Around the Garden right now

We're about to enter the third calendar month of autumn. You wouldn't guess it by looking at my tank levels or popping a spade into the ground - it's still way too dry, but the crisp mornings and the need to wear a jumper and socks tells me it really is.

It's dry, but we've had some rain. Weed seedlings are starting to show their heads in the 'lawn' areas and while my plants still look forward to a drink of carted grey water, they would survive without it.

This autumn I feel like I am living in and for the garden. I've spent countless hours preserving the fruit crops we grew or were gifted and have been enjoying celery, carrots, lettuce, herbs, tomatoes (yes still), silverbeet and herbs in our meals. I can see that there will be a small gap in harvest soon though, and will look into fixing that gap next year.

I'm growing seedlings of artichokes, pak choi, kale and purple sprouting broccoli, some more successfully than others, but I'm learning more each day, and getting better gradually at this growing from seed business.



Seedlings on the verandah.

Planted in the garden over the last month or so, I have broad beans, peas, sugar snap peas, snow peas, brocoletti, carrots, lettuce, wong bok cabbages, beetroot, garlic (two varieties), red onions, spring onions and carrots.



Seedlings doing well in the garden under a canopy of chicken wire to keep off cats and ducks

Around other parts of the garden, I've planted another olive tree, an almond tree, a mandarin and another feijoa. I've also added more herbs to my potted herb garden, helped 'self sow' silverbeet and calendula and sprinkled seeds of chamomile.



Garlic doing very well.

Our Muscovy ducks, Daisy (who may be Donald) and Peach, follow me everywhere in the front yard, chatting away and hoping I'll throw a snail or two their way. I've learnt that they love lettuce and beetroot leaves, and therefore, if I want to grow them for us to eat, they'll need to be planted beyond their reach.



I was sitting on the verandah writing this, so they joined me!

Also in the front, I'm working on a spot of pruning and taming the grass runners that are doing extremely well and reeking havoc around trees.

Out the back, Buddy is my constant companion as I peruse the works in progress. It looks messy now, but soon, our backyard area will be split by a fence. Inside that fence will be a water tank on a stand, the stand will become a shelter for our miniature goat, Jorgie, and her kid (which she should be getting pregnant with about now) when they come to live with us in September.


Behind Buddy, you can make out the holes for the tank stand and the pile of dirt we've dug out so far.

Next to the goat yard will be a new shed. The shed will be for feed storage with a section set up as my dairy. And all the way around the fence, I'll be planting goat friendly plants such as roses, lavender, silverbeet, wormwood, nasturtiums, chamomile and rosemary. These fragrant and pretty plants will look and smell lovely in the garden that will be below our washing line, and as they grow tendrils through the mesh wire of the goats fence, they'll be able to nibble away.

Introducing Jorgie, our miniature goat who will continue to live on the stud farm in Portland until she's had her kid.

The chooks are doing well too, they're laying a bit less now, but I still bring in eggs each day. They are enjoying scratching through weeds, devouring the sprouted wheat feed and picking at their garden which I planted back in march in an old guinea pig hutch so they can pick, but not destroy, the silverbeet, nasturtiums and calendula growing in there.



Standing on their very own garden.

So that's what's happening around here. On Friday, we'll take delivery of the tank and fencing materials so the next part of construction can happen. I'll keep you updated!

Not a butcher

Remember these guys?

Well they grew up. They grew up into beautiful big roosters of various colours. They were quite friendly and lived peacefully in a bachelor coop with younger roosters that have gradually come to join them. I enjoyed raising them, but as was always the intention, the time came for them to be processed into healthy, lean, almost free range and extremely low food miles meat for our freezer.

We've processed a few batches now, and we're getting better at it.  Each time, we learn something new and do the job cleaner, quicker and with less waste.

The adjustments we made to the process this time were to put each of the roosters (three this time - two of ours and a donated Rhode Island Red), into an empty feed bag each when we caught them. Previously we've just put them all into a box and once we had one escape and had to chase him round the backyard - not conducive to stress free meat! By placing them in the dark bags, they stayed still and calm until their turn came. We only ever catch then when we are completely ready, so they are in the bags a maximum of 10 minutes.

