Christmas Cookies, "Work Christmas Party", and Run Like No One Is Chasing Me!

 Hello again to old friends and new!

It has been on my heart and mind to continue with blog entries as often as possible.  So, here I go!  I LOVE to bake as you may know and especially for the holidays!  A friend asked recently as I posted a photo of "Cookie #12", "What do you do with all of these cookies?"  Well.. here's what I do:

• Platter for where ever we go for an event
• Plate for each local neighbor - I typically do this on Christmas Eve Eve!
• Each of our pastors receive a plate. 
• Small box to each of my cousins, aunts/uncles, siblings, parents
• We ship a big box to far away family and some friends
• Oh and I eat them. More than I should, probably? haha  They are just so tasty!  

Here's a beautiful platter I took to my sister's for Thanksgiving!  

I made a bunch of flavors since then and I have 6-8 more kinds to go if I'm really ambitious!  I think a cookie that is creeping up to be one of my top faves is a new cookie for me as of last year - Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip!  It has big chocolate chips and mini-chocolate chips! I'll keep you posted!  Here's a link to the recipe at BunsInMyOven.com Of course I doubled it but should have tripled it - well except it wouldn't have fit into my mixing bowl!

As you may know, our Affiliate Partners are all over the USA & Canada.  As I mentioned previously, Homestead Miranda works the phones and completes a lot of admin items but does so remotely.  Since Homestead McKenna is local to us and works at our home office in her own space, I decided we needed to have an official "Work Christmas Party"!  I remember old work Christmas parties were so fun!  Usually everyone brought food to share and maybe there was a white elephant gift exchange or a secret Santa.  Yesterday, after chatting with Homestead Phil prior, I announced to Homestead McKenna that we planned on taking some time during her shift to have a "Work Christmas Party"!  I said I'd make some delish food, we'd feast, and enjoy some time together.  She was so excited and planned to wear festive clothes - which I've been doing since Thanksgiving! haha  You probably hardly recognize us without our blue Rent The Chicken shirts on! 

• I made this Short Rib Instant Pot recipe from OhSweetBasil.com  We purchased the ribs right from our local farm friends.  If you don't buy direct from a farmer or from a farmers market. Please consider it!
  
• I use this bbq sauce recipe instead of the one they have in their recipe. Of course I double it. Combine all ingredients in a stove top pot and bring to a low simmer for five minutes. As much as I LOVE Sweet Baby Rays.... this is a million times better!
  

1 c ketchup
1/3 c brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c vinegar
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp paprika

• This AMAZING Gouda based Mac & Cheese recipe. I love it! It's not my go to and I make it only for special occasions like a Work Christmas Party and in my cast iron pan of course! ButterBeReady.com
• I also made this delish go to Cornbread recipe again in a cast iron skillet - BlessThisMessPlease.com
  

WOW! My belly is FULL.... I really should go for a long-ish run today but the full belly is delaying my desire to run.  It is nearly 60F outside though! Decisions Decisions!

The saying "run like someone is chasing me" is not true for me.  I literally run like no one is chasing me If they were, they'd for sure catch me! haha  I participated in my 5th half marathon of 2021 and ever for me in November.  My Mom has been a great pit crew for me for a few races this year and this race was no different!  My cousin Eric carted his mom, my Aunt Mary, and my Mom for the entire race where the trail crossed over a road.  They had a great time and it was super encouraging me to have them cheering for me!  I share the following collage to show off my Rent The Chicken gear and my lovely sparkly skirt that was gifted to me recently. It's not my kind of style at all but I love it!  I receive so many compliments on it!!  The second photo isn't very clear but I see so much strength and determination in my entire being in the photo!  The third photo is of my pit and support crew!  YAY!  And finally... my final race metal of 2021! I participated in 12 races in 2021. 5 half marathons, 2 5ks, 2 10ks, a 100 mile relay, 1 miler, and a 10 miler. 16 months ago, I was excited to make it a mile! As I mentioned previously, I do walk / run intervals so I'm not running the entire distance.  But my foot crosses the finish line every time whether it's a training run or a race just like someone who runs the whole thing.  Praise be to God!

Seize the day!  Reach out to a friend or family member that you haven't chatted with in awhile. Enjoy those around you.  Bake or buy a batch of cookies and give them to a neighbor just because!  Thanks for reading!  You are appreciated!

An Update from The Homestead

Me oh my oh me! I really LOVE writing here but it has certainly taken a back burner in the last almost year. I could make an empty promise that I'm going to get back to it but... I won't! If you're reading this, I hope you are well and in a good place no matter your circumstances.

