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Hiking Tips for Kids

I’m so excited to share 6 tips for hiking with your little ones over on The Happy Family Movement. Also, if you haven’t signed up yet, please join myself and hundreds of others in The Happy Family Movement’s Summer Bucket list. We are so excited around here to get crackin’ on the list we’ve made as soon as Summer starts! I’ll be sharing our list soon.

Pop on over to check out my post and…

Go Hiking!

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Buy Local: Chicken Salad with Fennel and Apricot

Around here, we are always looking for something yummy to make at lunchtime. My husband works from home (although we are in a season of him working with some clients away from his home office right now) so I often have to be creative with lunches so that we aren’t eating the same things all the time. It’s not that it’s NECESSARY to have a constantly changing menu, but in doing so, I feel like we always find new recipes we enjoy more than the last ones.

This chicken salad was the product of leftover roasted chicken, a bulb of fennel, fresh herbs, and some dried apricots we had lying around. It was AMAZING. There is something about the unexpectedly good that really makes my day. Plus, this dish is perfect for springtime since fennel is still found at the farmers markets! The sweet dried apricots and fennel work together so nicely with the chicken in this dish. Chicken isn’t boring unless you make it boring.

Bonus: the kids loved it too.

Fennel & Apricot Chicken Salad

4 cups chicken, roasted and cubed

1/2 cups fennel, finely chopped

1/2 cups dried apricots, chopped

2 Tablespoons chopped parsley

2 Tablespoons chopped chives (or rosemary!)

1/2 to 3/4 cup mayo

salt and pepper, to taste

fennel frond for garnish

Combine all chicken salad ingredients in a bowl and season to your liking. Garnish with a piece of the fennel frond you saved from the fennel bulb.

Hint: I keep the fennel fronds in a jar of water in my fridge for future uses like roasting salmon.

San Diego food sources:

Descanso Valley Farm‘s chicken

San Diego Public Market for:

Maciel Family Farm‘s fennel

Smit Orchard’s dried apricots (seasonal)

Suzie’s Farm‘s spinach, parsley, and chives

Eat Local!

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Chicken Coop Update: We Have Walls!

Ed has been working so hard on this chicken coop! Check out my first post here about this amazing news! We are still gathering and soaking in as much information as possible. Over the last few Saturdays, Ed dug trenches (with a little help from those hard-working guys outside of Home Depot), installed framing, cement blocks, part of the wood siding, the base of the coop interior, frame and installed 2 of our vintage windows, and installed 1 vintage screen door.

Here are some chicken related questions with been wondering about, as well as some things we are learning (PLEASE SHARE YOUR CHICKEN KNOWLEDGE BELOW!):

Do we want to throw a Thanksgiving turkey in the coop and will he get along with the chickens? Not sure if we would be taking on too much with that one.

Where to buy our chickens? I’ve found some local hatcheries here in San Diego. It’s really important to me that they eat good food from the minute they’re born. Why else would we be raising them, right?

What should we feed them? After looking at loads and loads of websites and local store options for feed, I’ve concluded that I will be making my chicken feed and scratch, among other things. Sheesh. I don’t know why I’m surprised. Chicken feed, even organic, is FULL of corn and fillers. What’s the point? Everything I’ve read says feed chickens corn as a treat and yet it’s the first ingredient on every bag I look at. This is not ok therefore I am searching for balanced recipes. This one looks perfect and well researched. Recipes?

How to keep pests away? I am searching for the right kind of containers to store food in to keep rats and moths away. HELP!

How do I take care of these little ladies? Right now, we are reading, having the kids read, and are reading to the kids, “A Chicken In Every Yard”, “The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals”, and “Farm Anotomy” to gather information! Favorite books?

What is the best way to reap the benefits of chicken poop? I currently have to buy chicken fertilizer for my garden so I’m searching for the right kinds of cleanup methods that are best for getting the most out of chicken droppings. Hey. Nothing wasted, right?

Names!! I think it’s safe to say that every one of us is excited about naming these ladies! I’m expecting names that reflect Star Wars, book characters, hilarity, and maybe something slightly inappropriate coming from my husband. We are splitting them up to name them so everyone will have their chance to pick!

To follow the every day chicken and backyard homesteading adventures, follow us on Instagram.

PLEASE share anything you’ve learned below!

Here’s the coop progress by the man who is constantly surprising me with making my dreams coming true…even chicken dreams…

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Moments That Matter: Eight

I’m sure as a parent you’ve had many moments where you wish you could pause time.

Me?

I have them every day, all day long. I am constantly soaking up moments with my kids that I know will be gone in an instant. From day 1 as a parent, I never wanted to look back and wish I had spent more time with them; more time sitting and listening. Some days I feel like I’m failing, but usually their loud humming and Eskimo kisses are constant reminders of those little successful moments. These little memories are some of the many reasons I love homeschooling.

I want to soak up all of the bits of this eight-year-old girl firecracker. She is full of complexities but also incredible things. I love her zeal for life, the plans she makes, and the dreams she can’t stop talking about. She has blossomed into an amazing little cook and baker. I am positive she will be a better at that than me when she is older. It’s only a matter of time. If she had a portrait made of herself, she would have her head cocked to the side with her eyes looking up into the sky because she is always filled with daydreams and curiosities. She has truly been that way since she was a wee little babe.

Faith turned eight today.

This year is a big year for birthdays in our little family, at least to me. It’s such a big deal to me, as Faith has changed so much this last year and is really seeming a lot…older. Yikes.

My husband turned 40 this last October.

BIG DEAL.

Jack turned 6 last month.

Again, he just seemed older when it happened. 6 made him more than a Kindergartener in my mind and more than a little boy.

Dean turns 5 in September.

He’ll be a KINDERGARTENER this year!! How did this happen?!

I turn 30 in October.

Lame. Not going to be my favorite day.

It’s a big year for all of us!

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A Golden Afternoon Farm

We are so excited to be expanding our little backyard “farm”!! For a solid 3 years, I’ve read, thought, prayed, researched, and dreamt of owning chickens. The time has not been right in our lives until recently. I see now why previous years would not have been good. To take a venture like this, the entire family has to be all in and ready to take on the work involved. I can honestly say that we are ALL ready!

A Golden Afternoon Farm is ready.

My husband has bravely taken on the task of building us a rather large chicken coop. Right now, we are planning on having 15 chickens. Sound like a lot? Well, we use 5 dozen eggs a week for all of our breakfast, baking, and other food needs. That’s what happens when you cook from scratch, I guess. Plus, we’d like to be able to share some with our friends and family (get ready Erik and El!). He’s never build a chicken coop, but he has all of the spirit he needs to carry him through! He is proving that if you want to do something enough, you can learn your way through the hard parts. I’m really proud of him. We have been married almost 10 years and he’s still making my dreams come true. Who knew a chicken coop could be such an amazing and unexpected display of affection?

I’ll keep you posted on our progress and share how he built it after it’s finished! We don’t have chicks lined up yet but I really felt strongly about finishing the coop before getting the chicks to make everything smooth and stress-free.

NOW, any seasoned chicken farmers please leave as much advice as you can in the comments! I want to know what you did right and also what you would have done differently. For the organic farmers…what you feed your chickens (every organic feed I see is loaded with corn!).

Favorite this and that…

tricks of the trade…

Please share!

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