Easter Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bird's Nests

Today I made some Easter Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bird's Nests.  Such a simple recipe from The Curvy Carrot.   Here is how my bird's nests looked when all done:

Looks like a little sign of spring.  Spring is really happening here in Fremont.  My lilac bushes are blooming, the crabapple tree is amazing:

We are so lucky to have a large yard with so many beautiful fruit trees.  Jon's beehive seems happy so far and the bees stay active on the new fruit tree blossoms.  Looks like I'll have to thin the Blenheim Apricot tree, as there are so many small fruits on it this year, and we do not want to break another branch!

Blogiversary!

Hi there, Readers!  It is Chickens in the Garden's anniversary!  Six years of every now and then sending out missives to you on chickens, cooking, and gardening, as well as other items of interest that cross my mind.

Once again at this time of year we are slicing up French prune plums and dehydrating them for the year. My husband has taken on much of this task, and we also have a nice, new orchard ladder that is helping with the harvesting.  It is amazing how many wonderful plums are on the tree...

Apricots!

I've been busy with our Royal Blenheim Apricots. Our tree was incredibly productive this year and I've dried the apricots, made cobblers and tarts, and made jam. The jam has just apricots, sugar, and lemon juice. I'm using my new copper jam pot that has a wide bottom on it and helps make some delicious jams and preserves.  The jam in the jars looks so pretty in the window:

Early Harvesting

The garden this year has some early vegetables that we've been enjoying.  We've already been eating Sweet 100 tomatoes in our salads, and last night we had our first cucumber--a Suyo Long.  It was sweet and crisp.  The pole beans have been producing like crazy, and the first full sized tomato is red and ripe--an Early Girl.  Still harvesting some purple sprouting broccoli and collards, and digging up red onions and shallots as well as some nice-looking garlic.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Last year I picked up starts of Purple Sprouting Broccoli in early Spring at the Berkeley Farmer's Market.  It turns out that this variety of broccoli usually needs to overwinter before it forms heads.  I had six very tall, leafy plants, and I grew inpatient last summer and fall when no heads formed.  I ended up feeding the chickens four of the six plants, however I left two in the ground through the "winter."  (We've had an incredibly dry and mild winter this year.)

Much to my surprise, the two plants that have overwintered are now forming purple sprouting heads.  This purple broccoli forms many smaller heads all over the plant, as you can see in the following photos:

We picked some of the heads last night and enjoyed them with dinner. The purple heads turn green when they are cooked. The taste was very good!

Oak Titmouse

There are so many birds in the garden now.  We have five hummingbird feeders, and so we get lots of hummingbirds. We have jays and crows, of course, and some finches and woodpeckers too.  This morning I saw what I later identified as an Oak Titmouse. This small bird has a little topknot making it quite distinctive looking.

I found a website with some excellent photos by Robert Royse of Oak Titmice at various times of the year in California.  Here is the link: Oak Titmouse photos

This titmouse is related to the Tufted Titmouse, however they are found primarily on the East Coast while the Oak Titmouse is found in California and Oregon. What a pleasant little bird.  I'm next going to try to listen to it...

A beginning birder I am...

Morning's harvest

Today, nearing the last day of September, there is still a wonderful harvest from the vegetable garden.  The bean plants are pumping out beans--mostly the thin, French filet-type, Emerite.  The tomato plants are still producing--Pineapple Rainbow and Early Girl and Big Rainbow here. And, for the first time, I have plenty of basil to use in bruschetta and in tomato sauces as well as making our own pesto!