It Sounds Like A Farm Around Here

The roosters have started crowing every morning. They are far enough away from the house that we can't hear them unless we are outside, so I guess that's why I still love to hear them crow. It sounds like a farm :) They have also found their libidos and we've witnessed much chicken romance around here in the last few days. Hopefully that is an indication that they girls are getting ready to start laying eggs.

The chickens have been getting more and more destructive with my garden lately, so we finally put up a little fence around the part that is planted. It is working very well, because even though the chickens could easily fly over it (we find them in the trees many evenings, now) for some reason, they do not think of that and stay out of my basil, parsley, and lettuce. The remaining beds received compost last week and will probably be planted with potatoes (some of the one's my Dad grew have sprouted), beets, swiss chard and kale in the next week or two.

I only got to the farmer's market once this last week, as we had several appointments that coincided with the market preventing us from going and we also had surprise guests (which we were thrilled to have). I did not do any canning this week but a neighbor gave us a ton of okra which I cooked down and put in the freezer for okra gumbo this fall. He also gave us an absolutely huge zucchini (the boys were pretending it was a baseball bat) that he said we could shred in the food processor and use for zucchini bread.

The picture does not really give good perspective. Its hard to tell, but its bigger than my forearm from fingertips to elbow.

This morning at the market, I needed eggs and by the time I arrived, an hour after it started, most of the egg farmers were sold out. I got two dozen by absolute luck, as one farmer still had some. I also met a farmer who grows heirloom tomatoes, so we had those (delicious!) with cucumbers (from the market) and some homegrown potatoes and onions for lunch. So yummy. We also got a lot more peaches, some of which we had for desert at lunch and some of which will go into the freezer.
I'm hoping to get to the farmers' market at least twice this week. I am also hoping to do a better job of making a menu plan and sticking to it. The budget has been busted far too many times this pregnancy. We are also having family over for the weekend. They have lots of kids and my kids are so excited as they love playing with their cousins!! I'm hoping to get most of the cooking done before the weekend so that I can enjoy the visit, too. Maybe I'll be able to post my plan in a day or two.