Yummy Lactose-Free Mac n Cheese

 Yesterday, I finally felt well enough to make food, which is good because there wasn't much left in the house. A quick trip to the grocery store remedied that, and last night we feasted on ooey-gooey mac n' cheese fit for Mr. Bear's digestive system. He developed lactose-intolerance in the past couple of years, which effectively put an end to his cheese-fiend ways.

I adapted this recipe from The New Vegan Table, and it's an awesome recipe.

Alterations I made to the recipe:

I boiled the macaroni in lactose-free milk to make it creamier.
I added half a bag of frozen peas.
I used one bag of Daiya Cheddar Shreds and one block of Daiya Jalapeno-Garlic Havarti.
I seasoned with vegetarian Bacon Salt.

Other than that, I followed the recipe as written. It's super easy and super satisfying.

 Don't be misled by the fact that this is lactose-free and easily vegan-able, this is not health food. It is sodium-laden indulgent so-bad-for-you-it's-good food.

I neglected to document the process, but let me tell you that Daiya cheese melts so very very beautifully. In fact, the mixture of cheddar shreds and jalapeno havarti alone would make a ridiculously awesome nacho cheese. I recommend it to anyone who has been looking for a good substitute.

Mr. Bear(who typically detests homemade mac n cheese) declared it the best mac n cheese he's ever had. High praise indeed, from a former cheese-fiend.

On Being a Housewife

Like a lot of educated women in this country, I have been socialized to devalue domestic unpaid labor(traditionally thought of as "women's work"). The term "housewife" brings with it images of browbeaten women with no agency and no options, and applying it to myself brings feelings of shame and failure. Even though I know this is all complete bullshit, it's been an extremely difficult transition for me to make. 

When I met my husband, I was a world-traveling anthropologist, fresh out of university. I had a nest egg and zero student loan debt. I worked for the first year we were together, at a shit bank job that sucked my soul dry and contributed greatly to my ill health. I talked this over with my husband(then-boyfriend), and we agreed that I would quit that job. It was difficult finding another job, as the unemployment situation in our city is dire. Eventually I decided to go back to school and get a degree as a radiology technician, which would allow me to find work at whatever city we found ourselves stationed in. Mr. Bear informed we likely only had a couple years left in our present location.

Unfortunately, I wasn't accepted into the rad tech program last year, and would have to wait a year to reapply. Since that would mean we would be moving before I finished the program, we decided to try for a baby in the time we had left, since we live around a lot of my family and I have a really strong support structure here. I will look for another program when we get settled in our new location.

The practical side of this decision is that, for the next 2-3 years at least, I am a stay-at-home wife and mother. We talked over the possibility of my working and putting the kiddo in childcare, but I would have to be making a considerable amount to cover the cost of childcare and have enough left over to justify someone else looking after the kiddo for the bulk of the day. We decided, and it was a mutual decision that I feel very good about, that I would stay home with the baby. It made more sense financially, and I want this time with my child.

Even though I know this is the best thing for me and my family, I struggle everyday with the identity of "stay-at-home wife and mother". It's not something I ever saw for myself. In my younger days, I even looked down on it(before sociology and life experience beat some sense into me).  Reading other women's blogs that deal with homemaking through a non-traditional viewpoint has been helpful. In particular, Calamity Jane's post on "Reclaiming Housewifery" has helped me articulate the feelings I've been having regarding my transition. 

Linking my new-found domesticity with urban homesteading has definitely helped. Raising my children to take pride in homegrown food, looking after livestock, and providing for ourselves rather than relying on store-bought convenience is one way in which I can effect change on a societal scale. Change begins at home, and achieving the great shift in our society from a throw-away culture reliant on imports and convenience foods requires a revolution in the home. In it's beginning, that was what "Home Economics" was about. Running a household efficiently, being self-sufficient, being thrifty. It requires intelligence and creativity, and a lot of math. Sadly, horribly, home economics has been reduced in schools to how to sew a throw pillow, and how to bake cookies. Not how to provide a nutritious and varied diet for our families on a realistic budget, while saving for emergencies and planning a long-term future.

Domestic unpaid labor is important. Raising the next generation is important. Homemakers wield more power than they(we) realize. When I allow myself to feel like a child who gets an allowance, instead of a vital part of my household and society as a whole, I am doing a great disservice to all of us who, by choice or necessity, apply our talents and intelligence to running our homesteads(be they studio apartments or sprawling farms). It is not "unfeminist" to engage in domestic unpaid labor and child-rearing. We are not wasting our potential by working in the home sphere instead of offices. 

This is not a zero-sum game.

Chicken Prolapse Success Story

 Rosie is officially reintegrated into the flock. We removed her prolapse sutures Saturday night and kept her inside for observation until Sunday. Her vent is looking very good, and the prolapse has not recurred, much to my relief. She hasn't started laying again, but I'm not worried.

