Why I love chickens

We have a few breeds of chickens here, plus some crosses, which are related to this beautiful chooky, Gumnut! Seeing the new escapee, it reminded me to post some egg pictures of the varities we're now seeing in the nests.

From left to right, starting at the front: the pale cream is a New Hampshire egg; the small light green is a bantam araucana; the olive green is the cross, like Gumnut, and the darkest is that of a Barnevelder.

As a note to Jacqui from Life in the Dome, my crosses started laying at 24 weeks, so Gumnut shoulnd't be far behind. Your little girl definitely found the best nest of all, LOL, and what a character. If she escapes too much, don't forget you can trim one of her wings. She definitely seems to want to be a house chicken though.

I've been really happy with the health of my chickens this year. We've gotten through winter without so much as a sniffle. The large New Hampshires and Barnevelder girls have laid all throughout winter. The best layer of all has been the New Hampshires. They've pushed out an egg a day, each, since they started laying. They only missed about 2 days over winter.

I'll share pictures of Gumnuts sisters when I can find a sunny enough day.

Dr Who Daddy

Well Father's Day has come and gone, but we had a very special day of it because we made stuff especially for Dad. He went to work (as normal) and when I woke, I started thinking about how we could make his day special after he returned in the afternoon.

What to do...what to do? I always make him a cake but I wanted to do something extra special this time. Now for all of those who don't know, my Dave has been a Doctor Who fan from way back. He even joined the Doctor Who fan club when he was a teenager, and met John Pertwee in person. We even have the photos to prove it, LOL. Such a fan was he, that he even commissioned two knitted (extra long) scarfs to match the ones Tom Baker used to wear!

So I've always had Doctor Who memorabilia stashed away in the cupboards, on the bookcase and sometimes even on the floor after our daughter has had a play with them. Yes, I'm afraid Dave is grooming the next Doctor Who fan in the family to continue his legacy. So any guesses what this is...

It's bigger on the inside!

Empty cereal boxes and empty cardboard boxes unite! Don't ask me why I decided to make a TARDIS, but when I got up on Father's Day, that's precisely what I did. There was a willing worker with our daughter as well. She helped pop out all the windows after I scored them with a blade.

TARDIS panel number two!

It was really simple to do, but still took a bit of fiddling to put it all together. I sort of knew I wouldn't get it painted in time before Dave got home, but I wanted to at least have it's recognisable form. As we were making it, I suggested to our daughter I turn it into a box - by having the roof come off. My clever girl then said it would be a great box to store all his Doctor who toys (ahem, "collectors items", as Dave likes to put it) in! But why stop there, what about the cake?

Darlek says: exterminate!
K9 replies: Negative, I will protect my Master

This was just a simple chocolate cake with lemon icing. I put a touch of rum essence in the cake for Dad too, LOL. The tie down the bottom is in the spirit of the latest Doctor Who incarnation, compliments of Matt Smith. "Ties are Cool!", is his catch phrase, which is what we put on the card we made for Dad too - in the shape of a bow tie. It was such a lot of fun to do, and this is what Dave came home to...

A Doctor Who convention

A setting suitable for any Doctor Who Dad! We even got to use one of his commissioned knitted scarfs. The TARDIS is yet to be finished, which I will follow up with later. Not a bad present, considering most of it was made from recycled materials. The only thing which wasn't, was the PVA glue and masking tape.

I hope you had a good day on Father's Day too. Sadly, some don't get the luxury of spending it with their fathers, as even Dave lost his dad to cancer four years ago. But even small gestures can mean a great deal, on a day especially for Dads.

Lemon butter magic

Lemons are a much undervalued fruit in the citrus world, as far as recipes go. They're meant to accompany other foods such as fish as a flavour enhancer. What a great job it does with fish too, but as a food in it's own right one can only screw-up the face in anticipation of tasting one!

