More Spring Updates: Chickens and Nettles

Nettles:

This past Fall was exciting, because we (mainly Jack and Justin) harvested TONS of Elderberry for me to make lots of different medicines with. I ended up tincturing about the equivalent of 32, 2oz. bottles of Elixir, and also made several 16 ounce jars of Syrup that ended up lasting me and my friends throughout the entire Fall and Winter of colds and flus, which seemed like such an amazing blessing to me. Well, this Spring, it's going to be Nettles! As I mentioned in my last blog, I found a huge patch of Nettles at my favorite local spot on the Willamette, and I've now gathered quite a bit of the leaves, leaving plenty to go to seed, of which I will gather a limited amount, leaving the rest to reseed themselves, as I've read some great things about Nettle seeds on Kiva's blog and their effect on adrenal fatigue, and am eager to experiment with that as soon as the time is right. But for now, I am hoping to try and live through the Valley's allergy season with a lot less suffering, as Nettles is pretty famous for it's allergy fighting properties. I'm also anxious to see if it will have any effect on the pain in my right knee joint that has been giving me some trouble this last year, as it's supposed to be good for that as well. You know, I had absolutely no knee pain a day or two after arriving in New Mexico when we visited in November, which promptly came back nearly the minute we stepped off the plane in Oregon and got wafted by that thick, wet air. Yet another reason to long for the SW (although I sure don't miss the VERY dried out sinuses that kept me up some nights). 

Anyway...

The first round I gathered, we cooked up into a stir fry, which Justin and Isabelle seemed to really like, but I was not super crazy about, for some reason. These came right from the banks of the Willamette, and I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but it seemed like they had a super fishy taste to them, almost like catfish or some other bottom dwelling fish I resented having to eat as a kid. Whatever the reason, I wasn't crazy about them fresh, so I started drying them. They keep longer anyway, and if I change my mind about having some fresh, I'll drive the 5 miles to go get some. 

this bucket was full yesterday, but I've been slowly working my way through them since then, and still have about half a bucket left.

 I busted out my new dehydrator I got for Yule for the first time for this adventure. It didn't have a Nettles option on their list of drying times for some odd reason, but I can tell you from my experience so far, you can cut that 1 day drying time they have listed for "Greens" in half for these as long as your not overlapping them on the racks or anything. Spreading them out one layer thick, just touching each other, and not even rotating them, it took about 12 hours for the first two batches that I've now managed to dry completely. After they've been hanging around your house, waiting for their turn in the dehydrator, you can even cut that time in half again.

Here they are all dried and ready to go... Isabelle had way too much fun pulverizing them, using the smashing and stomping in the bag method. ;) She also thought the mortar and pestle was pretty neat too though. Kids are great slave labor, when they think they're getting to play. ;)

I figure i'll end up making a little less than the pound bags you can get from Mountain Rose for $4. Doesn't save you a ton of money, but it's amazing to do it yourself!

Chickens:

In other news, we got 8 new chickens and a rooster the other day! Seven were from a friend I had agreed to do a housekeeping trade for, and the Bantam and "mutt" rooster were from our neighbor Jack who had 7 too many roosters and is coincidentally bringing some chicken over for a barbecue in a few days. ;)

This is one of the Auracana's from Arianna. They and the Americauna's are my favorite so far, for their looks and personality. They are kind leaders and free spirits, laying eggs in strange random places, and look a lot like owls and hawks! I <3 them! This is the one I believe Isabelle named Stardust, after the movie and the book, which by the way, are COMPLETELY different from each other! I mean, only the very basic elements are the same in the movie from the book, otherwise, it's a completely different story. Completely! Sorry... just finished that recently and was really annoyed about it, so had to just say something. The book was WAY better. As if that needed saying.

This is our Rooster of unknown lineage, and no name as of yet. Justin wants to name him, but for now I'm calling him Punky Rooster. He's purty! 

Update: I've been informed that his name is Rooster Cogburn. Mine's wittier! :P

Here's more of the new flock, including the little black Banty on the left next to Punky Rooster Rooster Cogburn. We named her Paquita, cuz she's just little! There's another Auracana of which there are two, a Barred Rock, one of two Rhode Island Reds, and one of the two Golden Sex Links. They don't have names yet, but it's nothing personal, as most of the babies don't even have names yet, and we've had them for over a month now.  

Speaking of which, here are the cuties, looking a whole lot bigger than the first time you saw them here, on the video Isabelle and Justin made. There are 14 in the coop, and one in the house still trying to mend a gimpy foot, with a "boot" Justin made, as per some suggestions we read up on, on the Backyardchickens.com forums. She was thrown in for free and may not make it, as she's not growing very much and still has very limited mobility. :( Also, one of the Bantam's we bought died a few days after we brought them all home, which was quite the heartbreak. :( Her name was Penelope and she was the tiniest and loudest. We'll miss you little peepers! Ah, the woes of homesteading life.  

Hey little ladies!

One of the first eggs from our new adult chickens! So exciting! Our very own eggs! We've been eating lots of awesome, farm fresh eggs from the neighbors, but they're even better when they're your own. My most favorite of breakfasts lately is just simple over-easy eggs and masa cakes. So good!

This one looking right at the camera for me is an Americauna that looks an awful lot like an owl, whom I have named Moon. She has the prettiest lavender colored feathers...

On the far left here is another Americauna named Starhawk... Really wish you could see her face and coloring better to see how Hawk-like she is. She's beautiful!

The last of my Americauna friends, seen here drinking from one of our nifty chicken nipples, is Hawkeye, another very hawk-like beauty. I have never been so gaga about chickens! I mean, I've always liked them in a distant kinda way, but I have a real affinity for these birds! They are so soft and beautiful and smart! I heart them! I heart them a lot! 

Okay, well... That's my update! Thanks for reading! I'll let you know how that Nettle tincture turns out! And I'm sure you'll hear lots more about the chickens for years to come. I hope!