Although she has lost her status as the alpha hen, she is still trying to assert her dominance against Ruth. Ruth is proving to be an excellent leader, protecting the other hens from Rosie and putting Rosie in her place without injuring her.

Ponyo is becoming quite hen-pecked by the girls. She'll come outside with us when we go check on the chickens, but she stays very close since the hens will chase her around the yard and peck at her. I feel bad for her, but she did mercilessly harass them the entire time they were growing up in their brooder. I'm hoping she'll be able to assert herself enough to reach something of a truce with the chickens. Otherwise we'll probably fence off the back half of the yard for the chickens, so Ponyo has some space to herself.

Marie has been laying somewhat steadily for us. Her egg size fluctuates, but her body seems to be dialing it in. Soon I'll have pictures of a lovely bowl full of blue eggs to share with you.

She is by far our most sociable chicken. Anytime we come outside, she immediately runs up to us and follows us around the entire time we're there. Today, I perched on the edge of the raised beds and she hopped right up. Ponyo helpfully inspected her vent to make sure she's not having any prolapse issues.

 "Nope, this one's butt is fine."

 She did figure out she can hop in to the raised bed, and began scratching around for bugs and scraps. I think it's the first time she's done that, she seemed quite surprised. Mr. Bear will be building a greenhouse around the beds, so I'm not so worried about them figuring out how to hop up there.

 At four months, Ada has become quite a flashy hen. I love her feathers! She seems to have given up her quest to be the alpha hen, and is content to run around the yard and stalk Ponyo when she's out. Neither she nor Ruth have shown any signs of laying yet. Mr. Bear and I regularly check the yard for wayward eggs, though I hope since Marie took to laying in the nest box immediately that the others will, too.

 Oh, the fluffy chicken butts...

 Marie showed Ruth how to get into the raised bed.

 After researching vent prolapses like Rosie's, I had become very very fearful, since so many of the stories ended in tragedy. I am so very happy that things have worked out well for Rosie, I would have been so sad to have lost her after only having her for a few short months.

Things I have learned from Rosie's prolapse:

1. Have a chicken first-aid kit on hand. Ours is stocked with hemostats, small snipping scissors, Vetericyn, Preparation H, bandages, epsom salt, electrolytes and gloves.
2. Chickens are both more delicate and tougher than we think. We could have removed that troubling tissue on our own, but having never done something like that before, we were too wary to do so. Should something like that happen again, we now know that it's okay to attempt to remove the tissue ourselves. The Chicken Chick has a great post on how to treat a prolapse. I followed her advice, but since Rosie's prolapse looked so different, I opted to take her to a vet just in case.
3. Know where the nearest vet who will treat chickens is to you. I feel so much better knowing that we have a good vet who knows his chickens near enough that we can get the girls to him without too much hassle.
4. Enjoy your chickens everyday! They won't be with you forever.

Guess what? Chicken butt!

 With Rosie's prolapse showing no signs of getting better, and having reached the end of our knowledge in treating her, we decided to take Rosie in to the vet. Luckily for us there is a vet within 30 minutes of us who treats chickens and came highly recommended by some friends of ours.

We gave Rosie her (now)customary bath and blow dry and packed her in the car. She was a very good passenger and pretty much just chilled out the whole ride there.

There were a few dogs that came over to say "hello" when we sat down in the waiting area. Luckily no one was feeling aggressive and everyone was just curious about each other.

 The vet, Dr. Robinson, was very good with Rosie. We explained that she's been prolapsed for three days, resulting from trying to lay her very first egg, and that there seemed to be some sort of blockage there that we were hesitant to remove ourselves, not wanting to injure her.

Dr. Robinson cleaned her up and removed the blockage and some dead tissue, and her vent immediately looked worlds better. He said he felt good about her potential for recovery because as soon as the tissue and blockage were gone, she started pulling the prolapse back into herself.

 What's wrong with my butt?

After pushing the rest of the prolapse back in and applying some antibiotic ointment, Dr. Robinson threw in a couple sutures to hold everything in place while it heals. Throughout the entire examination and suturing, Rosie made not one peep. She didn't struggle, she didn't squawk, and Dr. Robinson and his assistant said that she was one of the best-behaved chickens they've ever treated. She didn't even require sedation when he was suturing her.

She's such a sweet little hen.

We're hoping to keep her sutures in for about a week, longer if we can manage, to give her time to heal and for the swelling to go down. We have her back in the big brooder in the living room, this time covered and blocked from the light to discourage further laying. If she does start to lay an egg while the sutures are still in, they'll have to be removed immediately so she doesn't tear. We also have Preparation H and Vetericyn handy to help with keeping the swelling down and protecting against infection.

