This week on the Root Simple Podcast Kelly and Erik discuss cooking from scratch, making tortillas, bathroom cats, fencing and answer a reader question about chickens in small spaces.
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The theme music is by Dr. Frankenstein. Additional music by Rho.
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First time listening in, now I have to go back and do the other two 🙂 I am challenged. I try to change something about every six months, so the next change will be to make better use of my stock. Whenever I cook turkey and often chicken, I do make stock, but usuallly end up saving it just for a big pot of chicken and noodles. Next step will be to freeze some in smaller bags and use for more recipes and eliminate the bouillon cubes and boxed stock, even if it is organic LOL. I have beef soup bones and need to purposely make some stock from those
Hey Cathy–thanks for listening. I’m a big fan of freezing. When I took the Master Food Preserver course our instructor spend a couple of hours teaching us some great tips about freezing. I’ll have to share them on the blog. And hope you and the rest of the family are doing well.
Ha, I put this on to listen to as I made lunch as usual from scratch from home grown ingredients. I actually have trouble finding time and motivation to eat out. Aside from occasional social events or out of town trips I would pay for prepared meals maybe once a year. Mostly I can’t see the point when restaurant, fast or processed food is generally not as tasty (or healthy) as my own cooking and costs exponentially more.
Re: chickens in a small space
Have less chickens, this will help with a lot of issues. Start with 2 and introduce 2 more a year or two later when the first pair slow down laying. Don’t expect to have a flock of a dozen.
Provide enriching activities for your birds. Interesting scraps to scratch. Cabbage pieces. Make a swing for them. Make a mealworm or black soldier fly farm and throw those in for them.
Provide extra protein and oyster shell for the birds. This will keep them in healthy laying condition longer. I think oyster shell is superior for a small flock because if you grind up eggshells and feed them back you will gradually have less calcium in the eggshells. For protein I give mealworms and I will also save them a big cup of beans whenever I cook them up in my crockpot. We have 2 hens that are 3 1/2 years old and they are still producing enough eggs for two people.
Good advice!