A Great Holiday Party Was Had By All!

Food, drinks, adult egg hunts, Christmas lights, sparklers, burnt fingers, broken chairs, and a floor begging to be vacuumed the next day: all sure signs an excellent party was had!

The Easter Bread was a little tricky to 'beat' as i only have a little hand held cake beater (which got quite heated up and smokey, the poor little thing) but the rising worked, the cooking time worked despite my inability to do math (was supposed to be 12 portions, turned out as 9), and was enjoyed by those who tasted it.

My floral arrangements of herbs and flowers from my garden spruced the house up nicely and are still bringing me much joy the day after, despite more than a few dishes to clean up.

The egg salad was a big hit with homemade mayo, fresh onions and chives from the garden, and fresh eggs of course. Even egg salad dislikers liked it. And everyone got to feel a little fancy eating my cucumber sandwiches with fresh chives and dill. All my friends brought delicious snacks as well, i think i'm still full - but uh oh there are some leftovers in the fridge: day of snacking two!

Our friend Craig found the Golden Egg and won a full dozen fresh, organic eggs from our ladies. The rest of our guests brought home freshly dyed boiled eggs.


The mayor of CrazyTown even showed up (new easter suit + bunny ears + glass of wine + lap-hen = me at my best) to partake in the festivities.

Spring is a wonderful time: cool evening breezes, a scant mosquito population, fresh grass for the chooks to chew on, spring veggies arriving on dinner plates. Time spent with friends enjoying all these things together, plus some adult beverages and Easter candy, is to be treasured and enjoyed.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday with friends or family, or simply enjoyed this wonderful season in a nice hammok or camping chair.

Did you have an Easter party or gathering? What was your favorite recipe?

All in all it was a great day from beginning to end.

Easter Bread Recipe

I'm going to try to bake on Sunday. I do not know if i will be successful, so i may just drive to Central Market and buy a loaf of the bread that inspired me to try this recipe in the first place, just as a contingency plan.

This recipe calls for anise. I hate anise. I will not be using anise. i think i will replace the dreaded anise with a nice vanilla bean instead. I think that should prove to be quite tasty

This bread is delicious - at least the version i tried at central market. Almost sweet, but not as sweet as coffee cake or sticky buns - just a lightly sweet flavor, soft, melty texture with nice interior fluff and surface sheen. The recipe says i should steep the anise/vanilla in white wine for three hours - i think i'll just do that overnight in the fridge instead to save me some Sunday morning prep time. As it is i think this bread will take me about 3 hours plus baking time to prepare. I'll be using king arthur flour, which is high gluten, so the result may be too dense... in fact i might by a bag of regular all purpose flour just for this - and mix in a teeny bit of whole wheat flour so that i feel like there is SOME nutrition in here.

I will be using lemon zest from my Meyer tree and raw milk that i thankfully remembered to take out of the freezer today.

Remember to check next week for photos and 'results' from this week's recipes.
Have a wonderful Easter and perhaps comment below any fun Easter crafts/recipes that you'll be trying this year.

-Miranda

8 Months Old and Laying Like Champs!

We're gearing up for Easter here at the homestead. The fridge is full of eggs destined for hard boiling, dying, and hunting amongst friends. The girls have been much obliging: Olive didn't even take a day off last week. The four laid 23 eggs between them, and the prior 3 weeks each brought to nest 22 beautiful eggs.

It is really feeling like Spring here: germinating corn babies, popping wildflowers, timely rain quenching the thirst of baby plants. Easter used to be my favorite holiday (you just can't beat Cadbury mini eggs in my opinion) and i'm excited to share my first Easter With Chickens with a few friends, and perhaps some brunchy cocktails.

Another first this spring is a new publication, Whole Kids Lifestyle Austin. It's a magazine and a community that promotes a holistic, eco-friendly and sustainable approach to life. They’re passionate about all things related to creating healthy communities – whether it’s the latest in educational science, the newest eco-fashion product, or an update on organic foods.  Obviously WKL fits perfectly with all of my interests and goals, and i've been lucky enough to be a contributor. I'll be writing articles with family friendly recipes, gardening/chicken raising tips, and other homesteading ideas that may or may not be in line with current blog posts here. I'm also contributing fun artwork for the kiddos to look at while their parents read the useful stuff between the jackets of the magazine.

Check out the first article i wrote for Whole Kids Lifestyle Magazine. It is a very brief primer on the raising of chicks up to 8 months old. I had to limit my words (which is hard for me to do!), so many details are left out- it's still a good basic guideline to get you started if you're interested in bringing home some Easter chicks. The online version of the magazine is up now and the print version should be in stores (like Central Market, Whole Foods, Sunset Valley Farmers Market, etc) in April.


Will you be donning your saddle shoes this Easter?