Yesterday!

Yesterday, August 1, 2013, was chickensinthegarden's Blogiversary!  I guess we celebrated that by having the date slip our minds...we also had goat kebabs for dinner served with grilled vegetables and Afghan bread. I bought some Afghan bread at a nearby halal market where I also bought the goat. I marinated cubes of the goat shoulder meat in yogurt combined with cumin, cardamom, hot pepper, and cinnamon.  It was quite tasty--very lean and flavorful.

Currently we have 7 hens and 2 Indian Runner ducks. I purchased the ducklings at the Alameda County Fair about 5 weeks ago. They have grown so quickly.  Here's a photo of when they were young:

They have grown so very much since then. Here's a photo taken this week:

One is supposed to be able to tell the sex of Indian Runner Ducks at the ages of 6-8 weeks.  Apparently the females quack and the males have a sort of hoarse whispery sound. And the males have a definite single curl in their tales.  So far, I'm not sure what sex these ducks are.  They will live with the hens, but currently we've had supervised play dates with the hens and ducks.

Easter Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bird's Nests

Today I made some Easter Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bird's Nests.  Such a simple recipe from The Curvy Carrot.   Here is how my bird's nests looked when all done:

Looks like a little sign of spring.  Spring is really happening here in Fremont.  My lilac bushes are blooming, the crabapple tree is amazing:

We are so lucky to have a large yard with so many beautiful fruit trees.  Jon's beehive seems happy so far and the bees stay active on the new fruit tree blossoms.  Looks like I'll have to thin the Blenheim Apricot tree, as there are so many small fruits on it this year, and we do not want to break another branch!