The other change was to add a few drops of dish detergent to the scalding water we use before plucking. I don't know if it helped - the first two were relatively easy to pluck, but the third one wasn't. I think the water was too cold, but basically, he ended up skinned instead of plucked. This seemed like a bad thing, but ended up good.

Now I'm not a butcher, and I actually don't like handling meat, but I believe humans should be omnivores, I believe we should eat humanely raised and killed meat and I am the only one in our house likely to do any butchering.  So I set to preparing our roosters for the freezer. Previously, I've just cleaned them all up and frozen them whole. And previously, we've fed the necks to the dog, but all the feathers, guts etc have been thrown out. Not this time. This time, we reserved the necks for Buddy, I have frozen the livers in a container to become pâté when we have enough (I'll add more each time we do this) and the guts and feathers were buried near one of our fruit trees to act as a blood and bone fertiliser.

The rest of the chicken, I brought inside. The Rhode Island Red was plump and lovely looking, so after a clean, he was left in tact to become a roast. The other two were not so 'roast chicken' looking, so I had a go at jointing them. I can't say I ended up with the neatest cuts of meat, but I did put a bag of skinless/boneless breast fillets, a bag of skinless/boneless thigh fillets and a bag of legs and wings into the freezer. Then, not wanting to waste anything, the carcasses went into the crock cooker with a couple of litres of water for two days. Yesterday, I strained it, picked the remaining meat from the bones and gave the bones to the chooks to pick at (that made me feel weird, but I didn't want to just throw them out! Besides, they do eat meat scraps from the chook bucket usually....).

The scraps of meat were added to a pasta dish last night, and the stock filled three large mason jars, which I bravely pressure cooked using my pressure canner for the first time. I was petrified of using it, but in the end, it wasn't too hard, and I now have three meals worth of stock added to my overflowing pantry.

So, despite the fact that I'm not a butcher, I managed to grow healthy, happy roosters and turn those three roosters into at least 10 meals for our family, plus bones for the dog and pâté. And not one bit of those roosters went to waste, or left the property.

Happy mini farmers.

Together

Having good people around makes so many things better. 

Not everything, we need time for just us, but many things are made better by the company of someone special.

A cuppa tastes better with a friend to chat to.

Digging holes is less like a chore when you do it together.

Laughing with a good friend is like therapy.

Watching a movie is nicer cuddled up with someone you love.

Sad times are made more bearable with a hand to hold.

An op shop bargain is better with someone to share it with.

We're social creatures, things are just meant to be done together.

I'm thinking about this because I'm planning a belly dance class for duets. Beginner duets that is - mums and daughters, sisters, friends etc who can come and learn belly dance together, because it is more fun that way.

I love dancing with my troupe mates.  All three of us is good, but dancing duets is special.  There is a link between the dancers that is almost physical.  A warm bubble around us that means that we dance together and feel the music together.  Most of my favourite belly dance moves are ones designed specifically for duets.

I started my belly dance journey with my mum.... something to do together.  It didn't last long, mum has a busy life and it wasn't perfect for her.  But it was fun while it lasted, and taking those first tentative steps into something new was so much easier for having someone to do it with.

Sometimes I think that's why I blog - it takes all of my little things and gives me someone to share them with.  Being able to share those simple things and knowing that my blog friends are going to enjoy reading about them makes them feel even better.

My boys are lucky.  They live with their best friend and do everything together.  They never have to go anywhere alone.

I feel very lucky too as I'm surrounded by wonderful people.  I have people that I can enjoy doing so many things with.  My hubby, my best friends, my mum, sisters, brothers, step mum, grandma and my dancing sisters.  They're all so different, and yet so perfect for doing all of the different things in my life with.  Love them all.

It's my birthday today....

"It's my birthday today
I'm older than yesterday
All my friends are coming over to play
And they'll all sing happy birthday..... To me"
Justine Clark, from my all time favourite kids album

Unlike in the song, there wasn't a jumping castle, or pass the parcel. But I've had a lovely birthday. I've been given birthday pressies from family over the last month as I've seen them - some gorgeous tea cups, books on using natural cleaners, a gorgeous soy candle set and some jewellery. Last night I celebrated with my intermediate belly dance students - cup cakes, dancing, chai and two of my best friends returning after a month away - perfect!

