Yesterday's breakfast

I meant to post this yesterday but got sidetracked.

The birds got, amongst other things, a raspberry and a blackberry (this was the Boy's idea...) And while for most of the birds, there was likely traces of these fruits all over the cage, in Shade's case, the mess was very much contained to her bowl.

She can't waste a drop! I'm sure she would have gone back for more had we not removed the bowls. She's a very neat bird when it comes to food she loves (and there isn't much she doesn't love).

Her beak may have been sporting a shade of purple after breakfast...

Pre-Sidewlk Sale Things for Wings order

I placed this order with Things for Wings because our supply of TOP pellets was starting to get low and I wanted to ensure I received it before I ran out. Therefore, even though I was made aware of the dates for the Sidewalk Sale over at Avian Avenue, I didn't wait. In fact, the sale might have prompted me to actually go forward with the order there and then, as I knew the volume of orders made during the sale would make the wait longer. And because I was going to pay the ridiculous Canada Post shipping charges anyway, I thought I may as well add toys - I did still have a 15% off T4W toys coupon, which I got at a previous sale, so why not use it?

The box showed up earlier this week, but given it was a rather crazy time at work, I didn't get around to taking pictures until today.

When I opened the box, there were a few items I didn't recognize - more so, because it I apparently had no recollection of what I ordered, other than for five items (and two of those were food related and one was some cleaning solution we were in need of).

So with the help of my invoice, here is what was in the box!

Watermelon Picnic basket

This is the toy that puzzled me the most. I absolutely had no recollection of having ordered something with a basket. To be fair, I thought I might as well try some toys that I hadn't ordered before and this one would be appreciated by a number of the birds so it made sense that I added it to my shopping basket. But makes no sense that I couldn't even remember that.


Catching Flies

While I didn't remember that I had ordered it, I wasn't nearly as surprised to see this in the box. I had an "oh yeah" moment when I saw it. Léa will also be very happy.


Léa's toy

I had to take all the other toys out before being 100% convinced of what this toy was. I remembered I had ordered one, but it never looks exactly the same from one order to the next, which I have no problem with, as it always looks awesome and always includes materials that fit the requirements I had given when I first ordered the custom made toy. This is one of my favourite renditions of it, and I'm sure Ms. Big Beak will love it too.


Sunflower Woods

Another toy I didn't remember ordering, one that didn't leave me as puzzled as the Watermelon Picnic Basket but more so than the Catching Flies. Again, a toy that quite a few birds will enjoy, and might actually be shared by one of the smaller Pois (for initial destruction) and Léa (for the harder pieces of wood). I believe this also fell under the "let's try a toy I haven't ordered before" category, although I'm not sure I didn't get it once before...


Cork Barkunkle

I remember looking at these and debating about possibly ordering some, but didn't remember if I had gone through with it. Apparently I did! And I'm happy I did!


Cork Pick and Chip Stack

I knew I ordered these, as they were a success with all of the smaller Pois. They don't last too long, but the toy is very reasonably priced, if you consider the cork and the time it takes to cut the wood, so well worth it.


Wild Tulips

This is another one that falls clearly under the category of toys I thought I should give a try...then to forget about ordering it. This toy has Shade written all over it!


Just a Watermelon Toy

I look at this, and it makes sense that I ordered it. But like it's fellow watermelon toy, I don't recall having done so. I apparently loved the watermelon collection (I will have one or two more items coming thanks to the Sidewalk Sale) but I'm bad at remembering them. And I don't know why, some of these are so well suited for my guys!

That was it for the toys. Here is the "miscellaneous" stuff -

Mango Ginger Minis

Yes, that is some Avian Organics food! While T4W has been carrying some AO products for some time, I believe for the most part, they were products that were designed solely to be distributed by T4W (I could be wrong). However, as earlier this month, AO is no longer handling retails sails and T4W is now carrying a larger selection of the AO products, including a flock favourite, Mango Ginger Minis! While I was sad to see one of my favourite parrot-related business "close" in a way, I'm happy that I can still get AO food from T4W, which also will allow me to maximize shipping (include the food with a toy order and just have the one shipment coming my way!)


TOPs (10lbs bag)

Given the size of my flock, it makes sense to buy the largest bag available, and the only place I've seen it in Canada is at T4W. It lasts about three months (we replace pellets in the cages every second day) and keep the rest in the freezer.

Finally, the last thing that was part of this order was some AviClean concentrate solution. I didn't take a picture, as I had taken it out of the box when I opened it and asked the Boy to put it away before I took pictures.

