Monday, June 29, 2020

ZEN MACHINE GARDEN CHICKENS AND LOCKDOWN


The grass is greener but it hasn't grown too much...yet anyway.  Last week we had about 3 inches of rain and the ground was still pretty wet.  Luckily there wasn't much standing water as the ground and trees soaked it all up.  Next weekend the grass should be ready to mow.  But...


...we had to schedule the Zen Machine to be picked up.  Since there was no rain in the forecast Sunday and Monday, I took it out of the shed and left it here for them to pick up.  In fact, as this posts, it should be on its way to the shop.

You may have seen last weekend, one of the pulleys came off and the drive belt went sideways and started burning.  We watched some videos on replacing that belt and it was a bit more complicated than I could handle right now.  Ordering parts, waiting for them to come in, hoping I could get it right the first time, then if I needed to go in, they are closed to walk ins due to the pandemic...all the while needing it ready for mowing as soon as possible.

Just too much uncertainty.  We have an emergency expense fund just for things like this.  Let's hope it's at least reasonable.


Yes, this is a picture from last weekend but as a reminder, this is what we were getting on the tomatoes.  Birds.  When I was out there Saturday some of the green tomatoes had small pecks on them (guess they don't like green tomatoes) so I decided to take care of that.  I forgot to get a picture but what I did was use the freeze cloth covers to create a tent over the tomato bed.  I put some extra support trellises and used clips to secure it.  

We'll see how THAT works.  


I watered the plants on the porch and since there was nothing else to do, came back into town.  I masked and gloved up and went into a store and picked up some whole chickens and some salad greens.  Our philosophy on roasting chickens is that if we're going to heat up the oven to roast one, why not do two and save the meat for later?  

So that's what we did.  Sometimes we change up seasoning or maybe stuff some herbs inside but this time we went old school.  Butter, salt and pepper.  That's it.  They came out perfect!

We ate one over the course of Saturday evening and Sunday then I took all the meat off the other one and vacuum sealed it for the freezer.

Future meal, ready to go!


We've both been craving a salad and so with the chicken we had a nice mixed greens salad, some boiled eggs (is that weird with chicken? LOL) and 2nd Man made a wonderful vinaigarette with honey, dijon, oil, and some minced herbs.  OMG it was SO good.  We forgot being in quarantine meant not a lot of fresh salad greens.  It's amazing the things you miss.

Send good thoughts that the Zen Machine is not outrageously expensive, ugh.  We're starting our first week back in lockdown, it should be interesting.  We're ready, stocked and prepared once again so we'll just obey the rules and hope for the best. 



13 comments:

  1. Those food pics are amazing. I am drooling on my screen. 2nd Man knows how to roast a chicken and knows how to make a salad. Wow. Now I'm hungry. Fingers crossed for an inexpensive repair. Janie

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    1. Aww, thanks. They do look tasty oh and they were too, ha. The mower has been safely delivered to the dealer, now we wait. And hope ,ha.

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  2. with 2nd man cooking, both of you won't starve! all the reports I have read from TX is that it's SO bad. please stay safe!

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    1. Starvation is definitely not in our lexicon, LOL. Wouldn't hurt us to miss a few meals ha. Thanks, it's pretty scary at how fast it's happening in Houston. The Governor made a HUGE mistake in reopening things. Our medical center is the largest in the world and all hospitals are at 100%. Then the Governor told the hospitals to stop talking about capacity because it scares people. Total and complete failure in state leadership. We're staying safe. Thanks!!

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  3. i think we might all be in lock down again. though i have been for well into 4 months. i always roast 2 chicken at the same time too.

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    1. wow, I know y'all have had it hard too. Hang in there. Hey and as someone said about us, y'all won't starve either because of the AMAZING food you make!!!

      It does make sense to roast two at once huh?

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  4. Good decision to get your lawn mower repaired in the shop. Here’s some good thoughts on the repair costs being low.

    Hoping your freeze cloth bird deterrent protects your tomatoes and that you get to harvest some nice tomatoes. It’s getting to the end of tomato season here – tomatoes don’t set fruit when the temperatures hit 90 degrees because the pollen becomes unviable.
    https://bonnieplants.com/the-bonnie-blog/tomato-plants-not-setting-fruit-heres-why/

    Those roasted chickens look beautiful and absolutely delicious. And the salad too. Yes, it’s hard to keep fresh salad greens during this pandemic when we are trying to limit our trips to the grocery store. And it’s too hot here to grow them outside now. I’m going to try to grow some lettuce inside the house near a window.

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  5. Looks delicious. I'm with Janie those pictures look like a perfect chicken in a cookbook or a salad book. Thank you for sharing -

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  6. One year I had crows that ruined all the apples by drilling holes in all of them. I never saw that before.

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  7. That chicken makes my mouth water.
    Oh, I must admit; I do buy the Rotisserie chicken; cheaper in the long run and don't have to heat up the oven or taking the time to run my air fryer.
    I wouldn't think that it would cost much or long for them to repair your lean, green, Zen machine back from the shop.
    Stay safe & stay healthy.

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