"The tragic reality is that very few sustainable systems are designed or applied by those who hold power, and the reason for this is obvious and simple: to let people arrange their own food, energy and shelter is to lose economic and political control over them. We should cease to look to power structures, hierarchical systems, or governments to help us, and devise ways to help ourselves." - Bill Mollison

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Golden Treasure

Constant companions in the garden area, besides our ever-present cat, are our flock of Rhode Island Reds. They have around an acre surrounding the gardens to roam about chasing grasshoppers, scratching up worms, and squawking their silly heads off every chance they get. A simple clicking noise from me causes them all to come running, knowing that their kind master has some sort of treat for them. Spoiled they are, fed various greens and other garden goodies each morning and every evening. Often times even more if the kind master happens to be thinning kale or pitching overripe berries, and that is pretty often.



My reward, nourishing golden eggs. Eggs that are in no way similar to those pale sad little replicas that are found in the local grocers dairy section. Eggs whose yolks are colored as little golden treasures, and whose flavor is beyond compare. Eggs that make some people nervous because they are "too orange," not at all normal.


So, faced with an ever abundant amount of "real" organic free range eggs, and a seemingly constant excess of kefir (Berries, Kefir & Goats), we make quiche. One of our favorite ways to create a protein rich, nutrient dense meal. How do you make a vegetarian fat? Just feed him lots of quiche.:)



A box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid.

- An Egg - J. R. R Tolkien

20 comments:

el said...

Oh and it makes you feel so RICH too, all those little eggs.

We've experienced a glut recently because the folks to whom we sell ours have been vacationing. So: practically every food item getting served here has eggs in it. Not a bad thing.

And...frittatas are the only way I can get leftovers to be eaten by the human members of this household!

Stefaneener said...

I love happy hen noises. Ours would be happier free ranging, while our garden would be much sadder!

I know what you mean about the vibrant eggs, though, especially when we forage _for_ the girls.

Roasted Garlicious said...

awwww.. i loved that short video!! daughter and i used to have quite a few chickens, some 'regular' sized, some banties and seven banty roosters that got along! we don't have them anymore but one day i'd love to have a small coop with a few ladies :D free range chickies are the BEST!!!

randi said...

why do I get hungry every time I read your blog!? Nothing like having your own gang of chickens!

Unknown said...

Help Mr. H! My garden has been devastated by what I can only gather is the tomato blight. The leaves on my Romas are brown and withering, my spaghetti squash is, well, squashed, and my zucchini is half-way nuked! I have two questions I was hoping you might be able to help me with. 1) Is it safe to eat the tomatoes and squashes that have already ripened? I really hate to have to toss all the veggies that still look OK on my plants. 2) How do I rid my garden of this for next year? I don't use pesticides or fungicides in my garden so I'm basically at a loss.

I've done a bit of research and it seems my the northeast has been hit dramatically this year by late blight (a strain of which caused the Irish Potato Famine) because of all the heavy rain and cooler temperatures. I sure hope late blight doesn't hit your area! Thank you so much for your wonderful blog. I really do enjoy reading your posts!

Silke Powers said...

And again you've made me hungry (even though I just ate!). That quiche looks delicious and the eggs look like eggs should look! Such happy chickens!! :) Silke

Anonymous said...

El,

Please feel free to ship any leftovers my way. I promise to not only eat them but enjoy eating them.:) I love leftovers, mostly because it usually means a little less cooking. I swear we spend around 2 + hours each day just cooking. I would not change that for anything, but once in a while...you know.

But yes, food does make one feel rich, rich in tangible, useful, nourishing things. How does that saying go.....

When all the trees have been cut down,
when all the animals have been hunted,
when all the waters are polluted,
when all the air is unsafe to breathe,
only then will you discover you cannot eat money.”

—Cree prophecy

Mr. H. said...

Stefaneener,

I have a feeling your chickens are plenty happy. It sounds like yours are just as spoiled as mine.

Mr. H. said...

Roasted Garlicious,

Thanks, I would love to post more videos but the quality is so compromised once I post it to blogger I try to avoid posting too many.

I grew up with banty hens, and would love to have some more. My fear is that they are just small enough for the neighborhood cats to get at.

Mr. H. said...

Randi,

I know what you mean, I get hungry every time I read El's blog.:) But no caster beans for me...

Mr. H. said...

VTduckie,

As long as the vegetables themselves are not rotten or diseased looking they should be perfectly safe to eat. I have even cut the bad spots off Roma (a tomato very susceptible to blight) tomatoes before and used the remaining parts. So yes, the unmarred veggies are perfectly safe.

Hot sunny weather is the best defense against blight, hopefully you will receive more of that next year. That said, try to plant blight ridden plants in a totally different location next year, if possible, and remove the disease ridden plants from your garden area. Don't compost them.

Also, and I know the rain cannot be controlled, try to water early in the day and only at the base of the plants...soaker hoses work great for this. Other than that, lots of space between your plants will help....they need air.

I planted my tomatoes too close one rainy summer and they all got blight, now I try to give them a little more space so that nothing stays damp.

One last trick that you could use on a few select crops is sand. After planting in your normal good composted soil put a good inch or so of plain sand around the plants. Rich composted soil is normally great for plants but does contain or is a great habitat for various soil bacterium. Plain sand is a much less hospitable environment for these viruses. It works for me anyway.

I hope your weather is more cooperative next year. Remember, the drier the plant the better, and try to keep tomatoes and potatoes away from each other. I don't, but that is what the experts say.

Mike

Mr. H. said...

Silke,

The quiche was good....soo good. I wish you lived next door, I would hand some eggs over the fence to you.:)

Mr. H. said...

El,

Now even I'm anonymous, hmm...interesting.

granny said...

Beautiful big,healthy girls :0)Our chooks are spoilt too,warm porrige every night before bed.But they reward us ten fold !

Mr. H. said...

granny,

Oh no, I thought we were the only people that fed their chickens warm meals....only in the winter though.:)

Silke Powers said...

Mike, I'd gladly take some of those delicious looking eggs from you. Actually, your quiche must have looked so delicious to me that I had a piece of it in a dream last night. I loved the taste of the kefir in it, but was surprised you had made it with beets. ;) Woke up hungry! Go figure... :) Silke

Mr. H. said...

Silke,

You're too funny.:) We did use beet greens in it though.

Ruth Trowbridge said...

awesome post, love the the chicken's happy song, doesn't get any better than this - peace for all

Anonymous said...

Simply egg-squisite.

If I stomped around a blue wading pool in cowboy boots, would y'all make me one? Who wants to dream about eating one -- I want the real egg-sperience...

(I couldn't help writing that. Honest. Just blame it on some anonymous blogger....)

Mr. H. said...

Hi Anonymous,

If you stop by and thresh our beans and flax in a few weeks you could certainly earn yourself a quiche.:)

Mike

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