This post comes to us from Mark Butler.  Mark is Policy Director at the Ecology Action Centre and likes his coffee with plenty of organic and fair-trade.  Ask for the same.

This past February I joined a tour to the coffee-growing community of Chayotepec in Western Mexico organized by Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op for its employees and adventurous customers.  Ya, I went for the sun and molé but also to get the story behind the labels shade- grown, organic, bird-friendly, fair-trade, and small-producer.

I am also a birder and Mexico has over 1000 species of birds including quite a few of ‘our’ birds. Each fall, millions, no billions of Canadian birds, from the ruby-throated hummingbird to the broad-winged hawk, head south to Central and South America to avoid our winter—the original snow-birds, if you like. My hope was to see some of these Canadian birds in the forests surrounding Chayotepec.

On our first morning in the village, we learnt about the labels shade-grown and organic in a truly hands-on way.

After a great breakfast of tortillas we strapped baskets to our hips and headed out to pick coffee cherries. Under the shade of big trees, their boughs covered with ferns, lichens, orchids and bromeliads, we slithered and slipped along the steep slopes, trying to strip the bright red cherries from the upper branches of the coffee bushes.  Later the farmers showed us how they mill the cherries to extract the beans for drying in the sun.

Two types of coffee are widely grown, Arabica and Robusta. Chayotepec farmers grow Arabica for its superior quality and also because it prefers shade, allowing farmers to leave the forest intact.

The forests around Chayotepec are protected. In the 1980s villagers, all too familiar with the impacts of industrial logging, convinced the government to create a 3500 hectare. Here, they can continue to grow coffee and are pursuing ecotourism opportunities.

I did see some Canadian birds, including the black-throated green warbler, a bird you might encounter on a summer stroll in Point Pleasant Park. I also saw some flamboyant Mexican birds, like the Turquoise Browed Motmot and the Elegant Trogan, which were so beautiful, so startling that my heart almost stopped beating.

The other label a growing number of Canadians are looking for on their coffee is fair trade—40% of Canadians now recognize the fair trade label. We want farmers to get a fair wage. No sweat shop coffee. In Mexico, small-scale coffee growers have been able to escape the clutches of local buyers, known as coyotes, by joining up with caring consumers in Mexico and overseas.

Individually they could not have done this but through the creation of a cooperative they had the capacity and volume to work with large buyers. The Coop has gone on to make improvements in health, education and transportation in the villages.

Chayotepec is not a paradise. The forest was heavily cut by an Italian company fifty years ago, and, according to the farmers, it hasn’t fully recovered. Because of the diminished forest, farmers can’t grow enough coffee and are looking for extra sources of income, such as ecotourism.

In addition, the world of fair-trade is in turmoil, fracturing over differences of opinion about whether plantations should be included under the fair-trade label and concerns about the stringency of certification. In reaction, small-scale farmers in Central and South America have created a producers’ group and logo (www.spp.coop) to distinguish their coffee.

Yet in saying good-bye to our generous hosts on the last morning all of us felt a deeper appreciation of what the farmers of the South and caring coffee drinkers of the North have been able to do together. And as we drove away I expected my fellow Maritimer, the black-throated green warbler, to commend me on my decision to only drink coffee that protects his winter habitat but instead he recited the Halifax forecast for the following day and said see you in May.

“The Day After” Beef Barley Soup

There are fancier soup recipes out there on the internet, but I’ll share my method anyway.  As you can see by the photo, it sometimes ends up more like stew than like soup, but in my opinion, that’s no detriment!

Step one:  Taste your broth.  It’s probably quite concentrated, so add water until it tastes pleasant and ‘soup-like’.  I usually start by adding a half cup of water at a time, and tasting it after each addition.  You will probably end up with twice the amount of liquid that you started with, but trust your own taste buds for your ratio.  If it tastes a little flat, add a splash of balsamic vinegar, which rounds of the flavour in a nice way.

Step two:  Put your broth into a pot.  If you have about a litre of broth, add about 1/2 a cup of dried barley (or more if you don’t mind a thick stew-like soup), a small onion, diced, and a bay leaf.  Add some canned tomatoes, if you’ve got some.  If you don’t have any cooked veggie leftovers, add some chopped carrots and potatoes to your pot as well. (If you still have some leftover veggies or meat from your pot roast leftovers, you can add them near the end).    Simmer for about 40 minutes, or until barley is cooked.    Bonus points if you let it simmer on your wood stove – even though this may result in you forgetting to check it, which may result in it getting a bit over cooked and over thickened and looking like the photo attached to this post!  It will taste great anyway!

