tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21753568282997644122024-03-14T02:02:13.997+10:00Deb's Daily JournalThis is my daily journal to help me remember the daily goings on in my life & to encourage me to get lots more done around our home! I am a busy Mum of 3, married, live on acreage with our chooks & dog. I am currently trying to simplify the way I live, and keep up with the everyday things, while trying to do craft, sewing, vege gardening, and put order into our home and garden. I work part time from home, doing wedding flowers and paperwork for our full time business.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger428125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-54270388945476665372017-06-15T11:25:00.002+10:002017-06-15T11:26:10.550+10:00Curried Tuna Slice<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">
<b><span class="e2ma-style">Ingredients:</span></b><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">1 sheet shortcrust pastry</span><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">425g tuna (drained and flaked)</span><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">1 tbsp butter</span><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">1 onion, finely diced</span><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">1 stalk celery, finely diced</span><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">2 tbsp butter, extra</span><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">2 tbsp plain flour</span><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">2 tsp curry powder</span><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">½ cup water</span><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">½ cup milk</span><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">2 eggs lightly beaten</span><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">2 tbsp grated cheddar cheese</span><br />
<br />
<b><span class="e2ma-style">Topping</span></b><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">Ingredients:</span><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">125g grated cheddar cheese</span><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">1-2 tsp curry powder</span><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">½ tsp paprika</span><br />
<br />
<span class="e2ma-style">Combine ingredients, and sprinkle over base before
cooking.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span class="e2ma-style">Method:</span></b><br />
<span class="e2ma-style">Pre-heat oven 200 degrees Celsius. Line the base of a
greased, foil lined lamington tray with the pastry. Spread drained and flaked
tuna evenly over pastry.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><span class="e2ma-style">In a small saucepan melt butter and sauté onion and
celery for 1-2 minutes. Spread over tuna. Melt extra butter, add flour, and
curry powder. Stir until combined. Gradually add water, milk and eggs, stirring
constantly and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and fold in 2 tablespoons
grated cheese. Pour sauce over vegetables. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><span class="e2ma-style">Sprinkle topping over slice.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><span class="e2ma-style">Bake at
200 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce to 180 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until
cooked.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><span class="e2ma-style">Filling will be set and top is golden brown. Serve hot or cold as a
main meal or cut into 3cm squares to use as finger food.</span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span><br />
<i><span class="e2ma-style"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">(Sharing this recipe from the Cheapskates Club Newsletter.)</span></span></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-18192747100262706662016-12-23T10:13:00.000+10:002017-06-02T10:13:54.187+10:00Home made Shortbreads and gift bagIt's hard to buy gifts for people that you don't see very often. Knowing their likes, dislikes etc. And just wanting to give them a token gift with good wishes of the season, without over doing it. Home made is always good in these instances I believe, and shortbreads are always a winner for Christmas gifts.<br />
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I also love to put lots of thought in to how I wrap my presents, so I made a cute little bag, complete with clear cello window so that the shortbreads could be seen. I finished it off with a border punch, ribbon and a little gift tag.<br />
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I used my thermomix to make the shortbread, it's very quick and easy. It's not as nice as a true shortbread I don't think, but everyone I have given these to seems to rave about how nice they are, and seems to really appreciate them. I put pistachios and cranberries through these as well for some festive flair.<br />
<br />
I used this <a href="https://www.recipecommunity.com.au/baking-sweet-recipes/red-and-green-christmas-shortbread/ztpu5t3u-9d870-793105-cfcd2-ap1z3pjc" target="_blank">Christmas Shortbread</a> recipe from the Thermomix forum.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-7017302565686405032016-12-17T10:34:00.000+10:002017-06-02T10:34:35.842+10:00Gingerbread House 2016I was lucky enough to be purchased a cooking class as a gift, so decided I would use it on a Gingerbread House class. I had a great day baking, and I'm really happy with the result. Great to put in the centre of the table on Christmas Day! It even has windows, and has lights inside that can be turned on and off. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-42866878085781341302016-03-31T17:29:00.001+10:002016-05-10T08:57:23.115+10:00Doughboy - our wandering bull<br />
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Our bull, Doughboy, has been a bit naughty over the last few months, and has started testing the fences and going on to neighbouring properties. We got a call from the stock squad a couple of weeks ago to say he had wandered on to another property, which ended up being a neighbours property.<br />
<br />
They have been using molasses traps to catch the steers on their property, and Doughy can smell molasses from miles away. So he has broken through our fences to get over to the molasses, and keeps getting caught in their yards - which then means they can't catch their own cattle! They dropped him back for us, but he quickly disappeared again.<br />
