Bee-keeping festival

Make a note in the diary: the annual bee-keeping festival is on in early March!
For the first time, we headed out to see what all the buzz was about (pun intended).

We were greeted in the carpark by two lovely bee keepers, who gave us a program and told us about activities the children may enjoy.

Once inside the facility, we tasted some delicious raw honey which had just been cut from a hive.  We missed the extraction demonstration, but saw how the honey was still running out of the barrel into a large tub.

There were lovely stalls set up to purchase lots of lovely wares, and even try out some beautiful hand creme.  Mariposa purchased her own little box of raw honeycomb, for all of $2, and had enjoyed a chat with the lady who was selling it.  We also tasted some mead and honey mead liqueur .. then couldn't resist purchasing a couple of bottles.

We only stayed a relatively small while, but next time I'll make sure we get there earlier to watch more exhibits.

It's nice knowing that there's a bee-keeping school only minutes from our home.  It's something I'd like to learn, and this was a nice way of introducing the idea to the family.  The school information can be found here: The "J" Bee Keeping School. Also, here are notes on becoming a bee-keeper, including legal requirements (in Victoria, Australia) and some interesting notes on the history of bee-keeping to share.  If you're looking for an Australian bee-keeper who is near you, check out this page.

Thank you for dropping by!

An 11yr old's public speech against G.E.

This is just so inspiring, to see a young lad having the confidence to speak publicly about the sensitive issue of genetically engineered foods. Educating our children, and the future generations, is obviously so important!

Comfort reading

On cold nights, a book to read in the comforts of a cosy bed is very rewarding.

I found this book in our library catalogue, so put in a borrowers request. When it arrived, a quick scan through the pages had me looking forward to getting some time to read it. 

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Our Year of Seasonal Eating is a writing about a new lifestyle, set in southern Appalachia, USA. Barbara takes us through her memoirs season by season, adding her journal investigative thoughts throughout. Moving from light, humourous conversation to political and environmental issues keeps the reading interesting.

Barbara starts with the first harvest season after a cold winter, when asparagus spears begin to emerge. We're still waiting for our first asparagus of the season, so by the end of chapter 2, I'm out there in the garden inspecting any signs of progress. No, it's too early here still.

Reading on, we move through the stages of garden productivity, when to expect what vegetable in it's seasonal order, and some recipe ideas shared. I'm now only in chapter 7, but the excitement of Spring's possibilities have whet my appetite sufficiently to start sorting through my seeds and seriously plan what we want to be eating in a couple of months.

I love the humour in the book, too. The light-heartedness side of family life, where personalities blossom with innocence, is a lovely side to read. I relate to her youngest in this book, as she sounds so much like Mariposa. Here's an excerpt from page 94 that I had to read aloud to my husband; it made us both laugh:

As weeks passed and her future on the farm began to take shape in her mind, Lily asked if she'd also be able to have a horse. Her interest in equines surpasses the standard little-girl passion of collecting plastic ones with purple manes and tail; she'd lobbied for riding lessons before she could ride a bike. I'd long assumed a horse was on our horizon. I just hoped it could wait until Lily was tall enough to saddle it herself.

In the time-honored tradition of parents, I stalled. "With your egg business, you can raise money for a horse yourself," I told her. "I'll even match your funds - we'll get a horse when you have half the money to buy one."

When I was a kid, I would have accepted these incalculable vagaries without a second though, understanding that maybe a horse was out there for me but I'd just have to wait and see. The entrepreneurial gene apparently skips generations. Lily got out her notebook and started asking questions.

"How mush does a horse cost?"

"Oh, it depends," I hedged.

"Just a regular mare, or a gelding," she insisited. When it comes to mares and geldings, she knows the score. I'd recently overheard her explaining this to some of her friends. "A stallion is a boy that's really fierce and bossy," she told them. "But they can give them an operation that makes them gentle and nice and helpful. You know. Like our daddies."

... and it goes on. Lily is a second grader, so a couple of years younger than Mariposa is now, but still so very much like her in character.

There have been parts I've related to Maestro also, but his interest in the animal world isn't quite as passionate. He really just wants to build things and experiment with his growing manly strength. When I suggested beekeeping as a possible interest, he squirmed with irritation at the thought of bees landing over him whilst collecting the honey. The idea of the money making side appealed though. Hmmm ~ that gets me thinking that there's usually a honey show happening here in August, so I may need to enquire about some type of 'excursion' to explain the practicalities of apiculture.

