Wednesday, March 18, 2009

pie and jumping chickens

For Jeff's birthday, we MADE the pie this year. As I've stated before, I'm not a great cook. I've tried making blueberry pie for Jeff before but the results were not hugely palatable. This time, however, it worked out fabulously. All the kids and I worked together, mixing and rolling, stirring and baking. We put a heart in the middle as we put our hearts into it.
It was wonderful! I used a completely different pastry recipe and I must say that not only was it easier, it was delicious!
We've also been working in the garden getting it ready for this year's crop. We have been finding a phenomemal amount of cutworms. Initially, I just chopped them in half with the shovel (I actually feel guilty killing them but I also don't want them eating my veggies.) Then, I had a fabulous idea! I got all the kids to collect them in this container (we counted 22!!!!) and then we fed them to the chickens. You would have thought we were feeding them 'poultry candy'.
They don't look nearly as appetizing to me....
We had watched a clip on Youtube (this one is my favourite) involving jumping chickens at one point. Liv has been trying to get the girls to exercise their short scaly legs ever since. No treat has been able to entice our little egg suppliers to hop yet....until the cutworms.
It was hilarious watching Lucy do 'chicken tricks'! The kids had a blast and are gung ho to look for more cutworms in the garden.
My favourite is this picture where it looks as if Lucy is levitating! Levitating Lucy.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

how silly fun! i am jealous that you have chickens. could you post the recipe for the crust? i am extremely crust challenged.

btw, my dad treats firearms like jeff did. it is such a high sign of respect.

Anonymous said...

what an awesome day! the pie turned out beautifully - and i feel jeff knows it was for him.

as for the cutworms, i am so glad there was a fun way to prevent them from getting into the crops!

Joy said...

The pie looks amazing! I'll bet the kids really enjoyed carrying on that tradition.

Levitating Lucy is cracking me up! :)

Anonymous said...

It's like crack for chickens....

Lizz said...

If you let the chickens run in the garden bed before planting they will dig them out and till the soil and fertilize.

Good for you on the pie.

Ian Newbold said...

Brilliant stuff.

We're about to embark on our first vegetable bed. Starting with potatoes, you might say potatoes.

I know where to come for advice now!

Anonymous said...

Love the jumping chickens!!

The pie looks delicious :)

darcie said...

I cannot believe your kids aren't afraid of those chickens - especially the JUMPING chickens! I personally would be running in the other direction - screaming my head off!
These pics are just too much!! Great camera work!

Hawkfeather said...

long story - but until very recently we lived on a farm with loads of chickens and ducks and even an awesome turkey-

So aside from the fun of watching people play 'touch the electric fence'... I also know the fun you can have with chickens!!

for the record.. they will also eat (very happily) your slugs- and since you are in B.C I KNOW you have slugs...
our kids used to gather up the grubs and slugs and the potato bugs..our feathered friends would go nuts.

Awe country living at it's finest yes?