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After looking for him for a few days while we have been up at the farm, I rang them to see if they had him again, and they did, so we arranged to go to the property they have taken him to, to keep him out of their molasses traps, about 30 klms from here. So yesterday Damian headed out to pick him up. In the meantime, the owners of the other property were rounding him up for us, Hugh...the owner, who is 73, has ended up having an accident on his quad bike, coming off, passing out and having to be choppered in to the local hospital! Nothing is bloody quiet around here! He has ended up having a few broken ribs, punctured a lung and bruising. He was actually very lucky. Quad bikes can be so dangerous, even if you know how to ride them.<br />
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Apparently, the news has been in contact with them today, and their grand-daughter has been giving interviews about children ringing 000, as she is 9 years old, and the one who rang the ambulance.<br />
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<i>(Hugh being loaded in to the chopper for the ride to hospital)</i></div>
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We are so glad he is ok, He has left hopsital today, and is managing well. We have been up at the farm since the Thursday before Easter, and I was due to head back today, but I have been sick since last Friday, waves of headaches and nausea, and ended up going to bed at 4pm yesterday and was not up to the 4 hour drive back to Brisbane today. Not sure when I will head back yet, probably will spend another day or 2 up here and then head back. I want to do some painting in the kitchen here, and we have been having a big clean out here, and clearing out bits and pieces from the shed while we have been here. Well, I better go and make sure the bull is behaving himself and hasn't wandered off again!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-63751723907026781122016-02-04T21:48:00.002+10:002016-02-04T22:38:46.307+10:00Stella.... my little mate....Had to say goodbye to my little mate on Saturday....unfortunately Stella has
never been 100% since we got her when she was 5 months old, and we
found out after she started staggering that she was in liver
failure which had started affecting her brain with toxins - it was called hepatic ensepalopathy. Her blood was also not clotting, which meant she was very sick. It was going to take days of very intensive hospital care to even get her to the point of surgery, and even if she made it to surgery her chances of making it through were fair at best. We had to basically be prepared to lose $10,000 and the odds were against her. She would have been subjected to needle after needle, plasma infusions, and continue poking and prodding and intensive surgery that she probably wouldn't have made it out of because she was so sick, and I didn't want that for her. The very, very hard and absolutely heartbreaking
decision was made to put her to sleep, and let her go peacefully. She was only 3, and my little
best friend. She was sooo tiny, only weighed 2.7 kgs at her heaviest, and had dropped down to 2.1 kgs in the last week.<br />
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We brought her home and she is buried in the garden, which is my favourite place. I am looking for the most perfect, beautiful standard rose to plant over her, as she was so beautiful. <br />
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I miss her terribly, and I am so sad. This would have to be the most affected I have been about losing a pet, as I really considered her my tiny baby, and she was my little shadow. Rest in peace my
little Stella Bella xx<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-21989399414426924942015-11-27T18:42:00.000+10:002015-11-27T18:42:16.061+10:00Year 6 Graduation Dinner and Dance..I've been getting in to trouble from my Mother for not keeping my blog updated,<i> sorry Mother</i> :) so I thought I had better stop being a slacker and update it ;). A LOT has happened in the last few months, including a move back down to Brisbane, as work died off immensely up at the farm township, so decisions had to be made. A lot of people up there have been affected by a lot of mines closing and money is pretty short, which of course has a flow on effect on small businesses such as ours. We still have the farm, and the cattle, we just have to head up every few weeks to take stock of what's happening up there. We still also have our business up there, we have put a casual guy on to do the jobs that come in, and I am running that part of things from down here, and Damian has gone back to project managing for a company down here...regular income is lovely.<br />
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Anyway, tonight is a big night for our youngest, Kasey has her year 6 dinner and dance tonight. This is the first year they have put on such an event, and the kids are all really looking forward to it. Kasey spent weeks designing her outfit, then we had to provide the $ to make it all come together...lol... but she looks beautiful, and is looking forward to a great night.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-81969586858530534602015-05-19T17:19:00.001+10:002015-05-19T17:19:41.465+10:00Newest AdditionOur newest addition was born overnight... a gorgeous little bull calf born to our Hereford, Hertie Gertie...he is sooo tiny, as Mum is only little herself. We were a little concerned that she may have had a difficult birth, but she seems to have managed fine, we noticed her milk bag filling up the other day, but didn't expect her to have her calf quite so quickly. He's a little cutie...<br />
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<span id="goog_2076797787"></span><span id="goog_2076797788"></span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-87095696819469996312015-03-27T09:37:00.000+10:002015-03-27T09:37:00.424+10:00Snakes are definitely out and about...I have had a run in with 3 in the last week. The first - I was pruning back my arrowroot plants and throwing some over the fence to the cattle, as they absolutely love it. All of the plants are about 2 metres tall, so I was tucked right in the plant chopping it back, when my eyes focused on something moving, and when it came in to focus, it was a dark brown snake slithering past my face about 4 inches in front of me. I know they say you are meant to stay still, but, stuff that, I was out of there...before I knew it I was in the middle of the house yard on my knees, wondering what the hell had just happened. It had also jumped out of the tree and was high tailing it out of there as well. I think I shuddered for about an hour or 2, and made myself a nice strong drink to try and get over it all. The second was a couple of days later, I could hear little Sam barking and barking, and I went out to investigate, and I could see a few toads gathering in behind the bins. I was muttering away to myself while I was fetching the dettol to spray them all, about how much I hate toads, and how they attract snakes etc, and as I came back to spray them, I noticed a black snake in there as well. So armed with my broom and my shovel, just in case, I started pulling things out to try and shoo it out of there. It ducked underneath the corrugations on the end of the verandah back out in to the yard, so I am hoping it stays away now. And then 2 days later another crossed my path on the driveway as I was leaving for work. It was black, but I think it had a yellowy greeny belly from what I could see, so I am thinking it was a tree snake. I didn't see it until I was just about on top of it, so I couldn't stop in time, but I didn't run it over, as I noticed it slithered away when I checked in my rear vision mirror.<br />
