Squirreled War I: Quick and Dirty Strawberry Cage

**NOTE** This strawberry cage didn't actually do much to deter the squirrels.  The holes in the woven wire fence seem to be too big, or our squirrels are too small.  But please!...read on for an epic adventure in cage making nonetheless.

One of the more important tasks on a homestead is defense against destructive marauders, those pests that pass through a homestead, wreck a bunch of stuff, then move on to the next victim. Appropriately enough, if the homestead contains a Dad, the task of critter defense usually finds its way onto his to-do list.  So, this post is a happy father's day tribute to those dads who tirelessly defend their castle against livestock-eating predators, driveway-destroying burrowers, and crop-destroying varmints.

Earlier this spring, we noticed that our strawberry patch was coming along nicely--the plants were lush, green, and full of flowers, followed shortly by green and increasingly large berries.  In short, the type of stuff homesteaders dream about all winter and spring.  Then, one day, almost all of the berries (without even a hint of red), were gone.  We were shocked and angry.  And although we were anticipating a perpetual battle with the neighborhood varmints, we knew this meant that the squirrels had struck the first blow.

What to do?  Having not yet perfected our squirrel flinger design and with the everbearing plants already on their second crop of flowers, we needed something quick.  Something that could be built in a couple hours while a frying pan of delicious root crops with rosemary graced the wood-fired grill on a Saturday evening.  And thus was born the quick and dirty strawberry cage.

The damage.  The berries, all but one plucked from their stalks.  What kind of monster would do such a thing?  They were just babies!

We constructed a 2 x 4 frame from free Craigslist wood to fit around the strawberry bed, then drilled holes just large enough to fit the wires of a welded wire fence (5/64") at the required spacing.  We figured out the spacing by holding the fence on the board and drilling next to the wires.  The wires are a little flexible, so it doesn't have to be perfect.  Remember, this is a quick and dirty project!  Also, it takes some care to not break off the drill bit, and it's probably a good idea to have an extra (or two or three) handy.

Same thing with the wire fencing on the ends, which are trimmed to wrap around the arced part.  The most tedious part is getting all the wires to line up in the holes of the frame, but once they do, the slight variations in angle make it surprisingly sturdy.  i.e., don't use a drill press! :-)  Ours can actually support the weight of the frame just from the wire cage (which also probably means a squirrel won't be able to pull out the wires, either), but we made handles for extra support.  The handles are just more pieces of 2 x 4, screwed into the frame at an appropriate spacing.  There's one on each end, partly because the frame is large and awkward to move with one person, but also partly because we don't trust each other to not eat all of the strawberries as soon as they turn ripe.  Come to think of it, we didn't actually see a squirrel in the strawberries, we just assumed it had been there because the berries were gone.  It could just as easily have been Katie!  There are no droppings to confirm one species or the other.  Now it seems like the cage is an even better idea.

Here are the strawberries, now fully protected.  Where the sections of fence come together, we "sewed" them together with one of the wires we trimmed off the fence.

How do you protect your berries from destructive marauders?  How would you do it if your strawberry patch was a lot larger (which we eventually hope ours will be)?  Let us know in the comments section below!

Chicken Crop Trouble

UPDATE ON THE CROP TROUBLE: Although the chicken was always pooping regularly, the crop problem didn't go away.  That is, the blockage appeared to be toward the back end, and internal.  We ended up having to cull the chicken at about 8 weeks.  Culling is an unfortunate but inevitable part of raising livestock, and has to be done when the quality of life of the animal begins to decline.  We updated the flow chart below with additional steps one can take before resorting to culling, but, as in our case, they don't always work.

But, for a happier note, read on!

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Last week marked the first time we were able to enjoy fresh garden-grown veggies this year (excluding the dandelion and mallow we've been eating from the yard since April).  It also marked the completion of several chicken-related projects, which we'll cover in upcoming posts.  Some of those projects became top priority when it became clear that the chickens were outgrowing their expanded brooder box much faster than the fall batch did. (Due in part, no doubt, to the fact that there are ten more chickens this spring!)

Although this post is mainly about chickens, we couldn't help but include a picture of our first spring produce: radishes and green beans!  The latter actually came from our seed sprouting experiment, and grew in pots outside our bedroom window. We've never had green beans this early before!

For the most part, the chickens are happy and healthy, and some even seem to be getting used to their weekly weigh-in on Tuesday nights.  Actually, as of the writing of this post, there is only one chicken on the fritz--one of the McMurray Pioneers has an impacted crop.  So, we had to ask ourselves, 'what does one do when one has a chicken with an impacted crop?'

