Phaedra's 2021 Garden

[baymule]

Aren't chickens fun? Who knew they could become such pets! My son was surprised that I got rid of my chickens, but I had to downsize. I may get some more after I get moved to his place in the spring/summer, but not 14 of them!

 

[Phaedra]

Saturday is usually the busiest day for me. We do the weekly shopping in the early morning, right after the simple breakfast. Because all german supermarkets are closed on Sunday, one discounter, Lidl, will always get all items with coming expiration dates ready and put 50% discount stickers on them.

I always say Saturday is our hunting day. Most of the time, the items we got were good in quality and friendly to the wallet. We have two cats, two dogs, and sixteen chickens; getting various food at a reasonable cost is essential and meaningful. Too much food waste happens every day.

Today we got a lot of beef, pork, shrimp, bread and banana - all with a 50% discount. I put most of them immediately into the deep freezer and used some for today's meals.

One thing that impressed me negatively when I started living in Germany is, supermarkets and bakeries throw away so much bread every day. Now more and more collaborations with different organizations gradually improve the situation. Anyway, I always love to bring this kind of food home.

I am always surprised by their quality.

Banana is a product which is very quickly taken to the half-price area. Supermarkets have their judgments, but for a consumer like me, they are fine. No wonder how much our chickens love them.

After shopping, we finished cleaning our flower bed in front of the house. It's an area with very limited sunlight, maybe just 1~1.5 hours in the early morning. After that, this area will stay in the shade the entire day. I was a pretty newbie at gardening when we bought this house. It's pretty challenging to recognize and learn how to take care of plants in the garden properly. I had almost no time and no energy to take care of this heavily shaded bed. Every year I can only do some small steps, but each step matters.

What it looks like two days ago.

I cut back the lavenders and weeded first.

Our danish Mercenary, Kwern, is responsible for today's task again and did a good job.

After working for one hour, this area has a brand new look. I will keep pruning works tomorrow.

Finally, we enjoy a meal made with all kinds of discounted and homegrown ingredients, yummy.

 

[Phaedra]

do you like kaffir lime?

I never planted them, although they are so famous. Do you recommend it? Growing those citruses is one of the reasons why I decided to build a greenhouse.

 

[Phaedra]

Aren't chickens fun? Who knew they could become such pets! My son was surprised that I got rid of my chickens, but I had to downsize. I may get some more after I get moved to his place in the spring/summer, but not 14 of them!

Absolutely. Recently I loved to collect and save ingredients for making their meals. Too many of what humans didn't or can't consume are still good for other living beings.

Today they have mango hearts and bananas for the weekend treats.

Materials for their Sunday brunch are ready!

 

[baymule]

It gets so hot here that I froze chicken treats. They especially loved frozen watermelon and cantaloupe.

Your meal looks divine! Recipe for the soup please?

 

[Phaedra]

It gets so hot here that I froze chicken treats. They especially loved frozen watermelon and cantaloupe.

Your meal looks divine! Recipe for the soup please?

Here the temperature dropped significantly. We have already changed to winter textiles and need a lot of hot soups and drinks.

The soup is a kind of miso soup, which Japanese often use Bonito flakes and dried Kelp to prepare the broth. I used the half-priced shrimps I bought this morning, peeled them, and simmered the heads and shells for about one hour for making the broth. The cooked heads and shells will become a part of the chicken feed in the coming days. The flavor is lovely.

I added then homegrown white radish and Chinese cabbage into the broth. After the soup is boiling, turn off the heat and add the miso paste. In the end, a handful of chopped scallion (green parts) to finish it.

Usually, I will add Tofu in such miso soup, but unfortunately, the flood had damaged the only bio-shop that sells good quality Tofu in our town, so I added white radish as a replacement.

Here I would like to add a YouTube video for further information. If miso is easy to buy, it's very healthy, tasty, and highly recommended.

 

[flowerbug]

I never planted them, although they are so famous. Do you recommend it? Growing those citruses is one of the reasons why I decided to build a greenhouse.

if you use them in cooking certainly nice to have one growing instead of trying to find the leaves at the stores. i've never actually had one of the fruits and wouldn't know what to do with it (so i'd have to look that up), but the leaves are divine.

 

[baymule]

I never had miso, I’ll have to look for that and try it. Tofu I’ve put in stir fry. I have lots of home canned chicken broth. Would that work?

 

[Phaedra]

I never had miso, I’ll have to look for that and try it. Tofu I’ve put in stir fry. I have lots of home canned chicken broth. Would that work?

Yes, chicken or vegetable broth are both ok.

 

[Phaedra]

It's a lovely afternoon, sunny and warm. It's perfect for keeping pruning practices.

I also harvested many sunflowers and shared them with a neighbor.

The pruned and removed parts became recreational activities for the chickens.

I like the method used by this YouTuber, but not sure if I can bear the view. So I just used limited materials to take a try first. No matter if I will take the method or not, chickens still have some funs.

The sunlight of this afternoon is divine.