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In the last 12 months, the only snakes I have seen was a red bellied black in the chook pen about 6 weeks ago, which the guinea fowl chased away, and a tree snake down at the cattle yards at about the same time, so to see so many, so close together, is unusual. I really hope this heat goes away soon so that they can all start to hibernate over the winter. They are definitely around in droves at the minute, so be careful, watch where you are walking and where you put your hands and your feet while gardening etc. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-36881456808256730472015-03-26T09:22:00.000+10:002015-03-26T09:22:00.056+10:00A big day of cattle handling...and another chicken processing dayThe new heifers and bull calves are all about 8 months old now, so it was time to round them all up and brand them, needle them and castrate any bull calves, and put all of their NLIS tags in. We organised for a musterer to come in and he and his dogs rounded them all up and in to the yards. We put all the mothers through as well, as it was time for worming for all of them anyway. The musterer is an experienced cattle handler, so we organised for him to bring his brand heater etc so we could brand them all. He also castrated the 3 bull calves while he was there. It was a hot day, but it all got done. We had a few very angry cows to deal with as well, so it can be a bit dangerous at times, and you have to keep your wits about you so you don't get hurt, they are very big and can be very dangerous if you get in their way.<br />
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I felt so bad for the cattle, but it is very quick, and they don't seem at all worried about it as soon as they are let out of the crush. The little bull calves all handled their castration really well too, it just amazes me that they just stand there, no reaction whatsoever, and then they just wander out of the crush like nothing has happened. This little bullcalf (the darker one at the front) has just been castrated, and he is just standing around here, completely calm, and oblivious to what has just happened to him.<br />
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We are hoping to send a few of the heifers off to the sales as breeders in May, along with some of the older cows as well for breeders, as we don't want to go in to winter again with too many cattle. We would eventually like to get down to about 6 heifers and 1 bull, with maybe a few steer to grow out each year. We're never going to make a lot of money out of cattle on 150 acres, so it is just to keep the grass down really.<br />
The next day we also processed all of the excess roosters, we had 6 in total to do, not a nice job, but it has to be done. They were all just starting to harass the girls, and fight with each other, so the time had come. So 6 birds in the freezer, I roasted one up, much nicer when they are younger, as opposed to the older ones we did a while back which were all tough, I managed to eat a little bit, but still not sure if I can do this eating our own chickens thing..<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-91752188736337267752015-03-24T19:06:00.001+10:002015-03-26T09:25:41.514+10:00Guinea fowl....NOT good mothers!I knew that Guinea fowl were not good mothers....which is why I always try to either put the mum in a protected pen so she can hatch and stay with them, or either incubate or put the eggs under a surrogate chicken to hatch. Over the last few weeks, I had noticed that I was missing 2 guinea fowl, and they appeared yesterday, with 3 brand new babies in tow! Unable to get near any of them before I left for work, I checked on them all as soon as I got home. I found one baby nearly dead in the chicken house, and the other one had been abandoned. I bundled them both up and put them in a cage under a heat lamp and gave them food and water. The one that was nearly dead, would not do anything other than lie down, so I have been using a dropper to give it water, and I have made up a slurry of crumble and water and I have been using a dropper to try and feed it a little bit of food. It's not improving, so I don't hold out much hope. I also tried to see if I could get the last remaining baby and mother into a pen, but after being flown at by a very protective male guinea fowl who was determined to try and claw my face, and he also attacked the dogs, I gave up on that idea yesterday. Determined to try and give in another go this afternoon, I bundled up the healthy baby that I had in the cage, and put it in the pen area to try and attract the mother and baby over to it...I grabbed a half dismantled greenhouse as my barrier...yes...a funny sight I am sure, but it protected me from manic guinea fowl. Anyway, they would hang around the caged baby for a few seconds and then wander away..so while I was standing there with my half dismantled greenhouse armour, I could hear a chirping coming from behind me...and out of the long grass wanders another baby! I was like...huh?? Then the guinea fowl started to attack it, so I bundled it up, and put the 2 orphans in the cage back with the sick one.<br />
I then thought that I should try and find the nest in case there were any others about to hatch or or had been abandoned, I found about 12 eggs that have hatched, and only 4 babies all up that I have seen...gotta wonder how they survive out of captivity. So, I am now caring for baby guinea fowls again, and also a sick one to boot....gee, thanks mother guinea fowl.<br />
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<i>(This is the guinea fowl that wandered out of the bush this afternoon) </i></div>
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<i>(These are the 2 healthier guinea fowl now keeping each other company) </i></div>
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<i>(This is the unwell little guinea...I'm really not holding out much hope, and I am surprised it has survived this long..poor little thing) </i></div>