There are options ranging from isolating the chicken from food all the way up to surgery.  The flow chart below summarizes, in a simplified way, a collection of the advice from various places on the internet.  There are additional considerations if the impacted crop becomes sour or pendulous, so don't take the chart as gospel and do some additional reading up on the matter!

These are the most instructive videos we found on how to "vomit" a chicken (be sure to read the comments for improvements on the technique shown), inject water or oil into the crop (see also part 1), and perform crop surgery.  The key indicators seem to be a change in the size/feel of the crop and whether or not the chicken is pooping, which indicates that things are passing through the digestive tract.

Here's our troublesome chicken.  You can see her accentuated crop hanging down between her neck and feet.  This picture is after having 'vomited' her the previous night.  Not having an appropriate needle, and since her crop was already full to bursting, we skipped right to the 'vomit' stage in the chart.

Through the process, we also tried giving her a little R&R, away from food and other chickens.  We had never seen her attempt to fly, so we figured this setup would be fine while we were away at work for the day.  When we got home, she was in here, just like we left her in the morning.

We soon discovered, however, that finding her in the tote when we got home was merely a coincidence.  She had clearly been wandering around the kitchen, dining room, and office all day.  On the plus side, her digestive tract seems to be working just fine now.  Fortunately, she stayed off the carpet! 

A labyrinth of wood scraps makes it a little harder for her to escape the tote, but still gives her some light.  Unfortunately, she's an even better flyer than we thought, and managed to burst up out of the tote through the labyrinth.  Looks like we'll have to set something a lot heavier on top.  We haven't made a point of naming any of the chickens beyond a simple description of their appearance or what breed we think they are, but this one has certainly earned the moniker 'Trouble.'  Fortunately, she'll only be causing it for another six weeks or so.

After a day of isolation, her crop seems to be decreasing in size, she's still active and alert, and she seems to be pooping properly.  But she doesn't take kindly to spending her time in the kitchen, instead of outside with the rest of the chickens (and the food).  We'll update this post if things take a turn for the worse, but for now it looks like Trouble will be able to rejoin the flock in a few days.

How do you deal with impacted crops in your chickens?  Do you use a proper poultry needle when flushing the crop, or do you get by with an eyedropper?  Let us know in the comments section below!

Strata de Mayo

Well, it happened again.  We accidentally blinked, and another three weeks flew by.  Fortunately, we remembered just in time to post a strata recipe for May (or maybe we didn't depending on where Blogger thinks we are).  And no, we totally didn't plan to post this closer to Cinco de Mayo, when it would have made way more sense.  But here it is, fashionably late: a strata to celebrate the Mexican army's victory over invading French forces on May 5, 1862 in the Battle of Puebla.

We started by browning up a pound of ground venison in our best cast iron skillet.

We seasoned it with our favorite Mexican seasonings: about a teaspoon each of pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and rosemary, two teaspoons of onion powder and cumin, and half a teaspoon of salt and cayenne pepper. (Ok, maybe paprika isn't Mexican, but it adds some nice red color).  Not pictured: a teaspoon of hot sauce and half a teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

Then we made the layers in a 13" x 9" pan as usual, with bread at the bottom, then cheese, meat, and chopped onions.  The cheese we had was Monterrey jack, but any cheese will do, as long as it's not French.  (Or at least, if it is French, you have to think of it as defeating the French by eating their cheese.)

Lather, rinse, repeat, ending with cheese on top.

This is the egg soak: six eggs, three cups milk, a tablespoon each of onion powder, garlic powder, and cumin, and half a tablespoon each of black and red pepper.

We poured it over the layers, covered the pan, and set it in the fridge to marinate for several hours.  It works best when soaking next to a couple jars of dandelion jelly.

Later that day, or the next morning, it goes in the oven at 375 °F for 45-55 min, or until it looks like this.  We were going to add some butter-soaked tortilla chips on top, but we kind of forgot.  (For traditional strata, there would be butter-soaked corn flakes, but corn flakes are not usually considered a traditional Mexican dish.)

It goes well with Katie's salsa, guacamole, and sour cream.  Mmmmmm.  It's like a piñata for your tongue! Olé!

How did you celebrate Cinco de Mayo?  Have you made a Mexican-themed strata before?  Tell us about it in the comments section below!

