What is it, you ask?
Wait and see. :)
Friday, February 10, 2012
Project!
With the sap out boiling with little supervision from me (hallelujah), I started a project I've been wanting to do for some time now.
Yesterday, I spent some quality time with a pencil, the jigsaw and sander. Today I paint.
What is it, you ask?
Wait and see. :)
What is it, you ask?
Wait and see. :)
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Let's Try This Again...
I'm not one to give up easily. There, it's been said. I am super stubborn (just ask my husband), and if I think I can find a way to do something, I will try again and again until I figure it out. That's probably a good quality for a homesteader, no? Half the things we try work, and the other half doesn't. If we gave up right away, we'd never accomplish anything. So, no, I'm not a quitter.
The sap's been building up in the basement for days since my last debacle with the fire boil-down. On Monday, I boiled down in a big pot on the stove--only three gallons--and made more syrup in an attempt to keep on top of the gallons and gallons I get every day. It worked fine, but I did have to crack open the window and the door to keep the steam to a minimum. I'm glad I have no wallpaper in this kitchen, because I can see how it would take it right down. This boil-down was just fine, and I got nice syrup from it, but it was so silly. The sap sat for hours on the stove, which is a ridiculous use of electricity, and I don't think it was as fast as it could have been.
So another solution was to be found. I said "turkey fryer", and many of you said yes!! Several people had said that a turkey fryer would work (thank you!), and that confirmed what I thought. A direct jet of heat at the bottom of the pot has to do good things, no? Oh yes, my friends, oh yes. As I do not have a turkey fryer, my husband borrowed one from a friend at work (thank you!!) and I hooked it up today.
Does it work??
Is Rome in Italy?
Oh baby, it works!!!!!
Though my pot only holds a gallon and a half at a time, it got it up to the rolling boil in 1/2 an hour. And not just a boil, but a BOIL! I've not gotten that type of action any time I've tried this before. Wow! So today, I will do my chores outside, tending to the pot as needed to be refilled, and loving the fact that this might just work. If it does, I'll need to get a turkey fryer for myself, and it will make this whole process just SO much easier. Yippee!
Stay tuned, and we'll see how this goes.
Oh, and about the pot--it says "soap". Originally, I bought it at a discount shop to make soap in. But when I got it home and looked at the recipes I was making, the amount of soap would have been lost in that big pot, so it was impractical. Then I thought about it some more, and I think that the pot is made of aluminum, which is a big no-no when dealing with lye. So it's never had soap in it. Just sap. And for that it works just fine.
The sap's been building up in the basement for days since my last debacle with the fire boil-down. On Monday, I boiled down in a big pot on the stove--only three gallons--and made more syrup in an attempt to keep on top of the gallons and gallons I get every day. It worked fine, but I did have to crack open the window and the door to keep the steam to a minimum. I'm glad I have no wallpaper in this kitchen, because I can see how it would take it right down. This boil-down was just fine, and I got nice syrup from it, but it was so silly. The sap sat for hours on the stove, which is a ridiculous use of electricity, and I don't think it was as fast as it could have been.
So another solution was to be found. I said "turkey fryer", and many of you said yes!! Several people had said that a turkey fryer would work (thank you!), and that confirmed what I thought. A direct jet of heat at the bottom of the pot has to do good things, no? Oh yes, my friends, oh yes. As I do not have a turkey fryer, my husband borrowed one from a friend at work (thank you!!) and I hooked it up today.
 |
| I know the pot says "soap". Don't worry about that, read on. I'll explain in a minute. |
Does it work??
Is Rome in Italy?
Oh baby, it works!!!!!
Though my pot only holds a gallon and a half at a time, it got it up to the rolling boil in 1/2 an hour. And not just a boil, but a BOIL! I've not gotten that type of action any time I've tried this before. Wow! So today, I will do my chores outside, tending to the pot as needed to be refilled, and loving the fact that this might just work. If it does, I'll need to get a turkey fryer for myself, and it will make this whole process just SO much easier. Yippee!
Stay tuned, and we'll see how this goes.
