A Day In The Life

Crazy busy days are upon us here at the homestead! This is our busy season and it is good to be busy! If you're considering participating Rent The Chicken this year, don't wait to place your deposit as you may miss out! Our service is available in more than 60 major markets in the United States and Canada. Click on this link and then click on the location closest to you to find rental packages and pricing for all of our regions: https://goo.gl/ee8aLa

Just yesterday, we (as in me and our Affiliates) were recorded for a news segment in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; recorded for a radio show in Barrie, Ontario; scheduled a radio interview in Vancouver, British Columbia; got word of a TV interview in Middle Tennessee; and scheduled an interview with a local paper in Pennsylvania! Oh and we hosted a Facebook Live video of ducks hatching! We're now offering Hatch The Duck in Western PA as a pilot program. During our test hatches, we streamed live for the hatching. And we answered like a ba-ga-zillion calls, responding to just as many emails, and kept up with social media posts. We also, received the FREE Chubby Mealworms for each of our rentals for this year! Stay tuned for our media appearances!

Did you know that we're working on announcing the Top 10 Reasons to Rent The Chicken on our Rent The Chicken Facebook Page? Next week I'll post all of them on the blog to keep everyone up to date. No spoilers here! :) To find them go here: www.facebook.com/RentTheChicken

We (again as in all of Rent The Chicken) have a lot of events coming up! You can find a list here.

Update on Givi Kitty: She's doing FANTASTIC! She's loving her new wet food diet and is back on her 3 times a day nap schedule :)

We are looking forward to a weekend of reflection of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and His resurrection. We're continuing a new series at our church called "Fake News" and then we'll enjoy family time.
-Homestead Jenn

"Egg in the Hole" Technique

Do you know what an "Egg in the Hole" is? I'm not sure I did until I met Phil! Here's a picture of my perfected Egg in the Hole!

I've tried to make this probably twenty different ways and FINALLY pulled all of my positive Egg in the Hole results together! Here's what I've learned through the years:

• Use an electric griddle and not a skillet - I don't know why but I think this is what helped perfect it!
• Butter one side of the bread. Place it on the hot electric griddle butter side down. Butter the other side.
• Cut a hole into the bread. I usually cut a square about 1.5". Be careful though! Don't scratch your griddle!
• I always crack my egg into a little bowl before adding it to a dish. At this point, I gently pour a bit of the egg white in first and finish with the yolk.
• Once the bottom of the bread is nice and toasted, CAREFULLY flip your Egg in the Hole over.
• Let it cook until you have a desired "dippy" (it's a Western PA thing!) or over easy egg.
• By then, the bottom of your bread will also be toasted.

You're welcome! :)

Givi Kitty

If you've been following my blog at all, you KNOW how much we love our Givi Kitty!

In the last few months, she's had a growing lip issue. It's defined as a "rodent ulcer" although it's not actually rodent related. There's no known cause and it is treated with steroids. We took her to the vet in the last two weeks. She received a steroid injection and was sent home with a topical liquid to be placed on her lips. That is not enjoyable for any of us!

Yesterday, after I landed a rental for North-Central Ontario (WOO!), Homestead Phil calmly said, "Can you come into the bathroom?". It's a very unusual statement. Like most, Homestead Phil likes his privacy in there! Givi Kitty had been bleeding from her mouth and there was quite a number of drops of blood in the bathtub. We couldn't stop the bleeding but we knew it was from her mouth and not coming from any other source. After borrowing a cat crate from the neighbor to contain her and a call to the vet for advice, the bleeding slowed. (We don't own a cat carrier because Givi walks on a leash!) *whew* As she started to clean her fur, the bleeding started again. :(

A trip to the vet that included in some time of her being left at the vet - although only a few hours to wait for the Dr to come in. She received lots of love from the vet techs at the office though! :) She was given a treatment to stop the bleeding from a scratch the size of a pin hole! She's now on a wet food diet and has been resting quite a bit since her adventures yesterday.

She just turned 7 a few weeks back and we are not even close to being ready to say our good-byes to her! We're hopeful that her lips continue to heal and that she doesn't have any more bleeding episodes!

