These four cute fluffy butts are not a pure breed per say, they are a land race breed from Iceland, they are quite small compared to most of the hens I normally keep but I have been told they will lay very well though the winter. They are unsexed, so here is hoping that at there is at least one hen and one rooster among them, only time will tell
One of the things that kept me hoping yesterday was first of a number of new chicks that will be joining the farm this year..
Four little colorful wee Iceland Land Race Chickens.. If I did it right, I will have one brown speckled, one blue speckled, one cream speckled and one black and white mixed colored, unsexed so where is hoping that I get at least one hen and one roo out of the mix 🙂
So that means today we talk about chickens and eggs.. Eggs were considered a hugely important part of the war ration, it was something that in England was highly rationed, one egg per week per adult in the family was possible at one point..
It would appear that your main egg ration was one fresh egg per adult per week and one can of powdered eggs that was equal to 14 eggs per every four weeks.
Now you could choose to be out of the egg ration and instead get chicken rations but you needed to keep productive hens..
While in England they were given breeding trios of rabbits for extra protein and meat in the USA were encouraged to keep chickens..
Which makes sense, there was were greens for the rabbits year round in England, and there was free range and a bit of grain and scraps for the birds in the USA.
but what about Canada.. Well, near as I can tell, we were a powerhouse that helped provide the eggs to those in need.. We exported far more then we used that is for sure..
The powdered eggs appear to be have been pretty much hated.. but they were active in use none the less..
The truth is that most of the egg dishes are common but there is one that I found very worth noting..
Egg Cutlets
One and half pounds of mixed cooked veggies left over chopped finely
one and half oz of , fine cut
4 eggs in powdered format
salt and pepper
Mix all together, heat a little fat in a frying pan till smoking hot and fry spoonfuls of the mixture till golden brown, serve with Parsley..
So many things were to be served with Parsley its like it was todays kale.. THE healthy Green that needed to find its way into so many different dishes.
they made egg pie many with potato pastry it would appear..
New and Old Life on the farm.. my oldest Hounds, my youngest Purrpot and my new wee chicks.. My old purrpot is 17 this year and my chicks are just days old
My Weekend was Crazy, all in a good way but by the time I got done all the things that needed to be done, I got the photos done but then just fell into bed.. I will try this week to get the weekend posts written ahead of time so they can get out on time.. as it stands, I need to get caught back up today 🙂
Saturday was my big Seedy Saturday event in Ottawa which was doubled up with a lovely visit with friends who live in the city..
So it just seems right that we should talk about the victory gardens and provide some common veggie recipes in this post..
Interesting tidbit of information in regards to the Canadian Slant..
The Canadian government was not in favor of the Victory gardens for a few years, mainly due to a seed shortage and the fact that they felt that tools that would need to be made and use took away from needed supplies for the troops, however the Canadians themselves would not be stopped, they gardened on, and after three years the government changed its official stand and then began to provide seeds and help..
It would appear from my research that those three years were needed to get the seed saving production rates up to where they wanted it to be able to promote it. very slow indeed for some reason considering how fast the other countries followed suit in regard to both gardenings and depending on the country providing either rabbits or chickens to help increase each family in being more independent
While I can not find any proof that Canada did alotments like other areas did, I can find proof that Canadian, took out lands, took over public spaces, planted in pots, grew food on their roofs and in general where amazing and active guerrilla gardening of the day.
If it had soil and it was available, it was planted in depending on where you lived.. that tended to be towns and cities, but what about the country..
Well, those with houses did still garden but they also relied on the farmers to bring in fresh produce for the local store, and they did what can only be considered local community supported agriculture or CSA as its known now..
Of course they were not called that back then but if looking at it with a open eye, the stories from my own family would support this, they had families in town that they would take baskets of fresh produce, fruit, and veggies each time they went to town..
The story that always sticks with me is that the doctors contracted my grandfather to pick and bring him small fresh potatos, this was talked about because on the farm, you let your spuds grow big but this dutch doctor and his wife always wanted their small and young.. they said they were healthier this way..
Hard to read I know but I think if you size up and look careful, you can figure out what said, If the title gets you on one of them, and you have questions let me know and I will write it out for you 🙂
Today is Friday and Friday is tradionally Fish Friday.. and so we are going to keep that fine tradition alive.. I am going to be splitting between two weeks of English and two of Canadian.
So fish was a important food during this time… I am going to do a mixed of canned which was the most common but I am also going to be talking on a later post about our own Canadian homegrown fishing challenges.. which involve if you can believe it Lobster.
So on with the show as they say.. I have decided that on our first day, we are going canned small fish, herring to be exact..
Herring Breaded to be served with either a green salad or fried potatos.
