Heritage Chicken Breeds

Almost everyone is now familiar with the concept of time tested heritage or heirloom plant varieties, but did you know that the same idea has been in use for chicken and other livestock breeds?  

Since Spanish Explorers first landed on our shores, chicken breeds have been developed for meat, eggs and entertainment, but it was in 1873 that The American Poultry Association first defined and published Heritage Breed definitions in the Standard of Perfection.

The following are criteria for meeting the Heritage Breed standard (Courtesy of the Livestock Conservancy):

APA Standard Breed
Heritage Chicken must be from parent and grandparent stock of breeds recognized by the American Poultry Association (APA) prior to the mid-20th century; whose genetic line can be traced back multiple generations; and with traits that meet the APA Standard of Perfection guidelines for the breed. Heritage Chicken must be produced and sired by an APA Standard breed. Heritage eggs must be laid by an APA Standard breed.

Naturally mating
Heritage Chicken must be reproduced and genetically maintained through natural mating. Chickens marketed as Heritage must be the result of naturally mating pairs of both grandparent and parent stock.

Long, productive outdoor lifespan
Heritage Chicken must have the genetic ability to live a long, vigorous life and thrive in the rigors of pasture-based, outdoor production systems. Breeding hens should be productive for 5-7 years and roosters for 3-5 years.

Slow growth rate
Heritage Chicken must have a moderate to slow rate of growth, reaching appropriate market weight for the breed in no less than 16 weeks. This gives the chicken time to develop strong skeletal structure and healthy organs prior to building muscle mass.

Abbreviated Definition: A Heritage Egg can only be produced by an American Poultry Association Standard breed. A Heritage Chicken is hatched from a heritage egg sired by an American Poultry Association Standard breed established prior to the mid-20th century, is slow growing, naturally mated with a long productive outdoor life.

Are you curious if your hens are Heritage Breed, or  interested in learning more about Heritage Breed chickens before ordering your new backyard flock? Click here to see the Livestock Conservancy’s entire list of Heritage Breed chickens, which includes a history and other facts about each listed breed like egg color and temperament.  

History of the Greenhouse

Like algebra, glass is believed to have originated in ancient Mesopotamia and Persia. Around 2000 BC in the Middle East, sand was being melted and poured into molds for knives and arrowheads.  Over time glassmaking methods improved, allowing for more creative and practical uses, and by 600 BC, glass recipes were in use.

Although glassmaking  still wasn’t advanced enough to produce sheets large enough for use in a greenhouse, that didn't stop Roman Emperor Tiberius’s insistence that his gardeners find a way to cultivate cucumbers year round. Their best efforts yielded the Secularium : a south facing heated cold frame made with pieces of semi transparent mica.

Most historians credit French Botanist Jules Charles with designing the first greenhouse, or glasshouse as they were called then,  around 1600. For the next century, wealthy landowners in Britain, Holland and France experimented with new greenhouse designs.  Because glass could only be made in small panes, the same technique of using lead casings to hold stained glass windows together in medieval churches was used  to install glazing in greenhouses.

Around 1700 wealthy merchants in England began growing warm season plants, including citrus trees in glasshouses. The successful ‘Orangery’ design consisting of a sloping roof, and three glass walls anchored to a south facing brick wall is still in use today. Decomposing manure was used to keep the ground warm in the orangeries, raising bed temperatures to between 110 and 140 degrees. It wasn’t until the late 1700’s when more English growers began to note the contrast of fruits and vegetables in the orangeries to  winter landscape outside that the term greenhouse was first used.

Around the same time, across the Atlantic, George Washington is reported  to have grown pineapples under glass at Mt. Vernon in his own ‘Pinery’ , which he would proudly serve to dinner guests.

Greenhouses became  more common around 1850, when glass could finally be manufactured in large sheets, and was much less expensive. At the time, wrought iron was the framing material of choice, and because of it’s strength, was used to create massive display greenhouses that became centerpieces at botanical gardens in both Britain and the US.

Perhaps the best known of these colossal 19^th century structures is the Crystal Palace, which was built in London’s Hyde Park for the 1851 World’s Fair. Measuring about 410’ wide by 1850’ long, it boasted 19 acres of covered grow area, nearly a million square feet of glass, and featured fountains that could propel water jets 250’ high.

