Fish 'N Chicks

About a month ago, one of our hens decided that she was ready to nest so we let her keep 11 eggs.The incubation period for chicken eggs is 20-21 days, meaning that the baby chicks were supposed to hatch by June 8th (today).  As of this afternoon, 9 of the 11 eggs had hatched, just like clockwork. You can imagine my delight when I went out to the coop this morning to find these cuties staring back at me:

The mother hen with her chicks.

 In other news, my dad caught a huge catfish from our pond this morning. It was so heavy that it had to be lifted out with a net. We are unsure of its exact weight, but we believe that it was approximately 13-20 lbs.

The catfish soon after it had been caught.

Catfish fillets

After the catfish was filleted, we let it to soak in salt water. Then we dipped it in buttermilk and rolled it in a batter made from cornmeal, salt, and black pepper and fried it in canola oil. Five of us ate the fish, and there was plenty more to go around. I couldn't believe that just one fish could feed that many people!

Fried catfish. It was delicious!

 I also made some cornbread "hush puppies" to go with the catfish. I chopped up some green onions to go in them and fried them in a skillet. I don't really go by a recipe, but could probably come up with one if someone was interested.

 All in all, today was a pretty eventful day. I was hoping to have a lazy day inside the house, but as plans sometimes do, that didn't work out. However, I would much rather have the day that I had than be lazy like I was planning.

Until next time, 

-Miss Ellaneous