Old Friends
Greetings from deep inside the Atlanta airport! Don’t be confused, this is Mary-Hall. Presumably Bethany has made it to Brazil because there hasn’t been another peep out of her since that last blog post. Spending an evening in an airport is as rare for me as it is common for her, and I’m being careful to enjoy the novelty of my situation (almost 12 hrs in, delay after delay after delay). I’m not even on business travel. I’m all alone and this was a personal trip.
I spent the last couple of days with three of my dearest friends. We all started boarding school in the 11th grade, and we’ve been close ever since. Surviving a nerdy boarding school is the quintessential bonding experience I guess, because the bonds have stuck.
Here we are partying like its 1999… ‘Cuz it was.
These ladies have been with me through thick and thin, up and down and back around. Breakups, bachelorette parties, cross country moves, countless camping trips and tubes of raw cookie dough.
Now we’re all 30 years old {and fabulous duh}. Two live outside the US, with foreign husbands and visa issues and jobs and kids in the mix. So suffice it to say that getting all four together in one spot was basically a minor miracle and the improbability wasn’t lost on anyone.
So what do you do when you’re thrown back together with your closest friends that you never ever see? Talk, eat, talk, get pedicures, talk, take a local boat tour, eat junk food, look at old photos, stay up too late, and then hug and drop each other off at airports, and pretend like we could do it all again in two weeks… when it could easily be two years before we see the foreign-based ones again.
We spent some time making predictions about where we’d each be I 5 years. For the first time in my life, my answer is already fairly defined. Not too much fortune telling required. We plan to be right in the same spot unless something unexpected happens. How strange and novel to be “settling down”.
Old friends are so uniquely qualified to remind you who you are, where you’ve come from, how you’ve changed, and how you haven’t. That is priceless feedback to get.
And with that, at long last, I am boarding my final flight to Mississippi.
ETA 12:15am.
Brazil Bound…almost
Today I left for Brazil. Thanks to mechanical issues with not one but two planes, I did not arrive in Brazil. That won’t happen until tomorrow. But I did make it as far as Miami, Florida, so that’s better than nothing. I guess.
I’ve been longing for an opportunity to sail down the Amazon river on a boat since 2005 when a friend at the hospital where I worked did just that and made the mistake of showing his photos to me. I totally took the bait way back then, and the hook was set last fall when I started hearing my boss Kelly Minter talk about her trips there. I’ve been praying for an opportunity to go and then two months ago this trip came together and I was able to join in.
I’m not entirely sure what is going to happen. I know we’ll be doing crafts with kids. And our nurse, Cassie, will be doing some mini mobile clinics. And Kelly and I have our guitar and violin in tow for some jungle worship action. We will be sleeping in hammocks. Beyond that, I’m rolling with the punches.
And boy, were there some punches today. Flight delays resulting in missed connections and I’m writing this from my hotel room in Miami where American Airlines put us up for the night and bought us (most of our) dinner.
The team is an amazing group and I’m already so excited to serve alongside them. Everyone has something unique to bring to the table and they are all just really fun folks to be with. I cannot think of a better group to be navigating travel delays with.
While I know I’ll have amazing stories and photos for you all, unlike my trips to Mexico, Kenya and India, I’m going to be going off-grid on this one. I didn’t even bring my laptop and I’m blogging via my iPhone ap tonight. However, there will be some updating of the JMI twitter feed and Facebook account in case you want to see how the trip is going. You can check those out by visiting the following links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justiceandmercyinternational
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JMInternational (@JMInternational)
There’s been so much going on this week too that I’ve not even had time to tell you all about. Keith went to Kenya and returned home, the chickens are still not quite one big happy family with Beverly Clucky, my mom came to town and we organized the house, hiked, and went toy the zoo and then I shopped for camping gear for the Brazil trip with my good friends Alexis and Jason who just happened to be in town and just happen to be outdoor gear junkies. (The sentence “you should buy that…this Swede that we met when we were hiking in Patagonia recommended it” actually came out of their mouths whilst shopping). Whew. So much.
