Looking Forward to Spring

I miss springtime; flowers, planting a garden and new baby chicks. Here's a glimpse of past springtimes in Northern California.

Banana Bread Recipe

My chickens recently provided me with a large number of eggs. (You can read about them and a French Toast Recipe here..) Even after giving some eggs away and making the French Toast I still had several dozen eggs. I thought time to bake.

One of my favorite recipes is Banana Bread. I received a copy of this recipe from my friend Carolyn in Knoxville, TN. Carolyn. When I make the recipe not only do I get a delicious bread but I get to reminisce about years gone by.

Carolyn's Banana Bread Recipe:

1/3 cup margarine or butter
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
3 old mashed bananas
1 cup nuts optional (I some times use walnuts)

Mix first five ingredients until well blended and creamy. Add bananas, mix, add flour, mix. Bake in greased pan at 350 for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Enjoy.

Ingredients

1st five ingredients.

1st five ingredients mixed.  

Mashed bananas. 

Last ingredients. 

Ready for baking.

My son's snacks. 

I recently used this recipe to make muffins for my son. I left some out for him to enjoy and put the remaining in the freezer for later.

Frugal Tips-Clothes

Here is Friday's Frugal Tips related to clothes. It is not too hard for me to be frugal with clothes. I don't like to shop and I keep a simple wardrobe.

Jeans, the norm for me. 

• Don't recreational shop for clothes.
• Mix and match clothes you already have.
• Mix up your accessories with your outfits.
• If you do shop, purchase clothes and accessories from; yard sales, thrift stores, consignment shops, clearance racks, at the end of a season, online clearance if shipping is free.
• Don't buy or own 'dry clean only' clothes. Dry cleaning is expensive.
• Mend your clothes.
• Borrow clothes.
• Have a clothing swap.
• Wear clothes in basic colors. It is easier to mix outfits if they are basic colors.
• Shop Back-To-School clothing sales. 
• To decrease wear and tear on your clothes don't wash them unless they are dirty and hang them up to air dry.  If you put them in the dryer make sure buttons are fastened and zippers are zipped. Buttons and zippers can do damage to clothes while they are being washed or dried.
• Have basic colored and styled shoes to go with multiple outfits.(I know most women like shoes, I know they are a weakness for me. Remember to be realistic if you have more than two or three pairs. Make sure they are something you are really going to wear and not just look good on the closet floor.) 
• Save clothes outgrown by older children for younger children to grow into.
• Buy quality over quantity. I know I have purchased brand name items, still with the tags on them at second hand stores. Quality items last longer, saving a bundle. 
• Learn to sew clothes. Make sure you purchase good quality material which is inexpensive, or sewing can become expensive.  
• Keep a budget of how much you realistically can spend a year and stick too it.

I hope these tips help in cutting your clothing costs.

Black is always in style. 

Got Eggs? I do!

My six girls performed well last month, 123 eggs for January. Today I realized I had over six dozen eggs and I needed to start using them or I would run out of room in my little refrigerator.

Products of my girls.

I decided I hadn't made French Toast in a while; a perfect recipe to use some of the eggs and make a nice breakfast. (My family enjoyed the breakfast a lot.)

French Toast Recipe:
Eggs ( Quantity depends on how much French Toast you want to make)
Cinnamon
Bread (I like Wheat or Sourdough)
Butter or Margarine

I mix together eggs and cinnamon and melt butter on my griddle or frying pan. Dip the bread into the egg mix, coating both sides. Place in pan and brown. Flip over and brown other side. Serve with syrup, powdered sugar, jam, fruit spread, fresh fruit or just plain.

French Toast. Yummy!

A Close Call

Our male dog, Max, is a playful dog. He enjoys "herding the ducks", which you can read about here. Every night it's his job to ensure the ducks go in. The chickens usually go in on their own. No problem,  Right! There always seems to be an exception in every rule. Tonight was the exception.

Twin One

Max went out with my husband, Ted, as usual. One Bard Rock Chicken was still out. We call her Twin One because she looks like her sister. In the past we couldn't tell them apart. We now can because of their behavior, Twin One is gutsy and argumentative, Twin Two (Rockett) doesn't even like to come out of the house. She is a real loner.

With Twin One being feisty, she has had previous run-ins with Max. Being a fun loving boy, he always thinks she is playing. Until she repeatedly pecks him and Ted has to call him away before he gets hurt. (He has never attempted to hurt her.)

Max wanting to have fun.

 The ducks being in, didn't need to be herded. Seeing Twin One out was not normal, and Max, must of felt he needed to correct the matter. He picked her whole body up in his mouth and started carrying her into the chicken house. My poor husband started yelling at him "drop it!" Max stood there a few minutes with a confused look before he dropped her, uninjured thankfully. He is very tender-hearted dog and doesn't like to be yelled at. I am sure in his mind, he was just doing his job.

Ducks already in. No herding tonight.

I'm sure Twin One was emotionally ruffled, which is nothing new for her. I also believe she learned her lesson about not being in bed on time. Max is an obedient, quick learner and I'm sure he won't pick up another chicken.

Max Says Goodnight

Every night my husband locks our chickens and ducks in their house. Each night Max goes with him to help. Max is always eager to go "herd the ducks".  When he hears the question "Max, you ready to go herd the ducks?" he begins prancing around, wagging his tail and goes to the front door.

If the ducks are still in the main yard and haven't returned to their yard, Max will circle around them and push under their backside to urge them on. The ducks have become so familiar with this ritual that as soon as they see him they start running. Or should I say waddling as fast as they can.

Once Max has them in their house, he says goodnight to the chickens too. Of course nuzzling their fluffy backsides.

No chicken or duck was hurt during the nightly ritual of "backside nuzzling".

Chicken Cannibals

My chickens love scraps from our kitchen. Whenever we have a few scraps, we take them outside and call "Here Buck Buck" and the chickens come running. (My Father-in-Law started calling them Buck Buck. That's another story) The fowl were not disappointed today. On Saturday I baked a chicken with seasonings: thyme, basil, salt and pepper. I had placed carrots in the pan with the chicken. I made mashed potatoes and chocolate pie. Our drink was Southern Sweet Tea. A grand meal for our family.

Even with all we ate, there were few pieces of meat left on the carcass, with congealed juices. My husband did the honors today and provided the chickens and ducks with the carcass and a little Bar-B-Que sauce. When he went out there, they came running. They fiercely and quickly pecked at the carcass. They were so quick some of our pictures are blurred. They were trying to eat before the ducks came and shoved their way in.

Five of my six girls, enjoying a bite to eat. 

Spot waddled over to see the commotion.

Maxine, the dirty duck on the right, followed Spot. 

The dirty duck took off with the carcass. Little Red "What happened?"