Oh, and about the pot--it says "soap". Originally, I bought it at a discount shop to make soap in. But when I got it home and looked at the recipes I was making, the amount of soap would have been lost in that big pot, so it was impractical. Then I thought about it some more, and I think that the pot is made of aluminum, which is a big no-no when dealing with lye. So it's never had soap in it. Just sap. And for that it works just fine.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
I Do Not Like This, Sam I Am
Today was S-day. Sap-o-rama. And it was a trial, plain and simple. The total in the basement from the last 5 days of collection was 13 1/2 gallons of sap. I was out of space to put all of it. I had even press-ganged the honey bucket (with the honey gate) into holding sap, as I ran out of gallon jugs long ago. That meant it was time to process, and today was the day.
I started out with such high hopes. Images of Little House in the Big Woods filled my head. Did you ever read that book? I've read it hundreds of times, I think. I find it comforting. The part with Grandpa Ingalls and the big kettle in the woods, boiling maple syrup played in my head. I went out figuring, if Grandpa could do this over a big ol' fire, then hey, I can do it over a big ol' fire.
Not having two big trees to hang a kettle from (nor a kettle), I resorted to a modern remedy--old rebar. There was an old, crooked piece in the woods, left by someone at sometime. I'd tripped over it many a time, so I knew where it was. I dragged it out, and my husband cut it into two long lengths. The plan was to put these lengths over the fire pit we'd dug in the fall, prop it on the rocks that surrounded it, and put the pans I'd bought for the occasion over the fire on them. In this case, the pans were two heavy-duty foil roasters. I figured with all that surface area, the sap would evaporate quickly and syrup would be quick to follow.
This is what it looked like:
The two pans were there for a reason. One was to boil down into syrup, and the other was to heat the sap, so when the first pan started to evaporate and there was less in it, I could take warm sap from the other pan and not stop the boil. But it never boiled, because it was too far away from the fire. However, it was evaporating all right, and then my son tripped over the rebar on the side of the pit and knocked all the sap into the fire. Yeay. So I took the rebar out, my husband straightened it, and we tried again. Now it looked like this:
Much closer to the fire this time, and actually, it did boil.
But not for long. It had taken 3 hours to get the sap to boil at all, and it would only hold for 5 minutes at a time and go back to a nice simmer. I quickly discovered that getting the sap to boil consistently was nearly impossible. The fire would not cooperate--the wind would blow the flames every which way, and the boil would stop. The wood was being burnt at a rapid pace, and when it got too little, the boil would stop. Being as though the pan was so close to the fire, I couldn't really put heaps of wood on it, so I was feeding it little bits at a time constantly. This was extremely labor intensive. I started the process at 9 in the morning, and it was 1 o'clock. I had made no progress other than getting the last batch of sap to turn the lightest of yellows. My son had tripped and spilled the sap, and I had knocked it all into the fire twice while adding wood. This was not working. Grandpa Ingalls was obviously magical.
I had had it. I couldn't keep the boil, the smoke kept getting in my eyes no matter where I went around the pit, I was cold, I was damp from the ground, I was filthy and stinky and I had burnt most of my fingers. I know when I'm licked. But I didn't want to work all this time without anything to show for it. Besides, I had ALL that sap in the basement, just waiting for me. So I went another route; the barbeque. This worked slightly better. The boil was faster, but it wasn't constant enough.
Again, boiling constantly eluded me. I'd get a nice simmer, and sometimes a bit of a boil, but it wasn't going to do it. To get any progress, it would have to boil, hard and constantly, and it was just not happening. I spent an hour fiddling with it, and gave up. I took the sap inside.
At two o'clock, afterfighting playing with the sap for 5 hours, I poured it in a pot, put it on the stove, and cranked it up. And it boiled. And boiled and boiled. The sap had to be filtered many times before I did this, as the wind blew ash and dirt and bugs into the sap all day long as I fiddled with it. Very genuine and out-of-doorsy, but not so good to eat. So filter it I did (through coffee filters--many coffee filters) and then onto the stove it went to boil. Three and a half hours later, there was syrup.
