Chicken House

My brother, Wendell Carver, of Russellville, Ohio recently completed this Chicken House on his farm.  The box on the left side has a double layer of laying boxes.  He completed this project mainly out of salvaged materials so this is truly a "green" project.  Pictured are the Black Australorp breed and the Red New Hampshire breed.  The Australorps were originated in Australia where they were bred chiefly for their egg production where some were tracked at laying 364 days out of 365.  At 8 weeks these birds have a 2.09 feed conversion ratio so the return on investment is rapid.  He has had a lot of chicken and noodle meals.  Neighbors are calling him for his freshly dressed chickens.  They are ready for the pot in 33 to 38 days.  I think he could be in business if he chose to.  As always, my brother impresses me with his ingenuity and imagination.

Outhouse Story

Looking at my little outhouse sitting in my yard for the past few days has reminded me of the outhouse at my Papaw and Mamaw's house when I was a child.  Their outhouse was a pretty good walk from the house.  There was a fence along the pathway that had spearmint growing in abundance.  My great grandmother used to live with my grandmother in her older years and whenever she went to the outhouse, she always picked a few leaves of spearmint from the fence row and came back chewing it.  Whenever she smelled of spearmint, you knew she had just came back from the outhouse.  Papaw's outhouse had a little window in the side.  It was discreetly placed pretty high up but it let in light.  He made two seats, one higher for adults and one lower for the little ones.  Mamaw usually had a roll of toilet paper in the outhouse but whenever money was tight we would sometimes run out.  She kept her old "Sears and Roebuck" catalogs in the toilet for just that occasion.  In those days, about half the pages in the catalog were colored pages and about half were printed in black and white.  The black and white pages were thinner than the colored ones.  The black and white ones were not as "slick" in texture as the colored ones and therefore were the choice to use as toilet paper.  You would tear out a page and crumple it in your hands and then rub it back and forth making it smooth and soft.  You know, it really wasn't bad.  We hated it when all that was left was the colored pages.  I know a lot of people kept a bucket of corn cobs in the outhouse but I never personally experienced that pleasure.  I can't imagine that the experience would have been all that pleasant.  For some reason, wasps always seemed to build a nest in the outhouse.  Now that was a scary experience.  Papaw would spray for wasps, but it seemed that you could always hear a wasp buzzing at a very inappropriate time.  What about you - do you have a special outhouse story?

More Bag Dolls

Special order of three "white" Mammy dolls waiting to be picked up by my customer.

Outhouse and Fall Decor

I just got my outhouse for my little Persnickety Primitives "homestead".  I have been wanting one for a long time and I am so pleased to have it!

It even has little window boxes on each side.  I have tucked in some small pumpkins and gourds .

I have put some mums in my well bucket and added some small pumpkins, a big scarecrow head and a sign advertising Hayrides to decorate my well.  The sign and the scarecrow are for sale at Persnickety Primitives.

I love this sign - It says:

Crows in the outhouse

Crows in the barn,

Crows in the cornfield

Down on the Farm.

This sign is also available at Persnickety Primitives.

Happy Fall, Y'all!



Green Tomato Cake



Although it sounds quite unusual, Green Tomato Cake is really quite delicious!  I came across this Paula Deen recipe last year and made it for my family and friends a couple of times and it was a real hit with everyone.  My husband asked me to make it again this year so I served it at our family dinner yesterday.  It is almost gone and my husband has already asked me to make another one.  It is especially good with a hot cup of coffee.  The Brown Butter icing adds just the right touch of buttery goodness to put this recipe over the top.  Try it - I think you will be pleasantly surprised.  It's fun to have your family or guests try to guess what kind of cake it is before you tell them.  They will never guess!  Here's the recipe:

Green Tomato Cake with Browned Butter Icing

Ingredients:

1 cup golden raisins

2 1/2 cups diced green tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups all purpose flour

3 large eggs

2 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup chopped walnuts

Browned Butter icing (recipe to follow)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt or angel food cake pan.

Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until creamy.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.  Gradually add to butter mixture, beating well.  (Batter will be soft)  Stir in tomatoes, raisins, and walnuts.  Spoon batter into prepared pan.  Bake for 70 to 75 minutes, or until a tester inserted in center comes out clean.  Let cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes.  Remove from pan, and let cool completely.  Spoon Browned Butter Icing over cake.

Browned Butter Icing

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup confectioner's sugar

In a medium suacepan over low heat, melt butter.  Cook 6 to 8 minutes, or until butter is lightly browned.  Whisk in confectioner's sugar until smooth.

Enjoy!

Scarecrows

I just finished these two sweet little scarecrows.  In fact, they are so sweet - the crows are not even afraid of them!  They both have a crow perched on their hat and another one on their shoulder.  With this cooler weather, I am in the mood for Fall sewing!  These little guys are about 20 inches in length.  They are a wonderful addition to your Fall decor.  These are for sale at Persnickety Primitives or on this blog for $39.95 each.  Email me at persnicketyprimitives@gmail.com if you would like to purchase one or both of them.

Fall Primitive Magazines

A couple of you have ordered fall magazines and I really appreciate it.  I have both "A Primitive Place" and "A Simple Life" magazines.  They are chock full of good stories and decorating ideas.  If you haven't seen them, take a look!  You can order them from this blog.  (See listing on right margin of blog).  Thanks!