I won't try to bring you up to speed of the last year in one blog post. Don't worry! Let's start with my holiday baking plans and tasks since this blog is about Family. FOOD. and Fun!

Every year, we plan a HUGE Annual Holiday Dinner where we invite everyone that we know for an open house / buffet style meal. I use nearly all of my crock pots and roasters. We often raise the turkey ourselves that I cook for our party. Sometimes, I have to use a bungie strap to hold the lid down on the roaster because the turkey is so large! I also bake up a storm to have desserts both for our party, to take with us when we visit family, and to provide as gifts. Unfortunately, we won't be hosting our big party this year BUT I am still baking up a storm! (Whatever that saying even means haha!) I usually bake 10 or so different cookies / desserts. I even put a new one into the rotation. A friend of a friend posted her list of Christmas baking and WOW... 29 cookie types (2-6 batches of each), four candies, and five muffins (2-6 batches of each). Puts my little list of 10 to shame! haha Made me want to expand my list though! I'll dig around for some family favorites that don't always make the cut!

I always start with these ones to ease myself the marathon of holiday baking... Buckeyes! Some people just call them Peanut Butter Balls. I think that's a regional thing though. My step-mom said she likes them best with rice krispies in them! Maybe that can be one of my new options for 2020! Mine aren't always pretty but they are delish! Far too easy to eat :)

Next up like clock work I bust out my recipe for No Bakes short for No Bake Cookies haha! Homestead Phil every time says "Why are they called "No bakes" when you still have to cook them?". Oh Homestead Phil. They aren't called "No Cook Cookies". They are called "No Bakes". :) Every. Time.

Snickerdoodles! This year's Snickerdoodles weren't as good as years past likely because the dough is to chill in the fridge and not camp in there for a week until I found time to bake them! :)

Gobs - it's a Western Pennsylvania thing! Other regions call them Whoopie Pies while other areas call them Moon Pies. Gobs are a soft chocolate cookie sandwich with lovely fluffy filling. It's one of my top fave cookies!

Sugar Cookies! These cookies are so soft! I used to slather the frosting across each but now I use less and think they look a bit nicer. Although, you may notice, I'm no cookie decorator despite my previous Jenn The Baker status :)

This lovely Friendship Bread recipe was gifted to me likely in 2013. I've only made it maybe once or twice before but I took the plunge on smaller bread pans for cute loaves of Friendship Bread and Pumpkin Bread. Homestead Phil devored a little one of these Friendship Breads in the last 24 hours!

Last cookie so far this season is Homestead Phil's FAVORITE - Peanut Butter Cookies! I probably make these cookies more each year than any other cookies. Someone may be spoiled here at the Homestead!

I have country ribs thawing to pop into the instant pot for dinner tonight so I have to scoot. Maybe I'll share that recipe one day!

What's on your holiday baking list for 2020?

-Homestead Jenn

It's not Friday?

Since taking the afternoon off two weeks ago to watch the Downton Abbey movie, it feels like I've been going non-stop! Women's Conference at our church, our little guy's birthday, behind the scenes work for Rent The Chicken, a local Norwex retreat, an online Norwex party, planning for local Rent The Chicken pick-ups, prep for in home Norwex parties, and of course preparing for the launch of our 2020 Rent The Chicken and Hatch The Chicken reservations!

No wonder I didn't get a chance or make the time to check in here last week or yesterday! So let me fill you in on some things... My motto for 2019 has been the "Year of the Harvest". "the Harvest" isn't just about the bounty that comes a few months of the year. It's about putting in the work, preparing, getting others involved, building community, tending to the crops / project, pruning, carefully growing the crops, and then.... THE HARVEST! It doesn't end there. All of the fruit and vegetables in the garden becomes nourishment and deliciousness! Some of it is consumed right away and others is made to last through the year until the next harvest. At the same time, clean up needs to occur and while winding down from the harvest of this year, it's already time to start planning for the next. Although when I claimed "Year of the Harvest" as my motto, I thought it was literally about the actual Harvest and reaping all of the great benefits of harvest-time. Every year we put in the work to build and grow our Rent The Chicken business. Every year we build and grow. This year though.. WOW! We prepared, tilled, planted the right crops, groomed, pruned, nurtured, and and and and...! As expected, because of our Affiliates, our Renters, and God's provision, we had a stellar year of growth and Hatch The Chicken & Rent The Chicken Rentals!

