about nine months ago, i jumped on the instagram bandwagon & met an amazing community of creative, thoughtful, encouraging people. almost two weeks ago, i met five of those amazing women in person who i now call dear friends. we savored three sweet days together in colorado- drinking coffee, doodling, thrifting, perusing local shops, doing yoga, visiting farms, sipping hard cider, dreaming of the perfect homestead, walking around the farmers’ market & laughing. so much laughter. the conversation was both deep & light. we became old friends in only a few short hours. i love these ladies so so much.
i am just so thankful for this little online community where we can exchange thoughts, meet up if we’re lucky, collaborate creatively & encourage one another to keep on keepin’ on in whatever life season we may be.
ladies, thank you so much for an amazing, inspiring, heart-warming, soul-changing, won’t-ever-forget weekend. i love & miss you all so much!
#coloradogirls2014, am i right?!
love,
natalie
——————
if you would like to see more of our weekend, you can check out our hashtag #coloradogirls2013 on instagram. you can also follow these amazing women individually! their instagram names are: livelightly (sara), kale80 (khrista), mightyviolet (rachel), hersoutherncharm (jennifer) & jenlongphoto (jen)! yay!
this weekend i visited summer kitchen family farm. i was so inspired by the quality & care of their animals & thought i would share a bit about our thoughts on eating meat. of course, i never want this space to leave anyone feeling uncomfortable. i do my best to make this space inviting & warm, but today we are talking about consuming meat. if this topic makes you feel uncomfortable, i ask that you go ahead & skip this post for today & come back on wednesday. thanks so much!
we recently purchased a whole chicken from the farm & although it was a significant part of our food budget for the week, it was well-worth the extra expense. we trust these farmers. we appreciate every bit of hard work that goes into raising these precious animals & getting them to our plate. also, i know that these animals lived a happy life & that’s very important to me.
we don’t eat a lot of meat in our home because it is expensive compared to other protein sources. additionally, we only purchase ethically-raised meat from farmers we know & trust so that limits when & where we purchase our meat. our choice to only eat meat from farmers who raised their animals in a comfortable environment & sustainably makes us, at times, appear to be total weirdos. portlandia has come up a couple of times in conversation. still, we aren’t aggressive toward others in our decision & we feel good knowing when others sit at our table to eat, they are being fed well.
although the cost of our bird (around $16) did keep us from purchasing a couple of other things at the farmers’ market, i was able to use every single bit of this precious animal in four meals for the week. first, i roasted our chicken in the oven with onions & fresh herbs for a couple of hours on sunday evening. we each had a considerable piece of meat on the side that evening along with asparagus spears & a large salad. we also made chicken quesadillas for dinner one evening & salads topped with chicken for lunches a couple of days throughout the week. in order to make our meat & dollar stretch, i always pair a smaller amount of animal protein with a large portion of vegetables. finally, we made chicken stock. this is such an easy practice so i thought i would share our simple recipe with you.
crock pot chicken stock
1. once you roast your chicken, remove all of the meat from the bones. place the meat in a container (we use a large mason jar with lid) for using throughout the week & place the bones in your crock pot.
2. chop up vegetables & place on top of meat in crock pot. if we have thought ahead, we like to save our vegetable scraps for this purpose. if not, we usually add green onion, carrots, celery or whatever we have on hand. i will usually add some fresh herbs from the garden, including sage, parsley & thyme.
3. once all of my ingredients are added to the crock pot, i fill up my crock pot with water until there is about an inch left at the top.
4. turn the crock pot on low & allow to simmer for 18 – 24 hours. some do not simmer their stock for that long, but i have noticed that the bones make a really dark, rich stock when i simmer it for longer.
5. once your stock is done, strain the liquid into a bowl. i like to do this by placing my colander in a large bowl. i place a piece of cheese cloth around the colander & pour the liquid, bones & vegetables into the colander slowly. i then gather the cheese cloth with large bits included & set aside for the compost.
6. once my bowl is filled with a rich, dark stock, i measure two cups of the stock & pour into a large-mouth mason jar. the large-mouth mason jars tend to shatter less often in the freezer. i sometimes take my chances, like this time, & pour the stock into a small-mouth jar, if i don’t have enough large-mouth jars on hand. i also prefer the plastic lids for the freezer.
7. once you have several jars of stock, label & store in freezer for later meals.
how do you make stock or broth? what are your thoughts on stretching your dollar & meat? i would love to hear your thoughts!
love,
natalie
this business of raising chickens in our backyard is at times so simple & at other times full of challenges.
really, i like to call it an ‘art.’ we are so passionate about raising these little beings that give so much to us in return – a hobby & a carton of eggs. yet, at other times, i want to just throw in the towel & hope for the best.
just a couple of weeks ago, one of our younger girls came down with something. she was gasping for air & i was almost sure that she was dying from gape worms. i slept little that night, checking on her several times & staying up to research what i could do to keep her alive. like a crazy chicken lady, i would open up her beak to see if i could see any signs of worms. early that morning, out of desperation, i went to our local farmers co-op. again, like a crazy chicken lady, i began ranting to one of the employees about gape worms & how our little americauna was dying. i am almost sure i teared up, explaining that she wasn’t just a chicken. after patiently listening to my chicken monologue, the all-knowing & wise employee informed me that my sweet girl had a cold. if i sprinkled a bit of medicated powder in her water, she would perk up in just a few days. ahem.
you see, even after almost two years of raising our flock, there is still so much to learn. yesterday we introduced our new girls to our older ladies & it broke my heart watching as they established their pecking order with nips & pecks. after the new girls were fully introduced to their new space, they found that they could fit through the fencing & wander throughout our yard. oh, how our pups would have enjoyed a midday snack! so, while it was pouring down rain, we tediously tied chicken wire to our fence for over an hour leaving even my underwear completely soaked.
simply put, that’s sometimes the cards we are dealt raising a bit of food in our backyard. it’s frustratingly hard at times, but the rewards far outweigh the struggles.
as for those who have asked, i do plan to share our coop design & ever-evolving, imperfect system of raising chickens at some point. for now, we are simply trying to do the best we can. if you have a moment, i would check out amy’s backyard flock. you are in for a treat! she is far more seasoned than i am & incredibly knowledgeable.
love,
natalie