And that is it!

July 2014 - "Cooking for the birds"

These posts haven't happened as often as I wanted over the summer, the last one dating from April. But it was just easier to prepare a meal every night than to set time aside to make a large batch of food, that is until I was on vacation.


Last week I finally got around to preparing all the veggies, beans and grains and here is what this new mix looks like:

The vegetables, pre-cutting -

The final mix -

Ingredients:
-Black kale (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Rainbow chard (pictured - from my garden)
-Beets (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Broccoli (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Carrots (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Beans (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Red bell pepper (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Organic quinoa
-Adzuki beans
-Mung beans
-Organic purple barley


There is one typical ingredient that is missing - chick peas! I had run out and went ahead without it...and apparently it might have not gone unnoticed, as Léa loves them and has initially been eying her food bowl in a weird way.

That is it! I hope to make another batch in August, or maybe early September and hope to have more goodies from my garden and the Farmers' market.

Close-up

Avian Organics Anniversary Sale Order

This is an overdue post, since I received my box over a week ago!

Recently Avian Organics had a week long celebration to commemorate their 8th Anniversary, which meant sales and draws for prizes! My "reserve" of mash was dwindling quickly so I took the opportunity to order a few more bags.

I got the Pineapple Pudding, Mayan Gourmet Mash and Hemp Berry Pudding (all pictured above). Those are favourites with my flock.

I also stocked up on some treats, namely the Veggie Berry Bars and the all time favourite Mango Ginger Minis.

Every order placed during the Anniversary week meant you got your name placed in a daily draw, and your name would remain in the pot until everything was all done. While I generally am not very lucky, I ended up winning the day after I ordered so that was pretty exciting! Gifts varied and I won a large all natural basket with a bag filled with natural parts.

Many thanks to Doris!

April 2014 - "Cooking for the birds"

It's been a long time since I posted one of these entries! Not to say we weren't feeding the birds fresh foods, but it was more along the lines of preparing dinner every night or making a larger batch of Avian  Organics mash and adding a few vegetables.

However, with Spring coming back and the prospect of the Farmer's Market also returning and being able to select fresh in season produce combined with the four day week-end I just had, well I made a batch of "greens".

I have no picture of the "before" state of the veggies that went in - got too lazy to get everything out at once and set-up for the picture, as well as not knowing what exactly was going to go in.

The finished mix of chopped vegetables, grains and legumes

It definitively was not my most thought out bunch of food, but it'll do.

Ingredients:
-Black kale
-Beets
-Broccoli
-Carrots
-Green beans
-Red and orange bell peppers
-Quinoa
-Chick peas
-Adzuki beans
-Mung beans
-Black lentils

This aslo marks the return of chick peas in the evening mash, which I'm sure will delight Léa. I haven't yet bagged what I got, so I'm not sure how many weeks worth I got, but I'm sure that there is more than enough to last until the Farmer's Market starts operating again in May!

Close-up

October's "Cooking for the birds"

This post is actually somewhat overdue, as I made the batch of food over the Thanksgiving long week-end in Canada (aka October 12th-14th). But being generally busy and not wanting to spend a ton of time on the computer when I get home, well I haven't really got to this until now (I figured the post had to go up in October at least).

As it was the case when I made a large batch of food in September, I wasn't close to running out what I had made previously when I tackled this batch, but rather the drive to make more food came from the fact that I had time (three day week-end) and that I was worried the first frost was around the corner and I harvested whatever greens (chard) I had in the garden over that week-end and I still had the Farmer's market around to get more fresh vegetables (incidentally, this week-end was the last week-end with a Farmer's market around here until next Spring).

So what went in?

The greens -



The rest of the vegetables -



I tried to replicate what I did in September and have more vegetables than grains/legumes. I think I was fairly successfull, although out of the vegetables pictured above, I didn't manage the put the bell peppers in as the tub of food was just that full towards the end.

Ingredients:
-Black kale (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Rainbow chard (pictured - from my garden)
-Beets & tops (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Broccoli (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Cauliflower (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Rainbow carrots (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Brussels sprouts (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Scarlet runner beans (pictured - from my garden)
-Some heirloom type of green beans (pictured - from my garden)
-Squash (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Sweet potato (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Chilies (pictured - from my garden)
-Quinoa
-Chick peas
-Adzuki beans
-Mung beans
-Organic purple barley



I'm not sure what I'll be doing next, as I've grown accustomed these last few months on having a variety of fresh vegetables to work with.

