Best Laying Hens for your Farmyard Flock

I love looking out my kitchen window and seeing my chickens, they are so much fun to watch. I used to spend hours going over poultry catalogs choosing  interesting chickens for my flock. I would select rare breeds or those I thought were especially pretty. Over the years I've adopted a few favorite breeds primarily for egg production, ability to forage and longevity. I also insist on birds that don't tend to get scruffy looking and I won't tolerate aggressive breeds that hen peck.

Road Island Red

The Road Island Red is the quintessential little red hen. With deep red plumage, an easy going personality and excellent performance she will lay her dark brown eggs consistently for years. They are cheerful, excellent foragers and one of the most docile hens you will ever meet.

Barred Plymouth Rock

 The Barred Plymouth Rock is beautiful and hardy. They can be broody and are known to be excellent mothers. During WWII  the Barred Rock was the most popular farm chicken. They happily lay their light brown eggs year round and are considered 'the Hereford of the poultry world'.

Black Star

Although I gravitate toward heritage poultry out of principal, I can't help but love the Black Stars. They are a hybrid cross between a Road Island Red rooster and a Barred Plymouth Rock hen. In my opinion they are the total package. Not only do they have a sweet dispossession, they are extremely prolific layers and easy keepers.

This Red Leg is five years old and still laying almost every day!

 The Red Leg certainly bares mentioning. This is another old cross using a Road Island Red rooster and a White Leghorn hen. This plucky  little white flecked hen is an egg laying machine. They are so tame they will follow you around like a pet! I had one that thought she was a goat. No matter how many times I'd put her to bed in the coop the next morning she'd be sleeping on the back of one of my goats. When the goats came in for milking she would come into the milk parlor and proudly lay her light cream colored egg in a coiled up hose! Red Legs are getting hard to find but Central Hatchery has wonderful, hardy chicks and I recommend them.

And the Winners Are....

I want to thank every one who entered the Organic Goat Milk Lotion Giveaway!!! I'm thrilled so many of you are interested in my products. Now, to select the winners...

First I assigned a number to each entry, there were a total of 57. Then I went on over to  random.org. I set the integer generator to select 3 random integers since I wanted three winners. I set the value between 1 and 57 in order to correspond with the number of entries. I clicked 'Get Numbers' and voila, the numbers appeared!

#52 Vickie Bell

#40 Leann Lindeman

#22 Paula Bowser

Congratulations to the lucky winners! Please contact me via facebook or at providencehillfarm @ sbcglobal dot net with your mailing address and I'll ship your soap and lotion right away. I plan to do regular, frequent givaways so if you didn't win this time watch for the next givaway during the Holidays!

Corn Chowder

Late summer when the weather starts to cool off my mind wanders to this recipe. An old time family favorite, this recipe is loosely adapted from the New Laurel's Kitchen.


Corn Chowder
Serves 6-8 hungry people

To a large soup pot add,
1 bunch of celery, diced
1 onion, diced
4 cups diced potato

Add 1 tablespoon of salt and water to cover simmer until the potatoes are almost cooked and 2 cups of fresh raw corn off the cob (canned or frozen if you don't have fresh)

While the potatoes are cooking make a white sauce with 1 stick of butter, a half cup of flour and 3 or 4 cups of milk. Add the white sauce to the soup. be careful not to boil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add diced cooked crispy bacon.

Organic Lotion Giveaway

I like to describe the difference between store bought and handcrafted soap and lotion as the same as the difference between a beautifully baked loaf of homemade bread fresh from the oven and a loaf of Wonder bread from the grocery store shelves. Now, if you consider the difference between a home baked loaf made with organic ingredients and conventional home baked bred there is a subtle improvement in flavor but not a remarkable difference in quality. However, your body will receive far more nourishment from the organic one. It is the same with bath and body products.

Many people don't realize that the skin is the body's largest organ. And, as with all body organs, it serves a vital purpose. The skin's function is detoxification. The skin can not function properly if it is bogged down dealing with topically applied toxic chemicals. Only the freshest and most natural subsistence's should be used for skin care. 

Moving to organic ingredients and more eco friendly packaging has been a long term goal of mine. Finally, after months of research, formulation and testing my new organic lotion is ready!
 

Our new organic goat milk lotion is made with;

Purified Water, Organic Aloe Juice, Organic Goat Milk, Organic Shea Butter , Organic Sunflower Oil, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Hemp Seed Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Emulsifying wax NF, Vegetable Stearic, Kosher Vegetable Glycerin, Witch Hazel, Natural Vitamin E, Olive Leaf Extract, African Red Bush Extract Ginko Biloba Extract, White Tea Extract, Green Tea Extract, Natural Coconut Derived Preservative,

 Fragrance and/or Essential Oil

 All wrapped up in a snazzy eco friendly aluminum bottle!

