Chickens are Everywhere.

Well, shoot. Blogging takes some time. Taking pictures, writing... doing stuff to write about. Fortunately, I have not been left wanting for the latter. I did not have time to make a chicken coop last weekend, but hopefully I will soon, because, well, just take a look:

Ready to move out into their own coop.

Of course, my dad's coop is pretty looking and practical and is actually complete. Unlike mine, which was designed to be a very simple chicken "tractor", which basically means it can be moved about your yard in order to provide fresh bugs and grass to the chickens, and to fertilize the lawn. Its not a very practical standstill coop and is kind of falling apart.

Now that's a Chicken Coop.

I must have a chicken aura around me lately, because while walking on a trail to Lake Michigan, we stumbled on some wild mushrooms-- "Chicken of the Woods". I'm pretty sure it gets the name from someone who thinks that chicken tastes sort of bland on its own and needs flavoring (basically supermarket chicken), because that's what this mushroom tastes like. Its great in things though! Zucchini and parmesan and Chicken of the Woods on pasta is perfect, as you can tell by the fact that I ate most of it before I remembered to take a picture.

These are some of the easiest mushrooms to identify because they don't have any "false" counterparts. Many different edible mushrooms model themselves on a poisonous mushroom in order to get the benefits of the poison (not being eaten) without the drawbacks (having to develop your own toxin). But not Chicken of the Woods! This makes them a very easy mushroom to identify, and, honestly, I probably wouldn't eat a whole lot of other wild mushrooms. To cook it, just "saute" it in water for a bit. (Ali is going to try sauteing some in oil and flavorings tonight, and we'll let you know how it goes. Edit: Delicious!)

Anyway, that's it for right now... look for a cheese themed post soon!

The Spiritual Ramifications of Only Having Someone Good At Stuff Write This Blog

Drew asked me to contribute to this blog. I think this is hilarious. How to not watch TV? Just don't watch it. How to not watch TV by DIYing? That's a good idea for someone that can handle a slip knot. Though, you'd think they'd just crotchet while watching TV. Anyway, if Drew and I had a Venn Diagram of our interests "Loving TV" and "DIY" would almost always be only in his part of his circle (excluding backyard farming of course).

Now, if I were going to start a parallel blog to his, it would probably be called "How to Not Read Everyone Else's Blogs Online and All Of The Comments and Realize That You Are More Liberal Than 98% Of The Nation And Die A Little On The Inside" which is too long of a title and why I haven't created a parallel blog. My suggestions would probably involve a lot of Zen Buddhism which is pretty overdone. (Though, isn't DIY kind of overdone? Maybe adding TV makes it more original?)

Anyway, maybe Drew wants me to contribute to his blog because I represent The Worst DIYer/TV fanatic Ever. Just today, I ruined the robiola cheese he was making by waking up too late, stirring it too much, and not being precise enough. Much of the test mead we made for our prewedding tastes a little like rubbing alcohol. I think that once again this boils down to me not being particular enough with directions. (Maybe we should count spicing things as DIY because I'm good at that!) I have also bled all over the chickens I was processing, ruined many TV shows by complaining about how stressful they are, took waaaaaay too many swings to kill a chicken, destroyed plants by overwatering...

And we all know that I can't tie a slip knot.

So I suppose I am the shadow side of this blog. Feeling blue that your chickens won't lay? No worries, its just part of the shadow side. Confused as to why your bookshelf is crooked? Its just the other half of DIY. Frustrated that your curds won't form ? Relax, its a spiritual thing. There's a yin and yang to this stuff.

Douglass Volunteer Nights

Kalamazooians, come join us at the Douglass Community Association for Volunteer Nights! Tomorrow at 6 PM, and every Monday thereafter, we will be working on the garden at the Douglass Community Association. This week's theme is Pigweed!

Drew

I am not watching television right now.

So Ali and I decided to start a blog about doing things in such a way that they take more time than they should-- making our own cheese, raising chickens for eggs, and blogging would all fall under this category. This came at a good time, because recently I've been thinking about why I have so many hobbies and why I like spending hours making things that can be bought at the store for less money than it takes me to make it. I decided that the reason is this:

I just don't like watching TV all the time.

If I go to the store and buy myself some nice Gouda, it takes me maybe 10 minutes to get to there and back. By 5:15 PM, I am sitting eating my Gouda with nothing to do. I turn on the television. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing- I like television. I really like television. But... I also don't want to be sitting in front of it all day. On the other hand, if I decide to make my own Gouda, I need to plan out my recipe, order the supplies and equipment, spend 5 hours making the cheese (excluding brining and aging), and clean up afterwards. This is probably more expensive that going to the store, and definitely more effort. But, I learn a lot about cheese making and have things to do for whole days. That is a very good thing. Same with making bread, beer, and yogurt, and raising bees for honey and chickens for eggs and bunches of other things.

You could argue that most things in our house are for the purpose of taking up our time: board games, pets, books, and, really, the house itself, with all of the work that still needs to get done on it. Probably most people's houses are such. That's what happens in a society in which we often outsource things that involve effort. Cooking, house maintenance, childcare, and cleaning were all things that were done by everyone at one point, instead of things that people were hired to do, and devices were created to do. Sure, people may have wanted to have gadgets and manpower to do those things, but they didn't, and I believe they were better for it.

So, that's my story, and that's why I will be spending most of tomorrow renovating the chicken tractor to get it ready for the nine chicks that are growing at an alarming rate on our front porch. And that's the kind of thing that I'll be posting about. How to make beer, how to make cheese, how to kill and dress your own backyard hens, and most of all, how to keep the TV off.


Drew


As an added note, the computer I am using to write this is the Netflix computer, so you know that I am not watching TV while I am writing. Although, if I ever get the network PC that I want to turn into a dedicated Netflix computer, that will change. But that's another hobby.