That brings me to the next topic as mentioned above, a LOT of work has been put in for the launch of our 2020 Rent The Chicken and Hatch The Chicken rentals to be available for reservation. Don't hold back... our dates and coops are reserved so quickly and some locations sell out in the first few months after the launch. We've reserved over 20 rentals this week network wide and that was with gentle marketing. What a great start to our 2020 Rental Season!

So of course I would love for everyone who reads this to make a reservation for a 2020 rental but it's more than that! I'm egg-cited for the things to come because of our focus this year. The planning for one harvest overlaps for years to come - both personally and professionally!

Here's a photo of my friend Becky and I at the Women's Conference at our church recently. What a cute photo opp area, right?! You can find Becky's blogs over here: MrsGregWillis.com

I'll leave you with this. There are two songs that have impacted me recently. One last year (Do It Again) and one just very recently (So Will I). I found this YouTube video of both songs here:

Meal Planning Update - (Or lack thereof!)

Last week I rambled on about my hopeful plan of starting to meal plan including using up that 7.5# ham! Homestead Phil was out of town for 4 days so I lived on tortilla pizzas and cereal. OOPS! Here's how we munched on that ham for a week:
1. Homestead Phil participated in our church's Men's Annual Chili Cook-off. Chili is his thing so he looks forward to participating every year! It seems to be different every time he makes it so there will not be a recipe provided. :) This year conveniently had ham in it! haha

2. Scalloped Potatoes and Ham based on The Pioneer Women's recipe.

• 3 pounds Russet Or Yukon Gold Potatoes, Washed Thoroughly 
• 2 Tablespoons Butter 
• 1 whole Yellow Onion, Diced 
• 3 cups Diced Ham 
• 3 cups milk (I used 2%) 
• 1/4 cup Flour Black Pepper To Taste 
• 1 cup Grated Cheddar Cheese 
• 1 cup Grated Monterey Jack Cheese 
• Chopped Parsley (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a large casserole dish. Dice ham. Chop onion and slice potatoes thin. (I used my food processor for both.) While food processing, heat butter in a large skillet. Add onions and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until they start to turn translucent. Add ham and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a microwave-safe container and nuke for a minute or so, until no longer cold. Whisk in flour and black pepper until totally combined. Set aside. (You may add salt, but cheese and ham are salty, so add sparingly.)
Combine the two grated cheeses. Set aside.
Layer 1/3 of the potato slices in the buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle on 1/3 of the ham/onion mixture, then 1/3 of the cheese, then pour on 1/3 of the cream mixture.
Repeat this twice more, ending with a sprinkling of cheese and a pouring on of the rest of the cream mixture. I'm heavy handed with the cheese so I needed more than the 2 cups of cheese. It wasn't "au gratin" style as it was more scalloped than cheesy. Cover dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes at least, or until bubbly and hot.
Cut into squares and serve. Sprinkle on chopped parsley if you'd like! (I didn't!)

3. Ham Potpie based on my step mom's recipe. It's one of those "Some of this. Some of that." recipes so I won't be sharing that today but it was delish! It finished up the ham though as we also had a few ham sandwiches and ham and eggs through the week :)

I did save the ham bone and didn't boil it very long for the ham potpie so I may toss that bone in the freezer to make more broth another day!

The Great Dayton Fair!

We LOVE our local county fair - The Great Dayton Fair! It's not the "Dayton County" fair as our county is Armstrong County but the fair is located in the very rural town of Dayton. This is year two of us camping in our little RV next to my sister and her family who have been camping at the Fair for likely 10 years or more! When we tell people that we will be camping at the fair, they assume we are showing animals as most people who camp do show animals. This fair does not have a poultry category so the chickens stay at home. We love our local fair so much that we want to enjoy all of it and not have to make the 45 minute drive home every night then tackle bedtime upon arriving home. Between our niece Brooklynn's, Our Girl's, and my entries (which Homestead Phil of course takes part in!), we submitted 30 exhibits in varying categories of canned items, baked goods, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, as well as items created at the 4H craft camp that the girls attended this summer!

Here's what Fair week and the week before the fair look like for us:

A few weeks before the fair, I start perusing an almost 200 page booklet to decide what items we should submit.

Before the Saturday a week before the fair starts, the official entry form needs to be filled in and submitted.

We trek to the Fair Grounds to reserve our camp site, pay for our wrist bands, pay for the ride all week passes, AND submit the forms.