The recipe:
10 slices of bread (at least)
1 lb shredded cheese

1 lb ground venison, browned and seasoned to taste with black pepper, red pepper, red pepper flakes, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, hot sauce, and rosemary

1 onion, chopped
6 eggs
3 cups milk
1 Tablespoon each of onion powder, garlic powder, and cumin,
0.5 Tablespoon each of black and red pepper

Layer the bread, ground meat, onions, and cheese in a 9" x 13" pan, starting with bread and ending with cheese. Beat together eggs, milk, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, black pepper, and red pepper. Pour over layers and set in fridge for several hours or overnight. Bake at 375 °F for 45-55 min, until golden brown and delicious-smelling. Serve with sour cream, salsa, and guacamole. Green chili sauce and enchilada sauce are also acceptable.

More Fun With Dandies: How to Pull the Petals

If you've been following this blog for any amount of time, you might have noticed that we've slowed down quite a bit with our posting schedule.  It's not for lack of things to post about, of that you can be sure.  It's mainly because we've got so much going on that we haven't had a chance to sit down and write about all the fun we've been having!  Last week, our homestead population increased from 2 to 7,027 due to the arrival of a package of honey bees and 25 chickens.  (At this rate, we'll have to annex the neighbors' yards by June!)  We've also had significantly increased off-the-homestead responsibilities since the end of March.  But above all, the primary reason we've been so slow in posting is that we've been trying to use every dandelion flower in our yard. (We haven't even come close, but maybe next year.)

In the course of making use of all these dandies, we've improved our technique for pulling the petals out of the flowers, so we wanted to do a quick post to let everyone know about our new technique, in case someone else might want to get out and try it before the dandelion production drops off this spring.

This is the part of the yard where they have to share with grass and other flowers.  Other parts they have all to themselves.  Clearly, if we're going to get them all, we've got to move quickly. 

Most sources on collecting the flowers agree up to this point: keep just the flower head.

This is where our new technique diverges.  While others say to dig out the petals with your thumbnail, we've found it's quicker and easier to split the flower head in half, but not go all the way through, like so.

Then we take the pad of our thumb and rub the petals from one half from the split outward.  Almost all should come at once, if not, the stragglers are easier to grab with the flower split open.  Sometimes a few of the green parts on the back side will break off also, but for the most part, it's not a problem if they come along.  At the end of the day, we've usually got about 99% petals and 1% green stuff in the bowl.

Repeat with the other side, and we're done!  After a while, we get in the zone and can run at about five seconds per flower, except for the most stubborn specimens.  It's close to the same time frame for processing strawberries or green beans or the like.  Also, we've noticed that from about four cups of flower heads, we'll end up with about three-and-a-half cups of petals if they don't get too packed down.

With the petals, you can make all kinds of stuff, like wine and jelly!  While the petals themselves don't have a lot of flavor, they definitely add something besides yellow color to the end product.  It's just the right amount of je ne sais quoi...

The jelly looks especially nice when sitting on a matching honey bee-themed hand towel and catching the afternoon sun through a washroom window.  Also, since we know you're wondering: yes, it goes great with peanut butter in a sandwich.

The wine is still going, so we probably shouldn't post a recipe until it's done and we know it's good, but here's the recipe for the jelly, based in part off of Kristina's recipe here:

4 cups dandelion petals
8 cups water

Boil the water and petals for ten minutes, strain out petals (we used an old t-shirt) to give a nice yellow dandelion petal tea.

4 cups of the dandelion petal "tea"
0.25 cups lemon juice
2 cups sugar
4 teaspoons Pomona's pectin + 4 teaspoons calcium water (from powdered CaCl₂ included in the pectin box)

Mix the sugar and pectin together well.  Mix "tea," lemon juice, and calcium water together, and bring to a boil.  Add sugar/pectin mix, stir vigorously to dissolve, bring to full rolling boil, keeping a close eye on the stove so the pot doesn't boil over and make a thick layer of dandelion fruit roll-up in the nether regions of your stove.  (Not that that would ever happen.)  Remove from heat.  Pour into clean canning jars and process according to preferred instructions. (We normally use the inversion method of turning the full jar upside down for 5-10 minutes, then flipping back upright, but food safety experts recommend at least a boiling water bath for a reliable seal.  General instructions are here; to apply to this recipe, replace every instance of 'chokecherry juice' with 'dandelion petal tea.')


What are you using dandelion flowers for this spring?  Have you managed to pick all of the dandies in your yard? (Don't forget, today is mother's day, and mothers love flowers!)