Put soup into pint sized jars while still hot, and you will have sealed jars ready to heat up in the office for lunch. The soup will stay good in the fridge for about a week.

Yours in food,

Alison

Nevertheless, last fall we got an e-mail from Rupert Jannusch and Heather Johnson at Ironwood Farm mentioning that they had some grass-fed beef for sale. We’ve been Ironwood CSA members for a few years, so we decided to take the plunge an buy a 50 pound box of mixed cuts of grass-fed beef with a great assortment of ground beef, stew meat, steaks and roasts.

Since I’m a full time student and my partner has several jobs on the go, we’re pretty busy people, and we need to live pretty frugally.  I’ve made a new discovery about beef:  pot roasts are one of the best frugal weekly meal-planning concepts EVER.

Most of the roasts we received were around 5 or 6 pounds.  By making a pot roast on Sunday night, you start off the week with a nice meal.  The leftover roast can be sliced thinly for sandwiches all week.  The bits of leftover meat that are hard to cut into nice slices get turned into beef and barley soup with the leftover broth.

Pot roasts are generally made from tougher cuts of beef, usually cut from the shoulder. A long, slow braise in tasty liquid softens up the connective tissue, dissolves the intramuscular fat, and makes the meat very tender.  Rather than using a strict recipe, I’ve learned the basic rules, and then modified my flavours from there.

Recipe Method for Pot Roast

Add some oil to a hot pan, and brown the roast on all sides.  For the roast pictured here, I cut slits into the meat and stuck whole small cloves of garlic inside, then browned the meat. Some recipes call for covering the roast in a bit of flour and seasoning before browning, which is a great idea if you’re wanting a roast with a slightly thickened sauce, but I was going for a different flavour this time, so I covered the browned roast with some Dijon mustard mixed with some Montreal steak spice.

Place the meat into a roaster, and tuck in as many peeled potatoes, onions and carrots (turnips, celery, or parsnips would taste great too) as you can fit around the meat.   Now you want to add about a cup of braising liquid.  For this roast, I used a mixture of red wine and veggie bouillon because it’s what I had on hand and I thought it would taste nice with the mustard, but I’ve also used canned tomatoes, and beef broth with a bit of brandy.  As long as it’s tasty and savoury, it’ll do the trick!

Slap a lid on the roaster, and throw it in a 300 degree oven, and let it bake for a few hours – it should be done in 3 hours or so – or until tender.   Steam some green veggies, and you’ve got Sunday dinner for two!

Once the meat cools, it is quite easy to cut into slices for sandwiches for our brown-bag lunches.  The rest of the bits of meat, broth, and the potatoes and carrots get saved for soup…. but that’s a story for another blog post!

Baby red lettuce, arugula and red russian kale growing under cover in November

Last autumn I caught the 4-season gardening bug after reading Niki Jabbour’s great book, The Year Round Vegetable Gardener.   I loved the idea of a nurturing a small winter garden to provide me a few greens all winter long, so in early September,  I started some lettuce, kale and arugula seedlings.  I initially had grand plans to build a proper insulated cold frame garden bed, but by mid October, I was well into a new program at school that required a lot of my time, and was still canning tomatoes most weekends – so it’s a miracle that the seedlings didn’t end up dying in the sunroom!  One of my tiny little garden beds had hoops already nailed to the sides of the bed, so I popped the seedlings in the ground in mid October, and covered them with a sheet of clear plastic.   I also decided to leave a few of my carrots and parsnips in the ground just to see how they’d cope with our winter weather.

My winter windowsill garden

Our autumn was warm and sunny, and the greens thrived in the little greenhouse environment.     Before it got really cold, I decided to dig up some of the healthiest looking lettuce plants, replant them in a large pot, and move them inside to live in a sunny window.  After a few hard frosts and some snow sprinkles in December, the carrots were sweeter than ever, and my arugula had grown enough for me to harvest a few leaves now and then.  Winter gardening success!

My hoop garden in January

And then – winter hit with a vengeance.  If we would have had a mild winter like we had in 2012, I suspect I could have harvested my own carrots until they were gone, and would have had a few more harvests of arugula.  However, the deep freeze locked the carrots into the ground, and froze the edges of the plastic sheeting down under the snow.  I had not done any heavy mulching, or insulation of the garden bed to prepare my winter garden for extended periods of -20.  Once it got really cold, I suspected my experiment was at its end.  But at least I had my windowsill garden, right?  I usually don’t buy lettuce in the winter, I was glad I had thought to bring the lettuce inside – it is such a treat to be able to add a few lettuce leaves and green onions to home-grown sprouts for a green salad in the middle of winter.

