Feathered Friend Friday

Welcome to our series "Feathered Friend Friday." Every Friday I write a post with interesting facts, photos, videos, or funny stories about chickens and guineas. If you need to catch up, you'll find all the Feathered Friend Friday posts here.  

Before we got our chickens, I would never have really called myself a collector of anything (of course there were unicorns and dolphins when I was a preteen, but I'm not going to count that). But nowadays, I find myself amassing a nice collection of chicken-related items. And I love it.

My favorite piece by far has to be this batik painting by my wonderfully talented friend, Holly.

Isn't it so cute and quirky? It has found a perfect home on top of our vintage bathroom cabinet. I love having such an artistic friend!

On top of the cabinet I also have a miniature hen on a nest. Last summer my family had a yard sale and one of my aunts held this back for me so no one else could snatch it up!

We have another piece of chicken art displayed in our bathroom as well (I like to keep the items I love in a place where I will see them every day). I picked this one up at a farmers market in town last summer. It was created by a great local artist named Dawn Melka.

Next to the print I also have some chicken and guinea feathers nestled in a vase. I have feathers tucked into just about every nook and cranny of this house!

On the Hoosier cabinet in the dining room is a chicken platter that I scored at a local antique shop. It does a good job holding some kitchen odds and ends, especially freshly laid eggs waiting to be sorted for the fridge.

My very first chicken item I ever got was this yellow sponge holder for my kitchen. It used to have red paint on the comb and wattles, but that has worn off over the past couple years. I picked up this one at a local antique shop as well.

Luckily David seems to be ok with my love of chicken decor. I think he realizes the old saying is true - "Happy wife, happy life!"

I'm curious - do you collect anything?

~Tammy

Shared with Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop, Down Home Blog Hop, Home Sweet Home, Farm Girl Blog Fest, Farmhouse Style Blog Hop

City To Country

Now that we've been on our homestead for nearly two years, we can reflect (and laugh a little bit) about some of the unexpected differences between city and country life. David and I had both lived in the city our whole lives up until moving to the country in May 2011, so we basically walked into this thing totally blind. It has been an adventure, and some things have been more surprising than others in our transition.

For one, we had to get an address and buy a mailbox!

The house we moved into was just built a few years ago and the previous owner had a PO box in town, so there was no physical mailing address or mailbox. We wanted to get mail delivered to our home, so we had to get an address. It took a while to get all the kinks worked out, but we now have a rural route address. We normally don't have issues getting our mail, but have found that FedEx and UPS don't recognize our address so they won't deliver to us.

We also learned all too quickly about the danger of ticks. Just two weeks after we moved, David was bit by a tick and developed the "bull's eye rash" associated with Lyme disease. Thankfully, if caught early enough and treated with antibiotics, Lyme disease can be prevented. But that really scared us, so we immediately got a flock of guineas to wage war on the ticks. The guineas have worked surprisingly well at reducing the tick population (when they're not busy dust bathing in our herb garden, that is).

We knew before we moved out here that our water would be supplied through a well, but being the city girl that I was and not knowing much about well water, I didn't realize that the water got to our house through an electric pump. Of course this means that if the power goes out, we have no water. Obviously we (and our animals) need water to survive, so this became a huge concern. We could deal with losing the lights and maybe the heat for an extended period of time, but water is the ultimate necessity.

David's mom and stepdad heard about our concerns over the possibility of losing power and being without water, so while they were in town visiting for Christmas, we got a VERY unexpected blessing...

They bought us a generator! We had been talking about buying one after this last power scare and were trying to think of how we could pay for one, but now we don't have to worry about that. I don't think I've ever received such a generous gift and we are so very grateful. Thanks again, Cindy and Ramon!

Have you made the transition from city to country life? What took you by surprise?

~Tammy

Shared with Down Home Blog Hop, Farm Girl Blog Fest  

Chocolate Mousse

A couple years ago, I gave up dairy. Several different factors prompted this decision, but the catalyst was getting my cholesterol checked for the first time and being told by my doctor in my mid-twenties that I had high cholesterol and needed to go on a diet (you can read more about that here). After I was off dairy for a while, I couldn't believe how good I felt, so that made staying dairy-free a no-brainer.

Of course I cheat every now and then, but when I'm cooking at home I don't use dairy products. There are a few foods I definitely miss, and desserts made with heavy cream, like chocolate mousse, typically top that list. Yesterday I found a recipe for non-dairy chocolate mousse with a secret ingredient that really took me by surprise.

Chocolate-Avocado Mousse
by Giada De Laurentiis
Makes 4 3/4 cup servings

Ingredients:
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli brand in the gold wrapper is dairy-free)
4 very ripe (8 oz.) avocados, peeled and pitted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup agave
1 T pure vanilla extract (I left this out and it was just fine)
1/4 t salt

Directions:
Melt the chocolate chips. Place the melted chocolate, avocados, cocoa powder, agave, vanilla, and salt in a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. Spoon (I used a piping bag) into cups and refrigerate for a couple hours, or up to 1 day.

Avocados! Who would have thought? When I first blended up all the ingredients and tasted to measure the sweetness, I was disappointed because there was a definite avocado taste. I put the mousse in the refrigerator for a couple hours then tried it again, and it was heaven. Thick, creamy, with a deep chocolate flavor and no hint of avocado whatsoever. The mousse was even more delicious sprinkled with chopped pistachios and pomegranate seeds.

Even David, who is very picky about non-traditional ingredients, thought this was really good and he couldn't detect the avocado at all. I suspect if I didn't tell him about the secret ingredient in the first place he would have thought I used heavy cream!

I really can't say enough how pleased I was with this non-dairy chocolate mousse recipe. Even if you consume dairy, you should give it a try. Avocados are great for your body, inside and out, and make for a delicious ingredient in this chocolate mousse.

~Tammy

Shared with Weekly Top Shot, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Sunny Simple Sunday, Backyard Farming Connection Hop, Tasty Tuesdays, Hearth & Soul Hop, Tweak It Tuesday, Down Home Blog Hop, Thursday Favorite Things, Creative Things Thursday, Home Sweet Home, Healthy Vegan Friday, Le Chateau des Fleurs, What I Am Eating

Feathered Friend Friday

My friend Heather is great at giving gifts. She always keeps in mind the recipient's interests and manages to find the perfect present. Case in point - for Christmas she gave me a bottle of wine. But not just any bottle of wine. Knowing my love of chickens, she got me a bottle with a giant rooster on the label!

I had never heard of this wine before, but of course I instantly adored it because of the cute rooster. I inspected the bottle and found that this brand is named after a legendary 47 pound rooster - HRM (His Royal Majesty) Rex Goliath. My biggest rooster tips the scale at about 10 pounds, so I can't imagine how big a 47 pounder would be! I was utterly intrigued and had to learn more about Rex.

On the wine company's website they explain the legend of the world's largest rooster -

"At the turn of the 20th century, HRM (His Royal Majesty) Rex Goliath was the treasured attraction of a Texas circus. People came from far and wide to behold the 47 lb. bird, billed as the “World’s Largest Rooster.” Our label replicates the one-of-a-kind vintage artwork from the circus banner that hung above Rex’s roost."

 

How cool is that?! Tonight I plan on cracking this baby open with my husband. I can't wait to try it! Needless to say, I will be saving the bottle :)

Have you ever heard of this giant rooster?

~Tammy

UPDATE: The wine was pretty good! A tad bit dry for my taste, but overall a good wine I'd say.

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This is not a sponsored post.