Yes, lemons are not sweet but they are juicy. Added to sugar, eggs and butter, you have one exceptional spread that will make even store bought bread, taste homemade. I am of course, referring to the magic that is lemon butter.

You may have heard it called by the name lemon curd or lemon spread too, but for my money, nothing says childhood like lemon butter. It was hard to come by, even at a church or school fete. I have yet to taste one bought there however, that didn't have the overpowering raw egg flavour. After all, eggs are a vital component but you need to cook it's flavour out so the lemon dominates completely.

Lemon butter magic

The qualities of lemon butter that I remember as gifts from my childhood, was smooth in texture, glossy and the bight of the lemon is never overpowered by the eggs or the sugar. An overly sweet lemon butter in my opinion, isn't lemon butter - it has to threaten your taste-buds with a mild dose of sour or you won't enjoy the experience. In my research for the perfect lemon butter recipe, I think there are vital facts often missing from the list of usual ingredients.

For example, the number of lemons used in the recipe should depend on the type of lemon you're using. If Meyer is your lemon of choice, then you're going to need an extra one for grated zest. I have Eureka lemons, and in my opinion, it's the best for grated lemon zest. It's flavour is punchy with extra wowzer! So bear in mind, the recipe I have made my lemon butter with, is using Eureka lemons. If you're going to be using Meyer lemons, add an extra (small) lemon's, grated zest.

Recycled "Masterfoods" jars are perfect for small quantities

Don't be confused by the two types of recipes out there either. I've noticed some use whole eggs, while others only use yolks and cornflour (cornstarch). The thing is, they do exactly the same thing but when you omit the egg whites from the recipe - you need the cornflour to thicken the mixture. The theory behind removing the egg whites, is you reduce your chances of curdling so you can cook it in a saucepan directly on the stove. When using a recipe with whole eggs (white and yolk) be sure to make it with a double boiler or a large steel mixing bowl over a saucepan of boiling water.

It goes without saying, that you want to grate the zest as fine as possible, and I actually used my hand blender after I cooked it to ensure the zest was really fine.

A note about using the eggs too (and I have yet to find it in a recipe) before adding them into the cooking process, I put them through a strainer first - as I can never get those chunky globs of albumen out, no matter how hard or desperate I whisk. If you have fresh eggs from your own backyard, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. ;)

So onto the recipe:

4 Eureka lemons (grated zest and juice)
4 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups of castor sugar
150g butter - regular with salt is fine, just don't use margarine

This makes roughly over 2 cups. As it only keeps for a month in the fridge I make this small quantity to be consumed.

Set up your double boiler or mixing bowl and saucepan. Place in the butter until it melts. Add everything else except the eggs. After you've cracked them into a separate bowl, beat them lightly then put the eggs through a strainer. Catch the eggs into a separate bowl again - don't place directly into the double boiler mixture just yet. Make sure the sugar has completely dissolved, then using a metal whisk, slowly drizzle the eggs in, while you're constantly whisking the liquid.

Cook for approximately 15-20 minutes (stirring constantly) then take off the heat and run a hand blender through the mixture. Pour into sterilised jars and then cool for 30 minutes before placing in the fridge.

Lemon butter is one of those recipes you cannot boil after you've put it into the jar, to seal the lid, so consume within the month with refrigeration. They also make a gorgeous filling for mini tart shells too.

Now you can enjoy your lemons for the spread, and save your fish for the lemon grass instead. :)

In one fortuitous moment...

....the a-frame chicken tractor, went *crack*! It didn't crumple due to faulty construction, it actually stopped a tree from falling on the house. This picture was taken the day after.

24 hours later

Unfortunately, there were two innocent guinea-pigs inside the a-frame at the time. With all the leaves obscuring the view and heavy branches resting above the door, we couldn't get to them to see if they were okay. Our daughter panicked as mum ran for the bush saw, so dad could cut them free.

