Day 178, Year 7: World’s Healthiest Chicken Broth
Date: Friday, May 4, 2012
Weather: Still Overcast
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
We are definitely having typical New England spring weather. We haven’t seen the sun for four days and it feels damp and cool inside the boat without the sun to warm us. We still use the oil-filled radiator heaters at night to keep the temp between 65 and 70 degree F, but we had gotten spoiled. The sun has been shining all winter and keeping us warm during the day. We could easily have this kind of overcast, drizzly weather off and on through June, so I guess we’d better get used to it.
I spent a fair bit of time today making chicken broth. But this is no ordinary chicken broth. I wrote in another log about Magic Mineral Broth. Add chicken bones to that mix and you get Chicken Magic Mineral Broth. I can or freeze the broth and use it for a variety of things, but mostly for making soups, cooking rice, and adding to kale and other greens. It is so nutrient rich that I think you could survive by just drinking the broth. My chicken broth starts with the carcass of an organically fed, free-range chicken from Martha’s Vineyard. I buy a five pound frozen chicken at the Saturday market. After I’ve removed all the meat, I add the bones to a huge pot and then throw in carrots, red potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, leeks, celery, garlic cloves, parsley, and then the spices—juniper berries, bay leaves, peppercorns, vinegar, and salt. And then I throw in a strip of dried seaweed called kombu. So the first thing I had to do this morning was go to the supermarket to pick up some of the ingredients. Then I went to Heather’s to get this concoction burbling before I went to pick up Sam and Jonah. I gave Heather and Jed half of the broth and brought the other half back to Windbird and put it in my empty freezer. I don’t know how I let the freezer get so empty, but I did and the broth makes the perfect filler for now.
Mark is still not feeling up to par. In fact, he has zero energy and his stomach is unsettled. During prior treatment weeks, he has usually started to bounce back by Friday, but not this week. He has to go to work tomorrow, so he is sure hoping he will be feeling better in the morning. But despite feeling awful, he was a great help today. He and Oliver hung out on the sofa together while I was cooking and doing laundry. And Mark made a sugar water mixture and fed the bees. Heather had a 6-week check up with the OB/GYN, so she was gone most of the afternoon. But as long as Oliver has Granddad, he is fine. We stayed for Friday night pizza at the Goldstones. They have a bread maker that makes this incredible pizza dough and the boys enjoy helping to get the dough in the pans.
Between the weather and the number of things to do, the garden work has been ignored this week. So rain or shine, tomorrow is garden day. Tomorrow is also Cinco de Mayo. I’ll take that to mean that it is a lucky day for planting.