This is 1 1/2 cups of syrup from what I believe is 4 1/2 gallons of sap. We used a total of 6 1/2 gallons today, and spilled a lot of it, so this is the left over from that. I have 7 gallons left in the basement. I've heard that 10 gallons of sap makes one quart of syrup, so I think that is about right. I'll be honest, though, I lost track after it spilled the second time. By the time it spilled the third time, I was just pouring the sap in willy nilly, not even paying any attention to which gallon I was up to. So it is what it is. A cup and a half of syrup.
Was it worth it? Yeah-ish? Is that an answer? It is unbelievably good, that's for sure. It's thick (I probably went a little too far with the boil, but oh well), it's rich, and it tastes like sweet, sweet trees. It's complex and wonderful. On the other hand, it took me 8 and a half hours to get 1 1/2 cups of syrup. That's just ridiculous.
There has GOT to be an easier way. While the smoke was blowing in my face for the umpteenth time this morning, I kept thinking turkey fryer, turkey fryer. I think that might work. Will it be faster? I don't think so. This doesn't seem to be a quick process. Will it be less frustrating? I hope so.
So stay tuned. I again have 10 gallons of sap, because today I collected 3 more, so I've got a lot more boiling to do. I think for now it'll be done in the house a little at a time, with the windows wide open and the vent fan on. If you've ever done this yourself and can give me pointers on the boiling, please feel free. I am open to suggestion.
I started out with such high hopes. Images of Little House in the Big Woods filled my head. Did you ever read that book? I've read it hundreds of times, I think. I find it comforting. The part with Grandpa Ingalls and the big kettle in the woods, boiling maple syrup played in my head. I went out figuring, if Grandpa could do this over a big ol' fire, then hey, I can do it over a big ol' fire.
Not having two big trees to hang a kettle from (nor a kettle), I resorted to a modern remedy--old rebar. There was an old, crooked piece in the woods, left by someone at sometime. I'd tripped over it many a time, so I knew where it was. I dragged it out, and my husband cut it into two long lengths. The plan was to put these lengths over the fire pit we'd dug in the fall, prop it on the rocks that surrounded it, and put the pans I'd bought for the occasion over the fire on them. In this case, the pans were two heavy-duty foil roasters. I figured with all that surface area, the sap would evaporate quickly and syrup would be quick to follow.
This is what it looked like:
The two pans were there for a reason. One was to boil down into syrup, and the other was to heat the sap, so when the first pan started to evaporate and there was less in it, I could take warm sap from the other pan and not stop the boil. But it never boiled, because it was too far away from the fire. However, it was evaporating all right, and then my son tripped over the rebar on the side of the pit and knocked all the sap into the fire. Yeay. So I took the rebar out, my husband straightened it, and we tried again. Now it looked like this:
Much closer to the fire this time, and actually, it did boil.
But not for long. It had taken 3 hours to get the sap to boil at all, and it would only hold for 5 minutes at a time and go back to a nice simmer. I quickly discovered that getting the sap to boil consistently was nearly impossible. The fire would not cooperate--the wind would blow the flames every which way, and the boil would stop. The wood was being burnt at a rapid pace, and when it got too little, the boil would stop. Being as though the pan was so close to the fire, I couldn't really put heaps of wood on it, so I was feeding it little bits at a time constantly. This was extremely labor intensive. I started the process at 9 in the morning, and it was 1 o'clock. I had made no progress other than getting the last batch of sap to turn the lightest of yellows. My son had tripped and spilled the sap, and I had knocked it all into the fire twice while adding wood. This was not working. Grandpa Ingalls was obviously magical.
I had had it. I couldn't keep the boil, the smoke kept getting in my eyes no matter where I went around the pit, I was cold, I was damp from the ground, I was filthy and stinky and I had burnt most of my fingers. I know when I'm licked. But I didn't want to work all this time without anything to show for it. Besides, I had ALL that sap in the basement, just waiting for me. So I went another route; the barbeque. This worked slightly better. The boil was faster, but it wasn't constant enough.
Again, I used the two pan setup. The frying pan was for the "hard" boil, and the roaster on the other side was for the warming up of the sap that would be added. The wood you see was to stop that lovely wind from blowing the flame about, which it did anyway. 
