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When we made sausage from venison right before Christmas, we went to the hog farmer up the road and purchased about 20 pounds of “trimmings” to blend with it. “Trimmings” really is mostly the fat leftover when hogs are processed. We used a good deal of it, and what was left was put into the freezer. This weekend, I decided to render it into lard.

There are a few ways to render lard, but I chose the crock pot for this batch for several reasons, the least of which is not the fact that using the crock pot requires the least of my time and attention.

I used a 6 quart crock pot and simply took the frozen trimmings out of the packages and put it right into the crock pot. We had finely ground our trimmings to use in the sausage making.

Then I turned the crock pot on low, put the lid on it, and went with Bernie visit with the plant lady up the road. Several hours later, the lard was slowly simmering.

I stirred it from time to time to break it up as it thawed and began melting. If you are using trimmings, just cut them into small cubes or chunks before rendering.

I left the fat in the crock pot on low overnight, and then put the lard in canning jars this morning.

Since not everything was fat, there was some meat at the bottom of the pot. I strained the lard through a metal mesh strainer, and that worked just fine for lard we will be using to cook with. I save the meat pieces I strain out from the lard. This makes great seasoning for beans or other dishes. I just put mine in a container in the refrigerator.

If I had planned to use the lard for soap making, I would have used cheese cloth so the lard was as clear as possible. For cooking, this creamy white lard will be just perfect.

There is no need to process the lard in a canner. Once the jars are filled with the hot lard and the lid applied, the lid will seal. The jars can be stored on a shelf at room temperature with little worry. But if you are at all concerned, just freeze or refrigerate them.

I’ve started making sun tea each day so that we can have ice tea on these warm, summer evenings. But I end up making two separate batches because I only drink sweet tea, and Bernie only drinks unsweetened tea. As you know, cold tea does not melt sugar very well, so I sweeten the entire batch while it’s still warm. And this results in two containers of tea in the refrigerator - one with sugar, and one without.

To avoid this, I made some simple syrup that I can stir into warm or cold tea to sweeten it. This batch is Lemon Basil Simple Syrup, and it’s quite simple to make.

Lemon Basil Simple Syrup

1/2 cup loosely packed Lemon Basil leaves (washed)
2 cups Sugar
1 cup Water
1 Lemon

In a medium sized pot, mix together the sugar and water. Cut the lemon in half, and squeeze the juice of each into the sugar and water mixture. Add the two lemon halves and the lemon basil to the pot of sugar and water. Put the pot on the stove over medium heat and stir constantly as the sugar melts.

Bring the mixture to a full boil and then cut off the heat and leave it on the burner.

When it has completely cooled, squeeze both the juice of the lemon halves back into the pot, and discard the lemon halves. I use a slotted spoon to remove and discard the basil leaves, and then pour the simple syrup through a wire strainer into a pint mason jar.

Store in the refrigerator. This is a wonderful sweetener for ice tea, or even freshly squeezed lemonade. You can even use it to make cocktails. You can make plain simple syrup by leaving out the lemon and lemon basil, or make mint flavored simple syrup by using mint leaves. You are only limited by your personal tastes and imagination!

Simple, tasty, and very nice to have on hand.

Remember the baby chick I wrote about a couple of days ago - the one that hatched all alone in a nest in the woods, and the Phoenix hen adopted? She’s doing really well.

Here she is next to one of the Phoenix mama’s original chicks.

Still so tiny. But see the little chocolate colored chick right next to mama in that picture? Well, that little chick was today’s surprise. I was sitting in my office working with my window open and I kept hearing a baby chirping very loudly. I figured one of the new chicks got separated from one of the mamas. Imagine my surprise when I went into the run to find a baby chick that was obviously only a few hours old. She could hardly stand up without falling over. And she was so cold she was shivering. Yet *another* egg had hatched out from that nest in the woods. And that mama Hamburg is so busy with her other five, she will not be held back by a new baby.

