100 Degrees, Hawk Attack! Sweet Hot Pickled Red Onion, Making Corn Relish

100 Degrees-
Well summer is finally here and so is the heat! It was 100 yesterday and 80 degrees at 10:30 a.m. this morning. Now it's water, water, water. We added more compost to our beds to keep the soil moist, really helps. I'm very grateful we also have A/C and lots of ceiling fans. We dress for the weather and stay hydrated. Kept the chickens cool with the little mister. Both the hens stood right under it yesterday. I hosed down the chick area where they like to hang out. Pretty cool. The veggies are really taking off in the garden and the heat will help. And hey, I can make sun tea!

Sadly the fires have started too. Many fires were started on the 4th from fireworks, and there was a grass fire in the foothills yesterday. The sky was smoky in parts last night, at times obscuring the sun, but it's gone this morning thankfully. So we're staying cool and enjoying the summer. 

Image from Eastsideaudubon.org

Hawk Attack! 
You know how every thing's going really well and something happens that is so bizarre you stand back and think did that really happen?  Two days ago the chicks were outside having a good time and I was in the kitchen with the sliding glass door open. It was pretty quiet, the weather was great. I heard a terrible terrible, blood-curdling peeping from one of the chicks. I wasn't sure if one of the hens was attacking one, a cat or what was going on. I threw open the door and ran outside. As I was coming out off the deck I could see something long and low, jet black at the base of our garden gate going into the veggie area, was it a cat or?

 After getting closer coming off the deck a huge hawk flew up over our maple tree. When the hawk flew off it went and landed on our neighbor's tree behind us. I went into the garden, saw only two chicks and just had a terrible thought that the hawk had taken one. Annie the white chick was missing-

I thought well, that's it, the hawk took the chick. Then I heard another terrible peeping and looked around the yard. Annie was in the top of a boxwood shrub in the shade area, on the other side of the coop. I ran over there I was able to get her out of the shrub-

 Round boxwood shrub

 She was shaking like a leaf and peeping wildly. Poor thing was terrified. I checked her and didn't see any blood or any puncture marks. I took her back into the main part of the garden, closed the gate and put her down on the ground to see if she was okay. She seemed fine, but all three of the chicks ran and hid in a corner. I grabbed a lawn chair and brought it inside the gate so I was only a few feet from them and sat down. I didn't see the hawk at that point but when I looked up it was soaring over us. The chicks kept looking at me and I think they seemed comforted by my being near, and they all fell asleep.

Mantling Behavior from Hiveminer.com

Hawks spread their wings out to cover their prey when they first catch it. That's called mantling, then they eat. I learned this being a volunteer at the local Birds Of Prey Center.  It was low to the ground in front of the gate, just flat. When I came out and the hawk flew away I think it dropped Annie due to her size or weight into the maple tree. I suspect that she tumbled down through the tree, then landed in the shrub directly below. I think if she had hit the dirt directly she probably would have died from the fall. I stayed with them for about an hour or so and just make sure that the hawk didn't come back. Hopefully I startled it enough that it won't come back, but that's the risk you take. It had really black top wing feathers and I called the Bird of Prey Center. With it's coloring and size they thought it was probably a Swainson's Hawk. I had looked up the Sharp-Shinned Hawks that I know we have in the neighborhood, but they are smaller. So all in all everything came out okay. I'm just glad I was home and heard things or it might have been a much different outcome.

Sweet Hot Pickled Red Onion-
Speaking of food projects I decided to make some of these wonderful that red onion rings. I heard this recipe on the radio years ago, made some and it's a really versatile side dish. You can put it on top of salads, eat on crackers, lots you can do with it. Just follow the simple directions here and you could double or triple the batch if you like Splendidtable.org. The limes juices basically works like a pickling acid. I do like a little less heat, so I use Jalapenos, and skip the mint. A mandolin made quick work of this. This recipe made 2 packed Qts. Yummy!

Making Corn Relish-
Here's another fun summer cold side dish! I didn't make this last summer and regretted it, so I made some now. It's pretty simple, you basically drop all the ingredients into a pot and simmer. It keeps in the refrigerator for quite a few weeks since it's basically in a vinegar base. Some people do can this as well, lots of info out there. Since I don't grow my own corn I just use canned (horrors!) and make enough for the 2 of us. You can certainly make a quadruple batch. All three of my adult kids really love this recipe! The first time I gave some to my one daughter she said she sat down with a spoon and ate an entire quart jar! Too much acid for my tummy. Anyway it's simple and you could add all kinds of other veggies- tomatoes, cukes, hot peppers, etc. I started to chop the red onion and up came the fumes! I forgot to chill the onion, that cuts down on the tears. So I got out my manual mini veggie Chef'n chopper-

I chunked up the onion, put inside, pulled the handle about 8-10 xs, and had finely diced onion, no more tears! I HIGHLY recommend this chopper, VERY sharp, small and works fast. $19.99 on Amazon, click on photo for more info. So here's the version I came up with after reading multiple recipes online-

Recipe-
5 cans corn (I used low sodium) and the juice, or fresh or frozen
1 each chopped- red bell pepper and green bell pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 cup white sugar
1 teas. celery seed
1 teas. mustard seed
1 teas. Turmeric
1 large diced red onion
2 cups apple cider vinegar

Put everything into a large pot, stir well, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour. Cool, then transfer to jars and refrigerate. This recipe made about four Qts. I really like making these kinds of recipes from scratch and add to my cold 'pantry'.

Happy Independence Day!

Vacation Day = Project Time! Keeping Chickens Cool in The Heat

Vacation Day = Project Time!

I had today off as a vacation time day which meant project time! There were a few different projects I wanted to do. Some of them were little, some of them larger, but all of them take time. With gardening season full blown we are really busy on the weekends. We also do periodic babysitting for our grandchildren. We love them and are happy to to help. Since I knew I'd be off today we went and saw Ocean's 8 yesterday, great movie! So here we go...

Shelf Wood Finishing- One of the projects I wanted to do today was finishing our corner hall unit that Dave built DIY Floating Corner Shelves. I looked around for quite a few ideas about finishing the shelves, but decided to live with them as-is until summer. Using any kind of paint or varnish etc., would have really smelled up the house in the winter. I thought about paint, stain and wasn't sure if we wanted to keep them light or dark. Both Dave and I really like the natural wood look and so I found Watco Danish Oil which is a one-step finish. Got it at a big box store for about $10.00. It's oil-based product that protects the wood and is very easy to apply-

I went with Natural since that we didn't want a really big color change in the wood. We have a nice light wall color in the hallway and I didn't want to go dark since we're going for a bright airy look in the house. First I removed the decorative items and dusted well-

bare wood

Put on first coat, 'flooding the wood' per directions-

Rubbed in well with 2 folded up paper towels-

1st coat

Next let sit 20 minutes, then did a 2nd coat-

Let sit another 15 minutes, wipe off the excess, it was easy! It has a mild smell, not bad compared to poly, etc. Darkened the wood just a bit, nice luster. I used less than 1/3 the bottle, so more left for other projects. I didn't need to tarp, just careful, washed my hands, came right off with Dawn.  Loving it! I let it sit overnight, then added back the decor.

Why I call this a project

Curtido- Another project was to make some Curtido, a Salvadoran spicy sauerkraut. It's amazing and so healthy! Post here Curtido Making . FYI, I use pickling salt, but you could change that. It's easy to make but it's a bit labor-intensive, using a mandolin to slice a lot of cabbage, carrots, onions (and dice any leftovers), season, and add salt to ferment. Then there's the clean up! I leave the diced jalapenos out, it's spicy enough for us!  I weighed the veggies before starting, simpler to gauge the salt amount. I bought this inexpensive OXO Mandolin a year or 2 ago, and it works great for this!!! Small and easy/safe to store. Perfect for recipes when you need something sliced very uniform. For $14.99 it's perfect, has 3 adjustments for thickness, and it's razor sharp-

Making Curtido is really worth it, since it lasts for several months in your fridge once it ferments. It is really great for your tummy, tons of probiotics. You can ferment for several months, but I wait about 10-14 days, and great as is. I'm sure it would have a deeper flavor if you went longer. The flavor is really amazing, not just spicy, but very aromatic as well. I will ferment some pickles this summer once I find some pickling cucumbers locally. I have a good fermenting jar that I use and it works perfect for these applications simple and easy. Recipe here- Curtido Spicy Fermented Sauerkraut

Not done yet

Donations- Another project was just getting some donations together to drop off at a thrift store. Sometimes you keep things because you think you're going to use them. Or you keep things because you're just emotionally attached to them. I had two pair of nice, expensive clogs that I used to wear at my old library job when I was on my feet all day. I thought about selling them on eBay but frankly I thought it would be more fun to throw a little something expensive into a thrift store donation bag! Some lucky person will find them, works for me. Adding some other things and dropping off tomorrow, since I won't have jury duty.

Baking- I've been wanting to make some homemade cookies for a while. I wanted to freeze some for when the grand kids come over, or just have a cookie emergency. So I decided to make some Toll House chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, w/pecans. I love the fact they have oatmeal and adding nuts makes for a great cookie. Simple and easy but very tasty.  You can also sub bittersweet chocolate, more like an adult cookie if you like.

Shade area

Keeping Chickens Cool in The Heat

A few years ago I asked Dave to fence in the area between the coop and the maple tree since it was open and nice and shady. The original chicken run was pretty much full sun around the vegetables and WAY too hot. So for very little money we just added a small section of fencing in an L going from the coop to the tree to the fence. Problem solved, mostly! I've written about keeping chickens cool in the summer before, but just one little inexpensive tip! I'm adding this as it works so well and is inexpensive- a hose mister! Just attach to your hose, turn the water on low, and cool mist! I bought one of these hose misters and use it near their shaded area and coop-

Note here- You never want to put a mister inside a coop as it will cause too much humidity, and could make your chickens sick. I never put the mister right in the shade area, but instead I put it about three feet away, usually on a lawn chair. These use very little water, are easy to store in the winter and that little bit of extra dampness really helps cool the air. Cucumber slices, melons, any other kind of cool wet food is really helpful to. I've use crushed ice and they love that as well. Sadly we don't have an ice crusher anymore so I stick to things like cool fruits or vegetables that have a lot of water content. I read repeatedly you never want to give chickens corn in the summer as it tends to overheat them, better in the winter. Having a well-ventilated coop also helps and having a shady place for them to go. I keep the water founts clean and well filled all summer long.