A smaller, but still grand contemporary of the Crystal Palace - The Palm House at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew – was built in 1848 and measured 10’wide by 363’ long and 66’ high.

Because of the constraints of shipping embargoes during the civil war, the early English Victorian conservatory craze bypassed the US, and it wasn’t until the Gilded Age began in the late 1860’s that large scale greenhouses were built here. One notable structure from this era is the 1868 House built by Englishman Henry Shaw, in what eventually became the Missouri Botanical Garden.

The 12,000 square foot Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park was assembled in 1879 largely from parts manufactured and shipped over from Europe.  This conservatory is considered the oldest wood and glass greenhouse in the US, with much of the framing made with the extremely durable Cailfornia Redwood species.  The structure has been completely restored and placed on the National Register of Historic Places after repairing structural damage and removing lead paint and other dangerous  materials.

The fresh fruit and flower market that grew from these early greenhouses thrived and lead to the rapid expansion of greenhouses all over Western Europe.  In the days before produce would be shipped to far flung corners of the world, greenhouses of immense value to local market growers. By 1880, tomatoes were being cultivated under glass in European Greenhouses.

The loss of millions of working men on the Western Front brought decline to  labor intensive greenhouse industry slowed after WWI that lasted until after WWII, when aluminum and galvanized steel became widely available and all but replaced wood in greenhouse framing.  Also, around this time, polycarbonate acrylic and polyethylene sheeting gave growers inexpensive glazing options that also offered more insulating value than glass.

Born from these widely available and inexpensive high performance plastics and metals, the modern greenhouse market has thrived in Europe -  especially Britain where small greenhouses are employed in a seeming majority of garden plots – and is quickly picking up steam here in the United States.

Large, Secure Coop Ready for Full Time Residency

George and Faith’s property perches on the edge of an expansive city park like a pioneer homestead on the Western frontier, and while their flock of three chickens certainly enjoyed the shade from this urban forest, the hawks and raccoons that lived there were more problematic.

Ultimately it was daring daytime raids by birds of prey that snuffed out their first foray into backyard chicken keeping, leaving Faith and George determined to try again from a different angle.

They had fallen in love with all of the perks of keeping backyard chickens, and found the Garden Ark mobile coop to be more than secure while the hens were closed up inside at night.

Faith & George's 10'x14' Garden Coop from Microfarm Organic Gardens on Vimeo.

The proximity to the nearby tract of woods made daytime foraging perilous, though , and George and Faith wanted a secure coop and covered run that was also large enough for a smallish flock of 3-5 hens to live in all the time.

Our solution was an expanded version of the Garden Coop that measured 10’x14’ around the perimeter. Like the Garden Coop, the entire run area is covered with tinted polycarbonate roof panels, which help keep the hens warm and dry in winter months and cool during the summer.

The entire structure is framed with Western Red Cedar, and wrapped in 1/2” galvanized hardware cloth. To thwart nocturnal digging predators like raccoons and rats, hardware cloth was also buried a foot deep around the entire perimeter of the coop.

The roost box is wrapped with T1-11 exterior siding stained with a non-toxic transparent stain from Timber Pro UV.

George and Faith understandably wanted to harvest rainwater from the coop’s 192 square foot roof, so we installed an aluminum gutter and downspout, and connected a rain barrel that they had on hand.

The next box of baby chicks won’t arrive for several more weeks, so for now their new coop stands empty. But though it’s hard to forget the tragic end to their first flock, George and Faith are excited about the next chapter in their urban chicken adventure, and even  more confident in their larger new coop.

Edible Flowers

Many of the most striking ‘ornamental’ plants are also some of the tastiest. Edible flowers not only add vivid color, but also sweet, tangy, peppery and citrus flavors to salads, desserts and even drinks.

NASTURTIUM

Adds sweet & peppery flavor to salads and the buds can also be pickled

VIOLA

Sweet perfumed flavor great in salads or to decorate drinks & frosted cakes

MARIGOLD

Adds a spicy, citrus flavor to salads

BACHELOR'S BUTTON

Has a sweet, spicy, clovelike flavor perfect for use as a garnish

CALENDULA

Adds spicy, tangy and peppery flavors to soups and rice & pasta dishes

DIANTHUS

Has a clove/Nutmeg like flavor used to decorate cakes and steep in wine.

