The Ranch Cafe

The Corn Stand, operated by Davis Ranch, has been open this year since March, I think. The first crop they sell in the spring is asparagus. Other crops are added as they ripen.

This year there is something new at Davis Ranch. The Ranch Cafe.

Tucked next to the old building, under the shade of the old pecan tree, there is now a permanent "snack bar." Over the years people have brought in trailers and sold BBQ meat, coffee, Kettle Corn, and other things. While the location is excellent, and some of the vendors produced very good products, no one managed to make a go there as a business.

That was before Peggy.

Peggy is the wife of one of the Davis Ranch owners. When she sets her mind to something, it gets done. A couple of years ago she thought there should be a way to combine Davis Ranch's excess produce with volunteers who would pick it, so food could be donated to those in need. Last year Helping Hands Produce harvested and sent over 1 million pounds of produce to food banks and other charities.

I first heard about Peggy's proposal for the cafe last fall. I have to admit I was skeptical, just because that's what I do best. Peggy knew nothing about running a restaurant. In no time, she had enlisted the help of new homeowners across the street from the Corn Stand who did have experience and were looking for something good to do with their time. She camped out at the planning department, got to know all the rules and regulations, and regulators, and construction on the cafe commenced. With all the paperwork in place, it officially opened this week.

The menu is on two blackboards. Breakfast burritos are a popular item with the local work crews, I've heard it's hard for them to keep with demand. The coffee isn't made in a plain old pot, it comes from an espresso machine and it's excellent.

For lunch, there are hearty meat sandwiches made from meat that is BBQ'd on the spot. And there are sweet things. An espresso float. For those who don't know, it is a sploosh of ice cream in a cup of espresso.

The strawberry shortcake is made from hydroponic strawberries grown at the ranch, and homemade whipped cream.

If you're like me, you might be wondering why there aren't items on the menu that utilize the vegetables that are grown here. That's an interesting topic.

The first couple of days, they did offer salads. Wonderful salads with fresh tomatoes and onions and cucumbers and other stuff. They sold two. The lady from across the street said that people come to Davis Ranch to buy fresh produce, but what they want to buy at the cafe is the sweet stuff. She said it's like they're rewarding themselves for buying so many veggies by having something that's totally not healthful.

As I was eating my salad there this afternoon, I watched this happen. Kids, of course, were looking for ice cream cones or Coke. But all the older people who were carrying sacks of veggies ordered the really gooey stuff. They enjoyed the heck out of it.

When I first looked at the menu it struck me that the only thing I could eat was the iced tea. But we soon came up with something perfect: a meat salad.

This is a bed of spinach and raw zucchini with a few slices of tomato and onion. On the left is a small serving of pulled pork and on the right is slices of really, really good tri-tip.

I ate this at 2 p.m. and I'm still full.

So now we have two places to eat in Sloughhouse. If you want a fancy, sit-down dinner, there is the Sloughhouse Inn. If you want a quick breakfast or a great sandwich, pull off the road into the Ranch Cafe. If you want a salad like mine, they'll make that, too. Homemade pies are in the planning stage and are sometimes available right now.

On the wall of the old barn, a young local artist has painted a colorful mural. It has yellows and greens that match Uncle Jim's old John Deere tractor that's on display.

This all amazes me. I'm not accustomed to things happening so quickly. I sit here and worry about where to put all these chicks and overthink what to do about it. Meanwhile there are people like Peggy who just get things done.

Dust Bunnies, Hairballs, and Monsters in the Dark

I found this thing in a dark corner when I was cleaning yesterday. Does anyone know what it is?

This time of year I have to clean a lot. The cats are shedding in two different colors of fur. It only takes Gollie a week to shed, she doesn't have much hair. Such a delicate little thing, you know.

Velcro sheds constantly, but worse this time of year. I need to give her a bath. This is a chore I put off as long as I can. She's not bad, she actually behaves pretty well and enjoys the warm water. It's just that all the loose hair gets wet and sticks to everything. My clothes, my arms, the sink. I will vacuum her first, but it's still messy.