It’s not pretty, but it’s alive!

So this weekend, when the beautiful warm sun and bright blue skies coaxed me away from my homework  to spend a bit of time outside, I decided to investigate the garden.   The few carrots I had left in the ground were now retrievable – but their texture has gotten completely mealy from the frost.  (The chickens seem to like them though.)  Parsnips are a lot more hardy, and they appeared perfectly fine.  It was almost an afterthought to take a look under the plastic sheeting to see if there was any kale or arugula that was worth salvaging – and whaddya know?  The arugula and kale made it through!  They’re still alive!  The plants are quite a bit smaller than they were back in November because a lot of the leaves did die off, but they’re definitely back in business now that it’s a little warmer.

Some folks might see this as a flop of an experiment, but I think we should allow ourselves to be inspired by our near-failures.  I love the fact that plants will still grow, even if I don’t have time to do it right, and even if I neglect them.  THEY WILL STILL GROW.   Imagine what could happen next year if I put some proper effort into it!   Excuse me as I pore over seed catalogues, dreaming of summer…

What is a CSA or Community supported Agriculture? Read about it here. Curious if a CSA is right for you? Here’s an article about the pros and cons.  Ready to sign up?  Here are some links to some great CSA farms and other community supported food businesses around Nova Scotia.  (A few CSAs have neither a website nor a facebook page, in which case, I’ve linked to their email address.):

Vegetable CSAs

Abundant Acres – Located in Hants County, drop-offs in the Halifax area.  Share also includes eggs.

Cochrane Family Farm – Located in Upper Stewiacke, drop offs in Brookfield, Truro, and Musquodoboit, plus farm pickup.  Also have a meat share.

Emily teBogt’s Produce – (new for 2013) Located in GrandPre (near Wolfville).  Pick up at the farm.

Good Lake Farm – Located in Southampton (between Parrsboro and Amherst). Delivery schedule to be decided by mid-April when shareholders have signed up.  Also includes a beef option.

Highland Farm - Located in Hants County.  Drop-offs in Halifax or pick up at the farm.

Home Grown Organic Foods — Located in Halifax.  Not technically a CSA, but they do home deliveries of organic produce in the Halifax area.

Hutten Family Farm - Located in the Annapolis Valley, drop-offs in Halifax. Shares offered year-round.

Lafrayere Gardens – Located in Antigonish County, drop-offs in town, at the garden, delivery along Highway 337, Cape George.

Ironwood -Located in Hants County, drop-offs in the Halifax area

Mirella Rose Farm a farm membership near Bridgewater offering fruits, vegetables, meat and eggs.

Moon Fire Farm – Located in Hants County, drop-offs in Halifax area

Olde Furrow Farm – Located in Port Williams, drop-offs in Clayton Bark, Burnside, and Port Williams

Scenic Valley Farm – CSA in Central Cape Breton

Snowy River Farms – Vegetable CSA, with meat and egg add ons. Located in Shubenacadie with drop offs in Dartmouth and at the farm

Southfield Organics – Located in Hants County, drop-offs in Tantallon, Timberlea and Bedford

Taproot Farms – Year round Veggie, Meat and Fruit CSA that has an extensive delivery drop-off  route.  Visit website for list of drop off locations.

Vista Bella Farm– Drop-offs in Tatamagouche, Truro and Halifax

Waldegrave Farm– Based out of Tatamagouche

Watershed Farm – Based on the South Shore, with drop-offs in Halifax and the South Shore.  Various share sizes offered, including a student share.  Flower and egg shares available.

Waxwing Farm – Located near Berwick. Offers a winter CSA. Pick ups available at the farm, in Lunenburg, and other Annapolis Valley and South Shore locations to be determined.

Whippletree Farm– Based out of Annapolis Royal, drop-offs in Annapolis Royal, Bridgetown and Middleton

Wild Rose Farm – Located in Digby County.

Wysmykal – Located in the Amherst area, with drop offs in Amherst and Sackville, NB

Meat

Bruce Family Farm – Beef CSA that delivers to Halifax

Grass Roots Up – Beef CSA, located in Cumberland County.