For my blog followers I'll be giving away 3 soap and lotion sets.

This giveaway starts today and ends October 10th 6AM

There are three ways to enter, choose one or triple your chances by doing all three!
Three lucky winners will receive a goat milk soap and lotion set!

First entry: You must be a blog follower and post on this thread saying that you want entered! 

Second entry: Go to my website goatmilksoapandlotion.com and sign the guest book located at the bottom of the About Us page

Third entry: 'Like' Providence Hill Farm on Facebook! 

Hot Today, Hot Tamale!

This is the first meal from my cooking plan. Like enchiladas, tamales can be pretty time consuming. One overlooked benefit of the 30 meal plan is that you don't just save time by having the food prepared, you save time with kitchen clean up. With the Mexican spiced beef already prepared all I had to do was wrap and steam the tamales and make a side dish.

To make the tamales I soaked dried corn husks is hot water and added enough hot water to a few cups of corn masa to make a workable dough. When the husks were soft I tore one into strips to tie the tamales. Then, with a husk open I pressed 2 tablespoons of masa into a square on the widest upper quarter of the husk. Next, spoon the filling down the middle of the masa, roll over one turn to seal the meat in the masa, fold the narrow end of the husk up, roll the tamale to close and finish by tying is closed with a strip of husk. Once you have all the tamales rolled steam them for about an hour and a half.

To go with the tamales I made a simple confetti rice salad with cilantro lime dressing. It is just cold cooked rice with drained black beans, corn, diced peppers and chopped cilantro. The dressing is oil, lime, garlic, salt, and chili powder. Once a month cooking never looked so good!

Once a Month Cooking Revisited

Wait! Before you navigate away with a 'been there done that' attitude hear me out. I have learned a few things about this meal plan since I first tried it out in the early 90's and I want to share it with you.

First, this cooking plan works best if you give yourself permission to continue to make dinner when it suits you. Just because you have 30 meals in the freezer doesn't mean that is all you can serve your family for a month. Next, don't make more than 2 of any recipe. If you haven't made a lasagna in years then all of the sudden you are serving it every Thursday, your family will be confused and secretly hope that you will lose the recipe again. Don't try too many new recipes. There are a ton of recipes for this kind of meal plan but don't try to use this time for a mass experiment. As a kindness, offer your family some recognizable dishes. Also remember you don't need to live this way. Once a month cooking can be a great trick to pull out of your hat for times when you know you will be busy, a new baby, the start of the school year, canning or kidding season are a few times you might be glad dinner is in the freezer.

I got home from shopping at 2:30 and by 6:00 I had prepared 26 meals for $117! This included the cost of the meat since my fall beef and chickens aren't ready for the freezer yet.

9 Chicken entrees (9 meals)

8 lbs Mexican Beef (8 meals)

5lbs Meat Balls (5 meals)

Pizza (4 meals)

26 meals

For the Mexican Beef I put 8 pounds of ground beef in the crock pot on high with chopped onion and garlic and let it cook while I put the meatballs together. Some ideas for beef recipes can be found on Menus4moms The chicken entrees were of the Dump Chicken variety, super easy. If you are using whole fryers from the freezer just put them, a few at a time, into a stock pot of cold water. Fryers are easier to cut while they are mostly frozen if you have a very sharp knife. Once the chicken was in the freezer I drained the cooked beef from the crock pot and added the tomatoes and seasonings. I didn't premake the pizza I just put the pepperoni and Canadian bacon in the freezer.

I made 7 different chicken entrees, so only 2 repeats. I can do so many different things with the Mexican beef, everything from enchiladas and empanadas to tacos and tamales not to mention super nachos and chili. The Meatballs will be for spaghetti and meatballs, baked rotini, pesto penne with Italian vegetables and meatballs, Scandinavian meatballs and sweet and sour meatballs. Pizza for Friday night Pizza night.

So there you go! Once a month cooking as easy as you please. No huge stock pots bubbling away and no casseroles. If you're pressed for time give it a try :)

Upcycled Vintage Aprons

An apron brings a certain charm to everyday work. Something happens when I tie my apron strings, my mind clears and I feel like I can accomplish everything on my endless to-do list . 

I used to barter for aprons with a friend but she has put off sewing for a while with twin toddlers and a new baby needing her attention. I was inspired to try making a few upcycled aprons from vintage linens I found at the thrift store. I whipped these half aprons up quickly and I have some pretty full aprons in the works.

I found a set of curtains with pretty vintage trim

This is what it looked like after I cut it,

and this is all that was leftover.

 

I made two aprons from the curtains, one to keep and one to sell or barter.

 I also bought a few vintage pillow cases which make very pretty aprons.

Grandma's Apron

Author Unknown

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.
The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.
It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears…
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.
And when the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.
Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.
After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men-folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.