Life on a little urban homestead in the making, with ideas for self-sufficiency, Permaculture, DIYing, organic gardening, food preservation, Chicken keeping, cookery, crafts, thrifting and more...

Jun 19, 2013

Raining, I'm Bored- Let's Bake! Good Homesteading/Chicken Books, Unusual Coops




Raining-
We actually got some significant rain late last night and most of today, a surprise. It's been only about 60, and still cloudy. I opened up some windows to let the fresh air in, then closed them a bit later as it was pretty chilly. The clouds were breaking, a little blue sky, now a downpour and some thunder. Many time these summer storms blow through and we get wind, no rain, maybe just some thunder. Rain is nice....


I'm Bored, Let's Bake!
Being bored out of my mind, and finally off pain meds, I decided to bake. I need to use up some eggs for my favorite Citrus Angel Food Cake  I panicked when I realized I was out of cream of tartar, but there are easy substitutes for it. In this case, an equal part of lemon juice. No worries, it worked great! I also add about 1 tsp. of pure orange extract. This cake is so easy, you'll wonder why you never tried it sooner, if you haven't. It's addicting!

                                            

Good Homesteading/Chicken Books-
I've worked on a few library books the last couple of weeks. I REALLY like this one, short and sweet-
Finding Good Farmland , a Storey Basic book (love those). Hoping to someday move to a rural area, this one would be great for a novice like me, or someone more experienced. My favorite list was on page 73- Red Flags For a Problem Farm, really enlightening. Excellent read!

                                 

I also got from the Library, Free Range Chicken Gardens. This is a good read, with lots of ideas. There is more to the book than just gardens for chickens despite the title. Some of these ideas are great if you have lots of time, energy and $$$. It would be more beneficial if you were completely redoing your landscaping layout. On a budget you have to work with what you're given many times. I'm not a big fan of chicken poop everywhere either. Eh. I have already done many of these ideas, and this may vary climate-wise. There's no way I would do a lot of hardscaping with the hot summers here. I'm also not a big fan of gravel paths in general. My garden is frozen in the winter and so free-ranging in limited to the dirt veggie area. I wouldn't buy this personally, just check it out for the great eye candy. Most of the chicken information can be found free online.

                                               

My last chicken related book had lots of great ideas, City Chicks  It had much more interesting tidbits, including a chapter on teaching your chickens tricks! THAT I will be trying! I would really recommend this book. It's cool! I just wish the photos were in color.

                                    African chicken coop Unusual Chicken Coops

Unusual Coops-
I was going to post a few photos here, but then I struck gold! Hanburyhouse.com has a wonderful pages with designs from all over the world. There's more here too Facebook Chicken Coops  Here's a couple of my favorites-

               Photo: Have found a posh CHICKEN HOTEL to share with you! :)
It's found here: http://www.thefancyfarmgirl.com/heres-the-coop/
                             From Thefancyfarmgirl.com, a bit over the top, but cute

                  
                                                           From FB page

                       earthshipchickencoop Unusual Chicken Coops
                                                   S.W. Earthship style

 
WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD? (Individual perspectives on the matter)

Woody Allen: I mean, it was, it was ... a legal chicken ... It wasn't like it was a blood relative or anything. (And don't believe anything that Mia says about me.) 

Aristotle: To actualize its potential. 

Pat Buchanan: To steal a job from a decent, hard-working American. 

Roseanne: Urrrrrp. What chicken?

2 comments:

Candy C. said...

Your cake looks lovely! My mom used to make angel food cakes all the time but I have never even attempted one.
Hooray for the rain! I noticed on the weather yesterday that ya'll were going to be much cooler.
Some of those chicken coops are really cute but, I agree, the one with the furniture is a bit over the top! LOL!!
Glad you are feeling better! :)

Unknown said...

Thanks, so glad it rained. Try that cake, it's easy!

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