Things I should have done tonight
Sep 25th, 2007 by Laura
Tonight I should have blanched and frozen the 8 lbs of green beans in my fridge. I should have weeded my flower beds. I should have deadheaded my roses. I should have pruned the bushes growing in front of my window. I should have done a lot of things. But I did none of them.
Instead I went to the monthly meeting of the local Seattle Chicken Meet-up group. It was an interesting mix of people with chickens, chicks and dreams of hens. I felt slightly out of place as the only north ender. And also as one of the few people there that thinks of my hens more as farm animals than pets.
I care a lot for the girls (and possibly boy) but I’m not about to invite them into my home, buy them special treats beyond corn or teach them to sit on my lap. I just want them to be healthy and happy and funny in that way that only chickens are. I want them to be true to their nature and instincts (such as haven’t been bred out of them). And I want them to valued members of our household, which they are.
But to each their own - I just think it’s great that people have hens. And fun to talk to other backyard chicken owners and hear about their triumphs and challenges. It was a nice group of people. I’ll likely try to make another meeting if I can, but Tuesdays are hard for me. And driving to Seattle after work was a bit of a bummer. Hmmm, wonder if there’s enough north enders to make a Snohomish County group?
I’m really enjoying your blog, thanks for coming by to mine, so I could find you!!
I have many of those should have done days and nights myself!
I can relate! I should have juiced & dried a huge load of grapes last night.
I say leave the rose trimming until deep winter. Then you can harvest the rose hips.
A while ago there was an article in the NY Times about hen being raised inside an apartment in NYC. I love my girls, but no inside chickens in my world! We do occasionally let them sit on our laps, though.
Ali
Thanks Farm Mom!
Crystal - at this point I’ve got more hips than anything else, so your idea sounds like an excellent one. But what do I do with them?
Ali - I pick mine up and hold them all the time. If they wanted to sit on my lap I guess I’d let them, but none of them have ever asked…
Laura, Great blog. There are so many nights of lists of things I should have done and somehow it all works. I do plan on getting green beans in the freezer this weekend though. I’m not even going to put it on a list!
Eat them?
I haven’t done anything with rose hips yet… I have eaten a few. They were actually quite tasty… similar to apples. I waited until they were bright red. Eat them just like apples, you don’t want to eat the “core.” I’ve thought of juicing them (with my steam juicer) and combining them with apples for a yummy vitamin c rich drink, or turning the juice into jelly. I think you can dry them and then use them for tea. That would probably be the fastest option. I don’t have access to a ton of rose hips, but if I did, I would just google them and see what I could find.
Again… avoid eating the center “core” of the rose hip. I hear it can cause some… digestive issues (nothing dramatic, just uncomfortable).