Hard Boiled Eggs - It's That Time of the Year!

Before high speed internet and google, anytime I needed a recipe, I'd call my Mom. No matter if my Mom or stepdad answered, they would give line after line on the recipe card from the recipe box. I never would write down the "How to hard boil egg" steps and called every time. At that time, I was in my early 20s and didn't make them often. I would get confused with putting the eggs in the cold water like boiling potatoes or putting the eggs in the boiling water like pasta.

One year, I was gifted a cookbook from my Mom and stepdad with this note inside:

Ironically, when Phil and I married, we both had a copy of the same cookbook! It's the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book! Click here to buy it on Amazon. Phil's was ring bound with a hard cover so my copy is stashed with my pile of cookbooks and I use his regularly.

Here's the recipe straight from the book!

Here are my added notes about preparing fresh eggs prior to cooking:

• Fresh eggs can be kept on the counter unwashed.
• I have a small "Easter Basket" bucket from Walmart for $1 that I use only for egg washing. Click here for similar ones to mine.
• We have an egg storing system on the counter but one never knows if there was a breach in the system so while washing the eggs, I always do a "Float Test". It's easy peasy! If the egg sinks and stays at the bottom of the bucket of water, then it's still good to use. If it floats, as Homestead Phil says "Float it out of your house" meaning be gentle as it is likely rotten. Put it in a Ziploc bag and place it gently in the trash or without the Ziploc carefully place it into your compost bin.
• The cleaner you keep your nesting box, the cleaner your eggs will be. In the case of dirty eggs, I use a great homemade crocheted scrubber similar to these ones on Etsy.com.
• Fresher eggs tend to be harder to peel. Either just know that or keep older eggs (a week or two old) around for hard boiling.

Here are added notes on after the cooking time has finished:

• I place a metal mixing bowl into the sink and fill it with cold water
• I use the largest straining "spoon" I've ever seen to move the eggs similar to this one to move the eggs from the hot pot of water to the mixing bowl of cold water.
• As the water starts to warm from the eggs transferring the heat, drain as much of the water out of the mixing bowl as possible and add more cold water.
• With this method of cooling the eggs, I have found even fresh eggs easy to peel.
• If not, we've found an OK method of peeling which doesn't do as much damage to the egg but it's more for immediate eating or egg salad or deviled eggs and not whole hard boiled eggs. Use a butter knife to cut the egg with the shell down the middle. Use a plastic spoon to scoop the egg out of the shell. You have to do this step just right with the membrane or it doesn't slide right out.

Here's a pic of my infamous "Deviled Egg Casserole" as it sounds fancier than Egg Salad and less labor intensive than Deviled Eggs. :)

Being Foster Parents

I'm sure I could dedicate an entire blog and not just a few blog posts to our destiny of being Foster Parents. One day I'll explain all about our journey to become Foster Parents but that's for another day. In March of 2016 after much thought and prayer previously, Homestead Phil sent an email inquiry to start the process of being Foster Parents. I woke to a text that said "I signed us up for more information to be Foster Parents". *blink* We received a follow up call first thing that morning.

Fast forward through 8 months of training which included a complete DIY kitchen remodel, a 27 day visit from our niece from Oregon, Brooklynn which included a 10 day road trip to the Mari-times in NE Canada! We received a call saying a set of brothers needed an emergency placement. On December 20, 2016, two boys, brothers, were brought to our home. At ages four and six, we were overwhelmed with stress, emotions, the onset of Christmas, and being clueless as to the trauma that children at those ages were exposed to. As it worked out, the four year old moved to a home better suited to meet his needs and the six year old who turned seven while with us stayed for 11 months. An incredible 11 months! A trying 11 months. An exhausting 11 months. An 11 months full of love. An 11 months we'll never forget.

We am so very happy and blessed to have been meshed with this little guy. He has no idea who incredible he is but I hope one day he finds out! I can't even put into words the emotions we experienced from start to finish and even now continuing to process the experience. My best advice to someone considering being a Foster Parent, open your heart as wide as possible to the child/children who cross your path and pray like crazy they remember your love forever. At the same time, know that the system is broken... BADLY broken. Although there are definitely some professionals in the industry that care for those they are responsible for, the system is not set up with the children in mind.