Nature’s Script Farm – Located in Great Village, delivers to Truro

Shani’s Farm–  Produce, Meat and Preserves CSAs available, drop-offs in Halifax

Wild Mountain Farm – Drop-offs in Halifax

Fish

Off the Hook Community Supported Fishery– A Fish CSA (or CSF) that provides hook and line caught haddock, and delivers to Halifax, Wolfville and Annapolis Royal

Prepared Meals

Flying Apron Cookery — Located in Tantallon

Impossible Pie – Located in Hants County, with drop-offs in Halifax

Bakery

Gold Island Bakery – Halifax-based bread delivery (done by bike!) in the fall and winter months.  Option to add cheese and baked goods.

Kingsville Farm – Cape Breton based bakery supplying weekly breadbags to local customers, and at Mabou, Sydney, Antigonish and Whycocomagh Farmers Markets.

Check out ACORN’s website to look for CSAs all over the Atlantic provinces:  http://acornorganic.org/acorn/databaseregional.html.

Am I missing any?  Leave me a note below and I’ll add them to the list.

Yours in Food,

Marla

With the month coming to an end, we decided to surprise the kids at the St. George’s Youth Net by choosing to celebrate all of the birthdays in the month of January. As it was our last cooking workshop of the year, we wanted to do something special, out of the ordinary and fun-filled that they would remember!

Due to time constraints, we decided to bake the cupcakes from scratch beforehand in order to have enough time for the birthday party. We lucked out with the easy task, as we left all the decorating up to the kids! Each member made their own coloured frosting (blue, pink, red or multi-coloured) and used decorative candies for design; there were no two cupcakes alike! The kids made cupcakes for themselves and for someone special they wanted to share with. Everyone was included and everyone got their hands sticky!

When we were finished everyone gathered upstairs to sing happy birthday, chow down and play games! Having everyone participate was a great way to end our experience with the staff and children at the St George’s Youth Net!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (250 mL) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar (500 mL)
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla (10 mL)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour (750 mL)
• 1 tbsp baking powder (15 mL)
• 1/2 tsp salt (2 mL)
• 1-2/3 cups milk (400 mL) (You could use the East Coast Organic milk we discussed last week!)

Into a large bowl mix butter and sugar; beat until fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in vanilla.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; stir into butter mixture alternately with milk, making 3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of milk. Spoon into paper-lined or greased muffin cups.

Bake in 350ºF (180ºC) oven until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes. Remove from pan; let cool on rack. (Make-ahead: Store in airtight container for up to 24 hours.)

Recipe from: http://www.canadianliving.com/food/easy_vanilla_cupcakes.php

This week I started with some ham bones from one of my ham roasts I home-cured last summer.  Ham bones have a lot of flavour, and they lend a lot of flavour to soups.  Split pea soup is usually the most traditional pairing with ham, but I had a bunch of black beans and kidney beans I wanted to use up, so I decided to make a spicy batch of soup that I kind of thought was reminiscent of Louisiana red beans and rice.  Normally, I presoak my beans overnight, but this time I just let the beans simmer for a few hours on the stove until they were almost cooked.  This recipe will work just fine either way.

Black Bean Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 pound black beans or kidney beans, or combo, soaked overnight
• 3/4 cup chopped onions
• 4 stalks celery, chopped
• 6 cups ham broth (or use 6 cups water with meaty ham bone or ham hock)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 sweet red bell pepper, diced (or diced oven roasted tomatoes)
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice or red wine vinegar

Preparation:

I skipped the presoaking and just simmered the beans for a few hours until they were tender.  When soft, drain the beans and give them a good rinse.  (You lose nutrients by rinsing beans, but I’ve found that they have a less….. explosive effect later if you follow this step!)

Add the onions, celery and bay leaf.  Cover it up with ham broth (or use water and a ham bone) and simmer for about 1/2 an hour.

Add red bell pepper or oven roasted tomatoes, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, brown sugar, lemon juice or red wine vinegar. Simmer for another 20 to 30 minutes.

Remove ham bone. Puree the soup, if desired.  I used a stick blender for about 10 seconds to get it smooth, but I didn’t want to get rid of all the texture.  If desired, cut up ham from bone (or leftovers from your roast) and add to soup.

Top each serving with a bit of grated cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt, a splash of hot sauce,  and a sprinkling of chopped green onions.  Instant warmth!

