The Chicks are here! The Chicks are here!

These are the hands of Mary Anne. They've farmed, watered, planted, fertilized, pulled, and taken care of just about every vegetable we've had in the past year.


And now, they have a new purpose.

These hands will now take care of 13 precious chickens (12 hens + 1 rooster) in the hopes us CSA members will have quality eggs come Fall.

The babies arrived Monday from the Midwest and, as Mary Anne says, she hasn't been able to do much else but watch them peck around, sleep, chirp, and just be cute little chicks. They move somewhat in waves. A couple will bunch up together in one area of the pen, under the warm lamp, and then move together to another area. There is no adult bird, so they rely on each other's cues.


It's a remarkable hen house, built by her partner Harold with recycled wood and parts. It's a coop any chicken would love to call home, and two folks that couldn't be better suited to take care of them and raise them in sound, organic, sustainable principles. They will be happy full-grown chickens in a couple months, and they'll produce happy, tasty eggs.

We are so grateful for their gifts.

I recorded a bit of a video, maybe not the best, but I hope to upload a better video next week. For now, this will suffice. (You can hear their itty bitty chirps in the background)

The Counter in Roswell

We spied this place a couple weeks ago. It wasn't open until last week. And boy is it worth the indulgence. Think a gourmet burger joint in a funky Jetson's environment. Add a cool California vibe and casual bar - with a surprisingly good beer and wine selection! Eric was impressed with the offering of Victory's Pils. Constructing a burger and its format is fun as there's about 200 combinations. Appetizers include sliders, grilled veg plates, and fry combos. It's certainly worth the drive up 400 from Atlanta. Maybe next time we'll make room at the end of our meal for a gourmet milkshake.

Oh, the fries!

We ordered half-and-half fries: regular and sweet potato. The regular was dusted with a seasoning salt and the crispy sweets with sea salt. The sweets were the better of the two. Like this is 3am craving good.

Eric's creation

We both went with a burger in a bowl, bunless, on a great assortment of fresh greens. His with feta, grilled onions, grilled pineapple, roasted red peppers, and a tomato dressing.

My burger creation

One-third LB of good ol beef, gruyere, grilled onions, grilled chiles, black bean and corn salsa, sprouts, and topped with a caramelized onion dressing.

Garlic scape!

At first glance, is it a flower? An overgrown dandelion?


It's actually a garlic scape. Yep, I never heard of it either. Mary Anne's clipped one for each of her CSA shareholders this week, and I was really marveled at this. It's more like the flower of a garlic. It blooms a beautiful lavender-colored 4 inch diameter head and you simply pluck a tender "petal" and sprinkle onto your favorite dish for garlicky loveliness. One petal is for a wimp; you really need to pull a minimum of 10 to get full enhancement.

I was so intrigued, I just had to fix sauteed veg and scrambled eggs to pair up for dinner.