So if you pray, I’d be grateful for you to include the following things in your prayers. And if you don’t pray, but would like to make an exception and pray for these things I would be even more humbled.
*Safety for the group as we travel.
*That each of us would find ways to use our unique giftings to make this trip a success.
*That there would be ample opportunities to serve the people we encounter by treating them with dignity and kindness and meeting physical needs where we can.
*That information gained on this trip will help shape the future of the work being done in the Amazon.
*For the families and friends (and awesome house-sitters!!) we leave behind.
Mary-Hall will keep you entertained with a few blogs up her sleeve this week and ill give you a full report when I return.
Grace and peace.
Meet “Beverly Clucky”
Wednesday, the Yellow Barn Poultry Co. had it’s first loss. Poor Gertrude holds a dear place in our hearts and we hope that we were able to make her five weeks with us comfortable and happy….and we think that she felt right at home here until that fateful morning when she went to live in the big chicken coop in the sky. And of course we have the portrait of Gertrude that Mary-Hall painted to remember her by.
Saturday, the Yellow Barn Poultry Co. got a new girl. She’s the cutest little 7 week old Buff Orpington pullet you’ve ever seen. And she totally thinks I’m her Momma and snuggles up to me any time I go out to visit her. And to be honest, I kind of AM her momma right now, as she’s not in the coop with our other three girls yet. But before I get into all that, you may be wondering how we arrived at her name.
“Hellooooooo, world!” Beverly Clucky leans in for her close-up.
I wanted to keep the female authors theme going with the new chicken name and came up with a list of lady writers that I admire. Keith, on the other hand was rooting for something a little more chicken-appropriate and easier to remember. So, after lots of thought, I came up with what I consider to be a home-run compromise. Gertrude had been named after Gertrude Chandler Warner, author of my very favorite children’s series, The Boxcar Children, so it only seemed right to name our new friend after Beverly Cleary, the author of the “Ramona Quimby” series, another childhood favorite of mine. Inspired by my hairdresser who named her cat “Catsy Cline,” after famed singer “Patsy Cline” (perhaps the kitty had a penchant for going walking after midnight? womp womp.) I opted to go with “Beverly Clucky”…paying tribute not only to the writer, but bringing in some “foul” humor as well.
Another shot of Beverly on the way to her new home. This time of course, she’s being all coy.
The past 48 hours have been a crash course in poultry husbandry for sure. I’d seen briefly in one of the many chicken books I’ve read in the past few months that introducing a new chicken to the flock should be done carefully, but I didn’t think to do much research until after I brought Beverly home. And yikes. I kind of broke every rule in the book. Here’s a list of wisdom compiled from several different blogs, websites and books.
Tips for Adding a New Hen to the Flock
- Always introduce at least two new chickens, not a lone chicken…that way if they get picked on by the existing flock, they have a friend to back them up.
- Always quarentine a new bird for at least 30 days before letting them even breathe the same air as your existing flock, to prevent transfer of disease, many of which are airborne.
- Never introduce a juvenile bird into the flock. If it still “tweets” like a baby, it’s not ready for the flock.
- Always introduce your new birds to your existing birds on neutral territory, and when it comes time to put the new bird into the coop, do so at night while all the birds are asleep. They don’t seem to mind the newcomer as much if they wake up together.
Here’s what I did. I went and purchased a single, 7 week old pullet (my existing hens are now 13, 16, and 18 weeks old) and brought her home where I immediately marched her into the backyard in the middle of the day and brought her in the coop to meet the other chickens. Fortunately, I was smart enough to keep watchful hands on her. Jane complained loudly the minute she laid eyes on the new baby and scurried around the coop-yard chattering her displeasure at the top of her little chicken lungs. Sylvia on the other hand went straight for Beverly’s neck without a sound…fortunately I was still holding her and scooped her out of the coop to safety. I set up a pen next to the coop for Beverly so the chickens could all see each other without interacting for the rest of the day, and then secured Beverly and her temporary pen in the shed for the night so she’d be safe from rain and predators. Then I spent about 4 hours on the internet reading up on how to introduce a new bird to the flock.