A Different Kind of Weed Brownie

Last April, we said that it wasn't really spring until we had had our dandelion fix, which is an assertion we still stand by.  But what happens when we haven't fully scratched our itch, but Katie is tired of eating dandelion pancakes (or possibly just pancakes in general), and the dandelions are still blooming?  We've got to figure out other foods to put dandelions in.

We've been intrigued (and impressed) by desserts that feature vegetables: carrot cake (obviously), red velvet cake with beets, frosting colored with spinach or beets, and Katie even makes a pretty mean zucchini brownie.

So we thought, "Hey!  It seems like we can take a recipe for some kind of cake-type thing, add a bunch of shredded veggies (which would also be a good name for a band), and have a dessert for which it's easier to justify eating four or five pieces at once!"  Also, it was April 20 last week here in Colorado, which seemed to carry some sort of significance that we can't quite put our finger on...and so the concept of the dandelion brownie was born.

We started with about 3.5 cups of dandelion flowers, which gave us about 3 cups of petals

Then we started making a regular brownie recipe.

We added the dandelion petals at the same time as the flour and chocolate chips, but the batter was really dry so we also added a half cup of milk.

The milk brought the batter back to the right consistency, despite all the extra nutrition (also here) we packed in.

We spread the batter out into a greased pan...

And baked it!

Since the petals are so mildly-flavored, they hardly affect the rich chocolatey taste at all. The brownies taste just like brownies, but the petals are visible as little yellow streaks.  They're like little pieces of confetti for celebrating healthy desserts!

The recipe (based off brownies from Glorious Treats):
4 eggs
1.25 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup butter
2.25 cups sugar
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1.5 cups (one 12-oz bag) semisweet chocolate chips
3 cups dandelion petals
0.5 cup milk

Beat together eggs and cocoa.  Melt butter, mix in salt, sugar, vanilla, and baking powder, then mix together with eggs and cocoa mix.  Add flour, chocolate chips, dandelion petals, and milk, mix well.  Smooth batter out into a 10" x 16" cookie sheet, and bake at 350 °F for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.



What types of vegetables do you put into your desserts?  What other dishes do you put dandelions in?  Let us know in the comments section below!

Original Easter Ham Strata!

Holy smokes, it's Easter time! (or at least, it was last weekend.)  That means that it's time to celebrate with that age-old treasure of the Waldo, WI Methodists: ham strata.  We eat seasonal stratas (what's the plural of strata?) at different times of the year, and are currently embarking on a journey to perfect one strata recipe per month.  But the month of April was easy, because it is the month in which the original strata (as far as we know) originated, and it's already perfected.  What follows below is the proper way to prepare the original Easter ham strata.

Start with a layer of bread in a 9" x 13" pan, then a layer of ham, and a layer (or two) of cheese. If Katie's not watching, you don't have to tear the bread into little pieces, and you can increase the cheese and ham as you see fit.  (The amounts given in the recipe are minimums.)  We used cheddar and swiss, but if you're feeling rebellious, other kinds of cheese work, too, as long as they can melt.  American cheese doesn't count because it's not really cheese.

Repeat the layers as necessary to fill the pan, ending with a layer of cheese(s) on top.

Then beat together 6 eggs and 3 cups milk, along with 0.5 teaspoon onion powder, 0.5 teaspoon garlic powder, 0.25 teaspoon salt, 0.5 teaspoon pepper, and 1 teaspoon mustard.  Pour it over the cheese/bread/ham mix, and let it soak/marinate/blossom overnight, or at least several hours.  Traditionally this is done Saturday afternoon or evening by a crew of hyperactive middle schoolers, but it can also be done satisfactorily by grown-ups.

While the strata is soaking, attend an Easter Sunday sunrise service.  Traditionally, the service is in Waldo, WI, but the Red Rocks amphitheater in Colorado is an acceptable substitute.

Well, lookey here!  It's a mule deer!  How would you like to be featured in our next strata, mule deer?

After the service, lightly crunch 3 cups corn flakes and mix them with 4 Tablespoons melted butter.

Apply the buttered corn flakes to the top of the strata...

...and bake at 375 °F for 50-60 minutes until it looks like this.

Cut into large pieces and move to a plate while still steaming hot and melted cheesey.  Look!  Layers!  (Just like an ogre!)