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The chicken mother hen from the last guinea fowl hatch has been looking after her brood really well, she is very protective of them, and they are now all ready to start venturing out and about a little bit each day. We lost one a couple of weeks back, I think it may have been attacked by a rat overnight, but there are still 10 out of the 11 that hatched, which is pretty good odds.<br />
<i>(Update 25th March: The sick little guinea baby died overnight, now I'm not sure about the first one I rescued either, it doesn't seem quite right either...sigh....we'll wait and see) </i><br />
<i>(Update 26th March: The 2nd one I was suss on has now also died, so the only one left is the one that wandered out of the bush 2 days ago. The guinea fowl are still managing to keep the single baby they still have with them alive so far...so 2 out of 12....pretty bad odds when they do it themselves) </i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-27197676179974660122015-02-16T16:10:00.001+10:002015-02-16T16:13:19.686+10:00The 100% mumma..and it's been a bit shaky around here...Our little Maran girl went clucky about 5 weeks ago, and I put 12 guinea fowl eggs under her to hatch out for me. About 2 1/2 weeks in, 1 egg mysteriously disappeared, leaving 11 eggs. They were due to hatch today. Overnight on Friday night and over the course of Saturday, all 11 eggs hatched out healthy little babies. That is the first time EVER that we have had a 100% success rate with any hatching, whether it be in the incubator or under a clucky hen. I have moved them all in to a separate safe pen, so they all have plenty of room, and they are running around and being very cute.<br />
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And just to keep things interesting, just before 2am last night, we were shaken awake by our first ever earthquake. It was like a loud rumble roaring through the house, it only lasted about 10- 15 seconds, and the dogs seemed a bit frightened, but there was no damage to anything, it was a 5.2 magnitude, so I think it was pretty mild compared to what some poor people experience. That is something I never thought I would see here.<br />
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And, while I have been sitting here reading this, we just felt another one...not sure what magnitude yet, as the news sites haven't reported on it yet...wow...mother nature reminding us again not to mess with her...<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-65276392525491592892015-01-19T20:49:00.000+10:002015-01-20T15:21:59.821+10:002015....ok....I'm getting ready for you....slowly.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have been away from the farm for 5 weeks and I have come home to an overgrown jungle. It's amazing how much the rain affects things, and how much better the landscape is once we get some. The property goes from depressing and dusty, to lush, green and full of life. The rain has been wonderful. The tanks are full, the dam is overflowing and there is lots of grass in the paddocks and the cows are looking full and happy. LOTS of weeding to be done... This arrowroot plant has more than doubled in size in 5 weeks and is now over 2 metres tall!<br />
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Everything has grown so much, Damian got back to the farm 2 weeks earlier than me, and he came home to our small front yard looking like this:</div>
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My gardens are in there somewhere! He even resorted to bringing in the heavy artillery to bring the grass down to a mow-able level.<br />
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I have managed to make a small dent in the weeding, and the grass is back to being nice and mowed, now with the added benefit of being green and lush. The rain makes the weeds fairly easy to pull out as well, even though when I was weeding yesterday I got stung by a nasty wasp...nevermind, I am loving the rain! In the 2 years we have been here, the only good rain we have had was from the floods in Jan 2013, so to have had some regular rain, and to have our tanks full again has been fantastic.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2175356828299764412" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2175356828299764412" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2175356828299764412" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>While down in Brisbane, we made the house quite Christmassy and even put up a few outside lights this year!<br />
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It was Grace's 1st birthday party on the weekend, this first year has gone so quickly. It was ridiculously hot, but Grace had a great day.<br />
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We did a visit to Lollipop Land at Old Petrie Town before coming home, I took Kasey and her best friend Bethany for a day out. It is about "Lollipop Land" a town of the North Pole where all of the lollies and sweet things are made for the world at Christmas time. It is only held for a few more days, so if you haven't had a chance, go and see the displays before they disappear, as they won't be back until the end of the year. The show is put on by doll maker Chris Boston, and visual display artist Jule, from Whimsical Imaginings.</div>
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So, now we're back at the farm and Kasey is back at school next week... Time to get back in to the swing of things and see what 2015 brings...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-77984574985160995082014-11-07T12:31:00.000+10:002014-11-07T12:31:00.134+10:00My craft studio tour....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We finished the craft room earlier this year..well, the inside anyway. We still have to clad the outside to make it look all pretty, but establishing the business and work around the farm has taken precedence so far.So, finally, here is a tour of the finished inside product.</div>
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I saw this wall sign somewhere online, and I did an internet search, and found it for sale online from the UK. It adds a nice touch. I purchased the draftsmans chair from Officeworks, as the benches are quite high, so I needed a higher chair to reach the sewing machine. </div>
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This corner keeps my KNK Maxx, which is a large version of a Cricut etc. Here is also my sticker maker, and some decorations, as well as my sorted scrapbooking photos.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuuhnyY7Vp3yTXMaBS6L9SY0yFzrLCSPZIrYcdxednASZIZzmBvF-V2hlC4hsPjM_Z64bh8xzetp8_BIUtyHm4T1__wG5OrwX47kqRI0UvhaQKeLTbpUKL8U5j5AYQD_POo0ZbW2eymTc/s1600/Corner+storage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuuhnyY7Vp3yTXMaBS6L9SY0yFzrLCSPZIrYcdxednASZIZzmBvF-V2hlC4hsPjM_Z64bh8xzetp8_BIUtyHm4T1__wG5OrwX47kqRI0UvhaQKeLTbpUKL8U5j5AYQD_POo0ZbW2eymTc/s1600/Corner+storage.jpg" height="229" width="320" /></a></div>