This may not look like much but after I soaked the crumbs to soften them as they said, I mixed the fish with the greens, they asked for parsley but I used nettles , which is also something they would have used, salt, pepper, together and fried it up, I had a heck of time with sticking in my fry pan but the cooked crispy bits where put over the other parts and added crunchy texture, it was tasty.. but the amounts would have been very tiny indeed..
1 tin of canned herring, 3 oz of stale bread crumbs, 2 oz of diced greens, half tsp of salt and pepper, soak the bread in warm water till softened, and then crumb into the fish, greens and spices, make into a ball-patty, and fry in a hot pan with a scant 1 tsp of bacon drippings
Just enough to give you your protein and you would have needed to fill up on the potatos and salad because you sure would not be full, you are seeing two adult portions on my little plate here. I would have cooked them different next time, I would bake them to get a more even cooking and crunch, If you could have used more fat, it would have worked better as well.. if you could have used non-stick, that would have helped but as I was following the scant 1 tsp of bacon drippings.. in a cast iron.. stick, stick and more stick..
The first photo is my sweet old girl Bella sleeping in her favorite chair with the sun playing shadows on her.. the second is my bowl of beans that needed to be set to soaking for a coming meal, so simple but so pretty to me.. and the last is my O so pretty baby girl Freckles.. Hope you enjoy todays selection
Well, I will not tell a lie, I had planned to talk about fat today and I made a eggless, butterless, milkless cake and it failed big time as in its going to my chickens, I tried again and to say that my cooking mojo is off today is a under statement, after the third try and still nothing that I could say if its the recipe or just me. I was left with not much to share, the plan and pictures do me no good.
* I did make a mean black bean and veggie soup in broth but that is for the bean day..
Change of plans and gears…
What if it was in fact the war time, I am guessing that my awful apple sauce cake would have had to be saved, taken out, cut into cubes and used in bread pudding.
wondering bout that reconstituted dried egg.. I got you covered, to a point, I can not find this copy at a better sizing but you can replace one to one with a fresh egg and all will be well
Ah yes, they did love their puddings, something I was raised with and created a life long issue with trying to eat wet and or mushy bread, cookie and so forth. I can even have a very hard time with wet stuffing and I love my stuffing, its a texture thing.
Now this is a family recipe for pudding that I do love..
Here is my basic Carrot Pudding Recipe, I can and sometimes do make changes, I like to make mine in pint or quarter jars and normally waterbath for a couple hours, just remember to only fill your jars 2/3rds full as the pudding will expand while cooking
When its time to serve, you can place your jar in a pot of warm simmering water to reheat it (as my grandmother used to do) or you can place in bowls and use the microwave.. The rich creamy sauce makes the finishing touch on this pudding..
The changing snow is a real challenge to take a good photo of, you have to find places that show different textures and depths to try and get what I am trying to capture..
Can you see it.. the melted top coat on the sun.. that my friends is a huge boon to me! It means that the solar energy is starting to win the battle and even with the cold, we are still seeing snow melt!
Always work to be done.. There is certainly spring repair work to do on my older buildings.
hmmm, even Spook, one of my very shy farm purrpots was enjoying the sun enough for me to get a lovely photo of her.. I adore her eye color, its so different.. a pale mix of yellow-green
I tried to get this photo before they froze solid in odd ways, but it was not meant to be.. Its bright and sunny but its still finger numbing cold out there today.. or in this case, towel freezing in place before you can get them all up and snap a photo..
I am starting to do some seed sprout test on my Brussel Sprouts Seeds, I will be adding in a nice row of about 30 feet of the Sprouts garden gods willing.
This plant is certainly one of the longest that I grow each year, must be started quite early in the spring, repotted at least once before being placed out into the garden.
Do not skimp on your spacing on these, but do consider green cropping around them that can be cut and drop and or once big enough if you want to bed it down..
I have grown them both with a green cover or bedded, I found they did better for me in the green cover, my very best year, I did a mix of raddish greens, plaintain and clover.. none of the plants, I did not let the radish go to seed, I snipped and dropped the flowers, harvested the plantain seeds for critter use and I cut and chopped the clover into the soil afterwards.
I have tried a few different teas and they appear to thrive best on a lighter watering of Nettle Tea. I grew them in full sun, moderate rich soil with a fence that had a full climber over it, that provided a moderate wind break.
Your critters will use the leaves you pick off as fodder, and pigs, sheep or cows will be happy to eat the stock after your take off your Brussels, they even chewed up the roots quite contently, not something always seen.
These are tough plants on the back end of the season, I have harvested as late as Nov and even into Dec depending on the winter.
They are better after a good hard frost before your first harvest, and they can be used in more says then most folks think.. I like them in my eggs as a breakfast item.. YUM!
Just another Day on the Farm 