Grocery shop for ingredients of the proposed baked good submissions.

Wednesday and Thursday before The Fair starts, the baking commences, the lego building is finalized, the craft camp items are gathered, and the eggs are weighed.

On Friday morning, the baked goods are plated. It's decided which of the vegetables we are able to submit vs ones we want to eat! The canned items are retrieved from the basement. The eggs are carefully wiped and placed into the cartons. The craft camp items are given a once over to determine if anything needs any last minute glue!

It's time to load the vehicle! Submissions are accepted only between noon and 7pm!

Exhibitor tags can be picked up earlier in the week but since The Fair is 45 minutes each way, we decide to tag our items at the Fair Grounds. We bring a stapler, scotch tape, a hole punch, a marker, and yarn to attach our appropriate tags! (not my first rodeo, friends!) This garden stone was created at Craft Camp. Imagine that the silver is the plate then you'll see the masterpiece all come together! This is an example of the tag with the yarn showing our heart shaped hole punch :) Without the yarn and the hole punch, I have no idea how we would have attached the tag!

We form an assembly line at the vehicle after picking up our tags.

There's a station for each category. Kids are in one line while I'm in another before going back to the car to tag and retrieve more items!

30 items submitted! Record amount for us!

Then we wait. The building doesn't official open until Monday morning to see what ribbons were earned for each item! Oh the wait!

There's still plenty to keep us occupied as we have to grocery shop for the week, prepare the RV, and load it up!

There are pre-fair events that happen like horse pulls and the like. Our main goal was to have the RV set up with time for relaxation before the crowning of the Dayton Fair Queen which happens on Sunday evening. This event was near to our hearts this year as our niece, Gabi, was handing over her crown to the next Dayton Fair Queen. Gabi's reign of 2017 Dayton Fair Queen came to an end that evening. Brooklynn and Our Girl knew the 2018 Dayton Fair Queen from their time at Craft Camp and were thrilled to be able to say they knew the Queen!

In other news, we were able to get into the Exhibit Hall to get a sneak peek of some of our categories that were already judged! Say, what?! We didn't have to wait until Monday! I'll share the ribbons below. To fill you in, we received ribbons for 20 of our submissions!!

Throughout the week, we enjoyed a concert of Danny Gokey, unlimited rides, plenty of rain, limited fair food, watching our nieces compete with their horse, seeing all of the fair animals, meeting up with friends & family, and of course, showing off our ribbons to anyone who would walk to the Exhibit Hall with us! :) Oh.. and of course the Demolition Derby & the Rodeo! Brooklynn exclaimed "I saw a real life cowboy riding a bull!"

Remember when I offered selfies with Reba The Chicken at the Southern Women's Show? Well.. I met her cousin! Reba The Horse! Of course I took a selfie! (I know you were just thinking "Did Homestead Jenn snap a selfie!?")

Friday night of The Fair, I caught up with my friend Molly and her family. Her husband's family has been involved with the fair FOREVER! His great grandparents had their name on a bench at The Fair for years. The Fair is working on replacing the old benches with new ones and offered the oldest benches to be donated back to the family members. Molly and her family had been walking around The Fair all week to look for the bench that they had no problems finding each year previous but without success. I made it my duty to try to find the bench on Sunday. I gathered up two of my nieces plus Brooklynn, and a few other random horse kids who camped near us. We strategically walked around the ENTIRE fairgrounds to try to find the bench. We were also determined to get our pictures in each of the wooden displays around the fair. It was quite an adventure! I promised ice cream at the end. I'm fairly certain that we walked for more than two hours! The littlest kiddo was 4 or so years old! *blink* The oldest was 14. We had fun! We took one last look at all of our ribbons and by this time, moldy baked goods :P We sadly did not find the bench but we did find ice cream! Molly and family were able to retrieve their bench on Sunday after The Fair. Turns out, it was in rough shape, still covered in cobwebs so it was thought that it wasn't even used this fair! We got a good walk in at the fair and enjoyed ice cream nonetheless!

The girls' ribbons:

Our ribbons:

There are a few items that we hoped to submit that we just ran out of time for. Next year, we are hopeful there is still a Duct Tape contest - make anything out of Duct Tape and submit the creation! I also hope to crochet some over the next 11 months and submit a few of my creations. See you next year, The Great Dayton Fair!

Remember when...

Remember when I used to blog at least once a week? I'll try my best to get back into the swing of things!