I have a personal story to tell about milk, cows, and dairy farming.  When I was 21, I got an opportunity to work on a dairy farm in Cumberland County.  For a couple of summers I helped in the barn, and in the fields, and learned about the kind of life this particular dairy farm offered.  We fed and milked about 40 Jersey cows, and when spring came along, we got to see the cows go out into the pasture for the first time after a long, messy, cold winter.  Seeing cows flowing through that pasture, kicking up their heels, tails in the air, was an experience of what I thought was pure joy.  I was making an assumption, of course, but they looked pretty darned happy.

We noticed the milk changed once they got out on pasture.  I, along with the farm family, got to drink milk straight out of the milk tank, before it had been picked up by the milk truck to be processed.  The cream got thicker and a little darker compared with the winter.  It was so sweet and good!  In the Magdalene Islands, where many people have a milk cow in their back yards, they have a celebration of ‘the first cream of spring’.  With great revelry they dig into the most delicious, simple desserts featuring fresh-from-the-cow cream, and play music late into the night.  This overlaps with the celebration of the lobster where men in fishing boats sing as they pull up their lobster traps into the boat.  We could hear them from the shore.  What a wonderful place to be, and a fabulous way to be.

I learned that dairy farming on a 40-cow scale is a lot of work.  Two people were needed twice every day, 4:45 am and 4:45 pm to feed and milk the cows.  On top of that there are calvings to attend to, which could happen at any time of the day or night.  Every single nice day in the summer was spent cutting and gathering hay or silage to feed the cows.  Growing and harvesting grain, farm maintenance, and attending to heard health issues takes up most of the rest of the family’s time.  My favourite time was always getting up at daybreak to go out to the pasture, and bring the cows into the barn for milking.

Fast forward 23 years and now I have my own farm.  I caught the farm bug BAD at that dairy farm.  Last summer a friend and mentor, Phil Nunn, at Parkside farm nearby asked if we could take some of his dry milk cows and pasture them.  My husband and I jumped at the chance!  We knew we were in for a lot of work, on top of our vegetable operation, but we both love to see cows grazing on lush green pasture.  There is a little magic to getting up at sunrise every morning to let the cows into the next fresh paddock of grass.  Silently we open up the gate to let them in.  They are pretty excited, but they move in their slow cow kind of way to the fresh grass, and start sniffing and grazing.  Even though we are busy, we stand back and watch them grazing, filled with satisfaction.  Our moment of joy before the busy day descends upon us.

Dairy farming can be a beautifully ecological process.  Cows graze pastures and eat other forage grown on the farm and fertilized by their composted manure.  They are also fed grain and minerals to complete their diet.  In this system, the soil is enriched and built up by the dairy manure and grass roots, and it is mostly kept covered by the grasses and legumes dairy cows eat.  The good news is – no, the fantastic news is – we now have several certified organic dairy farms in Nova Scotia.

East Coast Organic Milk Co-op: Lloyd Blois, Frazer Hunter, Herman Mentink, Phillip Nunn, Bernice Bissett, and the van Zutphens

Lloyd Blois walks through the pasture with his daughter

Although many modern dairy farms have confinement systems (meaning the cows stay in the barn), organic dairy farms must allow their cows to graze outside when conditions permit.  The milk from these organic dairy producers is available everywhere in Nova Scotia under the label East Coast Organic.  This business is run by a co-operative of dairy producers, and it is processed in this province by the locally-owned Cook’s Dairy.

Cows grazing at Knoydart Farm, near Antigonish

My dear mother was down at the Halifax Seaport Market asking people why they bought East Coast Organic.  Here is what they said:

“I am making the switch to organic.  I am a vegetarian because of the way animals are treated.  I realized if I don’t eat meat, it doesn’t make sense to by milk from companies who are mistreating cows as well as the whole agricultural system.”

- Hilary Rancourt and Kate Rancourt   (Kate feels the same as Hilary)

“I like to stay local”   – Jean Baker

“I buy organic for my grandson”   – Anonymous

“It is very exciting to have local organic milk!  It is good for the sustainability of agriculture.  I used to get organic milk from Ontario but I stopped because it is not as sustainable.  I am so happy to have it here.” – Victoria Shipman

“It is hard to think of the most important reason I buy organic milk –from the feed to the treatment of animals it makes a big difference.  I use this milk to make yogurt and Kefir for our catering business because it is higher in probiotics. The kefir is like yogurt but easier to digest.  East Coast Organic Milk is the best choice available in Nova Scotia.” – Anke Kungl

“We like it for our daughter because there are no antibiotics.  Dairy is such an important food for children.” – Valerie McBride

“Cattle are raised properly —no hormones.  It is better for you.”  – Niki

In early January, we set out for our second workshop with the kids at St. George’s Youth Net for another adventurous cooking class! The kids requested that we make food from different countries – so this time we decided to go Greek with spanakopita. We chose this recipe because it gave each kid the chance to fill and roll their own pastry.