This is the repurposed cupboard from Mum and Dad's house. It keeps lots of my supplies and decorations.<br />
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Beside that is where I keep my papers, as well as other scrapbooking supplies. In front of that is the pull out sofa bed lounge.<br />
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A couple of display shelves to make the room look nice, and to display some of my nice goodies.<br />
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I resprayed this old filing cabinet black, and I use it to "file" my fabrics. I haven't finished decorating the front yet, but I will get there. I think I may have to get another one, as I need more fabric storage!<br />
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This is another display area, which is on top of the filing cabinet. Lots of pretty things to make me smile.<br />
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This is another corner, this is on my sewing table, and has some of my dress form collection on it.<br />
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This is some of the more practical areas of storage. I will gather a few more wall cupboards, as there is still more things I need to store, as some things are all put in together, and a little more organisation and separation would be ideal.<br />
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We pulled the sofa bed pull out mechanism out of an old sofa bed I got for free, and Damian built me a box and put the mechanism in it, and I covered it in fabric, and made up a cushion for the top, so it can be used as seating during the day.<br />
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My craft studio can then be used as a spare guest room when the sofa bed is pulled out. It is air conditioned as well, so great for summer.<br />
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And last, but not least, this is the view I get from out the window. I really must spend more time up there, especially with Christmas just around the corner.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-83270895173019764482014-11-05T19:39:00.001+10:002014-11-08T19:40:18.966+10:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I enjoy having guinea fowl, I like to keep them as they are great for letting you know if there is something different around, and for tick patrols and for deterring snakes. They are quite difficult to determine male from female by just looking at them. Older males have bigger wattles and bigger helmets on the top of their heads, but when younger, are very difficult to tell the sex of. Other than by the noises they make. Females have a definite two syllable sound as per my video below.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx2vnoiNH4gvJUo2fon-CIFO7T12ZjzI5zeeyNgA3p78diGbj52hyaSMIVqPnUEkr34mvbGb-iG6kmoEYk3' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe> </div>
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Males have a different noise, like the videos below.</div>
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They can be quite noisy, but they don't go on like this all day, and as you can hear in the videos, our farm isn't exactly quiet anyway!<br />
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Our light sussex are about 6 weeks old now, and they are all growing quite well. They are an easy breed to tell the sex of quite early, as you can see below.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-9218535977608729022014-10-05T12:14:00.001+10:002014-10-05T12:14:25.690+10:00RIP Buttercup :(Well a new day, and another curve ball thrown....I noticed yesterday afternoon that Buttercup didn't come up with the others for food, which I thought was unusual. This morning, she didn't come up either. I had a feeling something wasn't right, as she was the only one that hadn't come up. So Kasey and I went looking for her...and found her....very, very dead. I have been away all week, and Damian hadn't noticed that she wasn't here, so we're not sure how long she has been missing. She looks to have been gone at least a few days. She was here before I left to go down to Brisbane. I have no idea what has happened, as it's really hard to tell when there isn't much left. I was only saying to Damian yesterday afternoon that I would like for him to build me a milking shed so I can start to keep her around the house yard more and start feeding her up and start milking her soon... sigh....not much I can do about it....<br />
Now that we are getting the water sorted here with the new bore, our next focus is on fencing. We need to start fencing off some paddocks, and fencing the animals away from being right next to the house better, and building some smaller yards etc, so that's the next important step for us. Then we will be able to focus on improving the pastures. I don't think I'll look at getting another milking cow until we do this.<br />
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<i>Rest in peace Buttercup</i></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-70014334311212472062014-10-04T16:50:00.001+10:002014-10-04T16:50:39.547+10:00The bath tub brooder..A friend gave Damian 24 fertilised eggs a few weeks back, all the light sussex breed. So in to the incubator they went. They are all hatching at the moment, and so far we have got 18 hatched and another 1 on the way. One has died in it's shell, and the remaining 4 haven't shown any signs of doing anything yet, so we're not holding out for those to hatch. It is day 21 today, so we'll see. That's probably one of the best hatching rates we've had to date. The person who gave us the eggs said he spritzes the eggs with water in the last couple of days to keep the shells moist, so we tried this along with the higher humidity we normally do in the last 3 days, so not sure if this is the reason why we have ended up with a higher than normal hatch rate, but we'll certainly do that again.<br />
I usually put the chicks in a large cage I have here with the brooder light, but the chicks flick the wood shavings all over the ground, and it makes a really big mess. The man who gave us the eggs says he uses an old bathtub as a brooder, which we thought was a great idea, and we have a few old baths around here, so Damian set about making a stand and putting a mesh lid on the bath, and......ta dah!<br />
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He has made it nice and high for easy access, and to keep the dogs out of it. He also cut a hole in the mesh at the top for the brooder light to be able to poke through so we can keep it high enough for them. They seem nice and happy in their temporary home.<br />
