All four eggs hatched. These baby robins are between one and three days old.

American Robin hatchlings

They give me a new perspective on my hungry teenage sons.

You might think, what with my love of old photographs and vintage that I wished that I lived in another time and place. I don’t. I don’t do politics on my blog, but I have to say that I’m so grateful to be here, in America, now. If I had given birth 100 years ago, I would have died. If it weren’t for science, I’d be deaf. My gay family members and friends can now marry (at least here, in my state.)  My grandparents escaped the pogroms in Russia. For my family, this is the best it has ever been. Some good things have been lost, but much more has been gained.

Today is Flag Day. Sometimes an image from the past is nostalgic and yet current at the same time.

I’m a great believer in animal training. The animals that we live with should have manners so that they are safe and a pleasure to be around. My goats know the word “off,” which tells them that I won’t come into their stall unless all four feet are on the ground and they back up from the door. Lily sits while her dinner is put in her bowl. I even trained my chickens to pose for the camera so that the tableaus for Tillie Lays an Egg could be photographed. One of my best friends has trained everything from dolphins to alligators and I’ve learned much from her.  And yet, Lily and the hens can not be let out together. I’m realistic about what I can do and what will stick in Lily’s brain.

Some dogs are absolutely fine with chickens.

vintage photo from Terry Golson’s collection, date unknown

When I first got chickens, I had a dog named Nimbus, who was likely an Aussiej/Husky mix. She was a good hunter. But she also had impulse control and was a joy to train. It was easy to teach her not to chase the chickens. I did this by rewarding her for being still and calm around the hens. I never was, however, able to get her to not eat the poop.

Lily spent the first half-year of her life running wild on a southern farm, where I think that much of her diet consisted of hunting rabbits and such. She is mostly rat terrier and is reactive to movement. I’ve trained her not to charge and bark at the chickens. But, if there’s a sudden movement, a switch in her brain flips and she takes off after it. A squawking, running hen is sensory overload for Lily. With hours and hours of training I could possibly overcome her natural tendencies. I don’t have those hours. And it would never be 100%. So, I rely on fences to keep the chickens safe.

I’m often asked whether a dog will get along with chickens. Yours might. Or not. Don’t assume that all will be well. Put in the time to train the dog to lie down calmly while the hens are near. Teach your dog to come away from the hens when called. Don’t teach through fear and punishment (with water sprays and leash jerks) as that only serves to teach the dog that chickens are something to get angry over. And always assume that a friend’s dog, or your neighbor’s, or the stray wandering through your yard, will be chicken killers.

I’m currently introducing Lily to Phoebe, the new bunny. Lily still hunts and kills wild rabbits. She took one whiff and look at Phoebe in the pen and went into coursing mode. I asked for a down.

Every time Phoebe ran past, I rewarded LIly for calmly watching. This is what I did to train Lily to accept Candy. Candy discovered that she was quite safe in her pen, and would tease Lily, running the fence line, challenging Lily to chase her. Poor Lily. Those rabbits make it hard for Lily to be a Good Dog. We’ll have to wait to see if Phoebe has the same sense of bunny humor.

I do enjoy making (and eating!) desserts, but I’m not one of those precise bakers who construct architecturally correct cakes. Nor do I like pure sweetness. What I love are fruit desserts that balance acidic tartness with sweetness, and that have texture and bursts of flavor. Although I’m a pie baker, for everyday quick cooking I make crisps because they fit into my crazy schedule – I can bake one up on a whim right before dinner. I make up a large batch of the crisp topping and what isn’t used in that first crisp goes into the freezer and is pulled out whenever I want to make another. I rarely use a recipe, but this week I made crisp and I wrote down what I did to share it with you.

This is rhubarb season, which makes me do a happy dance, because it is my absolute favorite fruit to put in a pie (I know it’s not a botanical fruit, but I use it as a fruit, so I call it a fruit!) The rhubarb that I planted three years ago is finally mature enough so that I can get a good harvest from it.

The leaves are not edible, and are, in fact, poisonous, so before I bring the stalks inside, I lop off the tops right into the compost bin (the one that the chickens cannot get into).

Once washed, I chop the rhubarb into 1-inch pieces. I like to add another fruit to the crumble, and I happen to have tree-ripened peaches in my freezer (bought from a local orchard and vacuum-sealed last fall.) I defrost them just enough to break them apart so they’re no longer in a block.

I’ll need 6 cups of fruit to fill a pie plate. Half rhubarb and half peaches is good.

Here’s the rest of the ingredient list for the crisp filling:

1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup of sugar, preferably coarse organic (better flavor than pure white sugar)
1 tablespoon of quick tapioca or instant clearjel (to thicken the juices)

Universal Crisp Topping: 
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 8 pieces
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (less if using salted butter)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup sugar, preferably coarse organic (better flavor than pure white sugar)
2 tablespoon chopped crystallized ginger (optional)
1/2 cup nuts of choice (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a baking dish or pie plate with non-stick spray.
2. Combine the fruit and egg in bowl. In a small bowl, mix the 1/2 cup sugar and thickener, then stir into the fruit.
3. Put the fruit into the baking dish.

4. Put all of the topping ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the mixture is coarse and crumbly.
5. Evenly distribute about 1 cup of the topping over the fruit.

6. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the crisp is bubbly and the topping is lightly browned.

This is delicious plain. It’s excellent for breakfast with yogurt. I happened to have a bit of heavy cream in the fridge, which I whipped by hand (which yields a better texture than when done in a mixer) and had it for dessert.

Now I have enough crisp topping in my freezer for another three crisps. If I’m able to harvest my strawberries before the birds get them, I’ll be having Rhubarb-Strawberry Crisp soon. Let me know what combination of fruit you put into a crisp.

I like eating greens, but I’m not fond of strong, sometimes bitter and sharp leaves, like mustard greens and collards. Sure, you can cook them down with vinegar and pork, but then you lose that vegetable-ness which is what I like about leafy foods in the first place. So, I don’t grow those, but I do plant turnips, which have big and bold tops. When I harvest the turnips, I confess to feeding the tops to the goats and chickens. My animals eat them with enthusiasm, and so I don’t feel guilty about wasting good food. Win-win!

But, early in the summer, when the greens are still young and a tad sweeter, I do eat them. The turnips needed thinning.

I trimmed off the bottoms (fed those to the chickens) and had a bowlful of tender leafy greens. I washed them very well and spun dry in a salad spinner. I turned the heat on high under my cast iron skillet and put in a dollop of that good bacon grease that I keep in the fridge.

I added greens to the skillet,

and turned over constantly with tongs (don’t just stir!)

It took just a couple of minutes for the greens to wilt down to exactly how I like them, they’re still bright green, but tender and cooked through.

I put this batch onto a flour tortilla, added beans (cooked in a homemade tomato sauce) and cheese to make a burrito.

The next night I cooked up the rest of the turnip greens, and tossed them in with spaghetti and feta cheese, and then I ground fresh black pepper generously over the dish. Delicious.