September's "Cooking for the birds"

This is an overdue post in a way; I made this batch of food two week-ends ago, but never really got to posting until now (obviously).

The previous batch of food was far from being all eaten, but the arrival of the long Labour Day week-end made it very tempting to prepare another batch right away; for one, there was a great selection of produce at the Farmer's market, as well as a lovely crop of beans from my own garden, and I got to enjoy a day of "rest" on Saturday (if you don't count going to the market, which I rather enjoy) before starting the two day long procedure of chopping and cooking everything that goes into the mix.


Definitively a larger variety of vegetables than what I had in August!

I found the August mix to be a bit too heavy on the grains and legumes so I ensured I got LOTS of vegetables this time. While quite a few of them are always included, I did get a few additional ingredients and larger quantities of everything in general.

Ingredients:
-Black kale (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Rainbow chard (pictured - from my garden)
-Beets & tops (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-(Very) sweet yellow corn (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Red bell pepper (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Broccoli (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Orange cauliflower (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Rainbow carrots (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Brussels sprouts (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-French green beans (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Scarlet runner beans (pictured - from my garden)
-Some heirloom type of green beans (pictured - from my garden)
-Chilies (pictured - from my garden)
-Quinoa
-Chick peas
-Adzuki beans
-Mung beans
-Organic purple barley


Day 1 - all veggies (except the beets) cut and steamed

As I mentioned before, I added more vegetables than last time, but I also cut down how many grains and legumes I added (by quantity and totally omitting adding lentils this time around). I was more happy with the end result; while there was still plenty of beans to entice the birds, they also had to at least forage through vegetables to get to them (and this generally means more veggies ingested).


Day 2 - everything mixed together!

In the end, I think I got 5 weeks worth of food out of this bath - not bad!

A week-end of toys: T4W haul!

Today I received my recent Things for Wings order, hand delivered no less!

Danita recently had a 10% off selected food sale, so I took the opportunity the replenish my dwindling TOPs supply. On the same occasion, I added a few toys to the order, which made it look very similar to my previous T4W order.

A testament to Danita's great customer service, when faced with the obligation to go out of town, she messaged me asking how urgent it was that I receive my food, since the toys I added were to be handmade and she couldn't ship the order until then. Given that I have a certain time thing going against me, I said sooner was better than later. Well, she took some time to make the toys and have them ready before her departure. I later learned she was actually heading to my town and brought my order with her!

This will just get added to the long list of reasons why I am a repeat customer!

Anyways, my (small) order consisted of the following -

10 lbs bag of TOPs (pellets)


4 "Basket of cherries"


These are for the bigger chewers amongst the Littles - the combination of balsa, pine, yucca and other easy to shred materials makes this a favourite amongst the flock.

The "Backwoods Sampler"


This one is for Léa, she had one in the past and thoroughly enjoyed it, I figured it was time to get her another! She is really craving harder woods lately and this will make her happy!

Finally, another big thank you to Danita for the in person delivery (and awesome toys)!

August's "Cooking for the birds"

Yet another installment of the cooking for the bird series!

Last week-end, I made a new batch of food for the birds. In total, I think I got a little over 8 or 9 weeks of food out of it, once divided into daily portions.

As far as the vegetables are concerned, everything that went in the mix was either from the local Farmers market or from my garden (which is slowly starting to produce things that are ready to eat). I try to get as much of the stuff organic, and definitively ensure that the leafy vegetables are.



Ingredients:
-Rainbow chard (pictured - from my garden)
-Black kale (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Carrots (pictured - from the Farmers market, mine aren't quite ready)
-Turnips (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Purple cauliflower (pictured - from the Farmers market)
-Corn (pictured - from a local Farmers stand)
-Chilis (pictured - from my garden)
-Quinoa
-Chick peas
-Adzuki beans
-Mung beans
-French & black lentils
-Organic purple barley

So this time I went a little heavier on the grains and legumes it seems, although it was purely coincidental as I never know what the end result will look like. While I do measure out those dry ingredients (which get soaked overnight before being cooked), I don't necessarily measure out the veggies and just throw in whatever I have. I'm sure the birds won't complain as they tend to like the beans and grains...



Next time I'll try to shift the proportion and given the Market season is already coming to a close, I might just prepare another batch of food before I run out of this one and alternate what is offered just to mix things up!

June's "Cooking for the birds"

This year I am trying to take advantage of the local Farmers' markets in a more regular fashion than I did in previous years.