We put the baby under a heat lamp for a bit, and when she warmed up I held her for quite a while. Eventually I saw mama Hamburg laying in the run with her babies under her, so I sneaked out there and slipped the new chick under her too and hoped for the best.

A while later I went outside to check on her, but that mama Hamburg and her five babies were no where to be seen. That new baby chick? She had apparently been adopted by the Phoenix mama.

I removed all remaining eggs from that nest. I hated to do it, but babies hatching from it at this point are clearly at a high risk of not making it. I am astounded that two have hatched with no one on the nest except at night. Mama Hamburg is not going to care for any more chicks, and that sweet mama Phoenix has her wings full.

Thirteen baby chicks and four teenagers running around the yard cheeping warms my heart. But knowing half of these are probably cockerels does not. I do not plan to let any more broodies set on eggs this year.

Please pray I can be strong.

Oh dear heavens. The mama that came up today with five chicks she hatched in the woods? Well, she’s settling into the run with her babies, so I decided to head up to her nest in the woods and get rid of all the eggs that she didn’t hatch so there isn’t a couple dozen eggs rotting in one place to attract predictors.

Imagine my surprise when I peered inside that nest and found a newly hatched baby! She was still wet and she was breathing. I scooped her up in my cupped hands and warmed her. I brought her in the house and Bernie grabbed a box and lined the bottom. Then he set up a heat lamp. I put the baby chick in the box and she cheeped and cheeped. Every time I put my hand over her, she quieted down. I just couldn’t leave her. I scooped her up and went outside.

I saw her mama setting in the run with her five chicks underneath. Perfect! I gently slid the baby under her and she quickly jumped up squawking. Dangit!

I picked the baby up again and noticed my broody Phoenix that hatched out two babies last week. She was heading into the coop with her two chicks. I gave them a few minutes and then quietly went into the coop. I sat on the floor several minutes until she settled down and her babies scooted underneath her. I gently lifted her side and slid this new baby under her. She puffed up and began cooing. *phew*

I have no idea if this baby will make it. She hatched several hours after the mama had left the nest. I never would have believed that could happen - I suspect the heat of the day and the bright sun shining directly on the nest kept the egg warm enough to hatch.

My Phoenix hens love being mamas. I’ve found them trying to sleep on the roost with eight week old “babies” under them! Usually the mamas get tired of the babies and move on - but with my Phoenix’s the babies usually leave the mamas first.

This baby seems strong, and I feel certain that if any mama hen can pull a baby through such a rough start, this Phoenix will do it. I sure pray she makes it.

These chickens will definitely be the death of me.

I had a heck of a time getting a picture - she tried to hide them under a bench in the run - but if you look closely you may see all five of the babies she dragged home today. I’m not complaining. It could have been much worse. I expected her to hatch out a dozen of those eggs.

The other Hamburg mama is doing great with her four.

Today is the first time since March that I do not have broodies setting on eggs. I think we all can use this little break.

This afternoon I checked on the broody setting on eggs in the woods. She must have gotten lonely.

I think I heard her chatting with that turtle as I walked up on them.

Last year we ended up with 18 extra roosters from all the broody hatches we had. We sent 17 to freezer camp, and Charlotte adopted a Phoenix cockerel. While it was nice having chicken in the freezer and they tasted delicious, these guys were very small and hardly worth the effort. This year I promised Bernie to limit the number of chicks I allowed the broodies to hatch out.

I was doing really well there for a good long while. Within a matter of a few short weeks, I had eight broody hens. I gave the first babies to hatch to a neighbor when the chicks were a couple of days old. Score! Then Charlotte agreed to take two of the broody hens and all the babies they hatched. Double score! From the remaining broodies, we ended up with only four new peeps in the yard.

During all this excitement and broodiness, I noticed I was missing one hen when I tucked them in at night. After a week or so, I figured she was either setting on a nest in the woods or was gone. A few days later, I came up short one more when I tucked them in at night. I figured it was this broody and I pretty much gave up on the first one that went missing - but I did not lose all hope.