With our niece Brooklynn visiting for the summer, Our Girl (foster kiddo who we plan to adopt), day trips, maintaining and growing both Rent The Chicken and The Chicken Network, plus managing the home part of The Homestead, I've been a bit busy and maybe even overwhelmed so my blog took a backseat. In fact, it may have been on the back bumper and not even on the backseat!

We drove to New Jersey to be part of a Coops for Troops presentation. It was our first time but a number of our Rent The Chicken Affiliates have participated previously. To watch last season's episodes of Coops for Troops for free online, go on over to Coops for Troops! Scroll down to "bonus features" which are the actual episodes. It was an incredible experience. A local chicken 4-H club nominated a vet to receive the package of generous sponsors including chickens from Rent The Chicken!

We made a day trip to Old Bedford Village in Bedford, PA. It's been a few years since I've been there. It's this great "village" experience that stepped us back into the 1800s with basket making, history lessons, a blacksmith, candle maker, and more! They did have some chickens but none were available for rent! :) Like Aunt like niece in these photos!

We are well into #TompkinsPalooza2018 as I mentioned a few entries back. It's really about being purposeful with friends and family. Neighbor kids from up the road have been visiting again. They used to visit when we had our last little guy and it's good to have a reason for them to be visiting again. In addition to a few trips, we've also been puzzling (probably not the right verbiage?!), swimming in the river, playing board games, creating in the kitchen, and more! We also hatched baby chicks this week! Can you believe these kids are convinced that they need three meals a day?! Yesterday, "Uncle Dad" (as Homestead Phil has been renamed around The Homestead) "made" breakfast, we went out for lunch as we were out running errands and the natives were getting restless, and we traded eggs for pizza at our favorite local pizza place - Wolfies. I didn't have to cook one meal! There was a death in our church family so I did whip up about 3 dozen eggs worth of egg salad for the meal to follow the funeral.

Our IT department (aka Homestead Phil) is backing up my phone, updating my operating system, and has big plans for a phone upgrade for me. So I've been without my cell phone for hours! It's a good thing I have a PC and a work phone all conveniently located at my desk while the updates are happening. When I talk on the phone, it sounds like the person on the other end is a little mouse in a box trying to talk to me so I've been using the speakerphone option. Even my headset isn't work well. In addition to hearing people when I'm trying to talk on the phone, I hear the emojis with the last 27 iOS updates are pretty great! I wouldn't know, they all show up as squares and question marks when people send them to me. I just use my imagination as to what emojis are being sent to me :) All in a days work, right? Hot Date plans for our Friday night include a trip to the Verizon store. Yay.

Chat soon!
-Homestead Jenn

The last few days on the Homestead

So I failed again. It's Sunday. It's been 8 days since my last entry and absolutely failed at #FridayFamilyFoodFun! But I'm here now! Boy do I have a lot of catching up to do! I'll likely work backwards. There may be some triggers here.

Mother's Day is VERY hard for me. I know I've mentioned being part of the Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Club. I know I've mentioned infertility. I know I've mentioned our Foster Son who moved abruptly in November of 2017. So not only have we been pregnant nine times but we've grieved nine times when my body could not carry to term. Since then we've grieved not being able to get pregnant. We skip going to church on Mother's Day. We avoid restaurants. I've even learned that going to Lowe's on Mother's Day is like going to a bar on St Patrick's Day - it's amateur day/night! haha So we slept in, did chores, worked on a big project, and had Phil's mom over for dinner. Ironically, people say "Happy Mother's Day" similarly to "Happy New Year!" I was messaging with someone I don't know about a few of our older rental coops that we have for sale and she ended her message with "Happy Mother's Day!" Someone called today (which is now Monday - the day after Mother's Day) and wished me "Happy Belated Mother's Day". I guess the thought is that everyone celebrates it whether you celebrate with your mom, your spouse's mom, someone who is like a mom, or as a mom yourself. People aren't looking to offend but they are happy to extend the wishes. It still hurts. We're looking forward to have good news to share soon about our adventures in the Foster to Adopt process! Even when we receive the blessing of the next child into our lives, we'll likely still skip church on Mother's Day and make our own safe place to celebrate.. or not.

I had the pleasure of going on another delivery run with Homestead Phil this past weekend. They are so fun! The egg-citement that our renters have for the experience is so contagious! We are sold out in some of our regions but still have chickens and coops available in other region. This is a super busy time of the year with potential renters calling to reserve and current renters calling with simple conversations, stories to share, and concerns. Here's a Happy Renter photo from this past weekend!