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These 2 have hatched in the last couple of hours, with another one on the way, which is the egg on the right with the pip marks in it....<br />
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We went to the markets this morning to get some fruit and veg, and I picked up the huge basket full of lettuce and herbs for $8!! I thought that was way too cheap, but apparently that is what she sells them for.<br />
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I just got back from a week in Brisbane with the big kids yesterday afternoon, and friends of ours on the Sunshine Coast did a big garden clean out while I was down there, and gave away all of their agaves, so I went and picked up some of what they had, and planted a few down in Brisbane and the rest will be planted up here...it's about the only type of plants that grow well here at the moment, hopefully as Damian now has the bore sprinklers working it will keep things a bit more lush and green and we will be able to have better luck with the gardens. I also did a big garden clean up while in Brisbane and pulled out a heap of wild iris, and bought just a fraction of them back up to plant here as well.<br />
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So, lots of planting to be done over the long weekend. Kasey had a fantastic week at her horse riding camp and is looking forward to going again, I said she may be able to go to one of the Xmas holiday camps. She was keen to show me how much she has learnt today, as she can also do a rising trot now, so she saddled up her horse and we went down to the yards for her to have a ride. Unfortunately, her horse had a flip out on her again, and bucked her off.....again...so Kasey promptly announced she is never riding Magic again, to which I said, "I don't blame you, I wouldn't ride her again either", ...so we are on the hunt now for an OLD plodder for her....she wasn't hurt, she has a grazed elbow, but that seems to be all, luckily. Poor kid....We also seemed to have solved the crow problem, we have closed the doors in to the house area of the chook pen, and there is a small access door that the chooks use to go inside. Since closing the doors, we are no longer losing any eggs, so the fridge is finally starting to fill up with eggs again. Next project here for me will be for Damian to build be a small corrugated vegie garden with a shade cloth roof so I can grow some vegies, it's too hot without the shadecloth, so I am hoping I have some success with growing some veg again sometime soon. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-72291851938219209892014-09-19T14:16:00.003+10:002014-09-19T14:16:45.967+10:00Stone the flamin' crows...We have been losing all of our eggs lately, every last single one of them! We haven't been able to pinpoint what has been taking them, so we installed a hidden surveillance camera in the chook pen which takes motion sensored pictures. It took a few days, and I thought the problem had gone away as no eggs were being taken, and then all of a sudden, they were all gone again, this time with photographic evidence...<br />
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Darn crow !! I'm not too sure how we are going to fix it, we've never had a crow taking our eggs in the 20 odd years that we have had chooks...I think Damian might have to get handy and build some rollaway egg laying boxes so that the crow can't get to the eggs...one day soonish we may build our proper chook pen as this one was always meant to be temporary...hmpff...we've also lost 2 chickens over the last few weeks, we lost our little polish girl a few weeks ago, and in the last few days our araucana has disappeared as well, both of them have just vanished...no feathers, no anything....another mystery...it's getting to the point of keeping them locked up all the time...<br />
It's the start of school holidays tomorrow, Kasey is off to a horse riding camp for a week, and Damian and I are heading away for a couple of days for our 25th anniversary...yikes....25 years....wow...where has the time gone??Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-65574934071360261642014-09-03T09:56:00.000+10:002014-09-03T09:56:28.301+10:00Peppers' journey so far.....Last weekend we rescued a little pony from being sent to slaughter at the doggers. I don't know how she has ended up there. She is an absolutely gorgeous little girl, but she is so scared of humans. When I went to the yards to pick her up, we had to corner her in a small yard, and she just shook when I went near her. She was pretty grubby, with mud caked on her and when we got her home, we gave her a good scrub and she was so good. Still very scared, but no nastiness in her at all.<br />
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Above is how she was when we picked her up, she is the same colour as her face all over, so you can see how dirty she is. After her bath, I gave her some food and let her go in the front paddock which is about an acre. She wouldn't let us back near her after that. The next afternoon we rounded her up down the back to a small yard, and managed to corner her in a little laneway, where I did a bit more handling with her, and Toni and Kasey both sat on her and she took it all in her stride, as we found out she had been broken in.<br />
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The next day I approached her a few times in the smaller yard, and already she is starting to improve, and did not have to be rounded up quite so much, she stood in the one place and let me approach her, still very nervous though. If she was in a larger yard I don't think I would have succeeded. The next day with some very patient coaxing, we loaded her up on the float for the 4 hour trip home. She wasn't too bad, took about 15 minutes to get her on, but she went on slowly and calmly, and was really good for the whole trip home. When we got home I put her in our cattle yards for the night, fed her and rugged her. The next day (yesterday) I put her out in the BIG paddock with the other 2 horses and crossed my fingers she would come back. Yesterday afternoon I tied the big horses up while they were eating, and sat and held a bucket of food and she eventually approached me and had some dinner while I held the bucket. (In the middle of all of this, Doughy our bull decided he wanted the food and I had a bit of a fight on my hands as he can get a bit nasty if he doesn't get his way, Damian and the dogs had to end up moving him on) I did the same this morning, and she came up to the bucket pretty quickly, so from running away terrified to eating food out of a bucket from me in a few days is a really big step for her. The next steps will be to get her relaxed enough to actually let me touch her while she is eating from the bucket... I'm not going to rush her though....I'm still shaking my head as to why and how she has ended up being sent for dog food, she is only about 5-6 years old, and will be an excellent kids pony with some training and patience....<br />