Again, boiling constantly eluded me. I'd get a nice simmer, and sometimes a bit of a boil, but it wasn't going to do it. To get any progress, it would have to boil, hard and constantly, and it was just not happening. I spent an hour fiddling with it, and gave up. I took the sap inside.
At two o'clock, after
This is 1 1/2 cups of syrup from what I believe is 4 1/2 gallons of sap. We used a total of 6 1/2 gallons today, and spilled a lot of it, so this is the left over from that. I have 7 gallons left in the basement. I've heard that 10 gallons of sap makes one quart of syrup, so I think that is about right. I'll be honest, though, I lost track after it spilled the second time. By the time it spilled the third time, I was just pouring the sap in willy nilly, not even paying any attention to which gallon I was up to. So it is what it is. A cup and a half of syrup.
Was it worth it? Yeah-ish? Is that an answer? It is unbelievably good, that's for sure. It's thick (I probably went a little too far with the boil, but oh well), it's rich, and it tastes like sweet, sweet trees. It's complex and wonderful. On the other hand, it took me 8 and a half hours to get 1 1/2 cups of syrup. That's just ridiculous.
There has GOT to be an easier way. While the smoke was blowing in my face for the umpteenth time this morning, I kept thinking turkey fryer, turkey fryer. I think that might work. Will it be faster? I don't think so. This doesn't seem to be a quick process. Will it be less frustrating? I hope so.
So stay tuned. I again have 10 gallons of sap, because today I collected 3 more, so I've got a lot more boiling to do. I think for now it'll be done in the house a little at a time, with the windows wide open and the vent fan on. If you've ever done this yourself and can give me pointers on the boiling, please feel free. I am open to suggestion.
Friday, February 3, 2012
One of THOSE Days
This morning, I got up the feed the animals and found the geese in a full-blown mating fight. Happy day. Arthur was biting and hanging onto Benjamin's wings like a pitbull. They were like one goose-as Benjamin ran, Arthur ran too, wings out. Like a weird Chinese/Pilgrim goose with four feet. And of course, being as though Arthur was stuck to him, Benjamin was completely panicked and ran all over the damn place. I caught them, separated them, and then Ferdi did the same to Arthur. And around and around they went. Caught them, separated them, and Arthur went after Benjamin again. See where I'm going with this? After 4 separations, I gave up and let them do whatever they wanted to do. Mating season is rough.
Went inside and got a call to work, so I went in for the full day (I'm a substitute teacher). On the way in, little girl started feeling sick, but thought she could make it. By the time we got to the school, she wasn't going to be ok. Couldn't pull out of working, so I went to the office, told them I could do the 1/2 day, hoped they could find someone to cover, and called my parents. My dad came to get her and would watch her until I got home.
When I got was done with work, I picked up the little girl, who was feeling much better. We got home, and the pond was strangely empty. The geese were running around the yard being their usual noisy selves, but the ducks were gone. G-O-N-E gone. There were no feathers, so they had not been attacked, but they were MIA. I called everyone to do a head count (I've trained all the animals to come when I call) and everyone came-except the ducks. Well hell.
This morning, I had noticed that the ducks were paddling in the stream behind the house. They do that a lot, but that stream empties into a much bigger stream to the side of the property. If the ducks had gotten caught in the current, they could go pretty far. I started to walk the stream, which is no minor feat. With the help of the little girl, we had walked to the boundary of the property on the one side. Still no ducks. We got closer to the stream in one area, and all of a sudden, flutters of feathers everywhere! The ducks had gotten all the way down the stream and had no idea where they were. They panicked, and docked themselves under one of the banks. We were just lucky we walked near enough to scare them out, or we never would have found them.
They were completely panicked. They looked at us like they had never seen us before and swam as fast as possible upstream, away from us. When they saw that we were walking the same way, they panicked further, crossed the stream, and proceeded to climb the hill that belongs to the gun club to the side of us. They were so freaked out, they used their wings to pull themselves up the hill. They weren't stopping and they weren't going the right way--they were going further onto the club's property. We had no choice but to cross the stream and go after them. Of course, little girl fell right in the water. Where would we be if she hadn't?