This is the first time Wesley has shed in his short life. He will turn 1 on June 1st. I'm surprised one of us girls (me, Gollie, Velcro) hasn't killed him by now. He gets a little better all the time, though. A little better at opening drawers and emptying their contents on the floor. A little better at hiding behind things and jumping out at the last minute. But also a little better about not biting or scratching. Sometimes he even slows down and wants a hug.

In 4 or 5 years he might be a decent cat.

Anyway, I was vacuuming cat hair out of all the corners, chasing dustballs down the halls (they run under the bed and hide), and worrying about scaring up a wasp or two (they come out this time of year), when back in a dark corner, I ran into the terrifying monster shown above. It was making a low, gurgling noise... I hoped it wasn't rabid. I hoped I could handle it by myself, I don't know where Bob put the gun. It's only an airsoft gun, but that would be better than my feather duster.

I'm not fooling you, am I? You knew it was Wesley all the time. Upside down cat mouths are pretty scary, even when they're attached to a dork.

Baby Pictures

I have had at least one good camera for most of my adult life. I always liked to take pictures around the yard. Flowers and praying mantises were favorite subjects. I have always taken lots of pictures of the dogs and cats and chickens we kept as pets.

When I was working at Cal Central Press and we did the game programs for the Raiders and the 49ers, I started going to football games. I bought some nice telephoto lenses so I could take game photos. I was the official photographer for the Sacramento Raider Rooters for a couple of years, too. I have a nice album of photos from the last years when Kenny Stabler, Dave Casper, and John Matuszak were there. Great times!

When son Bob came along, I took hundreds of photos of him. His first couple of years were probably chronicled with pictures taken almost daily. Before he could talk, he knew to smile for a camera. When I'd take him for a professional photo, the photographer would always try to trick him into smiling with a toy or something. That would make him frown. Finally I'd suggest, "just tell him to smile, he knows what that means."

This is my favorite pro photo of him.

Taking human baby pictures is very easy compared to taking pictures of baby chicks. Especially if you're doing it unassisted.

I took a few photos last year, and kicked myself later for not getting pictures of all the birds. It seems like few of the adults I kept had baby pictures. I built this photo booth just for the task. It has three sides. I put it under a Solatube (which allows outside light into the room) and arrange some other lights around it.

I adjust the camera to macro, catch a chick, sit in the chair and get the camera ready, then put the chick toward the back of the photo booth.

You might think it's hard to keep the chicks from escaping the booth. You might be right. Especially if it takes both your hands to work the camera. Most chicks, though, are scared in new situations. They just squat down and try to hide.

This little cockerel would not stand. Ever. All he did was squat and give me a dirty look. Okay, so that will be his official childhood portrait...butthead.

When the chicks are just a little older, they are a little bolder. Like these two.

The first batch this year was older when I banded them and put them outside. It was early spring, and still cold outside. Now it's warmer and I can put the chicks out earlier. Now it's harder to get them to smile. I have no toys to waggle in their faces and trick them into smiling, and I'd need a third hand to do that, anyway.

I've created one of those situations I hate. I made a rule — take a photo of every chick before it goes outside — and now I hate having to follow my own rule. So I put off the chore, end up with chicks that are inside for longer than they should be, and pretty soon the whole system is overloaded, the house stinks, and I'm frustrated.

I know, my life is soooo difficult. (Not.)

Mushy Chicken

This is going to be a very long post. If you aren't interested in my blathering about the poultry industry, you can skip it and come back another day. I know I have friends who know as much, or more, about this as I do (Julie, Marta, Amanda, Katherine?), so please either correct me or add your own comments. Thank you One Fly (Tom) for suggesting we share this.

If you read One Fly's blog, "Outta the Cornfield," you know that last week there was a discussion about chicken meat. This was his post on 5/7/14:

There were quite a few comments posted, mostly about the tasteless, mushy meat and how a lot of people prefer to eat NO chicken these days. Isn't that sad? If you're like me, you probably remember that fried chicken with potatoes and gravy was a favorite dinner when you were a kid. The chicken was divine.

