Two for the price of one!

  With the cooler nights we are having here lately, I have been in the mood for baking!  During the summer months, the oven heats the kitchen far too hot so things are kept to a minimum but let that temperature chill down a bit and I am one happy camper!  I was up with the birds this morning and ready to bake a batch of chocolate/mint cookies.  It is a good thing that Son loves his cookies because otherwise, I would be a big as a barrel!  Somebody has to eat all of these baked goods!

  To start, I gathered all of my supplies and then warmed the oven. Things were already making me smile.  Butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla....I started going through the recipe from memory.  Each ingredient was dumped in the large blue and white mixing bowl.  Next came the eggs.  These are fresh eggs from Mark's cousin.  Their chickens run about the place and lay lovely eggs.  We are given a nice supply each week.  I am not complaining at all!  The recipe needed two eggs.  One was cracked into a small bowl to be whipped before adding to the sugar mixture.  Aha!  Surprise!  A double-yolker!!!  Yep, the egg had two yolks!  Now I was in a quandary!  Do I add the other whole egg or just pretend this is two??  No problem.  I cracked the next egg.  I figure it is always better to add on the upside.

  Double yolk eggs are something of a novelty.  They are really not that uncommon on farms but are a rarity from the grocery store.  Those eggs are "candled" to check for conformity.  Occasionally a double yolk egg will slip by but usually not.  On farms, however, it happens more than expected. Why?  Well, a chicken usually lays one egg per day for her cycle.  The undeveloped eggs are held in the hen's ovaries.  Once an egg is laid for the day, a new yolk will slip down into the oviduct and be surrounded by a shell before being laid the next day.  Sometimes, two yolks will slip down and be surrounded by the same shell...hence the double-yolker.  This usually happens in very young hens that have just started laying or in heavy breed hens.

  While this is all good for us, it can be problematic for the poor hen. Sometimes, the hen can become egg bound or even have an egg break inside of her because of its abnormally large size. Usually, both cases are fatal for the chicken.  Will these double-yolk eggs hatch?  Most likely not.  Some do but usually the chicks do not survive.  Back on the farm, Pop would candle the eggs before letting a hen brood or before placing the eggs in the large incubator.  Candling is a common practice of holding a light (formerly a candle) behind the egg to allow the yolk sac to be seen through the shell.  This eliminated the chance of non fertile eggs or abnormal eggs being placed under the hen.  This was a good way for a farmer to insure that a hen would raise a full brood.  The "bad" or non fertile egg was used in the kitchen and Mama Hen would be assured to have a nice large family with healthy chicks.

  The egg today is just one of many that I have been getting lately. Seeing this one this morning was a reminder of how many we used to gather back on the farm. When you had several hundred chickens laying each day, a double yolk was not that rare.  There were even times when we would find the absurdly large triple yolk one!  Now that was a trip!  Oh, and Son says the cookies are great!

Rather Nippy!

I awoke this morning long before daybreak.  The Little Bayou House suddenly felt a bit chilly so I knew that the wood stoves were out of wood.  Brrrr!  It was a tad cold!  The thermometer read 27 degrees!  Better get those fires ablazing!  After stoking the coals and adding a good bit of logs, it immediately began to feel warmer.  Now what?  I headed to the pier in the pitch black.  No use in waking up everyone else at such an hour.  This trip was made alone as the old dog found her bed too snug.  As she ages, it is getting harder and harder to convince her to make the treks in winter.  The first step out the door almost made me think she had the right idea!  It really was cold and that slight north wind was biting.  Needless to say, I did not linger on the wide open pier.  Perhaps a hike around the marsh edge would prove to be easier.  At one point, I came across a heron perched upon the remnants of an old pier.  Ha!  He looked as cold as me!  I had no intentions of bothering the bird but my walking startled a raccoon that scurried into the marsh.  In turn, the raccoon startled the heron.  The bird tried to make a hasty retreat but was thwarted in its attempt.  At first glance, I thought the poor bird had injured a wing but closer inspection proved otherwise.  During the night, the bird's feet had frozen to the wet board!  The bird sort of flopped a bit before its feet were released from their icy shackles and away through the Bayou he flew.  Ok, so that means it was too cold for me!

Watching the bird with his problems jogged a memory of being back on the farm.  There were a few times during my childhood that I remember the same thing happening to the poor chickens.  We had several large chicken houses with wooden pole roosts.  There was a few occasions where the temperatures dropped and the birds' feet froze to the roosts.  Early in the morning, Pop would find a couple of hapless birds hanging helplessly from the roosts.  Their wings would be flapping wildly as they hung beneath the roost.  He tried hanging heat lamps in the houses but if the chickens could reach them, they would peck at the bulbs and inevitably break the glass.  It took some doing to construct a chicken-proof heat system back in the day!  Those cold nights might also see a number of the baby pigs losing their tails.  If any sow had her litter before the last freeze, those cute little curly tails would not survive.  I guess pigs are not the snuggliest of critters.  The little ones would try hard to snuggle up to the warm mama but those little behinds would never be completely protected.  Life was not easy on the farm back in the day.  Barns, chicken houses and other out buildings were not heated.  My goodness!! Even the old farm house was not heated other than two fireplaces and one of those smoked incessantly!

