Zade with a Sunsceen Hairdo

Dirt Days

When I was a teenager I hated dirt. My parents had a garden (not a yard garden). We farmed acres of tilled soil that produced watermelons, tomatoes, squash and canteloupes (that we sold). I was awakened at terribly early hours of 6 am to go work in the garden. Sorry to say, my attitude was less than stellar.
Well how things change...
I love dirt. I love the smell of freshly tilled up soil. And I love it particularly early in the morning. It's an early spring and I'm ready. Here is Zade beside where I was in the process of repotting some of my houseplants before I began preparing my "yard garden" for my summer veggies.
I had a bucket of water for planting. Zade thought it was pretty awesome...until he accidentally dumped it on himself. I had my back turned so I have no idea how he got it on the back of his head. He wasn't thrilled by the water. But the dirt.....oh, the dirt. I'm pretty sure he thinks it's pretty awesome too.
Love, Carra

Chicken Story, part two

So I didn't get back to tell you more about chicken. Sorry to leave you hanging! I want to show you the bounty that a whole chicken offers. If you are so fortunate as to have access to a farmer willing to sell you a whole chicken, go for it!
This chicken was raised by a 10 year old boy. He built the pens himself and cared for the birds until time to "process" them. And he helped with that! That is soooo rare - I am so impressed.
Once the chicken cooked for about 24 hours, I strained the broth, let it cool off and picked off all the useful meat. Isn't there a bunch of meat? Here's how I use it:
* Sandwich - isn't that that hilarious? I seriously am a huge fan of a yummy chicken sandwich on some fresh soaked sourdough bread. While the chicken is still warm, yum!
* With warm homemade biscuits, some chicken just pulled off, some of this week's vegetables from our csa with faucette farms.
* With brown rice - I cook the brown rice in the broth - extra healthy, extra flavorful. One of the baby's favorite things to eat:)
* Chicken pot pie. I make a rue using broth and milk to create a thick, rich cream sauce (instead of using canned cream of whatever soup) and mix it with chicken (usually the dark meat), leeks, garlic, potatoes and carrots baked with a biscuit type crust.
* Stir fry - steamed cabbage, shredded carrots, leeks, peppers, zuchini (whatever is in season) sauteed with soy sauce, ginger, etc.
* Chicken soup - make some more cream sauce from the broth, add leftover rice, leeks, shaved carrots and whatever chicken is left.
Seriously, from this one chicken - God provided the base for all of this good, healthy, healing food.