So far, since they officially begun 3 weeks ago in my area, we've been every single Saturday.

Last week, we got a lot of stuff, and given the week-end was grey and rainy, I proceeded to make a big batch of food for the birds; it had been a while since I last did so.



What is pictured above is most of what went in as veggies (and most of them are organic, except the carrots), although there were a few additional ingredients that I sadly had to purchase at the store.

Ingredients:
-Rainbow chard (pictured)
-Purple kale (pictured)
-Black kale (pictured)
-Carrots (pictured)
-Turnips (pictured)
-Beets (pictured)
-Sweet potato
-Peas (from frozen)
-Quinoa
-Chick peas
-Adzuki beans
-Mung beans

All the veggies were cooked using the steamers. On top of the listed greens, I also used the green tops from the turnips and the beet roots.

I had originally wanted to also add some barley and some lentils, but the container got full so they'll be used another time.



This is what the food looked like, once all chopped, steamed/cooked and mixed up. So far it's been a huge success with the birds, including Petey who's been a picky eater lately. All in all, once the food was portioned, we ended up with 5 weeks worth of food! I might make more batches sooner than later, using whatever I'll find in season; it's nice to be able to select vegetables that were picked either earlier that day or the day before and use them right away!

Coming up

Went to the Farmers' market yesterday and this is what we brought back.

Given the week-end forecast announced two dull and grey days ahead, I figured it was time to once again make a big batch of food for the birds and freeze it off in smaller portions. Yesterday I tackled the chopping and steaming of the vegetables; most of what is pictured above was used, with the exception of all allium (green garlic, garlic scapes and young onions) and some other items that will be shared between humans and birds.

Today I'll tackle the beans and grains.

Stay tuned for a longer post with more details about what went in the batch of food later this week.

A recent Things for Wings order

Things for Wings has branched out it seems! Danita is now offering more than her fun toys and toy parts, she now included food and I believe more is to come!

Thanks to a friend, I was made aware of this change just when I needed some more TOPs. And since Danita had the 10 lbs bag in stock at a very nice price, I made my first "non-Things-For-Wings-original" purchase there.


That might appear like a large bag but with my large flock, it actually lasts not that long (a month or two?). We keep the bag in the freezer to keep it fresh (I LOVE my chest freezer!)

I also figured that while I made an order for a food item, I might as well purchase some toys from her new adorable daffodil collection. I actually only got two of the same for my two biggest small Poi chewers at the moment (Joey and Shade) and I really think this toy is going to be a favourite with both of them!



Finally, because I do have another big chewer here who's appetite can really only be satisfied with harder pieces of wood, I got her another copy of "her" toy - the Léa toy!

My first Avian Stainless order

To be honest, I wasn't planning to put an order with Avian Stainless before I needed some more Avian Organics (as both online stores are owned by the wonderful Doris) so I could combine shipping. However, last week she had a special on her Facebook page on her version of the skewer - the "Classic Canadian Skewer". I believe it was 30% off and I really couldn't pass that up!

Well my package arrived today (which really was incredibly fast shipping!) and although I knew the skewer was "large", I was still surprised by how wide it was when I saw it in person!



It was suggested that the skewer gets hung outside the cage, unless you have a very large cage with plenty of space and I agree - but it was always my intention of having out in a common area for all to enjoy (once I decide what I'll put on it..)

Along with the skewer came a little surprise, also from Avian Stainless. It was very neatly packaged.





The toy is named "Rising Stars" and I'm thinking I'll also hang it on the common play area - after all, some of the smaller guys have been missing a toy I removed after doubting if it was entirely safe and I think this will be a nice substitute!

Since I was running low on Cazuela, I asked Doris if I could order a bag and get it included in the box and she happily oblidged. Imagine my surprise when I saw two bags of Avian Organics goodies in the box, one being a free bag of Cajun Berry Minis, which is a great thing since the birds love these (well any of the "minis") and we are about at the half mark point of the Mango Ginger Minis bag I have open right now.



Thank you so much Doris!!!

March's "Cooking for the birds"

After weeks of having to prepare meals each night because we ran out of the food I had prepared in January and I haven't got around to making more, I finally did another batch over the week-end.

The Boy and I were both sick quite a bit during February and early March so the prospect of spending hours during the week-end to prepare food over that time period wasn't really something that I looked forward to, although it would have saved some headache in the evening when it came time to preparing the birds' dinner.