One Fly's commenters were mostly correct, except for a lady who claimed today's chicken is full of toxins and hormones. Anyway, I had to comment. These were my replies:

One Fly reminisced about the chicken he had eaten as a kid visiting his uncle's farm. He thought the chickens there were Leghorns. I answered:

As it turns out, I was wrong, his uncle DID raise Leghorns. He would buy a bunch of straight-run chicks, keep the pullets for laying and eat the cockerels as they got big enough. At this point, we switched to an email conversation.

..................

Hi Jan,
Actually I was going to write you and ask some questions. I talked with my 91 year old Uncle and Rollie told me he and Dad raised White Leghorns and at times a few Wyandottes. The Leghorns were for the eggs and the roosters were butchered when they started maturing into roosters. They were fed little and foraged for a lot of what they ate. That's kinda the way I remember it. The hens were locked up at night and were fed.

As a kid I ate anything that was put in front of me and I remember these Leghorn birds tasting might good so that may not mean much.. So like my Uncle we moved to town and no longer raised chickens and bought them mostly out of the two real small grocery stores in town.

Would you even have a idea what kind bird was being sold like that in the 60's. I know what it used to be like and these grocery store birds were mighty tasty as well. Mom wanted them around 3.5lbs like most everyone else. Back then if you wanted a big bird you bought a capon.

Say for example whether is a White Leghorm or Wyandottes - if you bought these today from a hatchery will they be the identical bird as way back when?

I don't know if you saw it but I bought a 3.5lb bird today that cost 11 smacks just for the hell of it. I won't try any of this for a day or so. Have to run to Denver tomorrow.

Enough of that. How are you besides busy. It snowed again day before yesterday and it's been cold. Most of the snow is gone but it broke limbs. Now I have work to do. This is what goes on in my world. It's after 6 and it's 48° and the sun is out and it maybe this time it will stay warm for good.
Thanks Jan,
Tom

..................

Tom,
The Leghorns that are used commercially today are not the same as the ones even 30 years ago. One thing about poultry is that it's very easy to breed for certain traits. Unlike a cow, for example, that only has 1 baby a year, a single chicken can lay a lot of eggs. So you could get at least 200 babies from one cross. Also, you can breed two generations a year because chickens mature fairly quickly. There's no need to manipulate genes with chickens, it's easy to get what you want with traditional breeding methods.

The old Leghorns were a more substantial bird, and if you kept the cockerels long enough eventually you'd have enough meat on them to eat. The ones today have been bred to be smaller. They lay the same size egg, but they don't eat as much and you can keep a bunch of them in a tiny pen. They stand more upright, too, instead of horizontal to the ground, so they take up less space. Commercial Leghorns are not only physically quite different, they're also mentally different. They don't mind being in close quarters. I raised a bunch of Hyline pullets one year that came from UCD as 3 day old chicks. I thought I'd be doing them a favor to give them a decent life. Nope. They were weird, they had plenty of room in their pen, but they would clump together in one corner and move as a unit. They were depressing birds to have around.

If you bought a Leghorn from a hatchery [Like Murray McMurray] today, it would not be from a commercial strain. Those are only bred and distributed to the big companies [For example, to Foster Farms or Nulaid].  You would get a more old fashioned Leghorn. I have one out in my laying pen, and she's a pretty big bird.

The same thing has happened with breeding meat birds. Originally they were a cross of Cornish (a very heavy English breed) and White Rocks. The Rocks were a dual purpose breed. Cornish are hard to breed, Rocks are prolific. Today's meat birds have those bloodlines, but they've been selectively bred to eat constantly and grow very fast. Actually, they were even worse about 8 years ago than they are today. They had gone overboard and produced birds that would die of heart attacks or their legs would collapse before they were 6 weeks old, so they had to back off a bit. Same with turkeys. With turkeys, the hatcheries keep two strains. One is better at laying, they are lighter and more sturdy. The other line is the behemoths. They are usually the males. They can't breed naturally, they use artificial insemination to cross them with the lighter females.