This afternoon in was in the goat paddock playing with them and Bernie was sitting at the picnic table in the backyard watching us. I began hearing some faint cheeping. A few minutes later it was noticeably louder.

I hollered over to Bernie, “Did the mamas leave those chicks back here again?” A couple of the mama hens that I let hatch out chicks have started leaving their babies and getting on with life - when the babies are not hot on their heals as they walk away. And when the mamas do manage to escape, those chicks scream bloody murder.

“Um, I don’t think so. These babies are very, very tiny.”

By the time he finished his sentence I had made it out of the goat paddock and was running toward the cheeping I heard.

And there she was. The first hen that came up missing - with four little babies bumbling along behind her.

I filled a feeder and waterer and put it down for them, but mama would immediately lead them away if I got anywhere close.

You’ll have to look very closely, but there are two chicks in this picture:

And there are three in this one:

She has a total of four babies. I was really hoping to catch her and the babies and get them in a brooder, but I had no luck. She did finally lay down for a while with the babies under her.

But she kept a close eye on me the entire time. I am really praying she heads to the coop with the babies tonight. It’s quite a journey for such tiny little chicks, but mama hens expect their babies to hit the ground running, so it’s possible she will lead them to the safety of the coop. I sure hope so. I have no idea where her nest is - if I can find it I will go out at dark and move them all to a brooder.

I don’t like having hens brooding outside the coop, but I accepted that there would be risks involved in allowing my chickens to free range. The consequences of keeping them penned are just more than I am willing to put up with - for my sanity and the sake of my chickens. Even so, I worry every minute that my chickens are roaming in the yard and woods, and I lose sleep over these broodies that have nests in the woods.

I love my chickens. I really do. But I know these chickens will be the death of me.

I’m certain I’ll go with a smile on my face.

For over two weeks, I’ve been coming up short on my head count each night when I tuck the chickens in. And a few times I found a Hamburg hen clucking softly and pacing by the closed chicken run first thing in the morning when I went to let the other chickens out for the day. I knew that little hussy was broody and setting on a nest somewhere, but I could not find it. Well, she came into the run this afternoon while I was tending to the waterer and feeder, and I waited her out and followed her when she headed back in the woods.

And I found her clutch. There must be about three dozen eggs in it.

She’s way too small to cover all those eggs. I have no idea how many will hatch.

Well, there goes my plan of limiting the number of chicks this year……

Look at this cute bench Bernie made out of the leftover deck material.

It’ll be a nice bench to sit on and watch that broody Hamburg with all the little babies she’s sure to bring up in the yard in the next week or so. Hussy.

Look what Bernie did today.

He built gates for all three of the deck step openings.

Now the pups can go out unsupervised and bark at things and we don’t have to worry about them terrorizing goats and chickens.

Speaking of the pups terrorizing chickens, I must tell you that sometimes the chickens terrorize the pups. Dolly gets very excited when Bernie throws her frisbee off the deck for her to chase.

But sometimes Duke can’t stand to see Dolly having so much fun.

And she has to do some pretty fancy footwork to get past him.

She actually thinks Duke is her friend and wants to play. She’ll abandon that frisbee to play with her friend.

Dolly thinks Duke is the best playmate ever.

Duke chases her all over the yard.

When she gets tired of being chased and retreats, Duke lets out a crow that just about shatters windows.

Diesel excitedly watches the entire exchange.

And this is about as animated as he gets over the whole thing.

On second thought, maybe the gates are to keep Duke from getting at Dolly on the deck.

I realize there are a few things out of place in the milking/storage area of the goat barn, but if you look closely you may see one thing that positively does not belong here……

Shhhhhh. She doesn’t think we see her.

I let a broody hen hatch out three chicks and keep two of them:

I gave one to another broody.

A few days ago, yet another broody hatched out three chicks. Today I removed the front of the brooder and the mama brought her babies out into the coop for the first time.

We have no shortage of broodies here this year.

The Irises my mother gave me last year are now in full bloom.

And we should be eating strawberries soon.

Spring has definitely sprung.