Scattered throughout the memoirs are her writings on issues, similar to those found in books I've already read, such as Food Inc. They are good reminders of why we should take care of what we eat and how it is produced.

Recipes are available on the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle website, HERE.

Now it's time for me to roll up my sleeves and get some practical work done outside, even though this morning's air is still so very crisp. Our fruit trees need pruning, and I need to make sure that the asparagus stays safe. Last year, our dog, Midgy, was the first to enjoy eating this vegetable, and I don't want that to happen again this year!

River Cottage inspiration

I'm forever thankful that our library stocks so many wonderful resources. A recent wandering along the dvd shelves helped me find a new dvd called "River Cottage: Spring and Autumn". The censorship of M because of language had me a little concerned, so I started watching this once the children went bed.

Well, it didn't take long before I realised that this was actually a great dvd to share with the family. The M rating is a precaution about some 'slang' used occassionally (yes, a bit of bad language) and about showing some animals being slaughtered, but there was ample warning given to 'look away' before seeing anything.

The dvd series starts with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall helping a group of families in England's suburbia start up a community garden. This was lovely to see, and is a continued theme throughout all 4 dvds. The families learn to grow their own vegetables, then raise pigs, chickens and milking goats .. all in smooth transition, so nothing is too overwhelming.

Foraging is another theme that runs throughout, and part which we really enjoyed. It was just after seeing Hugh collect gooseberries that Mariposa and I decided to go berry picking the other week. Since then, we discovered that an apple tree is growing on the side of a main road near us, which was being foraged by another family. We may go back and see if any fruit's left on it, although we really do have enough apples from our own tree to keep us in supply for some months.

Now, what I learnt the most in watching this was in the apprentice butchering sessions. I know that we don't have any of our own livestock, but for frugal reasons alone, I think this is a skill worth having. So, I sought a copy of the River Cottage meat book to borrow. It didn't have all the 'hands on' information I was after. However, the opening pages have already taught me a lot about the importance of properly hung meat, the aging process of meat, and how supermarket packaging is more about keeping the water in for weight, destroying the integrity of the meat in the meantime. Of course, lots of lovely recipes fill the bulk of this book, but I'm still looking for more relevant information.

The next book I sought out, from a different library, looks to have more of the information I'm after: Basic Butchering of Livestock and Game. I've also added this to my Book Depository wishlist: The Butcher's Guide to Well-Raised Meat.  So, I've got my homework set out for me again.

It's coming up to that time of the year when we usually order a whole lamb from the butcher. We'll be chosing butchers very carefully now, and maybe even asking for the lamb to be pre-cut only into manageable sizes so we can have a go at finishing off the rest ... maybe?! It'll certainly be something worthwhile doing at some stage, and letting the children learn along with us.

Apple harvest : cider and jelly

We always lose some apples to the birds, but we did pretty well with this year's harvest. Maestro and I got to work plucking the apples on Friday. Two and half laundry baskets have been brought in, and my job today is to sort out those for longer storage from those that will need cooking up. Several apples from the lower branches have some kind of spotting on them, but it's only on the skin; everything inside is quite sound. It just means that these will need cooking up.

After cleaning several apples, they've gone through my trusty juicer. Fresh apple juice is so refreshing, and we'll probably indulge in this for a few days. I'm having a go at fermenting 2 litres, though, to make some apple cider.

 I'd been told about Oztops a few months ago. We've been having a go making our own Lambrusco with grape juice, and apple cider using bottled juice from the supermarket. It's a very simple process, only taking 2 days before a brew is ready to drink. Let's hope the home juiced apple cider tastes just as lovely.

 

Using Oztops is so easy. Just add in a little yeast to your juice, then change the lid.  The lid has a small valve that allows excessive gas to escape, so no bursting bottles!








On Wednesday, I decided to take Mariposa berry foraging where it's known that blackberries haven't been sprayed. We came away with almost a kilogram of berries! Yum!! Some were eaten that night with icecream. The remainder was then divided. Half have been frozen, but the other half are now going to be turned into apple and blackberry jelly.



Here's what I've done so far:

Wash and prepare 450g berries, and 8-10 apples to be diced (core and skin still on .. just clean off any blemishes). Thinly peel rind from 2 oranges, then juice oranges. Orange juice and rind is to be added to berries and apples in large saucepan. Add 3 cups of water. Slowly bring to boil and let simmer until fruit is very soft (about 40mins).

Strain off all the liquid using muslin, or as I've done in an old linen teatowel. Don't squeeze the juice out or it will become cloudy.  Measure liquid. Add 3/4 cups of sugar to 1 cup liquid, and boil in saucepan as one would when making jam or jelly.  When at setting stage, carefully pour into sterilised jars.