I pulled her out, and pulled her up the hill, which is insanely steep. We followed the ducks all along the top, trying to get them to go down again and back to the stream. They were still completely panicked. Eventually they decided that we were scarier than the stream, so they found a spot and skidded back down the hill to the stream.
My daughter and I couldn't go that way without falling pretty badly, so we had to turn back and find a flatter spot. We walked all the way back, across the stream and then back up the other side on our land. Mind you, the entire property -ours and the club's- is pretty heavily wooded and fairly wet in this area, so it's no pleasure walk. We found the spot where the ducks had come down the hill and entered the stream and they were no longer there. Of course. We headed back to the cleared yard area to see if they made their way back.
Yep, they did. They were sitting in the backyard, happy as clams, looking like they'd never left. Sigh. I got them into their yard and shut the gate. They'll be spending a couple of days being reacquainted with their pond, I think. That was too annoying. Got the little girl inside to dry her clothes and went back out to collect sap (4 1/2 gallons today). I'm just sitting down now.
Tonight, I drink. Glass of wine, anyone?
See you tomorrow!
Went inside and got a call to work, so I went in for the full day (I'm a substitute teacher). On the way in, little girl started feeling sick, but thought she could make it. By the time we got to the school, she wasn't going to be ok. Couldn't pull out of working, so I went to the office, told them I could do the 1/2 day, hoped they could find someone to cover, and called my parents. My dad came to get her and would watch her until I got home.
When I got was done with work, I picked up the little girl, who was feeling much better. We got home, and the pond was strangely empty. The geese were running around the yard being their usual noisy selves, but the ducks were gone. G-O-N-E gone. There were no feathers, so they had not been attacked, but they were MIA. I called everyone to do a head count (I've trained all the animals to come when I call) and everyone came-except the ducks. Well hell.
This morning, I had noticed that the ducks were paddling in the stream behind the house. They do that a lot, but that stream empties into a much bigger stream to the side of the property. If the ducks had gotten caught in the current, they could go pretty far. I started to walk the stream, which is no minor feat. With the help of the little girl, we had walked to the boundary of the property on the one side. Still no ducks. We got closer to the stream in one area, and all of a sudden, flutters of feathers everywhere! The ducks had gotten all the way down the stream and had no idea where they were. They panicked, and docked themselves under one of the banks. We were just lucky we walked near enough to scare them out, or we never would have found them.
They were completely panicked. They looked at us like they had never seen us before and swam as fast as possible upstream, away from us. When they saw that we were walking the same way, they panicked further, crossed the stream, and proceeded to climb the hill that belongs to the gun club to the side of us. They were so freaked out, they used their wings to pull themselves up the hill. They weren't stopping and they weren't going the right way--they were going further onto the club's property. We had no choice but to cross the stream and go after them. Of course, little girl fell right in the water. Where would we be if she hadn't?
I pulled her out, and pulled her up the hill, which is insanely steep. We followed the ducks all along the top, trying to get them to go down again and back to the stream. They were still completely panicked. Eventually they decided that we were scarier than the stream, so they found a spot and skidded back down the hill to the stream.
My daughter and I couldn't go that way without falling pretty badly, so we had to turn back and find a flatter spot. We walked all the way back, across the stream and then back up the other side on our land. Mind you, the entire property -ours and the club's- is pretty heavily wooded and fairly wet in this area, so it's no pleasure walk. We found the spot where the ducks had come down the hill and entered the stream and they were no longer there. Of course. We headed back to the cleared yard area to see if they made their way back.
Yep, they did. They were sitting in the backyard, happy as clams, looking like they'd never left. Sigh. I got them into their yard and shut the gate. They'll be spending a couple of days being reacquainted with their pond, I think. That was too annoying. Got the little girl inside to dry her clothes and went back out to collect sap (4 1/2 gallons today). I'm just sitting down now.
Tonight, I drink. Glass of wine, anyone?
See you tomorrow!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Tappety Tap Tap!
The saga continues....
Yesterday morning, I put up the last 12 taps, making 16 in total. Some of the trees were super eager to please and dripped immediately.