The big companies do NOT use hormones, nor do they overuse antibiotics. Their chick feed has an anticoccidiostat. That's fed for the first couple of weeks and the only thing it does it get the chick or poult through the stage where it can build immunity to coccidia. There is no hormone that would benefit meat or egg birds, at least none that I know of. Turkeys are more difficult than chickens and they're around longer (18 weeks). Any birds that die are tested, to avoid a catastrophe if disease were to go through the flock. With chickens, if they suspected a serious disease (that wasn't transmittable to humans) at 5 weeks, for example, they'd send them to the processor early, rather than medicate them and have to keep them long enough for the residues to be gone. That would be at least 2 weeks, probably more, and by that time the birds would be too big to process as broilers. The turkey man I know said they hardly ever medicate turkeys, either, because it's too expensive and the medication isn't that reliable anyway. They are prepared to have a certain percentage of die off rather than use medication.

Oh, Wyandottes would be the same today as they were years ago. The same holds true for most of the common backyard breeds. There is a Standard of Perfection that's mostly used for show birds, but even hatcheries try to keep the breeds consistent. The only problem they have is the size of their birds creeps beyond the Standard usually. That's just because they're mass producing them, and the bigger eggs hatch bigger, healthier chicks, so eventually all their breeding stock is a little too big, or maybe their comb is not quite right. When you raise chickens to show, it can be really frustrating trying to breed to a Standard that was written in 1873, when most chickens ran around and ate what they could find.

You know, the Asians and the Mexicans don't have any trouble raising chickens that taste good. They do it in their suburban back yards where it's supposed to be illegal, but usually no one else cares. The New Age thing to do is eat grass fed beef and pork and free range chicken. The Asians and the Mexicans have been doing that for years. The rest of us are so afraid of having Mr. Government knock on our door and tell us we're bad, we don't dare just do what we want. Another group that flies under detection is people from India. You can't make curry dishes with supermarket chicken, it falls apart and disintegrates. Curry dishes are supposed to simmer for a long time. 

It really gripes me that half our white bread population will have a cow if someone tries to tell them they can't own an AK47, but if you tell them they can't own a couple of chickens they just say, "Oh, okay." They think they're going to survive in an emergency by hunting...hunting what? Here in California you have to look long and hard to find wild game, it would all be gone in a week of intense hunting. 

The whole food thing is very interesting. I think we just have too many people on this planet to feed all of them well. Most people in our country are content to live on crap, they can't tolerate real food. The food companies don't care if it's unhealthy, just so you live long enough to buy as much of their crap as you can before you die from eating it.

OK, I gotta go check the incubator before I head to bed. I'm so sorry you guys have had winter weather dragging on and on. We had some coolness last week, this week it's pretty hot. The asparagus season is almost over, but there are lots of other veggies being picked. 

And more........because when I start blathering it's hard to stop.

Tom,

I thought of some more stuff last night.

First, some of the hatcheries are selling meat bird chicks now that are not the industry Cornish Rock cross. They have a strain that takes 4 weeks longer to grow and does not have so many leg problems. And they also have red or black hybrids that are something besides Rocks. White Plymouth Rocks have been as bastardized as anything else, they are gigantic birds, even at shows where they're supposed to be a smaller standard weight. I'm not sure what they use in place of Rocks for the cross, maybe New Hampshires and Australorps. Some hatcheries have named them Red Rangers. They take at least 6 weeks longer to fill out, which is still a lot quicker than your typical backyard chicken. But that meat will still not be stringy and substantial as a Leghorn rooster that's been running around for 6 months. One problem with the newer hybrids is an older bird, even by 4 weeks, will be harder to pluck. And a red or black bird will have dark pinfeathers. 

