JUST KIDDING!

But when life gives you adorable baby chickens, and you run a fictional food blog, how can you resist such a great photo? :)

Alright, so it was actually the local feed store clerk who gave them to me, in exchange for money, but I think the principle still stands.

This spring, we (I) decided it was finally time to add some chickens to the property. And when you’re going that far, you might as well throw some runner ducks in as well, because have you SEEN how hysterical they are? Plus, they can start making a dent in the tick population, which is pretty high this year. PLUS we get eggs! In, like, six more months…

I’d wanted to take a photo like this when the chicks were still tiny little puffballs, but they grow so crazy fast. The chicks are a little over two weeks old, and the ducklings a week younger. But the chicks have started to grow into itty bitty dino-chickens, and the ducklings love swimming in the bathtub. I can barely handle how cute they all are.

So without further ado, I’d like to present:

We had tried to go with a theme of ass-kicking chicks, which is how we got Buffy, Ripley, and Dejah Saurus, but after that it sort of fell apart. Warbeak is from the Redwall series, Hufflepuff was the friendliest chicken, and Gladys was… just sort of an old biddy from the start.

Yes, we have some names picked out for the ducklings, but we won’t know for a while if they are boys or girls, so we’re trying to hold off for now. Probable contenders include Brunhilda and Clementine for lady ducks, and Sir Francis Drake for a gentleman.

There’s a good bit more work to do to get the coop ready for its new residents, but I’ve whitewashed it, put down linoleum, and hired a local guy to jack it up a foot and refloor it, and engineering task that was just beyond me. It’s an old playhouse that hasn’t seen much use in recent years, so it’s nice to see it coming back to life!

Expect more updates in the future, because you know I just can’t help myself… ;)

So, while this is mostly a recipe blog, every now and then another aspect of cooking creeps in, like gardening. Which is probably pretty legit, actually, since food does come from somewhere before it hits the shops. ;)

I planted sweetcorn last year, but with how busy everything seems to get during the summer, I struggled to harvest and cook it in anything like a timely manner. In fact, more than a couple of ears just languished in the kitchen, slowly drying out. So this year, I thought, “Why not get corn that’s meant to dry out? For popcorn!” And when I saw pictures of glass gem corn, I knew that’s what I had to plant. It is just SO pretty:

And since, as my cousin observed over the summer, I “don’t grown normal stuff, only interesting things”, I figured what the heck. But, predictably, I left the harvest a little too long, and only picked the ears this morning. Tentatively, I started pulling back the husk, noting with gloom that I’d had some pests snacking on them, and bracing myself for ruined ears.

They did not disappoint. Like, WOW.

The variety of colors and patterns! They really look like little bright gems, and I can’t stop admiring them. My husband has been laughing at me all day, as I make him look at one ear after another. I don’t care. I’m utterly smitten.

Here’s a huge shout-out to Baker Creek Seeds, from whom I bought my seed corn. Everything I’ve received from them has produced wonderful vegetables, herbs, and flowers, and I can’t wait to start filling my cart again for spring! Seriously, if you plan on planting anything next year, check with them first.