Some had to think about it, but then dripped willingly a little later. It seems I have one tree that's not doing much of anything. I drilled it's tap a little deeper this morning to give it another chance. If it doesn't do much again today, I'll pull it and find myself a juicier tree that's more willing to oblige.
On the other hand, two of my big beauties were more than willing to "give it up".
Hello! Three quarters of a gallon from each! That's production!
Don't you love my cheap-o method of collecting sap? I bought the spiles off of ebay--they were very inexpensive--but I couldn't afford any more of the nice sap buckets. So I collected milk gallons for months and a water gallon from who knows what and that's what I'm working with. I don't love it, though. Despite the fact that Mr. Mann from Backyard Sugarin' says that they'll just "stay on the spile", they don't. I have to jury-rig them like this:
Classy! They stay, though. That's all that counts. They are a real pain to remove, however.
Oh well. Today's take? Thought you'd never ask!
5 gallons! Or really, 4 and 3/4, because yesterday's 1/4 gallon is in there somewhere too. I have 6 gallons total, which is almost a quart of syrup. Not bad.
Of course, yesterday, as I was checking my taps, I saw the man in the woods behind us lugging two full five gallon buckets away from his taps, but who am I to complain??? Right? Right?
So it's going well. But of course, this is the fun part. The hard part is boiling all this down. That's going to be some hard work.
Stay tuned!
Yesterday morning, I put up the last 12 taps, making 16 in total. Some of the trees were super eager to please and dripped immediately.
Some had to think about it, but then dripped willingly a little later. It seems I have one tree that's not doing much of anything. I drilled it's tap a little deeper this morning to give it another chance. If it doesn't do much again today, I'll pull it and find myself a juicier tree that's more willing to oblige.
On the other hand, two of my big beauties were more than willing to "give it up".
Hello! Three quarters of a gallon from each! That's production!
Don't you love my cheap-o method of collecting sap? I bought the spiles off of ebay--they were very inexpensive--but I couldn't afford any more of the nice sap buckets. So I collected milk gallons for months and a water gallon from who knows what and that's what I'm working with. I don't love it, though. Despite the fact that Mr. Mann from Backyard Sugarin' says that they'll just "stay on the spile", they don't. I have to jury-rig them like this:
Classy! They stay, though. That's all that counts. They are a real pain to remove, however.
Oh well. Today's take? Thought you'd never ask!
Bum da da da DUM!!!
5 gallons! Or really, 4 and 3/4, because yesterday's 1/4 gallon is in there somewhere too. I have 6 gallons total, which is almost a quart of syrup. Not bad.
Of course, yesterday, as I was checking my taps, I saw the man in the woods behind us lugging two full five gallon buckets away from his taps, but who am I to complain??? Right? Right?
So it's going well. But of course, this is the fun part. The hard part is boiling all this down. That's going to be some hard work.
Stay tuned!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Tap Dancin'
Ok, there's really no dancing involved. I just couldn't think of a clever title.
It seems to be that time of year. I had no idea, of course, having never done this before. I only know it's that time of year because the man who taps trees in the woods behind me was tapping trees yesterday afternoon, and hey, I can take a hint. So out I went to tap the trees. I got four taps done, as I started at 3:00.
This morning, I went out to see what was wrought. And here it is:
Holy moly. A gallon and a quarter. And I spilled a bunch, so I think it would have been a gallon and a half. From 4 taps. Put in at 3:00 in the afternoon, not even in the morning. I have 12 more taps to put in.
I was unprepared for the quantity. I was thinking I'd get a little dribble right away and have to wait for the run that I was assuming was later in the month. But no, it's running away already. In fact, when I was putting the taps in, the trees were so moist, the sap was just flinging itself at me.
So here we go. Since I've never done this before, it promises to be an exciting experience filled with many mistakes. But in the end, I hope to get syrup... of some sort....at least useable syrup...that'd be nice.
Stay tuned, this'll be an interesting ride!
It seems to be that time of year. I had no idea, of course, having never done this before. I only know it's that time of year because the man who taps trees in the woods behind me was tapping trees yesterday afternoon, and hey, I can take a hint. So out I went to tap the trees. I got four taps done, as I started at 3:00.
