Happy Memorial Day!
This is a big yard-work weekend for Sean and me, so we're keeping the dinners simple Sunday and Monday. The plan is for Sean to fix and/or move some of our sprinkler heads, and we're putting in some fruit trees and vegetable plants. Not to mention getting the chickens adjusted to living outside! So some easy slow-cooker meals are a must!
Here's what we're planning to eat this week:
Sunday: Slow Cooker Curry (linked recipe calls for goat, but I have beef so that's what we'll use) & roasted butternut squash
Monday: Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Sandwiches & raw vegetables
Tuesday: leftovers
Wednesday: leftovers
Thursday: Zucchini Lasagna (inspired by this recipe)
Friday: Lamb & Swiss Chard Stew
Saturday: leftovers
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Weekly Meal Plan 5.15.16
I was gone in California for a long weekend, so this week's meal plan is a little late. But here's what we ate & will be eating this week.
Sunday: leftovers
Monday: dinner on the way home from the airport
Tuesday: Green Chef meal
Wednesday: Italian Sausage Pasta with Spicy Cream Sauce
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: dinner out before a play
If you're interested in trying Green Chef, you're welcome to use the link below to get 4 free meals in your first box. Full disclosure: if you use this link and order a second box, I do get a $25 credit.
Sunday: leftovers
Monday: dinner on the way home from the airport
Tuesday: Green Chef meal
Wednesday: Italian Sausage Pasta with Spicy Cream Sauce
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: dinner out before a play
If you're interested in trying Green Chef, you're welcome to use the link below to get 4 free meals in your first box. Full disclosure: if you use this link and order a second box, I do get a $25 credit.
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Building a Chicken Coop in an HOA
This spring has been busier than we expected, so while we originally planned to custom build a coop we ultimately decided to order one. Planning for chickens while living in an HOA has been a little tricky due to size restrictions, but I also know that we're lucky our HOA allows chickens at all!
We ended up ordering this coop from CCOnly.com:
By our calculations, our 3 girls should be fine in here, especially since we plan to get a portable run to use when we are outside with them. One of the things I like about this coop is that if we do end up deciding they need a larger run, we can add on an extension relatively easily.
Of course, since we back up to open space and we have seen coyotes, foxes, and hawks frequently, we will be predator-proofing. Our plan for that involves digging down and out about a foot, laying 1/4" hardware cloth (to prevent anything from digging up into the run, like rats, voles, etc), then building up a foundation of CMU blocks with hardware cloth along the sides. Then the coop base will sit on the CMUs, with the hardware cloth from the foundation coming up and connecting to the hardware cloth on the sides of the run. The trench will be filled back in, and I'm considering laying pavers along at least one side so that there's a solid place to stand in the winter when the yard can get muddy from snow melt. We also got solar powered predator deterrents that use little red lights to mimic eyes. I'll write more about those once we install them and I know if I like them or not!
The coop also must be painted to match the house (one of our HOA rules). The body of the coop will be the same gray-blue as our house, and the trim plus the framing around the run will be off-white.
So, that's the chicken coop plan right now. It's been a constantly evolving plan, since we originally planned to custom design, then the coop we originally planned to purchase from CCOnly went out of stock while we waited to get HOA approval, and now we're waiting for a weekend with no snow on the ground so that we can get the process started! I'm looking forward to learning from the whole process, and giving our little chickens a nice home in our backyard.
We ended up ordering this coop from CCOnly.com:
By our calculations, our 3 girls should be fine in here, especially since we plan to get a portable run to use when we are outside with them. One of the things I like about this coop is that if we do end up deciding they need a larger run, we can add on an extension relatively easily.
Of course, since we back up to open space and we have seen coyotes, foxes, and hawks frequently, we will be predator-proofing. Our plan for that involves digging down and out about a foot, laying 1/4" hardware cloth (to prevent anything from digging up into the run, like rats, voles, etc), then building up a foundation of CMU blocks with hardware cloth along the sides. Then the coop base will sit on the CMUs, with the hardware cloth from the foundation coming up and connecting to the hardware cloth on the sides of the run. The trench will be filled back in, and I'm considering laying pavers along at least one side so that there's a solid place to stand in the winter when the yard can get muddy from snow melt. We also got solar powered predator deterrents that use little red lights to mimic eyes. I'll write more about those once we install them and I know if I like them or not!
The coop also must be painted to match the house (one of our HOA rules). The body of the coop will be the same gray-blue as our house, and the trim plus the framing around the run will be off-white.
So, that's the chicken coop plan right now. It's been a constantly evolving plan, since we originally planned to custom design, then the coop we originally planned to purchase from CCOnly went out of stock while we waited to get HOA approval, and now we're waiting for a weekend with no snow on the ground so that we can get the process started! I'm looking forward to learning from the whole process, and giving our little chickens a nice home in our backyard.
Weekly Meal Plan 5.1.16
Wow, what a crazy end to April! Between two plays, and Denver deciding that it was still winter, I am ready to have some time to relax and get outside again! The warm weather also makes me crave fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden...unfortunately it will be a little while before I get anything fresh from my garden, but the farmer's markets should start back up near the end of May. It's a welcome change!
Here's what we're eating this week:
Sunday: slow cooker paleo chili
Monday: leftovers
Tuesday: rotisserie chicken and salad
Wednesday: Green Chef Taiwanese Scallion Cakes
Thursday: dinner out before Sweeney Todd
Friday: Green Chef Shrimp Fettucini Alfredo
Saturday: Green Chef Rosemary Sirloin Steak
Here's what we're eating this week:
Sunday: slow cooker paleo chili
Monday: leftovers
Tuesday: rotisserie chicken and salad
Wednesday: Green Chef Taiwanese Scallion Cakes
Thursday: dinner out before Sweeney Todd
Friday: Green Chef Shrimp Fettucini Alfredo
Saturday: Green Chef Rosemary Sirloin Steak