My three boys woke me up early this morning to present me with their gifts. A delicious homemade card (naw), a rain gauge (Stu promises he's done a rain dance to help out, but I still think 150mm is very ambitious!), some simple silver earrings and chocolate! Yay!

The sun shone all day and I went to have a cuppa with a lovely new friend who had made me a gorgeous nutmeg cake. Then I taught a belly dance class which both beautiful and relaxed and a great workout.

The workout was a good idea - I came home to another visit from a friend who brought me a homemade choccy cake, and then had time, amongst calls and messages from more friends to get ready for my family who arrived for my fondue party. When I turned 17, I had a fondue party with my schoolmates. It's 17 years since then, so I thought I'd have another. It's crazy to think that back then my mum was heavily pregnant with my brother and my sister hasn't been thought of. Stu and I hadn't met and I think I was going through a faze of not wanting kids. I was doing my final year of high school and I wanted to be a doctor, I'd never heard of belly dance! I felt so grown up and thought I knew where my life was going. Ha! I feel like a completely different person now, but still the same as well.

Anyway, I got spoilt with even more lovely gifts, including a fabulous bread knife, some homemade cookies in a custom decorated jar and an almond tree! Woohoo!

I had a beautiful night, spent cuddling my baby niece and my gorgeous boys, catching up with my siblings and even getting to Skype with my grandad in the UK with whom I share a birthday.

And now, I'm all birthday-ed out...... Happy birthday to me!

PS. Sorry for the terribly unformatted/typed on my iPod post - too tired to work if out properly on the computer ;)

DIY chook food

Up until recently, we fed our chooks on pellets. Layer pellets for the main flock, and pullet starter/grower for the young. But with so many chooks now hanging around, and my ever present 'could we DIY this?' attitude, I began looking for an alternative.

I discovered fodder systems and was pretty impressed. A fodder system is basically growing sprouts for your livestock. You can grow all sorts of things, but wheat is readily available and sprouts well, so that's what I use. By sprouting the grains, you change the chemical makeup of the material, thereby, increasing the available nutrients for your animals. You also increase the quantity of food, and in doing so, feed your animals less and save money!! As added bonuses, you know exactly what you're feeding your animals (and therefore what you're eating in your eggs/meat) and by buying less bags of pellets, you save on packaging. Hooray!

Wheat grains contain Vitamin B,C and E, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Pantothenic Acid, Phosphorus, Amino Acids.  By sprouting the grains, your animals get all of that PLUS vitamins A and K, Chlorophyll, Lecithin, Potassium and trace elements.  And the protein value of the feed goes from 10% to 30% (reference).

 

Lots of people grow fodder, if you want to do it, hunt around the Internet and read some other blog posts. But here is how we I do it.

For one smallish flock of birds (ie. for either my 7 roosters and 2 ducks of my 10 layers), a tray of food a day (plus some other things -see below) is a good start. So for each flock you need to set up a system. Each system needs a container with a lid (ice cream containers work well), 7-9 kitty litter trays (or similar), some old net curtains and somewhere to keep your system.

My fodder system is made of lots of bits of recycled timber and sits on the verandah.
Total cost for set up was about $30

Storing your system on open shelves is a good idea as the water used to water the top trays trickles down and waters the trays below.  You could use wire shelves from the shop, or if, like me, you believe things should be as cheap and recycled as possible, grab some pallets and scrap timber and custom make one!

I had helpers while making my pallet shelving system :)

Take your kitty litter trays and drill drainage holes in the bottom of them. Make sure you put in quite a few, but keep the holes smaller than a grain of wheat! I experimented with how many trays and found 8 is good. Apparently the fodder has the most nutrients between day 6 and 8 and after that it gains nothing and may start losing nutrients as the grass grows.

Now to grow the fodder. On day 1, put two cups of wheat into your lidded container. Cover it with water. After 8 hours (or overnight), tip the contents into your first litter tray and spread out the soaked grains. Repeat this step every day.  Use your net curtain to drape over your trays or the sparrows will find them and get very fat on your efforts (yep, speaking from experience!).

Each day, water your trays to keep them moist, but not soggy. In cool wet weather, I find once a day is enough, but on hot dry days, you need to water more often.