Dad was not too popular at that stage, feeling terrible himself - but everyone was racing to save the guinea pigs! Eventually we got the branches off the door - the guinea-pigs were scared, but safe, thankfully. My heart is still racing just thinking about it.

Crunch!

But the a-frame isn't in such good shape. This was my first major construction project with wood, and while it pains me to see it taken out by a tree, geez it held itself up well. Not only that, it protected the guinea pigs and the house. What a wonderful little project which has achieved so much!

The wood used to build it was mostly recycled from pallets, it housed our first chickens, grew-out chicks we hatched in the incubator (several batches) and helped fertilise our very first veggie patch.

Freshly on the job 2008

It was beginning to be used as a day-pen for the guinea-pigs until this fortuitous day. Several times I watched them feed, and I thought they needed something a little lower. I said to myself, what a pity I cannot remodel it - I mean, after all that effort it took to build it, I wasn't going to start tearing it down for guinea pigs.

Well, I guess the tree did that for me, LOL. Dave is now in the process of cutting the tree into posts. By the way, this is a baby tree, and in the picture below, he's already removed two-thirds of it. Being a "baby" tree we thought it was safe to remove on our own. In hindsight, we should've practiced on one further away from the house.

Needless to say, it had to fall up a hill to barely miss the house...

At the time, Dave thought he had it under control - I suggested if he kept cutting it on that side, it would fall towards the house. Had either of us known (truly how it would land) I'm sure we would've stopped the process. But the truth is, if you want to learn new things you have to experiment. Take all the precautions you can, research the theory in books and then just jump into it. That's how my a-frame was built - how it was taken out too, LOL.

Where we went wrong: we used the technique of a tree felled with a chainsaw, but we were using an axe! You cannot make the kinds of precision cuts with a chainsaw, with an axe. You learn in hindsight, LOL. Yes, we felt quite stupid on that score - it was an obvious difference.

All I can say is, no lives were lost - I can remodel the a-frame and we learned something new.

In one fortuitous moment...

 

....I wonder what shape you will take next?

Back so soon?

Spring is just around the corner...can you smell it?

With Spring comes new life and new beginnings. It was calling me back to blog about our every day life again. The mundane and the extraordinary. The good and the bad. Lots of stuff has happened during our absence, but I'll get to that in good time. Right now I just want to introduce you to our new blog.

I can say that our break away from blogging was well spent. It gave us a new perspective on being here for the long term. You can read about our new blog ethos, in the pages we've designed in the linkbar. We've decided to blog according to what we can and where we are in life - it just seemed the most practical approach to a long-term endeavour.

Of course, there's a new look to our blog and even a new address - I know I promised I wouldn't change it, I'm very sorry about that. It just seemed appropriate to change what we felt was necessary. We deliberated for quite some time on this matter. In the end, we wanted to be true to our new changes rather than emulating an older model. Please forgive the inconvenience I know it will cause.

One aspect of our new look however, is something I hope you can help me with. I've removed the blogs I follow from the sidebars, as I felt this was cluttering the page somewhat. It was all good clutter, mind you, as I do love to follow my favourite blogs. But I was wondering how others have gone about removing the clutter, but still have links to their favourite blogs?

Do you guys sign-up to follow blogs to see who has posted instead?

Anyway, just to show I haven't been entirely unproductive in our break, I knitted another dishcloth. Of course I did! I mean, what else do you do in winter but knit dishclothes, LOL?

I had a few stray bits of yarn which wouldn't complete a whole dishcloth, so I just knitted blocks of the leftover colours in plain knitting stitch. I know I'm not the first person to think of this idea, but it was a first for me to put into practice. It's a lovely, large cloth and plain knit is quite a strong weave and simple to do.

Another project keeping us occupied over winter, was finishing our front retaining wall. Can you believe it? It's 95% complete! Pictures will follow later but it's quite an exciting time for us. We're eagerly awaiting the new spring flush of growth, which will kick-start our new garden above the wall.