L to R: Jane, Sylvia & Louisa. They may look innocent, but this little trio did not show the new girl any love at first sight.
“Who me? Scare the little chicky? Never.” – Jane the loud talker while silent Sylvia stalks around in the background.
After going through several rounds of feeling discouraged and then hopeful and back and forth, I’ve decided to take a sort of abbreviated approach to the “integration” plans that I found online because none of them really fit my circumstances.
Bringing Home Beverly: Plan of Action
- Even though we brought our chickens home at different times, they all came from the same hatchery. Everyone seems healthy so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
- Even though Beverly Clucky is only 7 weeks old and thus 6-11 weeks younger than the others, none of the others are really considered mature hens yet. No one is laying eggs. And even though they are the “established flock” we’ve only had them 5 weeks.
- Most folks online had large flocks. We’ve only got a total of 4 chickens we’re talking about here.
- Most folks had a rooster. We don’t. At least, ohmygoodnessIhopewedon’t. I’m having some questions about Sylvia. Hoping she doesn’t turn out to be a “Sylvester” instead.
I spent today organizing the shed and Beverly hung out in her little pen and tweeted at me for the morning, and then in the afternoon I moved her back out to “socialize” with the big girls from a safe distance. There was lots less chatter than yesterday, and Beverly seemed like she really wanted to be in the coop…she kept running back and forth looking for a way in. And when I moved her back into the shed at dusk (the weather forecast for tonight was terrible as were the storms that came through so she needed to be somewhere weather-proof), both she and the “big girls” seemed a little sad to be separated.
All snuggled up on Mama’s lap. Her little fluffy butt kills me! Such a cutie pie!
My next move (hopefully tomorrow?) is to put Beverly and her food and water in a large dog kennel and put the whole thing in the coop so they are all together but separated. I’m hoping all this goes well and I can get some “neutral ground hangouts” set up for Tuesday or Wednesday of this week with a nighttime “while you were sleeping” introduction Thursday night. But I’m not going to push it. I want my new little girl to be safe and happy and my big girls to behave.
SoThereYouHaveIt. A crash course in chicken-keeping and way too many chicken pictures all in one post. As for EggWatch2013….sadly none of our girls have started blessing us with any tasty bounty as of yet. I’m thinking Jane should be gifting us with something in the next 2 weeks or so. Hopefully she’ll hold it in until I get back from Brazil. And now, this Mama hen is off to her roost for the night. Gotta get up with the chickens…..
Anyone have any tips for adding a new hen that they would like to share? I’d love some input!
Nite-nite time….all snuggly roosting on top of the dog kennel that she calls home right now, enclosed in a pen, inside the shed.
Surprise Chicken Portraits
Well, this surprise/blog post is either incredibly well timed, or incredibly poorly timed. I’m not sure which one… fingers crossed.
Let’s backup. As you all know, Bethany recently built a chicken coop and got her first four chickens. We’re all waiting with baited breath for the first eggs, are we not? I wanted to make her a little chicken coop warming gift, and I took my inspiration from a collage Bethany made and even had as her facebook header photo for a short time:
I thought it would be kinda fun and kinda hilarious to convert those photos to miniature portraits of the lovely lady chickens in oils. Michael’s sells 4″-square canvases for $3 each, and I had all the other stuff in my craft bin. I used basically the same process as the Homemade Paint By Number, except instead of a projector I just used tracing paper to transfer the photo outlines to the canvas. Here is the final product:
Hope you like them, B! (You should get them in the mail today.)
Now about that timing issue. Per social media updates, it seems that the chicken Gertrude actually passed on to chicken heaven just yesterday. The paintings were already in the mail though, so fingers crossed Bethany is happy to get them and doesn’t burst into tears on the spot. Ugh.