I'm so proud of my little Rosie-bird. And I'm so relieved to have gotten her looked at by the vet. For our piece of mind and her health, it was totally worth the $95. We'll have to be vigilant about checking her for prolapse for the rest of her life, as once it happens, it's prone to reoccurring. I'm hopeful that since she's so young and we caught it early and got it treated, that she'll heal up well and won't prolapse again. Fingers crossed!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

 Life on the homestead has been in a constant state of flux, what with growing chickens and a growing fetus. I'm half-way through my pregnancy, and finally starting to get my energy back(though I still find myself frequently sleeping until the afternoon...).
My wonderful friend Jewels painted this amazing poster that relates the size of our growing bundle to various bird-and-bear things, which is so incredibly awesome and thoughtful and way more appealing to me than all the fruit comparisons.
Currently, Baby McAwesome is the size of the wingspan of a sparrow. :D

 Next level-up: blue-jay feather!

We've invested in some good shears for Butters, and took them for a test drive. She wasn't thrilled, but she was a very patient bun and let us clip her nice and close.

 She spent quite a while grooming after we'd finished, and took the opportunity to investigate the chickens while she was there.

On the subject of the chickens, we spent the last few weeks acclimating them to the back yard, taking them out for longer and longer stretches and introducing them to the coop. The first time we took them out, they clumped together and refused to explore. They're over that now, and have been investigating every nook and cranny of their new kingdom.

For her part, Ponyo is utterly uninterested in being around them when they're free-ranging, which is good. With how much she enjoyed harassing them while they were in their brooder, I was worried there would be issues once that barrier was removed. I should have known Ponyo's bravado was all for show, she's the biggest chicken of them all!

 

 The girls mistook our shoes as something worth trying to eat.

We noticed that Rosie had taken to bullying the other hens and pecking at their backs, plucking their feathers. Poor Marie ended up with a red bald spot! So we placed Rosie in isolation about a week ago, giving her separate outside time from the others, and giving the others a chance to heal up. She has completely lost her standing as the alpha hen(Ruth has taken over, to my surprise, given how hard Ada was vying with Rosie for dominance).

During her time in "solitary", Rosie laid her first egg! Unfortunately, it did not go so well for her. They girls are only 4 months old, and I think Rosie wasn't quite mature enough for laying, not to mention we hadn't switched them to layer's feed yet, and I think the lack of maturity plus the lack of calcium caused the issue. Her egg was still attached to her at one end, and she has a pretty bad prolapse(I'll spare you the images, they're graphic). We destroyed the egg and removed the shell, but she's still prolapsed. We've been keeping her protruding vent clean and moist and treated with Vetericyn, but since there still appears to be something stuck there and we don't want to injure her trying to remove it, we'll be taking her in to the vet tomorrow. I've been worried sick about her all weekend.

Happily, not all our girls are having such problems. As though she knew I needed cheering up, Marie laid her first egg today! And it's perfect!

 A lovely little blue-green surprise in the nesting box!

 Shown next to a store-bought jumbo for size comparison. It's so dainty and little, I feel like it should be made of chocolate and covered in a thin candy shell.

 

 

 Things are changing around here, mostly for the better. I feel like it's going to be a glorious spring.

Big Big News!

I haven't been super-active on the blog lately because we got some life-changing news some weeks ago...

We're going to have a baby!

I've been battling fatigue and nausea, and haven't really found the energy or drive to craft much lately, or write posts for the blog, but I'm told after the first trimester that these symptoms should lessen or stop, and then I'm sure I'll be posting lots and lots of tutorials and craft projects for baby things.

Four and a Half Weeks

 Our girls no longer resemble the adorable balls of fluff they were just a few weeks ago. Instead, they are looking like full-on chickens, and are now alternating between peeps and clucks. Their personalities have evolved as well. Ada, once our most docile chick, has become quite an aggressive little lady, competing with Rosie to rule the roost. Marie is now the most docile. Ruth is still antisocial, and has seemed to convince the others that being held by humans is bad, as they now all resist us when being handled. They've also begun taking experimental flights with their impressive wings.

 Marie is inquisitive, and is displaying the puffy cheeks of an Easter Egger.

 Rosie is still the leader, though Ada is giving her a run for her money. She is also the most clucky so far.

 After we moved the girls into their new brooder, Ada's personality radically shifted. She is now very brassy and bold and continually challenges the other birds.

 

 Ruth still wants nothing to do with us. C'est la vie.

I've begun giving them noodles to play with, which is endlessly amusing, and also long stringy apple peels. We gave them some play time with Butters, to get acquainted. Butters got a little too nosy with them and they flapped at her, which scared the poop out of the poor bunny. They're not ready to transition out to the coop yet, and won't be for several more weeks. Which is good, because we haven't had time to make the coop ready for them yet!