Well, I look forward to catching up again in the near future - refreshed and content. Bring on lovely spring time and all the new plants which bloom. Happy gardening!

A forever gardener

If you live in a rental or find yourself in a residence which is other than your own, is it possible to view the land there, as a forever garden? Probably not, but some people still plant regardless, hoping their efforts will carry on for the following generations to enjoy. This is not a bad philosophy to follow. In fact, if you consider yourself any kind of gardener at all - even just starting out - you have the ability to see yourself as a forever gardener.

A lot of people give-up after a few attempts gardening. Especially if a lot of money was involved initially, and the vibrant plants suddenly die. Let's face it, plants aren't cheap if you buy them retail. But it's often where you have to start, before seed germination and propagation skills become second nature to you. Let me give you a little tip though...everything hinges on the soil. Don't ever underestimate the power of dirt!

Forever gardeners needn't become soil scientists, or even start with a-grade topsoil. You just have to acknowledge that dirt can be your guide, in any condition you find it. Dirt, soil, earth, or whatever you want to call it; is not going to hurt you. It isn't so insignificant either - not as you may have first been led to believe. Just because you walk all over it, doesn't make it worthless. Seeing it everywhere is a sign that you need it. In fact, imagine a world without dirt?

But let's not forget what makes soil so important. Carbon storage and fertility supply. They make it possible for plants to grow and for micro-climates to develop. The air you breath, food you eat and the plants which affect climate, all comes from healthy soil.

That forever gardening philosophy, is starting to look a lot more important now. It makes you wonder why we ever stopped paying attention in the first place. As if there was something more important to attend to than our ability to breathe and allow life to continue? This isn't a lecture about philosophies however. It's about the power of knowledge and belief. A forever gardener learns to live with failure and trusts that planting is still a good endeavour to pursue.

Even in the face of dwindling water supplies, plants are our only hope. Did you know that plants do more than just use water? They are worth their weight in water, because they actually do hold water...they also keep salinity levels in check, and when planted near rivers, ponds, lakes, etc, they purify water. They encourage precipitation, and when you think about a foggy morning, imagine all the leaves in the world that will drip dew when the sun finally rises.

A forever gardener learns to appreciate the inherent value of the sources of life. They will see the value in any patch of dirt, no matter how degraded. They will also see the value in weeds as a temporary moratorium on soil erosion and nutrient loss. A forever gardener, most importantly, never believes that it's too late to grow water where a patch of dirt lays bare.

Did I just write, grow water? When you understand the lifecycle of a plant, you may think twice about removing them during your life time. Plants influence climate change in a very big way. They deal with the elements of life we are only just beginning to scratch the surface of. They make it possible for water to fall from the sky, they also catch what little moisture is in the air and dispense it to the soil underneath. It all connects. They control the flow of water on the surface, underneath the surface and they also purify water and stabilise soil. It all connects to make an ecosystem, which all life is based upon.

While there are times for making other plans; please still consider yourself a forever gardener in life. It does make a difference in the end. When you decide to grow plants instead of concrete, you're making a direct investment in the eco-system which supports you. Never underestimate the power of green-thumbs - or even brown ones for that matter. It all goes back to feeding the soil with carbon and fertility.

If you're a carbon based life-form, doesn't it make sense to invest in your carbon based ecology?

While you can still plant living vegetation, you will always be a forever gardener.

Gully Grove

You may notice a few changes on our blog. I still have some more to make, but it could take me a while to get it up and running.

The first change has been the title of this blog. It's no longer just the "Bushland Project", but it's also known as Gully Grove. This is the name we've finally settled on, for our property.

It's taken 3 years to come up with this name, LOL. We've never really felt the need for an official name, until recently. Gully Grove is a picture of where we wish to head in the future.

For more details however, click on the new, "About Gully Grove" link, under the header.

The good news is, I won't be changing the web-address, so there won't be any confusion where to find us.