Well, for that matter, the Little Bayou House depends on those wood stoves to warm it.  If I am negligent in stoking the fires, it gets quite chilly at times. And with that, I better gather another armload of wood!  It is going to be another cold night on the Bayou!

"The Little Red Hen" Syndrome

There once was a little red hen that lived on a farm with all of the other farm animals. One day, she found some grain and decided to plant the seeds. She knew she could make bread if she grew the grain. "Who will help me plant the grain?" she asked..all she heard was.."Not I" from each of the other animals.... To shorten this grand old tale a bit, nary a one of the other farm animals offered to help her one iota! She planted, watered, harvested and ground the grain by herself. Later she baked the bread and when she got the warm loaf from the oven she asked who would help her eat the bread. "I WILL!" each of the other lazy bums chimed. They all wanted to be handed a piece of nice bread. This ruffled her feathers a bit! She gave them an earful! "No! My little chicks and I shall eat the bread!" Smart little hen! The other animals all wanted to sit back and let her do the work..but she outwitted them all! It is quite sad how true this little tale is.

The "Little Red Hen" syndrome is hitting pretty close to home lately. I have had more than a few people come in, eye the well-stocked shelves of preserves, vegetables, jams and jellies and then expect handouts. Well, that ruffles MY feathers a bit! This "Little Red Hen" is going on strike! I refuse to hand out jars of preserves as if I was a food bank! It all boils down to one thing..if you want something from my kitchen, try helping a bit. Lend a hand planting, weeding, picking and preserving..then perhaps you can take some peach jam and fresh made bread home with you!

There is an old proverb that states.."Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.".....For the past few years, I have been telling folks that they need to keep a few supplies on hand for emergencies. Here on the Coast it is more probable than just possible that a hurricane will hit our shores. A well-stocked pantry is a must..not a luxury. To me it is a "no-brainer" concept..at least keep a few basics on hand. Do not wait until a crisis occurs to gather supplies. I will teach anyone who asks..the technique to home-can or preserve fruit and vegetables. I will show those who ask..the methods of drying their own herbs and other garden goodies. I will even go so far as to share plants, cuttings and seeds from my stash. Just don't expect and demand! Yes, I do have hundreds of jars of food on the shelves and three freezers full of meals-in-the-making. It is all there because I have worked long and hard. Don't ruffle my feathers..don't make me go "Little Red Hen" on you!

Speaking of little, red hens, the incredible pictures of these were taken by my cousin Rebecca. I so envy her! She has the prettiest red hens! Some day..some day, I will get a chicken house built and be able to have some fat hens running around in the yard..but until then, I will just have to admire Rebecca's! Thank you, Rebecca, for allowing me to use the pictures of your little, red hens!

A New Look at Beautyberry!

Ahh..Beautyberry..that wonderful bush that grows wild everywhere on the Coast! I have always loved this little bush and try to leave as many as possible in my yard. The purple wads of berries on each stem bring back memories of growing up on the farm..our chickens loved eating these berries. It always tickled me to see the fat hens jumping up and down to reach the higher berries until one would get the bright idea of flying onto a branch. The slender branches would not support the weight of the chubby chicken and both the branch and the bird would fall to the ground. This would cause a flurry of activity as all the others would rush in to eat as many berries as they could before the branch would straighten again. I can also remember picking these same branches to put in buckets with the Ditch Daisies (aka wild Black-eyed Susans) to use as decorations for the Halloween Carnivals held at the local elementary school. (None of those cheap paper cut-outs for our carnivals! Real cornstalks, daisies, Beautyberries and scarecrows from the fields decorated the booths! But that is another post!) Now, I just love the bright purple berries as an ornament in my yard..not quite..it is not as simple as that! I have found another use for this old favorite! Recently, it was brought to my attention that the leaves of this very same plant can be used as an effective mosquito repellent! WooHoo! I now adore this bush! Who would have imagined that??? Even better..these same leaves when rubbed on your shoes and pant legs will repel deer ticks..those nasty things that might give you a not-so-lovely gift..Lyme Disease. PLUS! Fireants can be repelled by using the oils distilled from the leaves! Ok..so face it..I live in South Mississippi..a plant that will repel mosquitoes, deer ticks and fireants??..a dream come true for sure! And there are some people that will tell you that the berries make wonderful jelly..this I cannot say as I have never even tried to eat any. Still I think this plant is amazing! If there ever was a "multi-purpose" bush this is it! American Beautyberry.. the Gerber or Leatherman tool of the plant world!

Oh, I just had to show you this picture. As I was cutting grass today, I noticed several nice large mushrooms growing near the Grapefruit tree. Perched on top of one was one of my least favorite critters found near the Bayou..the Lubber Grasshopper. He so reminded me of something out of "Alice and Wonderland" that he won a reprieve and was allowed to continue sitting there undisturbed. Tomorrow, I will probably find he has eaten one of my prized lilies and I will regret not ridding my yard of his presence!