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We came home and found some of the chickens running free in the courtyard. After some investigating we caught the girls sneaking under the gate. Those crazy chickens!

Kim Chi

Here we are making kim chi. Its korean pickled veggies, usually pretty spicy. We used 6 heads of baby bok choi, 4 leeks, 1 1/2 bunches of scallions, 2 habaneros, 4 carrots, and a bunch of garlic and ginger. Traditionally people use Korean hot pepper, however, habaneros were easier to find. We chopped up the baby bok choi and placed it in a big pot with sea salt and water. Placed a plate that fit snugly into the pot and weighed it down with a heavy can making sure the cabbage (bok choi) stayed submerged. Let it sit for at least 2 hours. We rinsed the bok choi saving the salted water it was in. Next we shredded carrots, and chopped the ginger, garlic, habaneros, scallions and leeks.

Mixed them all together, and put them into our Harsch fermenting crock. Placed the weighted stones over the veggies and added the leftover salt water over it until our veggies were covered. Then we waited, for about 2 weeks.

The beautiful thing about the Harsch fermenter is that there's no skimming the gunk that forms off the top (because there is none, unlike usual fermentation vessels). The only duty is making sure the reservoir is filled with water. The water-filled reservoir allows the fermentation gases to escape without allowing air (and airborne contaminants) to enter. BEAUTIFUL!

Yummy Kale Chips

Super easy amazing kale chips. We just cut the big woody stem out of the leaves and then toss with olive oil, sea salt and cayenne. Lay 'em out on the dehydrator dry on low for about 6 hours. Better than bacon!! (well almost)

Blizzard '10

The chickens are doing well despite all of the snow. We got well over a foot in midtown. They are taking refuge by sitting on the side of a wine barrel.

Now Important Things

The Keg-O-Rator is flowing! We converted a GE 7.0 cf Freezer into a keg-o-rator by adding a 6" red oak collar to the base of the freezer with liquid nails and re-locating the lid hinges up onto the collar. Temperature is controlled via a Johnson Controls analog controller - there is a temp probe inside of the freezer and the freezer plugs into an outlet attached to the controller which cycles the freezer on and off as needed. Right now it is set at 34 degrees but i might drop it down a bit colder. It can hold 3 - 5 gallon Cornelius (soda) kegs, we will be adding extra taps very soon. First beer on tap is a Dry Irish Stout that we made. Very delicious and roasty, lots of coffee/chocolate flavors with this one. I plugged it into the C02 at 12psi, shook it around a bit, and let it sit for two nights and the beer is already carbonated nicely.

Chickens in the snow

The chickens don't mind the snow at all. Even at 20 degrees they are out playing in the snow and still producing lots of eggs.