I'm up to this final stage tonight. After straining the liquid off for almost 3 hours, I can see there's a decent quantity and the most beautiful deep rose colour.  Well, I'd better get to it and finish the job!  I won't have time to do this tomorrow.

House Account Monthly - August

I've decided to join a monthly meme at The Legacy of Home called Meme for Prudent Homemakers. I'll share bits of our budgeting experiences plus any tips/lessons learnt along the way.

1. Did you record all your spending this month?
Yes, I do this at the beginning of each week as a matter of habit.

2. What are your goals for keeping a ledger?
Ultimately we want to be debt free. That is no mortgage, no loans. We've always been very careful, but it's too easy to 'guess' we're okay then find later we're not. It's so much better to be accountable, therefore 'mind your account'!
This is an example we're teaching our children, also.

3. Do you have a success story to share?
Actually, this month I do. ☺ I divide our monthly allowance into fortnightly amounts. This is due to the fact that the pay comes in then, and it was a way of tracking smaller goals.
Well, I'm happy to say that we were almost $100 UNDER for our food budget after doing the minimal shopping week challenge last week. We're also just under for the other consumables (petrol, pet food, etc.)

On top of this, the annual home insurance was due. Ouch, that's always a lot of money, but a prerequisite of the mortgage agreement. Hubby decided to phone the company and ask if there were any benefits to being a customer with them for 15 years. Yes there were, AND there was another special going as well. So another $200+ saved thanks to one phone call.

4. (Optional) How are your children doing with this? Any cute sayings from them, or progress in their financial education?
The tax return cheque arrived today, so it was a perfect opportunity to show the children how to take it to the bank and fill in the paperwork.

5. Any helpful resources you've found? (such as a website, link to an article, or book)
To be honest, I hadn't really been looking for any last month.

6. Were you able to put aside some savings this month?
Yes!

7. Comments or Thoughts?
We watched a couple more episodes of "Gourmet Farmer" last night. There is an episode where he decides to sell at the local market with a friend, so puts in an enormous amount of work for seemingly so little return.
It was interesting to talk about how we, as a family, spend a lot of time doing certain jobs, especially food preparations, that do take a lot of time. However, the experience in the skills developed, the quality of food, savings made by only purchasing basic ingredients and the social interaction make this so much more valuable than any price you'd pay in a supermarket or restaurant.

Living an artisan life through a dvd

Sometimes it really pays to have a good browse on the library shelves. You never know what's been added to the collection!

Gourmet Farmer grabbed my attention. You know all those warnings about "Don't judge a book by it's cover"? Well, I judged this dvd rightly. Even the librarian told me that she'd heard it was an excellent watch. And it IS very interesting.

Matthew Evans decides to move from a prestigious job of Sydney's food critic to that of a farmer in Tasmania. He claims to know nothing about the goings on at a farm, and this proves true in the viewing. Just tonight (accidentally watching the second disc first!) we saw his first attempt at milking his newly acquired cow. By the end of it all he seems to have mastered the new skill okay to get by, working toward his goal of becoming a true artisan farmer.

ABC Shop sells the dvd. There's also a blog through the SBS site HERE.  The language is a little coarse, but other than that it's good family viewing.

Cackle, cackle!!

We had a commotion going on outside. It sounded like one of the hens had escaped and was telling the world she'd found a new secret laying site.

We were worried as Midgy still sees the hens as playthings, so out of the house we rushed to see what was going on.

Well, it turns out that all the hens were quite safe. One of our two young Black Australorps is just breaking in her voice. She didn't stop for us, either. On and on she cackled, the sound bouncing off the side colourbond fence and reverberating into the house and surrounds. She sounds much like a young boy's voice breaking: loud and edgy.

Sunday and Little Foot hatched in Dec '09, so are coming on to 18 weeks. Their lovely iridescent plumage looks brilliant in the sunlight. Mariposa coaxed them both out of their mobile hutch and let them have a run around (with the pup tied up at the kennel) and cuddle. It was also a good time to grab the camera.

Wholewheat and bean flour cereal

We're experimenting with our breakfast menu here. We don't like the commercial cereals, so standard fair is usually a type of porridge with oats, eggs or baked beans on toast, fruit with yoghurt, smoothies and breakfast muffins, or occasionally pancakes.

Yesterday we tried a new recipe to make a crunchy wholewheat cereal. The recipe has come from regular emails I've subscribed to at Anitra's Place. She shares great recipe ideas, especially using whole foods.