Another thing I've noticed is that with more people keeping a few hens for eggs, we're starting to see problems pop up. The main one is longevity. I have mutt birds and Anconas that live to be quite old and still produce. Anconas are one of those laying breeds that were popular before Leghorns because the industry standard. Anyway, a lot of backyard people who take extremely good care of their birds are losing hens at about 2 years because of tumors. There is a lot of cancer. We know that because these are people who send their birds to a lab when they die. Longevity is not a necessary trait in hatcheries or a commercial environment, where they cycle the layers through at 18 months. OR, is it something in the feed that catches up with the birds at about that age? I know people who go all out to feed organic and non-GMO feed, and still end up with hens with tumors. One person had 3 in the same year. People are starting to wonder if there's some standard feed additive that maybe comes from China, a mineral supplement or something. 

In Colorado, I know there are at least a couple of people who are raising Dominiques, trying to restore this heritage breed. Like Wyandottes, they are a rosecombed bird and seem to withstand your cold weather very well. They claim their cull roosters are excellent eating.

The poultry world is interesting right now. On one hand, there are lots of people who are getting interested in raising their own. Some feed stores have jumped on the bandwagon and are providing a better selection of feeds and products for people with just a few chickens. Most people like colored eggs, so the breeds that lay them are the most popular. There are new, smaller hatcheries that deal in these breeds. There are also new businesses that make and sell backyard chicken coops. It would all be fine except on the other hand you have the large commercial growers scared to death that all these outside chickens are going to bring in a plague that will wipe everything out, and you have the Peta people who don't believe anyone should eat chickens OR eggs. And they're both working to kill the backyard chicken movement. The problem with chicken diseases is commercial birds have no immunity to anything because they're an isolated population. Something that might kill a bird or two in a backyard flock will go through and wipe out thousands at Foster Farms. In fact, if they even suspect a problem they'll eliminate a whole farm's worth of birds immediately. This may be economically the best solution, but in the long run it means our source of cheap meat (even if it IS substandard) could be easily wiped out. 

Historically, backyard birds and show birds (another thing those two groups want to eliminate is poultry shows) are not the ones that spread disease. 

There are some basic guidelines for poultry breeders that are provided by the US Government, and the states add their own laws. This means the enforcement is spotty. There is a National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) whose goal is to inspect and test flocks for Pullorum. This is only one of the bad diseases. Some states have never, in a hundred years, had a case of it, but they still require that flocks are tested. Your flock has to be tested once a year to keep your certification current. It requires blood tests of all your adult birds. In some states this is a free service. In others the testing has a fee, and the certification costs a bunch of money. In Louisiana right now they are trying to pass a law that says each single bird needs to be tested by a veterinarian and issued a certificate. That could be impressively expensive. They want to require that any birds going into Louisiana for a show must have RECENT certification. That will pretty much prevent poultry shows in Louisiana. There are a couple of problems with this program, first, most veterinarians do not have experience with poultry. They wouldn't know a sick bird if they saw it. There are tales of vets who will hand out certificates for a set price without even seeing the birds. And those are the ones who will even allow you to take your chickens to their office at all. It's another case of bureaucracy at its worst.

Texas totally closed their borders to outside birds a few years ago. This seems silly, because their entire southern side borders Mexico. The shows in Texas do not accept outside birds. I think the Texans like this, though, there's no competition from outsiders. And exhibitors from Texas can cross back and forth across the border to show their birds, I've heard they aren't even stopped when they come back into the state. So one has to wonder what the point is.

I guess I think the problem of bad tasting chicken isn't going to go away easily. You know how American companies think. Make a product as cheap as you can, then use some of the profit to convince the stupid public that they should buy it. And now there are at least two generations of people who have never tasted real chicken. Soon, it won't be a problem, there will be no one left who knows what chicken is supposed to taste like. Meanwhile the Southeast Asians, the Mexicans and the Indians will be the only ones who know the difference, and they'll continue to raise their chickens in their suburban backyards despite any laws that are passed. One of my Mexican friends raised a pig...a PIG!...in his backyard for his daughter's quincinera (sp?) party. They butchered it in their garage and cooked it in a hole in the backyard. And they live in a nice housing development. 

