Oh, I suppose you grow swiss chard for the leaves, don’t you? Maybe you roast them, maybe you braise them, maybe you even saute them. But not us, oh no. We grow them exclusively for the stalks, that’s where the good stuff is. So while you enjoy your dinner of supple chard leaves, we’ll be chewing and chewing and chewing on our nice fiberous chard stems…because we like it that way.
Gosh darn chickens!
Thanks for the laugh. I actually do eat the stalks but only mixed in with those delicious leaves.
yes, our chickens have done a striptease with our chard too…
but this is an awesome recipe to make lemonade from lemons..
baton your chards stems..blanch in boiling water 5 minutes. Drain, add to buttered gratin dish. Sprinkle with sourdough bread crumbs and grated parmesan cheese. Bake 15 minutes at 350″. voila!
Mims-that gratin sounds devine! We’ll have to try it!
You should have some lovely eggs in the next few days.
Several years ago when I had chickens I started out with this idea that the chickens would control bugs in the garden. The reality was quite a surprise when they uprooted my plants. From then on they were only let out when I was working in the garden and could supervise them. Their pen was almost as big as my house, so I don’t think they were missing much by being kept in.
We ended up doing the same thing as Dierdre. Only letting our hens out a little before sundown while we were going to be in the garden with them.
OMG! I just planted chard today and was plotting on how to sneak chickens in my suburban Chicago back yard. I see I’ll need to think this through a bit more ….
Linda
Kentuckygetaway.wordpress.com
Ha!!!! Funny post. I believe I will be getting chickens next year and now I know to keep them away from my chard.
By the way this is the same way that I eat broccoli. Who needs the actual broccoli? I just eat the veins of the leaves. (Darn caterpillars.)
OH NO. your beautiful chard. I guess the stalks on the rainbow chard are full of lovely antioxidants, but still . . .
I hope those chickens give you some extra-fantastic eggs to make up for it.
Thanks Kathryn. We made creme brulee out of those chard eggs. They did make it extra fantastic!