Urban Chicken Keeping

Mr. Reginald Treat, Fox Esquire here.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the Green Metropolis Fair in Chicago and they had a discussion on urban chicken keeping. What a wonderful idea! Chickens for every backyard, balcony, and rooftop deck I say!

Now, while you might think you need to read up on the subject, here are all the main points:

* First, why keep just a few chickens? Go for lots of them! (Meaty ones are better.)

* Make sure they're really, truly free range by doing away with chicken wire, cages, latches, etc.

* Always keep a box of napkins near your chickens as well as several sauces. (Feel free to get creative here. Maybe an apricot-balsamic reduction, or a tangerine gastrique? Of course, if thick, spicy BBQ sauce is your real forte, by all means do that!) These items are there just to, uh, help the chickens get Omega 3s into their eggs. Yeah.

* Finally, make sure all your hard work doesn't go unnoticed. Certainly don't hide your chickens away behind fences; maybe even post a small sign or two. Your chickens will be stars as your neighbors lavash praise on them and you. Soon, everybody in town will keep chickens and we'll all be soooooo happy!

Comments

Present-ation!

I've finished making a whole pile of frayed ruffle hearts . They're cute the way they are, but to make them extra special, I'm putting them in pretty cellophane bags, with curly ribbons and hand-made tags. Sometimes I get lazy and don't spend the extra effort on great gift wrap, but it's so worth it, isn't it? The other exciting part of this is I'm not just sending these hearts to family and friends. I've got 3 set aside for Aunt Peaches Valentine Swap ! Yea!!!

Lessons from BlogHer '13

BlogHer '13—my first blogging convention—was last weekend. And I learned a lot! For example: #1 No Russians are reading my blog. When I look at the statistics for who's looking at Smalltropolis, it's very impressive. For example, today I have 43 pageviews from Latvia. Switzerland is represented, as is France, Denmark, China. Just a world-wide appeal I have goin' on. (Gloat.) Thing is, as I learned at BlogHer, that's almost certainly because the analytics I'm looking at aren't very accurate. Lots of spam is included. To get the real numbers, I need to sign up for Google Analytics. Блин! #2. Great photography doesn't come from the womb. The kick-off keynote speaker was Ree Drummond. I'd certainly admired the beautiful photography on her blog, The Pioneer Woman multiple times, so it was pretty enlightening when she showed some of her early photos. They were, quite simply, dreadful. It really drove home how good writing and good photography a

Perfect pickle weights

Making pickles requires keeping the vegetables submerged in the brine so they don't get yucky. But what to use as weights? Stones? Hmm. This may be traditional but I have a hard time believing I could get them clean enough. Plastic baggies filled with pickling juice? This is what is usually recommended but it just doesn't appeal to me. (Does the plastic leach anything out during the fermenting period?) Hand-made ceramic discs? They're lovely but they're $22 (plus shipping) for three, and each jar needs a couple so that would get pretty expensive to do the multiple jars of pickles I've got going on. No, the perfect solution are these little glass candle holders from IKEA. They're called Glimma and at $1.99 for a six-pack, they're safe, sanitary, and cheap. And they fit perfectly inside wide-mouthed Ball jars. So, fill the jar with vegetables (leaving a bit of headspace) and top off with brine, allowing the liquid to flow into the glass dish,

Smalltropolis

Search This Blog