doesn't hurt the chickens, just keeps them at ground level. Some of you may think that chicken's can't fly. They actually do a little. They only go up around 5 or 6 feet, but they do fly.
My census job ended yesterday. It was supposed to last 14 weeks. They lied. There was no more work for anyone as of today. Oh well! It was fun while it lasted. The farmer's markets will be in full force in a couple of weeks. I'm planning to spend the summer baking and making noodles unless something else comes up.
We will have chives, lemon balm, radishes, eggs, noodles, some dried herbs and peppers from last year and banana bread to take to the farmer's market in Burlington this week - maybe some green onions and lettuce, but they are a little on the small side as of today. We'll see.
I sold all but 5 of my blown goose eggs. Would have sold them too, but I had hidden them and Grampa didn't see them when the last lady came to buy. Oh well, I need a few to decorate myself. I also have a bunch of blown guinea eggs. They are smaller than chicken eggs. You'd think they'd break easier, but those things are tough little critters. They should be really good for crafts.
I was looking at my herb garden today. I have some cilantro and basil coming up! I took my chicken guard off it a couple of weeks ago so I was wondering if they would devour the seedlings as they sprouted. So far the chickens don't seem to enthused about cilantro or basil. That's OK with me!
On a side note ... the birds are building a new nest in my stove vent. I guess we just have to keep chasing them out.
Well, as usual, the fonts on this post seem all messed up. I really need to take some time and figure out what I'm doing to them, but that's low on the priority list. You all will just have to put up with me.
God Bless You All!
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