Last Chicken Swap - 2012 Season

In spite of the chilly morning, we packed up the trailer and trucked on over to the Powhatan Tractor Supply Store for the last PCOV swap of 2012.   We didn't anticipate large crowds like we see at the beginning of the year, but it was a surprisingly busy morning for such a cold and windy one.   We brought three silkie chickens who all found a new home, four roosters who will be a nice Christmas meal after some fattening, a Serama hen who lost her mate who also found a new home.   Our Rhinelander doe, Tatianna will have a new Flemish boyfriend but the dwarf bunnies all came home with us along with two new rain barrels and one metal barrel that will be turned into a compost tumbler from our friend Stanley.   All in all it was a very nice morning.    We're already planning our breeding pens and anticipating a nice flock for 2013.  

Lobster Ravioli with Lemon Chive Cream Sauce

No, your computer isn't having a melt down with mis-dated posts; I have decided it will be easier to keep farm posts separate from culinary posts so that they are easier to search.

Now back to business.

I know I'm not the only one who has those kind of days.  You know, the kind when you just can't get it together and you feel like this...

or this...

 

...and even the thought of coming up with an idea for dinner is just too much?   Well, yesterday was one of those days for me.   We'd worked so hard over the weekend, first preparing for, then cleaning up after Sandy.  Then back to work for a game of catch up on emails, workload, etc., etc., etc.   A quick stop at the market on the way home from the office and voila - fresh pack Lobster Ravioli!   

It was the first time I'd ever prepared or eaten seafood ravioli of any kind so I wasn't sure of the appropriate sauce.  A tomato based sauce didn't seem right and a heavy cream sauce not quite there either.   Well the one we whipped up was a hum-dinger....Lemon Chive Cream Sauce!   It was so incredibly simple to  make too.

First gather some fresh garlic chives from the garden and mince, around 2 TBsp.  Brown some garlic (2 cloves minced) in butter - yes, real BUTTER, 2 TBsp.   Then add (while whipping to emulsify) 2/3 cup cream, chives, grated fresh lemon rind (2 tsp), fresh lemon juice (2 TBsp) and grated parmesan cheese; the real stuff, one cup loosely filled.   That's it.  Add sea salt and fresh white pepper to taste and we had a gourmet meal in minutes.     MMMMMMMMMM! Alas, no leftovers.

Now I just need to remember to 1) take pics as I cook and 2) learn how to make my own homemade seafood ravioli!  

The Breda Fowl, a.k.a. Kraaikops, Guelres, Guelderlands

I really am falling for this rare breed.   There is still some undertainty over the original homeland and even the name of this rare breed.  Was it developed in the Netherlands where Breda is the name of a city, or perhaps Holland or France?  Whatever its origin, this breed has become very rare.  It was found in the U.S. prior to the Civil War, but no breed standard was ever recognized by the APA.  Eventually they died out or were replaced by the 20th century commercial breeds and none could be found until Greenfire Farms began importing them a few years back.  The variety they selected are the Blue and Black.  Of course when you breed blue chickens, you also get the splash coloration too.  What we don't have here are the white, mottled and cuckoo varieties.   Below is a picture of one of our black  chicks.

This may be one of those breeds like the Showgirl silkie whose appearance you either love or hate.   They have no comb and a vestigial crest.  Their nostrils are large with two sculptural forms - the spectacle and the saddle.  Breda legs are covered extravagant feathering and they have vulture hock feathering.  The chicks are so friendly, even without treats.  As soon as a human hand enters the brooder they all run over to see what's going on.  The Swedish Flower Hen chicks and the three Legbar peeps follow closely.  It's so much fun when you have chicks that don't rush away in a panic. 

Our Breda are still young, only three weeks old, so I am looking forward to watching them grow and evaluating their pros and cons.  I am hoping for a larger, dual purpose bird.  It will be very rewarding to preserve this very rare and uncommon breed.  We hope to have eggs available next summer.

For those interested in learning more about the Breda Fowl, click on the link below to access a brochure from the Netherlands breed club.  


 http://www.bkuclub.nl.downloads/Brochure_Kraaikop_English.pdf