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Welcome to our family Pepper....<br /><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-89604747188927857102014-08-14T14:19:00.000+10:002014-08-14T14:19:27.818+10:00Hertie Gertie...<i>Yes??</i><br />
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Have you been in to the molasses bucket?<br />
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<i>ummm....no....what makes you think that? </i><br /><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-27910204941689576282014-08-05T13:00:00.001+10:002014-08-14T16:12:46.797+10:00Remind me again why we have animals??lol....lucky he's cute and loveable.....naughty Sam....<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-89795921470816343702014-08-02T22:23:00.000+10:002014-08-02T22:23:40.627+10:00Kasey's first horseWhen we moved up here, we promised Kasey that we would get her a horse. It has taken a while to find the right one for her, at the right money, and at the right time for us to have the money as well. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago on the local notice board, I saw a little filly for sale who sounded perfect. I rang about her and went out to see her. "Magic" is the right height for Kasey, about 13 hands high, 5 years old, Quarter horse x whaler, broken in and pretty quiet. I went all over her, touched her everywhere, tugged on her tail, touched her teats, picked up her feet etc, and she took it all in her stride. The guy rode her around and she didn't have any desire to take off or do anything silly, so I decided she would be pretty good for Kasey's first horse. She had only been on a float twice in her life, but she went on really easy when we picked her up. She has taken to kicking out though, and she booted poor Kasey right on the side of her knee, she screamed, as you would, and has a nice bruise to show for it. She is obviously still quite unsure of her surroundings here, so I am putting a little of it down to that, and my horse Ziggy has been giving her a bit of a hard time as well, so she is a little nervous, but I am currently working on teaching her that kicking is not the done thing. Other than this little bit of an issue, she is a nice little horse though.<br />
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I have said to Kasey that to be around horses, you really do have to become pretty tough, and unfortunately the odd kick, or foot getting stood on, or falling off is all part of the process. You learn to become really aware of what your horse is doing and the tell tale signs, you learn to wear proper boots, and you learn to stay on pretty quickly! Kasey is not allowed to be around her horse unless she is wearing her boots, and she is not allowed to ride without both boots and her helmet. Kasey is still quite uneasy at the moment. I am going to sign her up for a 1 week horse camp over the next school holidays, so she can learn a few more skills and make new friends as well. Kasey had her first riding lesson today, I started her off down in the yards on a lead line, and at the end of the lesson, I let her ride up to the shed with me walking behind her. All went well until Ziggy decided to go a bit silly, and Magic got a bit worked up, but she didn't do anything other than become a bit quick. Kasey got a bit scared, so I walked her a bit, and then she got off, so next time Ziggy will be tied up and we will go out of earshot.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-39171477834703646832014-07-09T11:05:00.001+10:002014-07-09T11:05:28.454+10:00Calf number 4Baby number 4 has arrived. We think a little bull calf, but we can't get close enough to see for certain as this Mumma is nasty, we call her Runna...because that's what she does...runs straight at us! <br />
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Maybe motherhood will mellow her...I doubt it. She will probably be one of the ones that we move on in the future once her calf is big enough to be weaned, as we are going to change over to a droughtmaster herd we think at this stage. Both mum and bub appear to be doing well. The other 3 are also all doing really well. The 2 most recent scream around the place playing and running now, little cuties. We have a musterer and his dogs coming in on Saturday to round up all the cattle. One of our neighbours steers is in here, and he takes off and takes about 6-7 of our girls with him when we try to get them in to the yards, and we have a girl with a piece of wire caught around her neck, so we need to get them all in and pull out the wilder heifers that don't look like they are in calf and send them off to be sold, and get down to about 10 girls plus the bull. I think our property will cope better in the drier times with a few less head to feed. Damian's truck went off the the panel shop on a car carrier yesterday to be assessed, so we'll see how bad that is once we get the repair report. I've come down to Brisbane for the last few days of the school holidays to spend some time with the big kids and Grace and a bit of a break before getting back in to the swing of things next week.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-12430764988249913622014-07-07T10:16:00.002+10:002014-07-07T20:25:50.399+10:00Our chicken processing day...Our chicken processing day went well. We didn't get started until about lunchtime, as we forgot to turn on the hot water unit until about 10am, and then it took about 2 hours to heat up to temperature. Damian made up a killing cone, and attached it to a tree. We like this method, as it's really quick, no stress on the bird and they are already in the right position to drain. We were thinking of making up a plucking machine, but honestly, this is quick, it only takes a minute or 2 per bird, so I don't know if we'll worry about that, as it's not like we will be doing that many birds. We only ended up keeping 5 for the table, as the others were not meat breeds at all, and were just not worth the time to process for the amount of meat that would have been on them, so the other 5 were just culled and added to our soil to enrich it. So ten birds all up. The first bird took us about 40 minutes from plucking to putting in the ice slurry. It was a pretty slow process, as even though we had watched heaps of DVD's, working out all the "bits", where to cut etc is really a hands on, learn as you go thing. We did 2 birds before we had lunch, and at lunchtime we watched Joel Salatin enviscerate a chicken, and we found that quite helpful, as we had more of an idea of what he was doing, and it just gave us that extra little bit of info that we needed. We had the whole process down to about 15 minutes from plucking to ice slurry at the finish. It was a long day for us, but wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I was a little sad with the culling of the prettier birds, but I know it had to be done, as we just couldn't keep the excess roosters. Damian did an exceptional job of the killing process, he was very methodical and kind to the birds, and so, so quick. This is what our finished product looked like.<br />
