Winter Treats

It's been raining a lot this week. It's a stark reminder that winter is coming when things no longer warm up by afternoon. Things just stay cool now. It's time to prepare for winter in our coop.

I've been harvesting all my tomatoes and zucchini before they get hit too hard by frost. I don't think most of my tomatoes have been effected by frost yet, but one or two and my zucchini have. Some bits of the 'maters and the two zuke's were not appealing to me so I saved them for the chickens. I had quite the stock pile adding up and I decided to try figuring out a way to save them for winter treats when the summer harvest is no longer available.

I portioned out cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and regular tomatoes into multiple baggies that I can freeze then thaw out and give as a special surprise treat this winter.

On top of all the garden bits, I also had our pumpkin "guts" and seeds from the three pumpkins we carved. Couldn't let those go to waste....

Solution:

Seeds - Above Left - Ground them up using my "Magic Bullet". Not very effective but it worked, it took a lot of time and effort. I gave them a bit to see if they liked it. Yup! They loved it. I put more in a trough style feeder for them to peck at as well as on the root log they have in their run. They were so fun to watch trying new things.

Pumpkin "Guts" - Above Bottom - Also ran through my "Magic Bullet" and also not very effective. The stringy bits kept getting wound around the cutting blades. Lots of hassel to cut off and and untangle. Because it was not very effective I decided to just put them into plastic bags and freeze. I researched and found that the chickens will not have a problem with the stringy bits so I went that route.

Pumpkin Meat - Above Right - Ran through my "Magic Bullet" as well. This worked fairly well. The actual meat of a pumpkin is chunkier and easier for the "Magic Bullet" to cut/blend. I also put the puree into plastic bags portioned out for surprise winter treats.

I can't wait to see the girls and Buckbeak go crazy over these treats this winter!

Well, off to go close up the coop for the night.

~M~