"Easter" bounty

Today is kind of an egg day. I put together 3 kilos of goose egg pasta -- it's resting in the fridge, I'll need to roll it, cut it, and freeze or dry it tonight. I'm thinking of doing a couple more kilos of duck egg pasta. I figure if I eat even just 0.5lb of pasta every third day, that's over 50lbs of pasta in a year. And I often have someone eating with me. It needs freezer space but it's pretty much an instant and good meal, especially if I open a can of tomato sauce from the garden for it. I'm not quite sure about how to dry and store it safely (maybe with a packet of dessicant in a vac sealed bag?) so I'll likely be just freezing it for now.

10 goose eggs makes 2.8kg of pasta.

I also am supposed to take my duck eggs out of the century egg brine, I think.
It's been about a month. I'll test one for firmness and then vac seal them awhile for the anaerobic part, I think. Maybe vac seal half? Accounts vary about how you're supposed to handle them honestly.

And then I am actually going to set up the incubator today. It's been long enough that I can start collecting ancona eggs and putting them in. I have some chicks arriving on the 17th so I want some chanteclers hatching about that time.
I currently have 3 chanties sitting on nests, one in the pure lines and two in the goose coop above the embdens. We'll see how it all goes.

I really, really wish the instant pot was reliable for pressure canning. I want to put up a couple roosters but don't want to go through the whole rigamarole.

"Easter" bounty

Today is kind of an egg day. I put together 3 kilos of goose egg pasta -- it's resting in the fridge, I'll need to roll it, cut it, and freeze or dry it tonight. I'm thinking of doing a couple more kilos of duck egg pasta. I figure if I eat even just 0.5lb of pasta every third day, that's over 50lbs of pasta in a year. And I often have someone eating with me. It needs freezer space but it's pretty much an instant and good meal, especially if I open a can of tomato sauce from the garden for it. I'm not quite sure about how to dry and store it safely (maybe with a packet of dessicant in a vac sealed bag?) so I'll likely be just freezing it for now.

10 goose eggs makes 2.8kg of pasta.

I also am supposed to take my duck eggs out of the century egg brine, I think.
It's been about a month. I'll test one for firmness and then vac seal them awhile for the anaerobic part, I think. Maybe vac seal half? Accounts vary about how you're supposed to handle them honestly.

And then I am actually going to set up the incubator today. It's been long enough that I can start collecting ancona eggs and putting them in. I have some chicks arriving on the 17th so I want some chanteclers hatching about that time.
I currently have 3 chanties sitting on nests, one in the pure lines and two in the goose coop above the embdens. We'll see how it all goes.

I really, really wish the instant pot was reliable for pressure canning. I want to put up a couple roosters but don't want to go through the whole rigamarole.

Fluid sowing report

So awhile ago (?) I put some carrot and parsnip (and root parsley actually) seeds to soak as per a fluid sowing video and some follow-up research. Basically 2L of water plus 6tbsp corn starch, boiled and cooled, makes a gel. Put seeds into that gel - soaked or not - and mix evenly. Then put the gel in a bag, cut a hole in the corner of the bag, and squirt out an even stream of it onto your bed instead of sowing dry seeds either 1 by 1 or in carefully spaced pinches.

Today I actually sowed the seed. I may have let it soak a little long, but there were no root tips coming out so it seems ok. The sowing itself was incredibly easy: I don't really have patience to place seeds individually, and sprinkling them never does end up even, but this got the seeds in place in just a couple minutes. I have no idea how even it will actually be but it looked like an ok distribution.

Germination will be the telling point. I put some marker seeds, primarily arugula and radish, in with the carrots and parsnips. Surely something will come up out of all that.

Although there's no real way to tell how it went until everything is sprouted I did like the feel of this method and I'll probably play with it some more. I can't imagine it working well for beets, but for anything tiny and difficult I suspect it will do nicely. Even if the pre-soaking wasn't great, it's a good method of distribution.

I need to remember to water and put some floating row cover over it after work.

Fluid sowing report

So awhile ago (?) I put some carrot and parsnip (and root parsley actually) seeds to soak as per a fluid sowing video and some follow-up research. Basically 2L of water plus 6tbsp corn starch, boiled and cooled, makes a gel. Put seeds into that gel - soaked or not - and mix evenly. Then put the gel in a bag, cut a hole in the corner of the bag, and squirt out an even stream of it onto your bed instead of sowing dry seeds either 1 by 1 or in carefully spaced pinches.

Today I actually sowed the seed. I may have let it soak a little long, but there were no root tips coming out so it seems ok. The sowing itself was incredibly easy: I don't really have patience to place seeds individually, and sprinkling them never does end up even, but this got the seeds in place in just a couple minutes. I have no idea how even it will actually be but it looked like an ok distribution.

Germination will be the telling point. I put some marker seeds, primarily arugula and radish, in with the carrots and parsnips. Surely something will come up out of all that.

Although there's no real way to tell how it went until everything is sprouted I did like the feel of this method and I'll probably play with it some more. I can't imagine it working well for beets, but for anything tiny and difficult I suspect it will do nicely. Even if the pre-soaking wasn't great, it's a good method of distribution.

I need to remember to water and put some floating row cover over it after work.

"Easter" bounty II: even more easter bounty

I need to remember to make some more lime curd and a sponge cake as well as rolling out that pasta.

"Easter" bounty II: even more easter bounty

I need to remember to make some more lime curd and a sponge cake as well as rolling out that pasta.