We’ll miss you Gertrude. I think her painting is on the far left, based on a different photo. Guess its appropriate that she’s sort of washed out and heavenly.
One final note: Sorry about Sylvia the black chicken. Ransom did that one. (kidding) I learned that its VERY hard to paint something that’s so black and not make it look like a kindergarten art project. Someday maybe I’ll redo her one day. It didn’t help that her photo was also kinda unfortunate looking, because she is younger than the other 3. Basically, the other three chickens got lovely Senior Portraits, while Sylvia is stuck with an awkward junior high yearbook photo.
Paleo / Whole30 Balsamic Vinaigrette
Another bandwagon, folks! About 2 weeks ago I started a {slightly watered down} Whole30 experiment – a challenge to eat only healthy, whole foods for 30 days. The “approved” foods list is very similar to the Paleo diet that Bethany has spoken so highly of in recent months.
The rules of my Whole 30:
- No chemicals
- No preservatives
- No dairy
- No starches – rice, beans, potatoes, pasta
- No flour
- No soy
- No sugar or artificial sweeteners
Now let me disclaim a minute: technically, all the approved foods (fruit, vegetables, meat, nuts) should be organic, free range, and grain-fed only. Psssh. They don’t sell that stuff where we’re moving so why bother now? And I have had at least 2 prohibited items in the last two weeks. Rules are meant to be broken.
BUT but but.
I have tackled several new Paleo friendly recipes. So far they are really really good. Did you know that spinach can go in ANYTHING? meatballs, tacos, whatever. You won’t even notice it. I have eaten countless grilled chicken salads happily while others eat french fries. I skipped banana pudding at a family get together. My energy level is noticeably higher, especially right when I wake up. I haven’t had that gnawing awful hungry feeling in two whole weeks. And I don’t even miss the sweets. Really!
All that to say, try this Whole30 Balsamic Vinaigrette. It’s good no matter what diet you’re on and it doesn’t have a single sketchy ingredient.
Make it in a mason jar for bonus granola/Pinterest points.
And in 16 more days, I’ll probably resume eating chocolate {life’s too short} but I’ll definitely keep some of these new recipes and maybe lay off the pop tarts for breakfast.
Paleo Balsamic Vinaigrette
- 1/3 cup white distilled vinegar
- 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/8 tsp ground mustard
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/3 cup red onion, minced
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Mix it all up and enjoy. I recommend it on a baby spinach salad with chicken and chopped strawberries, and a bunch of other veggies.
Chicken Tikka Masala
When Keith and I were in India last March, we purchased some spices at the open air in Kolkata…spices that have sat in their tidy little packages in our spice rack ever since. We’ve been meaning to use them, but we just haven’t had the time until yesterday when we had a rare Saturday when we were both in town and we decided that a little Tikka Masala was in order. I did a little recipe search on the internet and found several…but went with one from Food.com (that apparently was also published in the Chicago Tribune on 4/17/02.)
“Chikin” spices from the market in Kolkata.
After we whipped up the marinade, I decided to get started on the sauce while we waited for the flavors to soak into the chicken. I cut some fresh cilantro from my herb garden and chopped it into little pieces for the garnish. Next, I took great care to dice the jalapeno into tiny pieces. Let’s pause for a moment shall we? Here at TwoGirlsBlog.com we like to pass along, to you, dear readers, any wisdom we pick up along the way so you can learn from our mistakes. So. With that in mind, I would be remiss if I neglected to tell you a little story about jalapenos. And how one should ALWAYS wear gloves when cutting jalapenos. And how I maybe, possibly, per chance didn’t know this as last night was the first time I’ve ever diced a jalapeno. If you’re friends with my husband on Facebook or Instagram, you probably know where this is going.
I diced the jalapeno. I washed my hands with soap and water. I casually rubbed my nose with my fingers as my allergies have been acting up. I. Got. Jalapeno. Oil. In. My. Nose.