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Just like a real one! We put the birds in the fridge overnight, as I was too tired to cut them all up so I did that yesterday. Cutting up a whole chicken was also a learning process for me, but once again, after the first one, it got easier and I had it pretty well sorted for the last 3. These are the cuts out of 1 chicken.</div>
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The breasts, drumsticks, wings and thighs. See how dark the thigh meat is....much darker than factory farmed birds. The drumsticks are about the size of the turkey drumsticks you buy at the supermarket, and the wings put those tiny little wings at the supermarket to shame. Out of 5 birds we ended up with 7.1kgs of meat pieces, plus 5 frames, weighing about 4 kilos all up, for stock and soups etc. I cut all the chickens up in to pieces, I didn't keep any for roasting, as I think I need to really flavour the chickens in curries and casseroles etc., so I can get over my initial "iffiness" of eating our own chickens. Once I have got in to using our own, then I don't think it will be an issue to roast a whole bird, especially as we will probably get just one breed for our meat chickens, and they won't be individual breeds like these ones were. I don't think this is something I could have done five years ago, but after losing so many chickens over the years to dogs and foxes and illness etc, I think you tend to harden up a bit. The major loss last year of 40 birds really toughened me up and I made a point of not getting so attached to my birds. I have been finding it increasingly difficult to buy chickens from the supermarkets and have only be buying "organic, freerange" birds, but I still don't believe these birds live a particularly great life, and I know that our own birds are truly free range. If we are going to eat chicken, then at least this is the more ethical way of doing it. We are looking at either Australorps or Plymouth Rocks as being our main breed, and these are a dual purpose bird, good laying, mothering abilities,and meat. So, we now have true farm grown, grass fed beef in our freezer from our friends, and our own chickens...that's gotta be a good thing.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-76313577154272716022014-07-05T08:33:00.000+10:002017-06-01T16:53:19.208+10:00Not the best start to the day...we like to keep it exciting around here...no boring country life for us. Damian's Friday Fallover...<br />
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On his way to a job yesterday morning, and there was a BIG roo on the road. He wasn't even travelling that fast, but the road was newly graded and had lots of marbly little stones on it making it very slippery. He slowed down for it, and the back end of his truck flicked around and then he ended on his side. So it is now back here on the farm after being put back the right way with the help of our friend who owns a tilt tray, and another friend who was near by, waiting for assessment by the insurance company....the whole passenger side needs fixing, his back tray and boxes are pretty banged up as they have all been shunted over, he's only had his new ute for about 2 months....he is totally fine which is the main thing...<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175356828299764412.post-16845330909778340652014-07-03T15:59:00.001+10:002014-07-03T15:59:15.619+10:00It's nearly time to do the farmer thing....gulp...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A few garden update pics. I put these few plants in front of the verandah to brighten things up there a little. </div>
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I had to put lots of statues, rocks and ornaments etc to keep the plants safe from the dogs running through the garden until they all get established. I also planted up some new lettuce, spinach and silverbeet in pots for a bit of fresh produce. Now that the cooler weather is here, things are managing to survive. We have been wanting to try our hand at making sausages for a couple of years now, so we purchased a sausage maker yesterday, and as soon as we get the casings, we'll give it a go. I purchased a sausage making book about 2 years ago, which has recipes and tips, and there are lots of recipes online. I will probably be able to make up some gourmet chicken sausages as well after the weekend.</div>
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We are planning to cull our roosters on the weekend....gulp. We have about a dozen roosters, and they are just costing us money in feed, and I have to keep most of them locked up away from the hens, as there are too many of them, and they give the girls a bit too much attention otherwise. We will just keep 1 or poss 2, to keep the girls more settled and to look after the girls. So we have done heaps of reading, and watched plenty of DVD's on the process, and Damian has had to cull a few of our chickens over the last couple of years if one has been really sick, so he is ok with that part, we are just not familiar with the gutting side, but figure we'll just give it a go and we should get quicker with each one. Damian had this old hot water unit which has an element and temperature control, so he is going to use this to heat up the water so that we can dunk the chickens prior to plucking.</div>
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We'll just set ourselves up behind the shed with a clean table, a tree, hot water, the engel for refrigeration, and see how we go. Wish us luck, I sure the first time will be the hardest. I will watch a couple of videos on preparing the poultry in to the more familiar cuts, and a couple of whole birds for roasting, and then freeze everything up for future use. If things go well and we think we can make it a regular thing, we might look at getting some chickens just for meat. It's going to be difficult deciding which breed roosters I want to keep...as they are all heritage breed roosters...I need to decide by tomorrow though...I need to let my head make this decision based on their overall dual purpose, and not how attractive they are... it's going to be a bit tough I think...<br />
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