So, you don't need to go to South America to get real food, just have lots of friends who are recent immigrants.

Jan 

Another Busy Week

It would be nice to be able to sit down and blog about things as they happen, instead of tossing something together when I finally realize a week has gone by. But I really have been scrambling from dawn to dark to keep all the chores done. The chickens take the most time this time of year because of the chicks.

I sold 15 birds last week. Four of my good ones went to Nanette and her two very charming kids who are in 4-H. They drove all the way over from Lake County and went home with 4 white Old English bantams and one Dominique bantam. Meeting them and talking to them really made my day, there is nothing much better than a homeschooled 4-H teenager to remind you that the world will do okay in the hands of the coming generations. The world would be better off if there were more of them, of course.

Later that day I had a visit from an old workmate, Betty, and her daughter, Kelly, an older teenager who will be starting college in the fall. I got to watch her grow up over the years I worked with her mom. I always enjoyed hearing about her and talking to her. She has made her own path in life, she's an accomplished photographer and has danced and acted in stage shows. Currently she's interested in agriculture and has enrolled in a small college in Vermont. This is another kid who wasn't happy in public school and found alternative solutions that worked really well for her.

On Saturday I met yet another wonderful teenager. I had seen Brady's poster at the feed store. He was looking for work cleaning stalls and doing odd jobs. I made a note of his phone number. On Friday I cleaned two pens myself. It was taking me a long time. Everything takes me a long time, I'm such a stumbly klutz. Finally I decided, "Well, this just sucks." Then I went back into the house and called Brady.

He worked for 4 hours on Saturday and cleaned everything. Every single pen. And he did a great job. I had to take all the birds out of their pens. I put them in wire cages on the lawn (where they were intensely happy) and as I put each one back into its clean pen, I wormed it, trimmed its beak and nails, and made note of which ones I would sell.

I got up at 5 a.m. Sunday and took 10 birds to the Roseville Auction, had breakfast at Denny's, and came back home to work some more. Before I accomplished much, though, Jonathan showed up. Jonathan is Bob's old friend and one of my former 4-H kids. He's always doing something interesting and it was fun to spend most of the afternoon hearing about his new projects.

Last night I finally got a chance to sit down and catch up on reading blogs and other things on the internet. This caught my eye.

I didn't read the article, I was just skimming through the headlines, but for an hour I kept returning to the question: Why would anyone in a Casino care if Ben Affleck was counting carbs? Was he unruly in the restaurant or something? Demanding low carb food? I finally went back and read the story. Duh.

This morning I had a lot more work ahead of me. This is my Poultry Central desk, the end of the dining room table.

There are 95 chicks at this point. It takes a lot of paperwork to keep track of all of them.

Here was my list of chores this morning:

The worst part is taking a picture of each chick when it's 4 weeks old. I'm doing this for data so I can compare the baby photos to adult photos later and see if traits are actually predictable at an early age. I tried it last year but only got photos of the first 20 or so chicks. It's such a tiresome chore, trying to pose and focus and photograph each little screeching brat by myself, that I finally gave up. This year I'm determined to do the job right. I'm also weighing the babies at intervals to see if early size determines adult size. Okay, so some of my chores are self-imposed, and unnecessary, the result of an obsessive mind.

One thing I forgot to put on the list was to hook up this new baby:

I tried transferring some photos to my old external drive a couple of weeks ago and was shocked to find it's already full. So sometime soon I'll need to make myself hook this up. Darn! I should have had Jonathan do it, it would only have taken him about 5 minutes. I guess I'll have to do it myself. Luckily that's usually very easy with my Mac. And I do have an assistant.

That's my mousepad he's laying on. It's gigantic, but he covers the whole thing. If I try to put the mouse under his nose, he bites me. If I try to use the space by his tummy, he kicks it with his hind legs. Then he bites me. And I whomp him with whatever magazine is handiest.

Note: I only made it halfway through the list today. Guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow.