Almost Canadian

I didn't realise that.

We looked into getting some meat birds and I don't think I would have any real issue with killing them, especially if we obtained some of those funnel things that I understand one uses to put them in so that their head sticks out of the bottom, and their bodies remain in the funnel, to aid with the cutting off of their heads.

However, it appeared to me that the main issue was the plucking. I appreciate that one can purchase all manner of hot water "spinners" that allegedly do the trick but, as we buy our chicken meet from Hutterites it appeared to me that one would have to process a large number of birds to make the capital outlay worthwhile.

I am always amazed at how our eggs look when broken into a frying pan when compared to those one can purchase. Did you notice a similar benefit when comparing the taste of yours to those one buys at a store?

HGerchikov

and apparently what meat you can find tastes very different.

Almost Canadian

As I have stated above, your own eggs will look completely different when cracked to one bought in a store (I have never purchased "organic" and I accept that they may be different).

Once cracked, the white of our eggs is far more "solid" than regular eggs and doesn't run all over the place. The colour of the yolks is very bright too. Somewhere between yellow and orange.

We get lots of double yoked eggs too. My wife tells me that triple yoked eggs are not uncommon either (she loves eggs, I rarely eat them unless contained in a cake!)

BristolUK

I bought some duck eggs once and that sounds very like them. Rubbery is the word I'd have used.

dbd33

Absolutely. The home eggs have colour and stand up yokes. Most of the egg customers are from rural parts of far flung countries; Iran, China, India, Pakistan, Poland, where they kept chickens in their backyards. The consistent comment is along the lines of "I couldn't believe what they sell as eggs in supermarkets here". One customer with an opinion consistent with theirs is from northern Ontario "Growing up, I was so sheltered that it wasn't until I went to university that I knew eggs could come in white".

We in "the west" tend to think we have the best of everything but the third world has it all over us in egg quality.

Almost Canadian

I appreciate that I made a mistake above. I meant to refer to the taste of your meat, rather than the eggs. My apologies.

dbd33

Ah. Frankly, no. It tasted like chicken, it was better than some supermarket chickens, worse than others. It wasn't spectacularly better in the way than local grass fed beef, home eggs or home grown garlic is spectacularly better. I suppose that's why we don't have meat birds now.

Almost Canadian

OK

Garlic. I have to admit that we have never looked into growing our own. We grew tomatoes for the first time last year and we will do so again this year. The time spent/benefit gained was fantastic. Does growing garlic require much effort?

Apologies for HGerchikov for the thread drift

dbd33

Not of me(!) The process seems to be to dig out whatever was in a raised bed over the summer and to plant the garlic bulbs just before the first frost. When they're done (and I don't know how one knows that) the whole plant is pulled out and left dangling upside down in the garage until some garlic is needed in the kitchen. We've only a few plants left from last season so it'll soon be time to wean ourselves on to the bland stuff. I don't hear much about the garlic growing so I suppose it's easier than cabbages or parsnips.

HGerchikov

Apparently garlic is really easy, OH is the veggie grower in our house and he says garlic is about the easiest. Stick it in the ground, wait then pull it up again. We still have a lot left over from last year - its in a bag in the (unheated) mudroom. No worries about the thread drift, all the discussion is relevant.

dbd33

I have to go and meet some Mennonites. Here's a gardening picture, it'll soon be time to active the basement grow op in preparation for doing it all again.

HGerchikov

OH has a way of growing from seed outside, he had to develop this method out of necessity after I pointed out (strongly) that there was no way he was taking over the house with little pots of things all over the windowsills. The technique involves cutting coke bottles (or similar) in two, planting a seed or three in the bottom section then taping the top section back on again. Then putting it on the deck and leaving it there throughout the winter and early spring - I think he put them out the end of January. The seeds sit through the snow in their own personal mini greenhouse then when they get warm enough they germinate, when they are too big for the bottle he plants them in the raised beds. The seedlings are pretty tough at that point. I was extremely sceptical the first year he tried it but it was remarkably successful and absolutely no mess in the house.

Almost Canadian

I shall have to look into this as it appears to require the amount of effort I am willing to put in.

The previous owners had what appears to have been a relatively large vegetable plot. A huge rhubarb comes up each year.

Last year OH purchase a rototiller thingy and spent a number of days going over it. When she was done, it appeared to be perfect loam. I believe she put in all the horse shit she could find from all over our property (I have no idea whether it was properly "seasoned" before she did).

She then proceeded to plant all manner of stuff in there but refused to do so in lines or mark what each "section" was. She then refused to hoe the weeds every day and, in no time at all, everything grew to about 3 feet tall. Not being an expert in such things, I declined to say to her that it was all weeds, but I believe it was.

In any event, time passed and the stuff above ground died when the cold weather came. I have no idea at all if she ever took anything out of the ground but I am very confident that I would have heard about it if she had.

She was telling me that she wants to give it all another go this year and I have no idea if she is doing so with the intention of attempting to produce something this year, or whether she simply enjoys being outside "working out" with the tiller rather than spending hours working out in the gym we have in our basement.

Are you using those bales as sides to your raised beds, or are things growing in the bales? If so, how does that work?

HGerchikov

We use a method called square foot gardening, no tilling, weeding or hoeing required. Don't need much space either. The photo shows the initial layout the first year. These beds provided approx 50% of the fruit and vegetables for a family of 4 for the summer. We added more in later years and could feed ourselves from May until November with fresh vegetables and fruit.

BristolUK

Stepdaughter and mother in law grow stuff in half a dozen raised beds like that.
When the snow falls and all you see are the tops of the corner posts it makes me think of a graveyard in past times.

I feel giddy trying to look at that upside down