This morning, I went out to see what was wrought. And here it is:
Holy moly. A gallon and a quarter. And I spilled a bunch, so I think it would have been a gallon and a half. From 4 taps. Put in at 3:00 in the afternoon, not even in the morning. I have 12 more taps to put in.
I was unprepared for the quantity. I was thinking I'd get a little dribble right away and have to wait for the run that I was assuming was later in the month. But no, it's running away already. In fact, when I was putting the taps in, the trees were so moist, the sap was just flinging itself at me.
So here we go. Since I've never done this before, it promises to be an exciting experience filled with many mistakes. But in the end, I hope to get syrup... of some sort....at least useable syrup...that'd be nice.
Stay tuned, this'll be an interesting ride!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Saddle Up!
It's that time of the year, when love strikes a young rooster's fancy and they want to find a nice girl or two or six and do what comes naturally. Yes, it is a little early, but I think the funky weather has made the boys feel frisky already. Mating activity has gone up in the past couple of weeks, and though some of the boys are gentlemanly (Perni is fairly nice during mating, for a rooster, that is), most of the boys are not. Peter is nowhere near a kind soul to his girls, and Beethoven, being at the bottom of the roo chain, can be very unkind to the girls. So the girls' backs have been showing a bit of wear. In fact, on Owl, one of the Ameraucana girls, I can see skin. Time to step in and prevent disaster. Enter the saddle.
Fa-shion-a-ble! Made of leftover pieces of fabric and elastic, they're what every well-dressed and protected hen will be wearing for the next few weeks. Woo woo!
Allow some of our beautiful models to show you what these babies can do for your appearance:
Meet Susan, who is modeling the blue Asian-inspired Chrysanthemum saddle. Notice how the blue really plays off of her beautiful white feathers and greeny legs. C'est magnifique!
 |
| mff....mfff....mmmmmmmm! |
___________________________________________
For you rugged outdoor types, we have the Ivy saddle. Green leaves on blue, it simply screams "Out of doors! Trees! Leaves!" So trendy.
It plays off of Owl's coloring so nicely, and gives her that outdoor edge that says "Look out world! This girl's gonna peck mountains!" Ooh la la!
 |
| Freakin' paparazzi. I TOLD you, no pictures when I'm eating!!! |
______________________________
We also carry the Seashore saddle. Gentle blue and green waves caress your back feathers. Calming, lovely, and gentle, it tells everyone you are centered and at peace. We chose Ashley to model our Seashore saddle, but we had a few problems... |
| Getitoffme getitoffme getitoffme!!! |
 |
| aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaa!! |
We admit we may have chosen the wrong model for this one. Our apologies.
She did better than her sister, though. When we put Evelyn in the Asian-inspired Chrysanthemum saddle, this is what happened:
 |
| There's something on me, isn't there? ISN'T THERE??? |
 |
| aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaa! |
 |
| aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa!!!!! |
 |
| It's STILL there, isn't it? It's FOLLOWING me! |
 |
| Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod! Getitoff! Getitoff! Getitoff! |
 |
| Oh, the henmanity! SOB! |
We will NOT be renewing her contract, I think that goes without saying.
___________________________
But here, here, is the model of all models. One whom others can take a lesson from. Hermione Number 1 (or 2, or 3, or 4--sorry folks, they all look the same, that's why they have the same name) is wearing the blue Windswept saddle. And she's not afraid to wear her saddle in a different way. A way that truly shows what she thinks about herself. A way to truly let others know that they need to make way. Move it or lose it, girls, here she comes! She's got what it takes and she's not afraid to use it. Yes, the way she wears her saddle is the most daring way of all....
.....as a superhero cape.
 |
| DA da da DA DA!!! |
 |
| I look for trouble here.... |
 |
| I look for trouble there.... |
 |
| I look for trouble here......oh wait, those are my feet. Nevermind. |
 |
| I can go.... |
 |
| .....and stop!!! |
Whew! She is all that and a bag of chips! You have to be really bold to pull this off, and I think we can all agree that she CAN!
You go, grrrrrrllll!!!
__________________________________________
Chicken saddles......
London.....Paris.....Milan....Chicken Scratch
Get yours today!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