This recent recipe involved whole wheat and ground bean flour.  I don't have any bean flour, so milled my own using some white cannelini beans. The warm 'nutty' aroma filled the room during the milling process, and it can 'just' be tasted when this is just taken from the oven.

The freshly ground whole wheat flour on the left and white aromatic bean flour on the right.

The recipe can be found here.

The smell of cinnamon and ginger permeated the kitchen, and in 20 minutes we couldn't resist a taste test.

Well, the verdict was 'yummmm!', even from a young friend who was visiting yesterday afternoon.  The children collected a small cupful each, fresh from the oven, and happily crunched away.  The mix became even crunchier when cooled.

I didn't actually 'pulse' it to make smaller lumps.  We just crumbled it onto our fruit and yoghurt for breakfast this morning.  Yes, very nice! :)

Enjoyed this read

Reading Choosing Eden was like reading some thoughts I've had over the years, and then following through with the experience of putting those thoughts into practice with lots of contagious zeal.

Adrienne begins her book with the realisation that crude oil isn't going to last forever.  Yes, we use crude oil for an awful lot of products. It's become the fuel of our society, changing how we do things in our daily lives, our expectations from needs and wants, the drive of the war in consumerism.

So many good points for pondering are brought up throughout the book, just as one would usually have a thought one day, but then it resurfaces again from another aspect on further occassions.  However, the first part of the book details a lot of discovery around the whole issue of crude oil.

Then we move into a phase where the decision to move out of suburbia and set up a self-sufficient lifestyle takes place.  Now here I really enjoyed her journey, because this is as far as hubby and I have ever been: educating ourselves and looking around for property.  However, we've not had the financial opportunity to physically relocate to a larger property.  Adrienne recommends some books that I'll be seeking out in our library as well as some I've already read.  This lady writes in a fashion that leaves me wanting to do more research and ask more questions.

Once they've found their new home, there is the enormous task of setting out their plans and then putting them into action.  Lovely relationships with neighbours are made, challenges overcome when seeking to apply permaculture vs traditional farming, and a whole new world of 'country living' opened up.

This book has been a very refreshing, easy-to-read book.  She won't give you ALL the answers, but if you pick up her many leads, you'll want to go and learn more.

Broody hen

One of Mariposa's hens, Kelly, has become broody.  Cheekie's not old enough to have opportunity to produce fertile eggs yet, so we were quite surprised.  Here she sits, on the eggs the other hens had laid and the fake eggs, most of the day.  We tried moving her and she'd happily go out to eat and drink, but then she'd be right back in there again.

Kelly, quite content to sit.

I've never dealt with a broody hen before, so I had to start asking some questions.  Then a friend suggested getting some fertile eggs to put under her, but where do I get those?  Well, off I googled 'fertile eggs' and found this site:

http://www.chooknet.com.au/  Ah ... success, there's a farm only a 1/2 hour drive from us, so we phoned the lady and had an impromptu excursion.

We were shown the incubator where eggs are hatched, and those that held the youngest chicks.  In other large boxes she had groups of chicks either 3 or 6 weeks old.

Many breeds all in together.

Rhode Island Reds, with their lovely chocolate brown feathers and a female turkey.

We saw beautiful quail eggs, plus many varieties of chickens, most of which I wouldn't be able to tell you the names. We did see an Isa Brown rooster though that confirmed our thoughts on Cheekie!  To sex a chick, you really need to see a number of a like breed together.  The males are larger, sometimes having a small comb where females don't, but then other breeds both male and female have small combs whilst young.  It's easy to get it wrong, so 'wait and see' is usually the best option.

Now I also know a small number of other facts about fertile eggs. A fertile egg can remain quite viable, at room temperature, for a number of days. They are also quite transportable, but I was told to let them sit quietly on the kitchen bench once we got home, as the elastic part called the chalazae between the yolk and white can become stressed with the movement.  If put under the hen straight away, there is a risk that the warmth may cause this to break and then the embryo dies.

picture taken from here

Here's what we now have, a mixed dozen fertile eggs.  The friend who advised about getting fertile eggs was looking to purchase some Light Sussex pullets, so we took 5 of those and the rest of them are Black Australorps.  One of these is a special 'blue' Black Australorp (marked B/BA) which has been specially bred.

We placed these under Kelly just before sunset on December 1st.  She's accepted them all and is quite content.  The other hens have been denied access to this laying box, so we're back to using the older lawn mower catchers and that's working fine.