I cannot adequately describe to you the excruciating pain I experienced. Imagine the worst sunburn you’ve ever had. Now imagine it in your nostril. Yeah. It was that bad. Fortunately, husband is pretty speedy on the draw when it comes to Googling, and before I knew it he’d found the apparent only cure…sticking your entire nose in a bowl of milk. (Seriously…what did we DO before Google?) It took about 10 minutes (and the addition of milk-soaked cotton balls stuffed in my nostrils while the rest of my head still rested in a large bowl of milk) for the searing burning to subside…and my sinuses were quite clean the rest of the evening. The moral of the story, dear readers, is “Always wear gloves when cutting jalapenos.”
Face down in a bowl of milk. Too bad you can’t see the milk-logged cotton balls in my nose. Misery, thy name is jalepeno-oil-rubbed-sinuses.
So. Now. Back to the recipe. I’ve posted it below (as always) with my notes in green. (Or you can view the original recipe by clicking through the link at the top of the page.) It was fantastic. Easy to follow. It takes about 2 hours total to make….30 minutes prep time, 1 hour to marinate, 30 minutes to cook. While I’m sure it wasn’t “hot” by Indian standards, the recipe for sure had some heat. Keith thought it landed at “perfect” on the spicy-o-meter….I probably could have taken it down one notch and still been happy with the flavor…but I just ate mine with a healthy portion of store bought naan (an Indian bread similar to pita bread or chapati) and the bread cut the temperature. (The recipe calls for 1 jalapeno…..I’d suggest 1/2 a jalapeno for a milder flavor and 1.5 jalapenos for an authentic Indian level ultra hot.) And to whet your appetite…I’ve included a few photos.
Garlic, butter and the now infamous jalapeno simmering on the stove top!
Chicken skewers hot off the grill and ready to go in the sauce!
Simmering on the stove. Mmmmmm.
Served on top of thai rice, garnished with fresh cilantro and a side of naan. One of my favorite home-made meals to date.
Chicken Tikka Masala
1 cup plain yogurt [Note: I used plain old plain yogurt. Not Greek, not lowfat, just straight up yogurt.]
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground red pepper
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 piece minced ginger (1-inchinch” long)
Sauce
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, minced
2 teaspoons ground coriander [Note: I left out the coriander because I didn't want to make a grocery run.]
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garam masala [Note:I used the spices I bought which I'm *pretty sure* are garam masala. I'd suggest finding a local international grocery to purchase yours, or the recipe suggests that you can make your own or that McCormick brand spices makes a version available in most grocery stores.]
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Directions:
1) Cut chicken breasts into one inch cubes and mix together marinade.
2) Put cubes of chicken in marinade and marinate (in the refrigerator) for an hour or so.
3) Discard marinade.
4) For sauce, melt butter on medium heat.
5) Add garlic & jalapeno; cook 1 minute.
6) Stir in coriander, cumin, paprika, garam masala & salt.
7) Stir in tomato sauce.
8 )Simmer 15 minutes.
9) Stir in cream; simmer to thicken- about 5 minutes.
10) Grill or broil chicken, turning occasionally, to cook through- about 8 minutes. [we grilled on our outdoor grill]
11) Remove chicken from skewers; add to sauce.
12) Simmer 5 minutes.
13) Garnish with cilantro Serve with basmati rice, naan or pita bread.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Also, in case you haven’t noticed, we now have a “Recipe File” at the top right-hand corner of the blog where we’ve categorized all our tasty concoctions so you can find the perfect recipe easily, no matter what you’re looking for.
Buying Rural Real Estate
This morning, August and I signed ~100 pages of legal mumbo jumbo and became homeowners again. YaHOO! Not just homeowners but also landowners. The property we bought includes 28 acres – that’s a whole lot in the eyes of some and just a few in the eyes of others (i.e. my husband). Having some room to hunt, fish, grow trees, etc, was my husband’s #1 real estate priority since we started this journey last summer. Turns out, buying a little land with a house is harder than you might think, even here in Mississippi, where you are never more than a few miles from “the boonies“. Along the way, we’ve learned some (truly fascinating) stuff that’s clearly not common knowledge, as only a slim sector of the population is after this sort of land/house combo. I’d thought I’d record some of what we learned here in case others find themselves in a similar situation.