Dandelions - I wish I snapped a picture in this last week of lawns and lawns just FULL of dandelions. When I finished college and moved to Maryland, I thought it was so unusual that I didn't see many dandelions. Actually very few. I also didn't know that everyone works and has school on the Monday after Thanksgiving. It's the first day of hunting season in Western Pennsylvania so there is absolutely no school that day. Everyone goes back to school and work that day in Maryland at least in the Baltimore metro area! So I quickly learned that dandelions are a weed. Most people in more urban and suburban setting treat their lawns and the dandelions don't grow. Chickens sure do like dandelions though! Well... just about any green and flowered plant really :)

For Homestead Phil's birthday in March, we went out to eat to an Irish pub at his request. I tried the most DELISH dish I have ever eaten! I was so impressed that I googled the dish's origin expecting for it to be Irish. No. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1934! Say, what?!? How did I make it to 41 years in my life and never have a Turkey Devonshire?! It's a piece of bread topped with real turkey pieces, a delightful cheese sauce, and bacon. Some serve it with tomato on top but tomatoes aren't a fav of mine so I order it without. I sweet-talked Homestead Phil in to going back to the same restaurant last weekend so I could get my Turkey Denvonshire fix! I took a picture this time! It is served in the dish it was heated in. So delish. I may have to sweet-talk Homestead Phil again soon! I did try to make it since his birthday but I didn't nail the cheese sauce. It's like the cheese that is in crab dip but a bit lighter. I can't even describe how good this cheese is! So here's the pic of the region famous Turkey Devonshire:

I think I need to start making real notes and not just notes in my head about what I chat about. I have these great ideas during the week and when I sit down, writer's block sets in! I mean... you likely can't tell! I'm such a chatter box I always have something to chat about :)

An Update From The Homestead

Let's first chat about our beloved Givi Kitty. We made it through a week of IV fluids twice a day. We just finished a round of antibiotics. She's on a phosphate blocker. She loses her appetite far too much for our liking now and again so we provide an appetite enhancer for her to make sure she's eating enough. She's definitely feeling much better since my last update! She was drifting from the dining room wood floor as she made the turn into the carpeted hallway the other day. (Imagine a car drifting through a turn when the back end cuts loose a bit as the driver accelerates out of the turn. That's what she was doing as she was high-tailing out of the dining room!) She even hopped up on my desk all on her own recently! She's also back to sleeping on my head at night! She doesn't really like to eat alone. I blame that on our syringe feeding time when she was really sick a few weeks ago. So now she wakes Homestead Phil to let him know that she's hungry despite her food being right next to her and him beside the bed!

We gave a try to our first time of raising meat chickens. Meat chickens are not used for our Rent The Chicken rentals and our rental hens are not used for meat. Meat chickens are an end of line bread which means they do not reproduce. They have been bred to get chubby quickly and are processed around 6-8 weeks old. If they are not processed at that age, they start to develop health issues due to their weight. Homestead Phil does not prefer to process anything with feathers so we opted to use a USDA certified butcher to handle the processing. The chickens did fine in our care but we would prefer to have a better system for the next time we venture into this process.

We officially started making our Rent The Chicken deliveries here in Western PA. I think Spring is FINALLY here! We still have availability for rentals in most of our regions but some are very limited. We have to decide how many chickens to raise / order in October for them to start laying for the Spring. All of our locations decided in the fall as to how many hens they could rent for this Spring. We've also been accepting deposits since the Fall for Spring deliveries so some areas are almost sold out due to the popular nature of our service. Not sure if we're in your area? Click on this link and then click on the location closest to you: Rent The Chicken Locations

Did I tell you about Homestead Phil has wanted to badly to host chicken races? He finally got his wish at Farm to Table Pittsburgh and I FINALLY figured out how to take the video from within a message and download it. Here's a snippet. No spoilers! Go to our Rent The Chicken Facebook Page to watch. It will take you right to the video when you click.

Our church is hosting its Annual Tea for Women and Girls tomorrow. I'm super stoked! Two years ago, I took 2/3rd of my sister's daughters with me. Last year, I won an award for most creative! I wore my beach hat, sandals, rolled my pant legs up, and pretended that I was going to the beach! Here's a throw back from the first one I attended:

Simple Pancake Recipe!

Hi all!

This Simple Pancake Recipe has been provided by Homestead RayLee who provides Rent The Chicken to Middle Tennessee!

1 Rent The Chicken Farm Fresh Egg (Ok.. you can likely use any egg but fresh eggs are the best!)
1 very ripe banana

In a bowl, smash the banana and add the egg. Mix until the two are combined. Cook like you would a regular pancake. We're big fans of cast iron skillets so we like to cook ours in the cast iron. Top with butter and syrup!

Enjoy the best pancake you've ever had!

Pizza Crust Recipe!

Hey y'all! (You can tell that I'm still recovering from my Nashville trip!)

This low carb and egg based pizza crust has been provided by Homestead Brandon & Alyssa who provide Rent The Chicken to the Laurel Highlands Area of Pennsylvania.

4 eggs
4 oz softened cream cheese
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
4 tablespoons parmesan cheese
Garlic salt
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything until smooth with hand mixer. Pour onto a baking sheet and smooth out (it will be a bit lumpy, no matter). Bake at 350F until golden (about 35 min). Top how you would like and bake for another 10.

Enjoy!

Guest Blogger: Home Decor - A Journey from Kitsch to Cherish

Homestead Suzanne, a Rent The Chicken provider in Central Texas, offered to provide our first Guest Blog! Together with her husband and children, they enjoy all that the homesteading life has to offer. Although they haven't always! Continue reading to learn more from Homestead Suzanne!

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When I was a new mother, I was blessed to choose to “retire” from my teaching profession in the public schools and stay home with our first born. I had lofty expectations for this new gig, “Motherhood,” and I was going to do it PERFECTLY. No pressure, right? The picture to the right is my full grown first baby!

In the first six months of the new profession of Motherhood, in addition to doing flashcards with the genius six month old (I was certifiably insane, please don’t judge. Or do. It’s ok, now. He only has a small twitch.) I learned to menu plan, dust baseboards and fan blades, mop and sweep almost daily, paint every room in our house (more than once, including the pink tile in the 1950’s bathroom), rearranged furniture obsessively, and unpacked all the relics I had stored from my grandparents’ house. This included more than two boxes of nesting hens. I did NOT like “kitschy displays” (Texan verbiage for "stuff you have to dust and lots of it!" The opposite of minimalism. One may also refer to them as "knick knacks") filled with colored glass nesting hens, marbled eggs, or red-checked patterns. Cow patterns made me gag, and anything “rustic” deserved to be only in a barn….and yet my kitchen was full of it, because I love my grandmother. And she loved chickens. So…. 16 years ago, my love affair with chickens began, unbeknownst to me. My chicken collection grew, much to my dismay. With each holiday or little event, I received chicken items from loved ones and acquaintances who had been to my home and assumed I must love these feathery breakfast poopers…. from lamp finials to dish towels, pot holders, and just teensy figurines of roosters and hens of all breeds, real and imagined. Thus, the chicken shelves became more full. More “kitschy.” Ugh.

Fast forward 6 years and four more kids or so; the family was looking into self-sustainability. This means producing your own groceries. I could already do veggies. But other than hunting, we had no resource for meat or eggs. SO! It was time to hit the books. I researched, went to people’s homes who had chickens, read, bought more books, checked out the entire poultry section at the library….and finally I purchased five baby chicks. One for each child. Then one died (I didn’t know that that happens a LOT) and I freaked out. Immediately, chicken math hit me, and I returned to the feed store and purchased 8 more babies. Of course. So I had an even dozen in my starter flock. That seemed fairly reasonable on two acres and a house full of toddlers and elementary aged kiddos.

Daily life then began with my coffee, and chicken therapy. Every morning, I spent time with the girls. My love and affection for chickens was deep and immediate! Turns out, my grandmother was a GENIUS. All those nesting hens and figurines, beautiful stone eggs of various types of marble in their adorable ceramic egg holders, and paper mache items, and towels, and metal signs now have SUCH meaning. I’m so grateful to be able to blame this lovely obsession on genetics - after all, I’m even named after her! Today, my flock hovers around 100 chickens.That seems fairly resonable. Chickens, for me, were the gateway animal to a full farm. We have moved from the two acres to real country living with a barn, log cabins, a pond, and 15 acres full of goats, chickens, ducks, and constant need for progress and improvement. It’s wonderful. (I mean, except when it isn’t. You know what I mean.)

My office is all things chickens, and I have a dedicated hatchery space, as becoming a hatch-aholic was also part of this process. When we discovered I could actually SPREAD chicken love with Rent The Chicken by giving chicken talks, building and delivering coops, teaching lessons to families and schools and providing the hatching experience for all of them, I knew we HAD to do it. My standard line is now: “I rent chickens to support my habit.” Everyone laughs, but it’s true. So, if you find chicken shoes (I have them), socks (I have more than one pair), hats (I have it), pictures (have them), or t-shirts (don’t have enough). Send them my way. The chicken collection always has room for more!