Due to our experience with "the system", we've prayerfully made a decision to switch to an agency that is focused on placing children who have already been in the system with forever parents - Foster to Adopt. Our credentials were transferred from our previous agency. We still had a number of meetings with our new case worker and passed our Home Study without an issue. So we won't have any "emergency placements" but our next placement will be strategic and planned. The phase we are in is called "matching". We read through online profiles of "waiting children" and send the links to our case worker. She then requests longer profiles of the children from their case worker. Sometimes she receives a response. Sometimes she doesn't. Once there's a case worker who has read our long profile (18 pages!) and we've read the long profile of a child/children (which so far have been devastating), then there may or may not be a decision made for all parties agree to meet - without the children. We have not made it that far yet as we've only been in the matching process for a few weeks. Once a sit down of adults occurs then a meeting with the child occurs either at the current foster parents home. Then maybe a meet up at a park or for dinner at our home. Then possibly an overnight stay and a weekend stay. All to determine if we are a good fit for the child and the child is a good fit for us. The move will then occur and the steps to terminate their parental rights will occur immediately followed by an adoption hearing.

Then, we will have something we've never had before. Our names will together be on a birth certificate of our first alive child. The little guy who was with us for 11 months will forever be our first foster child. But this future child, will be ours to call ours forever. I'm certainly romanticizing it as I know it will be a tough transition. It will be tough for us and for the child (or possibly children!). It's possible when our forever child turns 18, he/she may decide to go back to his/her birth family. Fostering is hard but rewarding. Foster to adopt - I'll have to report back on!

If you feel as though you have room in your heart and in your home, there are all sorts of ways to fill the room in your heart and in your home. You can simply ask families that you are close with if the parents could use a date night. You can find out if your nieces, nephews, or even cousins' children can come by for a few hours or to spend a weekend. Parents need a break! More formally, you can google "How to become a foster parent?" and then click on your state's results. It's not easy. The smile of his first time to the beach and his laugh when you make up silly songs and his first canoe ride (but always called it a kayak) and his tears when he has to move are all part of the process.

This was a deep one without many pictures. One day, we'll have pictures to show! Today is not that day. In the meantime, we'll keep focusing on Jesus, the memories of our 11 months, Rent The Chicken, "the matching process", Givi Kitty, and each other.
Much love,
Jenn the Foster Mom

Happy Birthday / Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe!

The amount of daylight is extending. Add to that Daylight Savings time. It's dark as late as 7:15pm here in Western Pennsylvania! Also, hens lay more eggs as the amount of daylight increases. So yay for increased egg production!

As we celebrate more daylight and evenings with more daylight, we also celebrate Homestead Phil's birthday! We also celebrate Givi's birthday on Homestead Phil's birthday too. When we adopted her July 31, 2011, we were told that she was likely born in March. It only made sense to assign her birthday to Phil's! Although Givi will pick Phil's lap every time if we are sitting on the couch together, she mainly sleeps on me at night. He doesn't allow her on his desk but I do. Or rather I tolerate it and he does not! haha Sometimes I think I have two monitors on my desk so she can sit in front of one of them and I can work on the other! From my desk, she does tend to go on a walk about across my chest and around my shoulder onto the back of my chair and back down again.

Homestead Phil is not a big sweet eater - I married him anyway! :) His favorite sweet is Peanut Butter Cookies so this year, I made them for his birthday. I knew I needed 20 to spell out "Happy Birthday Phillip" but, not all 20 would fit on the plate so this is what I came up with:

I'm not exactly sure where this Peanut Butter Cookie recipe came from but I would guess that it came from either my mom or my Gramma (my mom's mom).
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten (I recommend fresh eggs of course!)
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cup flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla. Sift flour and baking soda together. (I never sift anything!) Add flour / baking soda mixture to peanut butter mixture. Mix well. The instructions then say to roll into balls. I use a tablespoon Medium Scoop from Pampered Chef and drop them onto the a Silpat silicone baking mat. Then press down with a fork to make those fun tracks on the top! Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

I made a full batch when I could have made a half batch as all I really needed was 20 cookies! I baked the rest the next day after refrigerating the dough for a day. Homestead Phil did not complain! Well about the cookies. He complained about the weather that it was snowing on his birthday in March. I hope we're done seeing snow for awhile! C'mon Spring!