1. Land Lending
In the beginning stages of the search, we sat down to determine how much property we could afford to buy, given our down payment savings and the crazy low mortgage rates available these days. Well, as it turns out, land isn’t actually “mortgage-able”, not even land with a house on it. We were surprised by this at first.
All-important lending guidelines in the mortgage industry require that there be no more than 5-7 acres attached to a house. So your typical bank loan office doesn’t want to see you under contract for a house and 28 acres. That’s too far out of the box. Their appraisal systems aren’t set up to handle that. Etc Etc.
For raw land, you can actually borrow money to buy it from specialty lending institutions called “land banks”. We have several in our area. These guys are set up to make loans on raw land, but its a little bit of a different ballgame from mortgage lending at a bank. We didn’t go down this road so I don’t know the whole story. But, I did learn that their interest rates are a little higher than mortgage rates. We were quoted about 5%, meanwhile mortgage rates were less than 3%. The terms of the loans offered also are a bit different from conventional mortgages. In our case, the 5% rate also was fixed for the first few years, and then adjustable each year after that. AND conversely to the bank mortgage, the land bank isn’t set up to lend on homes. So, unless the value of the land far eclipses the value of the house, a home/land combo is outside of THEIR box as well. That’s not the case in our situation.
To buy the property we found, we actually separated our purchase into two different contracts: one for the house and 5 acres, and one for 23 bare acres.
2. Surveys & Legal Descriptions
If you want to buy even small acreage in a rural area, you really need a recent survey. A survey is where a qualified surveyor reviews the legal description of the property and physically walks around checking that the corners of the property are appropriately marked. They check the fences and put out little flags on the property line. They make a map showing where all the structures are, and whether any neighbors’ shed is hanging over the property line, etc. This is not a cheap service either, ours cost $2000.
Our sellers had no recent survey, and they were kinda ticked at us for making a big deal about it in the beginning. But eventually they agreed to split the cost. And boy are we glad we pressed it because as it turned out, the legal description {the words on file at the courthouse that describe where your property lines are} had a major error in it. In this picture, the black lines are the property lines, whereas the red lines are the property lines as described at the courthouse.
So the moral of this story is: Get a survey. Unless you’re buying a home in a subdivision or an established neighborhood, its really really important.
3. Home Insurance & Fire Zones
As it turns out, not all home insurance companies like to write policies for rural properties. I had no idea. Our insurance company that we’ve had for years, including our previous home owner’s policy, quoted us what we thought was a pretty high rate for such a small house. Then they quoted an even HIGHER rate if the walls of the home turned out to be wood frame construction rather than brick. (Its brick thank goodness.) We saved a bunch of money by shopping around, which is a huge hassle, but apparently some companies even specialize in rural properties, while others look at you like you’ve grown a third eye.
To generate a quote, the insurance guys have to figure out what fire zone you are in. This is a scale from 1 to 10 where 10 equals $$$ premiums. What determines your fire zone is how far you are from a fire station, whether its a volunteer fire station, and whether there are fire hydrants near your property.
Moral here: If you buy a house made out of wood, more than 5 miles from a fire station, expect to have high insurance rates. If you’re building a house, you probably want to look at have a couple of brick walls. Our house has 3 thankfully.
4. Utilities and Services
This one falls a little bit into the ‘duh’ category but I’ll list anyway. Rural properties don’t have access to the same level of services that are available in the city.
We have a septic tank at the new house to handle what a sewer normally would. We requested a septic inspection and everything checked out. However, we did learn that when it breaks, we’ll have to upgrade to a treatment plant. Septics are no longer cool with the health department.
Besides that we don’t have good cell coverage. Cable Internet isn’t available. But DSL is. And we have propane in place of natural gas.
We’re okay with all that but it’s definitely something to think about!
