We made chicken soup with the left over chicken we got from Barnison Farm and used our own carrots, and then local vegies: green beans, broccoli, potatoes and onion. Herbs from our garden are in here too! The only non-local item is the garlic. I also baked jalapeno, cheese, onion bread using organic cheese, our jalapenos and local onions. as soon as I start ordering from the local mill here, I can say my bread is almost 100% local too! hahah

I can’t get over how much better this chicken is than store bought. I really can’t keep being a veg-head with this chicken around. It is so much more satisfying and flavorful. 🙂 Jason asked me the other day if I was going to preface every local meal with the word, “local”….if it all tastes this good, then hell yeah I am!

(Photo courtesy of Whole Foods)

We got our first local, pasture fed, humanely treated chicken to eat today from Barnison Farm. Can I just say, WOW! We are going to bbq one of them tonight, but just looking at these birds I can tell a huge difference from store bought! And Jeremy and Allison are awesome! They are both just the nicest, sweetest people. The word “community” keeps coming to mind. We are hoping to not only have found a place for great, local food, but also the start of a new friendship.

Thank you so much Allison and Jeremy…you guys are what it’s all about! We’ll let you know how it turns out tonight. YUM!

(P.S. I think my vegetarian ways have gone out the window…hahah)

we finally got 5 new girls for our backyard flock: 3 Black Jersey Giants, 1 Salmon Faverolle, and 1 Danish Leghorn. They are so cute and seem to be doing alright with the others. We also found a home for Arthur. I’m sad because he’s such a sweet bird, but I can’t give away the girls’ roos, so mine has to go. Three are just too many. The first pic is of the Leghorn. Here are the rest:

Salmon Faverolle:

The Jerseys:

We also spent last weekend finishing the coop. We added a run behind the barn as free ranging them all was proving detrimental to the gardens. We got the nest boxes done and the ramp too. They all seem to be very happy with their new set-up. 🙂 Here are the pics:

I have to give a huge THANK YOU and plug for a local farm here, Barnison Farm. I found them through Edible Austin, and they were highly recommended for their humanely treated poultry, etc.. I don’t eat much meat at all, but my husband and kids do, so I have been seeking out a source for our poultry and finally found an amazing place! I emailed them and received a wonderful reply saying they had read the blog and my other site links in my signature and would be more than happy to deliver to my door, no minimum! I love the community feeling with it all. 🙂 Their site is wonderful and they have such a humane outlook on their birds and the way they are treated. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to find our poultry for cooking..:) Here’s to buying and eating locally!!!!

Even if you don’t live near Austin, check out their site. It’s people like them that make “community” possible. Thank you so much Jeremy and Allison!

oh, and i think i found my source for locally milled grain too! yay!! it’s all starting to fall into place now..:)

So in my quest to up the local supply and demand, I’m on a search for locally milled grains for baking. I’ve emailed Edible Austin in hopes that they can help me. How is everyone else doing this? How did you find your local sources? 🙂 More questions, I know..haha I just have this picture in my head of fresh homemade bread using mainly local ingredients. I can smell it!! Yum!!!

Karl at Pile of O’Melays commented on my last blight post and mentioned using cornmeal to help combat it. I’ve never heard of this before and am very interested in hearing from others who have tried this with some success. So I’m calling out to all blight sufferers:

How do you combat this organically? And to what degree of success did you have with your methods?

Thanks!! 🙂

Not really homestead related, but I had to share. One of my dearest friends just found out she’s expecting another baby after almost a year of trying and finally giving up! I’m so happy for her!! 🙂 Congratulations Michelle!!!

Took over our tomatoes in the front. We pulled them all out today and will not be planting any nightshade type plants there for a couple years at least while we try to get the soil back up to par. What a pain! 😉

We also found a home for our grey rooster. I took him down on Saturday and he will live a VERY happy life on this farm. So i felt good about that. More later as I try to catch up from my weekend away. Why is it that you go away for a couple days and there always seems to be twice the amount of work when you get back? LOL

Homegrown and local organic cukes and onions…enough said!

Well, it appears that we have a 4th rooster in the flock. Which puts our hens at 3. So 2 roosters are going to have to go. 🙁 I’ve been posting on my chicken forums looking for someone who will want a couple super sweet roosters. And now I have to get more hens too. I think I’ll get 4 laying hens, if possible. I’d love the Blue Laced Red Wyandotte breed, but those are not easy to find around here. I may have to order them as chicks in the spring. 😉

So here are a couple pics of the guys that have to find new homes. I don’t even know the breeds as we got the chicks from a local school who hatched them as a classroom science experiment. They are beautiful birds though!

You have to excuse the blurry pics, I took them with an old digital and it’s not easy getting these guys to say “cheese”!