Day 1: Soaked grains

Day 3: Starting to grow roots

Day 5: A nice green flush

Day 8: Ready to feed!

Try not to disturb your growing wheat - it slows down the growth and you end up with messy crops. By day three you will see the wheat layer is starting to bulge and "puff" us as the roots grow. By day six, things are turning green. And by day 8 you'll have a lovely grassy crop. Keep away any wheat grass smoothie drinking folk and prepare to feed out your first crop!

The wheat will have grown into a slab of roots, shoots and grainy bits. Break it up and feed it out. Different animals treat it differently, but they all seem to like it.

I started with one system and have just started a second. Once we get our goats, I'll probably do three. And remember if you have other herbivores (guinea pigs, horses, rabbits etc), this makes a good feed for them too.

I do supplement the feed. The ducks free range and pig out on snails and slugs and the occasional scrap. All of the chooks get kitchen scraps. The meat chickens also get a whey and oat porridge (or porridge and yoghurt) to fatten them and the layers get a handful of layers pellets and shell grit. I hope to get rid of the layers pellets eventually though and replace the necessary nutrients in them with more home grown and natural foods.

Do you grow or cook for your animals?  Would love to hear about it!  And if you have any questions about this, ask away!

Op shops and kids

You know how much I love the op shop right? I love buying clothes for wearing or re-purposing. I love buying kitchen items and pretty things for the house. I love buying clothes for hubby and the kids. I love buying fabric and yarn and other crafty stuff. And then there is furniture, jewellery, the odd belly dance costume item and other fun things. Op shops rock!

I learnt to opshop from my mum. We have opshopped together for as long as I remember, and mostly, I thought it was cool. As a teen, I opshopped with my friends and fitted out my wardrobe with funky pieces that fitted my budget (which was non-existent!).

I want my kids to be opshoppers too. They're never likely to be opshoppers like I am (they're boys and therefore missing the 'shopping for pleasure' gene),but I want them to embrace the idea of buying second hand, of exploring other options for getting the stuff they need and in the process being budget and eco conscious individuals.

Since they were tiny babies, they've had clothes, toys and books from the opshop and now, are learning to hunt for their own opshop clothes and books. They bought our Christmas presents in an opshop, and occasionally, they get something even cooler.

This morning, we popped into the opshop next to Stu's work. I was browsing and Lachie headed to the kids section. After a few minutes he came to get me. He had found roller blades. Not just any roller blades, but three pairs in their size! So we bought them a pair each for the grand total of $8. Not bad eh? Look out opshops, here come the Wright kids!

Autumn is....

Jamie's bunny {pattern}

Lachie's Easter haul
(the bags full of eggs and those little ones have jelly beans in them!)

Autumn is having extreme heat and then extreme cold - all in a week.

Autumn is wondering how long I should leave those sick looking tomato plants in the ground waiting for the last fruit to ripen.

Autumn is chocolate rabbits, hot cross buns and hunting for shiny wrapped eggs in the dark wet garden.

Autumn is seeing your breath on the air while doing the morning chores.

Autumn is building and planning (at least it always seems to be for us).

Autumn is pulling out the extra blankets for snuggling under in the evenings.

Autumn is not quite putting away shorts and skirts..... just in case.

Autumn is fruit - apples, peaches, pears and more - for eating fresh and bottling.

Autumn is brewing.  Filling the cupboards with beer and cider before the weather turns too cool for easy fermentation.

Autumn is watching the dirt and dry grass flush green and remembering that is isn't always so dry here.

Autumn is brassica seeds - cabbage, cauliflower, brocolli, pak choi and kale.

Autumn is beautiful days in the garden and evening bike rides.

Autumn is feeling the desire to pick up my crochet hooks again for snuggly crocheting evenings.

Autumn is colours - leaves changing and falling, flowers and pretty blue skies.

Unplanning the menu

I love the idea if menu planning. Occasionally, I go through a phase of menu planning, which for me, involves scribbling ideas  for the week ahead on the whiteboard or a scrap of paper.  Last year I had visions of one of those lovely homemade menu plan boards hanging in my kitchen, but I never got around to making one, and now I'm glad I didn't - I've unplanned the menu!