No title can do justice of this blog post. :)

Believe it or not, not everyone starts their backyard hen dream through our service, Rent The Chicken. I know, you're astounded! (Please note my sarcasm! :) ) A few days ago, I was defending the right to backyard hens in a suburban area where most properties are more than an acre. Someone rebutted my argument by saying "Your income is based on selling people what others may deem a nuisance. I am merely the unbiased messenger. You are extremely biased and financially interested in selling your chickens to people." WOAH. We are so much more than a chicken rental service. Of course, we want EVERYONE to participate in our rentals! Chickens and eggs have been part of the food chain since the food chain started. Believe it or not, Rent The Chicken wasn't founded until 2013 - well beyond when the food chain started! haha

Honestly, if I never rent a chicken again and everyone has backyard chickens, a garden for fresh vegetables, and knows their farmer, then all will be well in my world. When we help communities to change their ordinances, it's not about us renting more chickens. It's about making progress in the local food movement. We celebrate with anyone who is legally permitted to have chickens after having laws changed. We celebrate when someone harvests their first tomato from their first tomato plant on their porch! We celebrate when the special needs folks find a connection with chickens that is beyond just eggs. When we are at events to showcase our business, people ask about the noise level of chickens, I lean in to the chickens and say "listen to them". Some people don't even realize that we have chickens in the coop with us. The only reason I mention our business in public social media groups is to gain credibility. If I just started spewing chicken facts and no one knows why I am so educated on the subjects, my credibility would be questioned.

"Who in the world is this lady and how does she know so much about chickens, local ordinances / bylaws, and tomato plants?!" I'm sure that's what people would think if I say random things in a chicken related conversation like "With community involvement, an "on the go" family, can share responsibility of chickens and eggs on those tournament weekends. 2-4 hens is not going to make an impact to the water table. Coyotes and raccoons are already there. A good chicken keeper will do everything to keep their chickens safe and to not cause a draw. Predators are attracted by excess food, bird feeders, trash cans, dog waste, outside cat food, and backyard gardens. Hens are less noisy than most children and most dogs. 2-4 hens produce less waste than a German Shepherd." So I simply add "My husband and I are the co-founders of Rent The Chicken. We are very passionate about helping our local communities to have food sources as close to the table as possible - backyard chickens for eggs, garden beds, CSAs, knowing your local farmer, etc."

That brings me to my next thought. Spring is in the air! Well except it snowed 2 more inches last night where we are and I just chatted with Homestead Christine in NH and it snowed 16" just in the last two days! But I'm sticking to it... Spring is in the air! I think that Spring is an even better time to evaluate new life and new lifestyle choices than in the dead of winter with New Years Resolutions. Don't you?

Many can agree that the animals in the big factory farms are not treated well. Many can also agree that an animal raised and harvested for consumption can be done in a way that it is more ethical than how factory farms operate. Many also have no idea how to move away from the processed food that we've grown accustomed to. We are so far removed from our food sources that we have grown complacent and let the big food producers set the standards for what we digest. (Legal limits of arsenic is permitted in the chicken we consume!) I truly believe with Rent The Chicken that we are helping chickens from being dropped off at a cat / dog rescue who are not set up for chickens. We are also helping people to re-evaluate food choices. I'm not talking about non-gmo/organic choices. I just mean... we're coming in to Spring so find a farmer who will grow your produce. Plant some lettuce in a box on your porch. Plant some potatoes in your flower bed. Find a local CSA (google it!) to join. Stop buying your meat from the grocery store. Know the farmer who raises your meat. It's not difficult but it does take some effort. With a quick google search I can help you find a farmer for you to connect with. How can you make better food choices? Homestead Phil and I aren't 100% on target with our food choices but we give it a go! Here's a proud plate photo - potatoes and beans from our garden and steak from a local farmer friend, Brett.

