Cleaning Coops, Every Last Cuckoo and Cedar Planked Salmon

I thought I would take you with me today on a "real" Day in the Life on the Farm.

A few short weeks ago, I introduced you to our new baby chicks with this post.  Since then I have shown you how quickly they grow with a picture at 1 week of age, 2 weeks of age and when we moved them out of the garage and into the coop.  Today the chicks are almost a month old, they are eating and pooping like crazy and as I promised you they would they are getting very stinky and ugly.

I have no idea why the meat chickens are partially bald.

I think it may be because their bodies grow faster than their feathers.

The little black sweetie is one of my laying hens and so is the completely feathered little girl on the left front corner of the photo.  Laying hens stay good looking.

I headed out there this morning to clean the coop.  It is a dirty but necessary job.  I have been lucky to have had our cousin, David, who normally took care of my farm chores, yard work and flower gardens. Fortunately for him but unfortunately for me, David found a job!!  Praise God!  Except that now I have to do this yucky job myself!!

So this is what I found when I went out to see my chicks.

I kicked all the chicks out but my little Australorp wanted to stay and help.

I gave them fresh food and water outside in the yard to keep them busy and out of my way.

And then I started shoveling and shoveling and shoveling.

Until there was no stinky, poopy bedding left in the coop.

Spread in some fresh wood chips, move the water and food back inside and voila...Happy Chickens.

Happy chickens make tasty chickens!!

Wasn't that fun?

I finished Every Last Cuckoo last night.  It was an easy read but I was busy planning a wedding last week so what would have taken me one or two days to read took much longer.  I enjoyed the book and I liked all the characters.  I also liked the premise of the book, Sarah's household reminded me much of mine with people in and out and Sarah always having room for one more at the dinner table.  However, unlike Sarah, I would never condone illegal drug use by my grandchild and I am also very sure that there is a God and that Heaven is for Real....Oh wait that is a different book.....

Bottom line is if you are looking for an easy and light read about relationships, living, dying and just life in general I would recommend this book but I would tell you to pick it up at the library or borrow it from a friend because it is not the kind of book that will ever call for you to re-read it in the future.

Tonight I will be starting .  I will let you know what I think.  I am a C.S. Lewis fan so I am hoping that Christopher Gordon did a good job with his biography.

Lastly, since we did not get to go to Virginia this weekend I decided to make Cedar Planked Salmon for dinner tonight and I wanted to share my recipe with you.

You can buy grilling planks in your local grocery store.

They need to soak for at least 1 hour before going on the grill.

Then you put the plank on a preheated grill for a few minutes.

Flip the plank over so that the fish goes on the heated side.

Close the lid to the grill and let the smoking plank do it's magic.

Cedar Planked Salmon

1 grilling plank, soaked, preheated and flipped

2 wild caught, sockeye salmon fillets, center cut

1 T. sugar

2 t. Chinese 5 spice powder

1 t. kosher salt

few grinds of fresh pepper

honey or maple syrup, if desired

Combine sugar, 5 spice powder, salt and pepper.  Rub onto salmon fillets.  Place salmon onto grilling plank that has been heated over med low heat.  Close grill and let salmon cook for 12-15 minutes.  Remove from grill and drizzle with honey or syrup if desired.  Print Recipe

Well as I was writing down this recipe in preparation of lighting the grill and seasoning the salmon, Mom mentioned several times that she was having a hard time breathing.  So off we went to the Emergency Room and the Salmon will be made tomorrow instead of dinner out as originally planned.  Make sure to read my next post to learn about our ER visit.