You see, the trouble with a menu plan is that, for us, it actually leads to more food waste than not planning the menu.  I find that if I menu plan, I tend to follow recipes more (from books or my own) and use the ingredients required only.  I also make a more set quantity, which isn't always great for our family.  The other thing I do when menu planning is plan a week around a couple of meat meals, a pasta, a rice etc, and end up with a nicely balanced diet, but leftovers that don't always go together (which I may or may not include to eat in the week anyway). 

As you know, we have a decent sized veggie garden, and over the summer (despite the heat and dry), we managed to grow nearly all the vegetables we ate.  As we moved through the season, I started to notice that I had a lot of one veg around at a time, and if I planned a menu, we might not eat all of it, and in fact start to need to buy vegetables that we would have in our garden another time.  It feels wrong to grow vegetables and then let them shrivel in the garden or feed them to the chooks while buying others from the shops.

An article I read recently talked about using all of your garden harvest. It said to harvest something everyday, and regardless of what it is, or how much of it there is, use it for that day. Now I don't think that I can always use all of my daily harvest the day it is picked, but I endeavour to base my meals around what I pick each day (or have put aside from a previous harvest), rather than trying to fit my harvest into my meal plan. We have much less waste this way and end up eating very well and definitely seasonally.  We don't always have 5 different veg on our plates, and some weeks we seem to eat an awful lot of a particular vegetable that is either our glut crop (hello zucchinis in January!) or our only decent crop (currently beetroot).

By unplanning the menu, I can also take advantage of good specials (AKA'chuck outs'). Therefore, if I come across something that will be useful to our family (eg. Free range meat or organic veg on special) I can buy them and fit them into the week ahead, rather than either leaving them (while I buy something full price so that it fits the menu plan) or buying them and then not using them.

So each night's meal is based on fresh veg from the garden, and then supported by any specials I've bought that week, my pantries, fridge and freezer which I keep stocked with simple foods.  As I work at home most days, I begin my day with a garden wander and a harvest - I pick what is ready and check the fridge for remaining veg from previous days.  Then, through the rest of the day, I creatively put together my ingredients with something from the stocks (below) and come up with a suitable meal. 

 

Our stored foods include:

• Freezer - frozen veg (preserved from the garden), homegrown chicken, the remains of the side of local, free range pork we bought, homemade stock, homemade breadcrumbs, pastry (yep, still buy that one), homemade icecream and some free range meat that I've bought on special.
• Fridge: milk, cheeses (homemade and bought), butter, homemade yoghurt, eggs from the chooks and a range of jams, chutneys and curry pastes. And also any excess veggies waiting to be used/ 
• The Kitchen Pantry: breakfast things and then lots if other cooking staples. Flour (for breads, sweet baking, pasta etc), sauces, spices, dried beans and pulses, dried fruits and nuts, baking odds and ends and a few cans (coconut milk, tomato paste and beans for when I run out of time).
• The Other Pantry: at this time of the year, is being filled with our produce - bottled and dried fruit, passata, chutneys and jams and marinating feta.

As you can see, I'm set up to cook pretty much anything I can dream up to use the produce I have.

I feel like, by ditching the idea of a menu plan, I've turned my back on one of the keystones of good homemaking, but this feels like a better fit, and as we become gradually more and more self sufficient, I think it is an important step in ensuring that we eat mostly our homegrowns.  People who know me may be laughing at this - you see I'm a planner by nature.  But this isn't completely throwing away a plan, but allowing my garden to plan for me each day or two and to allow me to get creative with what I have. I'll still be planning (yes, and writing lists, to ensure my kitchen is stocked well).  This is not just flying by the seat of my pants, this is intentional unplanning.


We've been doing this for a few weeks now, and the meals we've eaten have been mostly really goof, though some have felt like strange concoctions :).  We've eaten slices, curries, mexican inspired bean dishes, vegetarian roast dinners, lovely salads, pastas etc.  My shopping budget has been cut and I've only thrown a very small amount of leftovers and scrap veg to the chooks.

Bean and tomato salad, zucchini slice and naan bread - not the most regular
of combinations, but filling, delicious and it used what we had!

I read lots of blog posts about menu plans - some people plan for a whole season, others a fortnight or week. Some have fancy set ups, and I'm sure there are more intentional unplanners out there too. Where do you fit?