Tuesday 8 p.m.
I'm stretched out on the couch listening to the sounds of my three kids as they go about their bedtime routine. My eyes are closed and I concentrate on the tiny heartbeat fluttering against my palm. My oldest comes down the stairs and looks quizically at the small pile of feathers cupped gently in my hand. "It's Chipmunk," I say gently. "She's not doing so well." I've been there for close to an hour, cradling this drowsy 3-day old chick and willing her to survive. The kids have nicknamed her Chipmunk for her brown and black patterning and the fluffy feathers that stick out around her face. She is one of 34 day-old chicks who arrived in a box yesterday via the US postal service. Not all chicks are equally strong when they hatch, I tell the kids. At this point I'm not sure Chipmunk is going to make it.
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One snowy evening back in January, Matt had tossed the Murray McMurray Hatchery catalog onto the kitchen table and instructed each of the kids to pick out 10 chicks. I have rarely seen my kids so excited. I mean, we're talking about 50 pages of glossy, full-color photos featuring about 100 different breeds of chickens. How is one to choose? The photos are great, but the names are even better - Blue Andalusians, Golden Laced Wyandottes, Buttercups, Black Stars, and on and on. We ended up with a couple of Cukoo Marans, a pair of Egyptian Fayoumis, some Buff Orpingtons and Silver Spangled Hamburgs plus about 6 or 7 other breeds. I'm still trying to sort out who's who!
We're not sure what kind of chicken Chipmunk is. The hatchery added her to our order as a bonus, and she was listed on the box as "rare exoctic chick". Hmmm... Perhaps her breed is rare for a reason, I think to myself. I hold her up to my cheek so I can feel her soft feathers next to my skin. Out of nowhere she begins to chirp loudly into my ear as if to say, "Don't count me out just yet!" It makes me smile. Maybe, just maybe, Chipmunk will rally after all.
We are pleased to announce that Jeff Miller has recently joined Sandhill Organics as Assistant Farm Manager. Jeff has extensive experience growing organic vegetables and raising free-range poultry. When Jeff joined the Sandhill Organics team last month he brought his 300 Rhode Island Red laying hens with him!
This means we'll be able to offer certified-organic free range brown eggs to our CSA members this season. An updated CSA registration form will be posted on our website this weekend. In the meantime, here are the details: We are offering spring, summer, and fall egg shares at all pickup sites. The dates of the egg shares coincide with the dates of the vegetable shares. With each share you will receive one dozen organic brown eggs per week.
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Spring Egg Share (6 weeks) $28
Summer Egg Share (17 weeks) $80
Fall Egg Share (6 weeks) $28
All Three Seasons (29 weeks) $125
If you'd like to sign up for an egg share, you can use the form on our website, or if you've already signed up to receive a vegetable share, you can simply mail us a check and indicate which egg share(s) you'd like. Once payment has been received we will send you a confirmation email.
A Farmhouse Recipe for Late Winter
A couple of winters ago, our local paper did a year-long series on Lake County cooks. I happened to be one of the cooks featured in the series. It was December and when they asked for a recipe that highlighted produce from the farm, I immediately thought of the following recipe. Even when the frozen soil isn't yielding up any produce to speak of, we can usually count on our hens to supply us with lots of good fresh eggs. As a result, my winter repetoir tends to include dishes like quiche, soufflé, clafouti and bread pudding on a regular basis. This soufflé recipe is really not difficult at all, and the results are delicious. Enjoy! -Peg