We were told they take exactly 21 days to hatch, so we've marked the 21st/22nd as days to stay home and watch.  We're all quite excited and have marked the date on the calender .. we'll have Summer Solstice chicks!!!

Just hovering!

We learnt another amazing nature study lesson today. It was inspired by the fact that as soon as we walk out our back door, we're immediately surrounded by flies.

They're everywhere! They're especially hovering around the roses and pine trees. Well, hubby had tried to figure it out last week by looking for dead rodents that cat may have left under the pergola.

Well, dear Duffy was found NOT GUILTY.


Nothing suspicious under the pergola at all.

Then we thought about Midgy. Maybe he'd left a deposit somewhere. Cleaning up his mess may help.
Well, he was also found to be NOT GUILTY!

I found the culprit this morning. LOOK!

.. or rather, LOOK!

Actually, I think it's my fault. I'd neglected my roses and they're full of aphids, and the aphids are attracting HOVER FLIES!

Trying be quick enough to catch a photo was a bit of fun. :)

Well, that will teach me for not paying enough attention, but at least I know that we're still getting rid of a garden pest by natural means. Hover flies lay their eggs in aphid colonies so that their lavae can feast there. Meanwhile, they're great pollinators.

So, I'm no longer going to complain about the current number of flies hanging around my back door. They're doing a great job!!

Update: I'm going to make up a batch of homemade white oil. I found a recipe here.

TOOL challenge

I'm joining in with Rhonda Jean's challenge to learn to seek out organic and local produce supplies. Whilst we do have our own chooks and fresh eggs, and some of our own fruit and vegetables, we still have a lot to learn.

This is an important education that's been lost over time. If anyone's interested, please go to Down to Earth and sign up. :)

A bright Spring day

After a very busy schedule over the past few weeks, full of exams and extra dance lessons, we finally finished up this week with a trip to the city for a NoBraces appointment. Then I decided to grab my camera and spend some time seeing what's been happening around my home before another week ends.

There is no doubt about it; once the soil begins to warm up, there is no stopping plants bursting into life, showing off their beautiful colours and filling the air with their wonderful perfumes. The freesias are out with their vibrant yellows and reds, offset by the blues of the marguerite daisies. The jasmine is climbing over the garden arch nicely and flowering for the first time too!

This sweet pittosporum welcomes us with it's wonderful scent each spring, sitting at the entrance to the driveway.


Yesterday we had a lot of rain and the blossoms ended up carpeting the sidewalk and driveway.

The pear tree is also in blossom again. Mariposa has taken delight in watching all her baby "Charlottes" (ie: spiders) making their little wheels of webs throughout the tree.

Our first asparagus spear for the season!!

The apricots have set well. Let's hope we don't loose this crop as we did last Summer in a long heatwave.

The hens are now in lay. We're getting around 4-5 eggs a day.

They certainly aren't camera shy, are they?!

And finally, here's Cheekie. Now at 7 weeks and having regular time running around outside in it's own little cage (not old enough to fend for itself with the other hens). Cheekie still spends time inside with a heat lamp required in the evenings.

New chooks are settling in

It's been four nights now and the chooks seem to be feeling much more at home. They all found their own way to the roost by the third night, but two seem to be having some inhibitions about jumping up to the perch. Maestro picks them up and settles them in, otherwise they'd probably be choosing the laying box to spend the night. We'll watch them again tonight and see how they get on. I had removed the ladder I made as I wasn't sure if it was more of a hindrance than help, but these two birds may just need it to give them a 'leg up'.

A couple are also cluing in to the fact that when we appear calling 'took, took, took .. ' that we're dishing out some food. They come running over now, wings held out and then staling as they get closer. It won't be long before they're all rushing up, jumping at us to try and be first for the best bits.

Yesterday (Sunday) we started to train them to use the feeder. It's kept open all day with a pin, pellets and some grain mix inside. I don't want to put too much food in it at this stage since the wild birds are pretty quick to realise free food is out. Once the chooks are all settled for the night, we close the feeder to deter any mice. After around 2 weeks, we'll move the pin down a peg so that the lid is partially open. They will have to get used to standing on the platform to open the lid fully. This movement is detracting, but if they can see the food, they usually persist and learn this behaviour in a few weeks. After that time, the pin is removed fully and they know to stand on the platform to access the feed.

Funnily enough, the leaders emerging in the group are Maestro's "Commanders"; the brown ones, with Mariposa's "Sally" running a close 3rd. Within three days we could definitely see that a pecking order was being established already. This, of course, could change as they mature.