"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! :)

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. :)

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?

Rent The Chicken - What are we really doing? Part 1

I'm not going to talk to you about how the program of Rent The Chicken works but I'm going to talk to you about how we operate Rent The Chicken. That sounds fun, right? :) It actually is very intriguing to many when they understand the dynamics of Rent The Chicken and Hatch The Chicken! Most people understand that our Rental Packages include delivery, pick-up, two - four hens, a portable chicken coop, a book, feed for the rental, a tutorial, and of course a phone number to call! A Rent The Chicken hotline number if you want to call it that! :) This is going to take more than one blog entry so stay tuned for more of parts of this "What are we really doing?" entry!

But... what are we really doing? How are we impacting people? How are we impacting our communities? Let's start here:
Our Mission is "Families helping families to bring one food source closer to their table.". The first "families" in that statement are the farmers and homesteaders who provide Rent The Chicken and Hatch The Chicken to their communities. They are adding an additional revenue stream to their farm / homestead. Farmers and homesteaders DREAM of a profitable revenue stream to impact their community in a more personal way. We are creating a connection for our Rent The Chicken Families to meet the end consumer. They can rent chickens to them and then offer them other products available from their farm. This works in reverse too! If someone is already buying pork or poultry from them, they can offer a Rent The Chicken package as well. Homestead Phil and I partner with more than 45 farmers and homesteaders impacting more than 60 major markets in the US and Canada. We provide a turnkey business model to our RTC Families to be profitable. I think most farmers and homesteaders can admit that they'd rather be working with their animals or farming their land than be promoting their business through social media, answering the phones, or responding to emails. We are OK with that because Homestead Phil & I provide that support to our RTC Families! We offer online courses for our RTC Families. We have a private Facebook Group and a private website for resources. We provide full support as "business coaches" if you will as our Affiliates are joining this new business adventure of Rent The Chicken!

Let's talk about the families who are using our Rent The Chicken service. Our renters are just not sure if they want to have chickens long term or they don't know how to get started or they just plain want to try it knowing they don't want to have chickens long term or they don't want to have chickens in the winter. No matter their reasons for participating in Rent The Chicken, they receive the same high quality service that we provide. As mentioned above, they receive 2-4 hens, a portable chicken coop, feed for the rental, a book, delivery & pick-up within our parameters, and of course a phone number to call for chicken support. Upon delivery, we spend about 30-45 minutes with them talking about their yard space, explaining the coop thoroughly, chit-chatting about life and life with chickens, answering any questions that they have, and end with a Happy Renter photo. So sure, they get to experience backyard hens for fresh eggs without the commitment but what else? Most children in an urban environment when asked where their eggs come from, will name a local grocery store. They haven't been taught any different. Children of the families or schools who Rent The Chicken, know without a doubt that eggs come from chickens. This makes a conversation continue within the family and within the community of where other foods come from as well. When we return to the renter's home, sometimes we notice a raised garden bed that wasn't there at delivery or a tomato plant on the porch. Those are just a few more steps of other local food sources. The photo below shows our first official Happy Renters! These Happy Renters became full-time chicken keepers following their rental with us!

Progress is good and living in a progressive society is a good thing in many ways! With just one topic: babies. People who have a hard time conceiving can have medical intervention to help them conceive. Years ago, if a baby was born premature, the success rate was low. Now, a baby can be born at 24 weeks (some cases earlier!) and still have a good chance at survival! All of that is incredible and could not have happen years and years ago. At the same time, we're eating foods with plastic and arsenic because the government says they are at safe levels. Maybe you didn't know that our governments allow for "safe levels" of plastic and arsenic? If you grow it yourself or know the person who grows it for you, you can avoid plastic and arsenic in your foods. As Rent The Chicken and all of our Rent The Chicken Families offering our service, we are part of a food revolution that is happening all over the country to help members of our community to make different food choices and eat a high quality of food. A food revolution!! We are proud to be part of this food revolution making an impact and being a voice to eat local and fresh foods! Who wants to join us?

Stay tuned for more entries on "Rent The Chicken - What are we really doing?"!

Rent The Chicken - We are families helping families bring one simple food source closer to their table on rental at a time!
A big thank you to the families bringing our service to the masses!