Are you going to choose to plant some lettuce in a planter on your porch? Are you going to buy an AeroGarden and grow some vegetables in your kitchen or den? (That's how Homestead Phil started!) Will you buy a tomato plant to grow on your deck? Is this the summer that you will Rent The Chicken?? Is it time to google CSA? Include your town name or your region when you search for a CSA. A number of our Rent The Chicken Affiliates offer a CSA, meat share, or simply sell meat. Click here to read the About Us on our website and see if a location close to you offers what you are looking for. Or contact me and I'll direct you! It's time make a Spring Resolution! Who's in?

Food! err... Food.

The other day, Homestead Phil said "You don't talk about food enough in your blog." Agreed! My blog is "Family. Food. Fun!" I seem to be covering "Family." and "Fun!" but I'm lacking in the "Food." category!

Let it be known that one of my favorite foods is Macaroni & Cheese. Mac n cheese. Mac & cheese. Macaroni n cheese. Cheesy macaroni! What do you call it?

Boy do I heart mac n cheese! Probably my favorite one is a cast iron specific one. It takes awhile to make as it starts with bacon, then onions, etc but it is so delicious! Then it's baked in the same cast iron that the bacon was cooked it. DELISH! Here's a link: Macheesmo's Cast Iron Mac and Cheese! You COULD make it without a cast iron skillet or you could salvage one from your parent's or grandparent's stash.

I made this one recently only because I had leftover cream cheese from my holiday baking. I have more cream cheese in the fridge and I've been considering making some of that cookie dough dip. Have you tried it? It tastes like cookie dough but it is a cream cheese base so you don't have to eat raw egg. I do like to live on the edge and will eat raw cookie dough but if I'm having a dip serving size, I probably should steer clear of the raw egg. Anyway... this recipe was tasty although I didn't have any spicy brown mustard to add. I just used ground mustard. Here's the link: TasteOfHome.com Company Mac and Cheese. You can make it even if you don't have company coming over. I think I also added some meat to this one when I made it.

This is by far my favorite one to make when I need a quick meal. I found this recipe when we were in the midst of a DIY four-month kitchen remodel. All I used as a stove for four months was an electric skillet! This recipe is Skillet Mac and Cheese. I tend to add an extra slice or two of swiss cheese when I make it. I also double it to have leftovers and use more noodles than called for in the recipe. We know who raises 95% of our meet but by golly, I really love Hillshire Farms Cheddarwurst so I cut them up and put them into this recipe frequently. I've also put chicken, meat that tastes like chicken, and sausage. I'm not completely committed to macaroni as I also enjoy shells, farfalle, rotini, and radiatori. Without further ado, here's the link: Skillet Mac and Cheese! I've also made this in our little RV a time or two because it only takes one pan. Honestly, I make it in a pot more frequently than a skillet; however, I just got a fancy new 14" skillet from Pampered Chef that can hold a double recipe of this Mac and Cheese!

A Facebook friend, who apparently loves Macaroni & Cheese as much as I do, requested for Mac & Cheese recipes with the intention of trying all of the ones shared with her! I didn't have all of the ingredients on hand for a few of them BUT there was a recommendation of one that called for eggs! You heard me right! Apparently, it's a southern thing. Well... I pulled out my trusty new Pampered Chef skillet. (Let me know if you want one. I'll connect you with my cousin who sells Pampered Chef) and baked it right in that large skillet in the oven! This one is Paula Deen's and called The Lady's Cheesy Mac! It's the only one that I listed that wasn't called "Mac and Cheese". I like her out of the box name - not out of the blue box mac and cheese though! Homestead Phil likes it now and again but he can make and it that on the off chance that I'm not home for a meal. Here's the link: The Lady's Cheesy Mac. Interestingly enough, it calls for eggs but this is the only one of the four that doesn't call for flour. I'm sure if you have a gluten free pasta, you could make this as a gluten-free Cheesy Mac!

And a photo for your viewing pleasure of last night's The Lady's Cheesy Mac in my fancy extra large skillet!