While I'm feeling better, I didn't really want to think too much about what to put into the mix so I kept it to some very standard ingredients.



Ingredients:
-Sweet potato
-Carrots
-Cauliflower
-Broccoli
-Kale
-Sweet peas
-Chick peas (or gabanzo beans)
-Quinoa
-Lentils

As I mentioned in a post yesterday, the vegetables (all but the kale) were steamed using my steamer. I think I will keep using it for this task from now on.



If I get around to it before I portion and bag this all up, I might cook some brown rice and pearl barley to add to the mix. If not, I think it'll be good as it is, at least for this time.

I can't wait for the summer to be here and for produce to be a bit more abundant and diversified!

Steaming some veggies!

I'll probably have a longer post tomorrow about my lastest venture in "cooking for the birds", as I am, once again, taking the 2 day approach to producing a big batch of food to be frozen in individual meal size portion.

And while it might be more of the same, how I prepare the veggies has changed this time around. Over the holidays I received a steamer and figured I'd give it a try with the veggies I cut up for this batch of bird food. So far, I'm quite impressed - putting aside the fact that I know that steaming allows for more nutrients to stay within the vegetables, I also found they had a sweeter taste comparatively than when I gave them a quick blanching, which I'm sure the birds will also enjoy!

December/January's "Cooking for the birds"

This is the first time since I started this series of post that I don't have a picture of the pile of fresh food I was going to use.

And while the title seems to make one believe it took me two months to complete, it's really that I didn't start until very late in December and since most of the food will be used in January and I didn't get around posting this until now, it felt right to include both.

It was another huge batch of food and like last time, I did the whole thing over a few days (cooked some grains on the first day, some legumes on another and finally chopped the vegetables on a third one.)



What went in it?

Grains & legumes
-Quinoa
-French lentils
-Brown rice
-Chickpeas (I think Léa and Zuri would be very sad if these weren't included)

Vegetables & fruit
-Swiss chard (stem and leaf)
-Broccoli
-Carrots
-Cauliflower
-Sweet peas
-Red bell pepper
-Pomegranate

I think that was it. I generally like to include sweet potatoes but had forgotten to get one before hand this time around.


Close up of the food

As I  mentioned above, the grains and legumes were cooked before going in the mix. I also gave all the veggies, except for the peas which were initially frozen and thawed before adding to the mix, a quick blanch before tossing them in the mix.



Once the food was all bagged up into dinner size portion (one bag feeds all seven birds for one evening), I got 34 portions. Add to this that I had fed the birds for 4 evenings before actually going through the bagging process, the whole mix gave me food for 38 days.

Not bad!

Do you think she enjoyed her raspberry??

What better way to end the year on the blog than by showcasing one trait that defines a lot of parrots - messy!!

The poor raspberry that ended up in Pixel's bowl this morning was, once upon a time, nice and whole. Now it's smeared all over TWO food bowls as well as Pixel's flagstone perch (where she seems to enjoy the very best of her food).

At least it was enjoyed.

The food has been bagged...

The food showcased in my "November's Cooking for the birds" post has been divided, bagged and sent to the freezer.



There are 36 dinner portion bags in the picture. If we also take into consideration that I had taken out 4 meals out of the container before I finally proceeded to bag everything, the whole batch of food gave me a total of 40 dinner portions.

That's not bad for a day's work or so!

November's "Cooking for the birds"

Today was a cooking day!

Well, to be honest it was a two day thing; given how I had injured myself last time because I tried to push too much in one day, I figured that this time around, I'd cook most of my grains/legumes on Saturday and do the rest Sunday (today).

This has been the biggest batch yet - I used my biggest Tupperware container to put everything in and mix and it can hold up to 10 Liters of stuff and I'm very very close to the brim!

What did I use this time around?



Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Pomegranate
Chili
Butternut squash
Carrots
Sweet Potato
Bell pepper
Swiss chard

The list appears less exhaustive than last time, but unlike last time, nothing was left out. I had also initially wanted to include some peas, but we had no frozen peas on hand and most stores were closed today. Since I haven't bagged the lot yet, I might just get the Boy to pick up a bag of peas tomorrow and include them then.

As for grains and legumes, I used quinoa, chick peas (a favorite), French lentils and some pearled barley.

The mix of grains and legumes before the addition of veggies -



The final mix -



Spreading the work over two days was really the best thing - I can only imagine how tired I would have been if I had to do all the work today!

If I'm lucky, this will tide me over until the Holidays next month, where I'll have plenty of time to made a new batch of food!