We began by buttering and layering the filo dough while the other kids crumbled the feta cheese and prepared the spinach. At first the spinach wasn’t a hit, but once they saw it come together with the cheese and dough their opinions started to change!

Once all the ingredients were mixed together each person got to fill and roll several pastries into a triangular shape. Once complete, we popped them in the oven and all that was left was to taste test the final result!

Unfortunately due to minor problems with the oven, the spanakopita did not cook in time before the children had to leave. Once they were finished we put them in the fridge for the kids to heat up and eat the following day. We received word from the youth coordinator that the kids enjoyed them and they ended up being a great success!

So here it is, try it out! Spanakopita is just a fancy name for a simple recipe! (Recipe from: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/m/recipe/spanakopita.html)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. spinach, tough stems removed, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbs. chopped fresh mint (optional)
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg (optional)
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/2 lb. filo dough (20 sheets), thawed if frozen
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Directions:
Heat a large fry pan over medium-high heat. Add the spinach with only the rinsing water clinging to the leaves, cover and cook until wilted, about 1 minute. Drain well on paper towels, then squeeze out as much of the remaining liquid as possible. Place in a large bowl and add the feta cheese, kefalotiri cheese, eggs, mint, and nutmeg. Stir well to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat an oven to 375°F.

Lightly butter a baking sheet. Cut the stack of filo sheets lengthwise into 3 equal strips. Remove 1 strip and cover the remaining filo with a slightly dampened kitchen towel to prevent it from drying out. Place the strip on a work surface and brush lightly with melted butter. Place another strip on top. Brush the second strip lightly with melted butter. Place a heaping teaspoonful of the filling about 1 inch in from the bottom of the strip. Fold the uncovered end over the filling on the diagonal to form a triangular shape. Bring the bottom of the triangle up against the straight edge. Continue folding in this manner until the tip of the strip is reached, forming a triangular pastry. Brush lightly with melted butter. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining filo and filling.

Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a platter. Serve immediately, warm or at room temperature.

A bunch of our friends in our rural community have always raised a few hens to provide their family with fresh eggs. When we first moved to our acreage on the Eastern Shore, we had a vague idea that it would be nice to also have three or four laying hens of our own at some distant point in the future, but it was hardly a burning desire.  However, last autumn our neighbour offered us a great deal on his 14 new hens that were not getting along with his older flock, and after a bit of hemming and hawing, we decided to take the leap and become chicken owners!  But first, we had to come up with a plan fast on how to set up a new coop quickly and cheaply.

Figuring out how to house the chickens was actually pretty simple, and we didn’t end up spending a dime.  We had an unused and somewhat dilapidated greenhouse at the back of our yard which we realized would make a great chicken coop with a little bit of work.   The greenhouse was insulated and had a passive venting system. My darling husband covered the old drywall old wooden doors that we acquired after a family member renovated, made some repairs to the floor, and set up some nesting boxes recycled from old Pop Shop plastic crates that we had found lying around our property. We were given some second hand water troughs and feeders from another family member who used to raise chickens.   We also acquired a large chainlink enclosure that my mother in law had used as a dog run and dug it into the ground adjacent to the new coop so that our chickens could have access to a larger outdoor space.

Once we finally had the new coop watertight, the chicken run covered with a tarp for some protection from the elements, and the floor covered with a thick layer of wood shavings, it was time to bring the hens home.     I admit, we were a little nervous about letting them outside to roam free at first.  Everybody assured us that the chickens would automatically come home as soon as it got dark, but just to make sure, we kept them cooped up for a few days just to make sure they knew where their new home was.   They were so happy when we finally let them outside to roam around to dig up worms in the garden and roll around in the dirt!

We’re not exactly sure what breed they are – our neighbour was told they were Rhode Island Reds, but after a bit of research we decided that they were more likely Golden Comets, since their colouring was a little more golden than the dark russet colour of Rhode Island Reds.  Whatever they are – they’ve been fabulous producers and we get 13 or 14 delicious eggs a day.  This has truly been an adventure in local food for us!