“If you don’t hear the crows of the roosters in the mornings, you are one cursed city fellow!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan
Ok one rooster, good, 4 roosters, bad.
It is hard for a common person like me to tell a male chicken (cockerel/rooster) from a female chicken (pullet/hen) until they are a certain age – around 4-6 months.
When we order baby chicks, they are sexed and we order all pullets (females). However, when I bought chickens this year I wanted mature chickens, so I went and picked out 16 hens and a rooster – or so I thought.
I have been wondering why I wasn’t getting more eggs -even though the hens are young. When I really started looking and listening – I realized I had three roosters too many!!
Luckily, the farmer I got them from let me “return” the roosters and replace them with hens – otherwise, the only place for them would have been in a soup pot!!
Farm News: We have 3 more hens and 3 less roosters!!
What’s in the bucket: Young turnips and greens (last week for these…..I promise!), collard greens, red asian greens, kohlrabi, lettuce, summer squash and/or green beans, sweet onions.
For some reason I’m into raw greens this year. Mustard and kale greens are great in salads. Collard greens are wonderful wraps for sandwiches or pinwheels- just take the ribs out. Also, following, a marinated collard green recipe. If you don’t like them raw, throw them into a pan and stir fry them after they marinate!!
Marinated Collard Greens
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
¼ cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoon sea salt, divided
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 bunch collard greens, washed
1/8 cup olive oil
In a large bowl, combine apple cider vinegar, sun-dried tomatoes, scallions, garlic, red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon sea salt and pepper. Set aside. Take several collard leaves and roll into a cylinder the shape of a fat cigar. Using a knife, cut the through the collard cylinder, making strips. Repeat steps two and three until you have cut all the collard leaves. Place strips in a large bowl. Pour olive oil on collard strips and sprinkle the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt. Massage the oil and salt into the strips until all are well coated. Transfer the collard strips to the bowl with the apple cider vinegar marinade. Let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, but overnight is best.
Servings: 4
Happy Eating and thanks for buying local food from Circle S Farm!!