Fresh Cooking With Collard Greens

More tolerant of summer heat than it's trendy cousin kale, and more cold resistant than cabbage, Collard Greens are one of the oldest Brassica or cabbage family varieties, and easiest to grow year round in the home garden. While for many of us, the mention of collard greens conjures up the aroma of bacon, and images of pots simmering on a backburner all Sunday afternoon, there are fresher, faster, healthier ways to prepare this hearty leafy green. Here are three of our favorites...

Stuffed Collard Greens
By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

1 large bunch collard greens (about 1 1/2 pounds), stemmed

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 large red or yellow onion, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, green shoots removed, minced

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 cup rice, either medium-grain or basmati, rinsed well in several changes of water

2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup lightly toasted pine nuts (to taste)

1 14-ounce can chopped tomatoes, drained (retain juice)

2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup currants or dark raisins (to taste)

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground allspice berries

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/4 cups water

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

Juice of 1 lemon

1 lemon, sliced thin (optional)

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil while you carefully stem the collard greens, trying to keep the leaves intact. Fill a bowl with ice water. When the water comes to a boil, salt generously and add the collard leaves in batches. Blanch two minutes and transfer to the ice water. Drain, gently squeeze out excess water and set aside.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium heat in a large lidded skillet, and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until tender, about five minutes. Add the garlic, salt and sugar, and cook, stirring, until the garlic is fragrant, about a minute. Add the rice and pine nuts, and stir together until the rice is coated with oil. Stir in the tomatoes, currants, cinnamon, allspice and salt and pepper to taste. Stir together, and add 1 cup water or enough to barely cover the rice. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer until all of the liquid has been absorbed, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat. Allow to sit for 10 minutes without disturbing. Stir in the mint and dill.

3. Oil a wide, deep, lidded sauté pan or saucepan with olive oil. To fill the leaves, place one on your work surface, vein side up and with the stem end facing you. The leaf may have a big space in the middle where you stemmed it; if so, pull the two sides of the leaf in towards each other and overlap them slightly. Place about 1 level tablespoon of filling on the bottom center of each leaf. Fold the sides over, then roll up tightly, tucking in the sides as you go. Place seam side down in the pan, fitting the stuffed leaves in snug layers. Drizzle on the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, and pour on the lemon juice. Barely cover with water, and top with a layer of lemon slices.

4. Cover the stuffed leaves with a round of parchment paper, and place a plate over the paper to weight them during cooking. This will keep them from opening. Bring to a simmer, cover and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes to an hour until the leaves are tender. Remove from the heat, and carefully remove the dolmades from the water with a slotted spoon or tongs. Allow to drain on a rack set over a sheet pan. Serve warm or cold.

Yield: About two dozen stuffed leaves.

Advance preparation: These keep well for three or four days in the refrigerator.

Martha Rose Shulman can be reached at martha-rose-shulman.com.

Braised Greens with Tomatoes
 

Provided By Food & Wine

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup(s) extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 2 clove(s) garlic, minced
• 1 large jalapeño, seeded and sliced
• 2 pound(s) sturdy greens, such as chard mustard greens kale or young collards, stems and inner ribs removed leaves coarsely chopped
•   Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 pint(s) grape tomatoes, halved
• 3/4 cup(s) water
• 2 tablespoon(s) white wine vinegar

Directions

• 1. In a large pot, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, garlic and jalapeño and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 6 minutes.
• 2. Add the greens, season with salt and pepper and toss to wilt. Stir in the tomatoes, water and vinegar, cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the greens are tender and the tomatoes are soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and serve.

Sauteed Collard Greens

By Del Zimmerman, Bellaire TX

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds collard greens
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste

Preparation

Remove and discard stems and center ribs of collard greens. Cut leaves into 1-inch pieces. In a kettle of boiling water cook collards 15 minutes and drain in a colander, pressing out excess liquid with back of a wooden spoon.

Mince garlic. In a 12-inch heavy skillet heat butter and oil over moderately high heat until foam subsides and stir in garlic, collards, and salt and pepper to taste. Sauté collard mixture, stirring, until heated through, about 5 minutes.

Drizzle collards with lemon juice and toss well.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sauteed-Collard-Greens-15805#ixzz2iNhnWn9C