The recipe:
10 slices of bread (at least)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded swiss cheese
3 cups ham, shredded
6 eggs
3 cups milk
0.5 teaspoon each of onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper
0.25 teaspoon salt
3 cups corn flakes, lightly crushed
4 Tablespoons butter, melted

Layer the bread, ham, and cheese in a 9" x 13" pan, starting with bread and ending with cheese.  Beat together eggs, milk, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, and salt.  Pour over mixture and set in fridge for at least 12 hours, preferably overnight.  Attend Easter sunrise service.  Mix together melted butter and corn flakes, spread over top of bread-ham-cheese layers.  Bake at 375 °F for 50-60 min, until corn flakes are more golden brown than they started.


How do you celebrate Easter?  How much ham strata does it involve?  Let us know in the comments section below!

Books Review: $50 and up Underground House Book, Earth-Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book by Mike Oehler

First, a confession: we're huge fans of underground/earth-sheltered structures.  Cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter, virtually immune to tornadoes, nearly invisible to alien invaders...the list of perks goes on and on.  We're also cheap. (Pronounced frew-gull.)  As it turns out, Mike Oehler probably has similar tastes. 

Covers of the relevant books.  The drawing on the cover of the $50 and up book is one of the less spectacular designs in the book, but shows how underground structures can be built even on relatively flat ground.  The drawing on the cover of the greenhouse book shows many of the features of Oehler's design, namely a lower section for standing room, trapping cold air, and potentially sheltering rabbits; a back wall with thermal storage devices, and a roof with venting capability.  We found a copy of the $50 and up book here, and the greenhouse book here.

In the foreword to the greenhouse book, Rob Roy (another underground house expert with his own series of books) says,

"I've always prided myself on sharing information on low-cost green building techniques in my books, but Mike out-flanks me every which way from a Mexican Sunday: the guy builds cheap, dirt cheap, and I say this with begrudging admiration." [Mexican Sunday is another of Oehler's books.]

The books are an entertaining and immensely useful guide to earth-sheltered buildings. Oehler brilliantly mixes personal experiences of building underground structures on the cheap with curmudgeonly (to use Oehler's own words) but endearing political commentary. (How many other books have an entire chapter devoted to circumventing building codes and fooling building inspectors?)

While most other sources on underground buildings advocate the copious use of concrete and insulation materials, Oehler explains how to design and build stable, structurally sound earth-sheltered buildings (provided building codes are not viewed as gospel truth) with materials scrounged, sourced from the homestead, or readily available at the local hardware store: mainly wood and plastic sheeting.

The steps and principles of construction are simple:

1. Dig a hole, optimally on a ridge if a view of the surrounding area is desired, but optionally on a hillside or even on flat ground.
2. Construct a post-and-beam frame in the hole, making sure to place a layer of polyethylene between wood and dirt, e.g., in the holes for the posts.  Also make sure the frame is braced against itself to keep the force of the dirt that will be added outside the walls and on the roof from buckling the frame.  In the greenhouse book, Oehler also mentions that he now chars the bottom end of the posts in a campfire to further preserve the wood.
3. Add shoring on the outside of the frame in the form of lumber mill ends, scrounged boards, etc., again making sure that there is always plastic sheeting between the wood and the dirt.
4. Backfill around and on the structure with dirt, making sure to allow for proper drainage.

Naturally, there are numerous details to each of those steps that Oehler outlines in the books, gleaned through his considerable experimentation with underground structures and experience in the construction industry.

Oehler walks readers through his methodology, which is arguably based on a series of questions:

1. What do I want out of the underground building?  
2. What is the simplest (and cheapest) way I can build a structure that gives me what I want out of the building?
3. What are the problems with the simplest structure, and what can I do solve them?
4. What are the problems with the improved form, and what can I do to further improve the building?
5. ...and so on

Not only is this approach an incredible time-saver for folks like us, who tend to follow the same protocol, but the fact that Oehler has resolved these problems to a sufficient degree to live in his self-built underground houses for decades and to harvest vegetables year-round from his underground greenhouse near the Idaho-Canada border speaks to the soundness of his approach.

Criticism of these books is hard for us to muster.  Oehler calls it like he sees it, which is mostly endearing.  For example, as implied above, we learn straight away that he has a strong disdain for authority in general and especially government involvement in the everyday matters of rural life.  However, one doesn't have to read very far between the lines to guess that Oehler might be a little bit vindictive, even if the vindication comes in the form of somewhat petty remarks in the figure captions of his books.  But the cumulative effect of these comments does very little to detract from overall excellent works.

In sum, we are very happy to have Oehler's experience to draw from when we have a need for some outbuildings on our own homestead and will very likely use some of his techniques.  We highly recommend these books!