The Great Chooky Drama

Hard to hatch egg

As you will see on Caleb's blog we had a birthing drama playing out in the chook pen yesterday. Two out of the three chicks had hatched, and while the third had pecked a hole in the shell wasn't making any head way over a number of hours. Home school became a google search for information on whether to intervene or not. As the day wore on and the chick was clearly weakening we took the advice of one site and used tweezers to crush the shell in small sections till it was 'unzipped' and allow the chick to struggle out of there. But once returned to the nest the mother no longer recognised it and attacked it. We retrieved it and bought it inside and Caleb watched it struggle out of the shell and has nursed it for the last 24 hours, including sleeping in the shed so he could be near it. Propagation heating pads are useful things, not only do they get seedlings going, and keep beer brewing but also baby animals alive.

It seems to be doing OK and is now walking around peeping, cheeping and pooping and of course Caleb is doing a lot of bonding - I hope it's not a rooster!

A name has yet to be settled on - Caleb was keen on Little Tree after a movie he saw recently, but considering the amount of salivation going on in a certain dog - I suggested Little Treat might be closer to the truth. You can vote on Caleb's name choices at his blog - the link is just to the right.

Organic Tea Range

Hi All,

I've been working away on a range of organic teas. I hope one day to be growing certified organic dandelion root, but for now I'll have to content myself with buying it off others. All these

Licorice
Raspberry Leaf and Stevia
Chamomile and stevia
Peppermint
Chai Tea
Dandelion Chai
Dandelion

are made from BFA certified organic herbs, spices and teas and represent some of my favourites. The pungency of the herbs is amazing, every time I open the sealed containers it's a sensory blast.

I worked out last night that it costs between 15 - 20 cents a cup, depending on the type of tea purchased. Which is good value.

I've had heaps of fun creating the website and taking photos, but as my laptop is very limited in what screen resolution I can view it in I'd appreciate a heads up if it views oddly on yours.

I'd also be interested in hearing what your favourite tea is, and any interesting blends you enjoy. I'm a tea freak, have been for years, but there is no doubt that chai tea is considered food around here, it is such an intrinsic part of our diet served milky with dollops of honey. Hmmm!

Musing about Museli

I love toasted museli, and making it isn't difficult. This is the second batch made recently, I use it as topping on the stewed apples whose jars haven't sealed properly and it makes a yummy breakfast with homemade yoghurt sweetened with honey.



4 cups of organic rolled oats
1/2 cup of seasame seeds
1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
3/4 cup of shredded coconut
1/2 cup of sultanas or mixed dried fruit
1/2 cup of honey (warmed till it's runny)
1/4 cup of vegetable oil

throw the lot in a big pan and mix till the honey and oil is thoroughly blended in, then pop it in a moderate oven, turning the mix over every five minutes or so till it is evenly golden brown. Allow to cool before putting in a airtight jar or container.

Perservering with Preserves

The tomatoes this year have been outrageously prolific, it's got to the point I throw perfectly good ones over the fence to share with the goats. We scored a bin of Jonagold apples (500kg) and while a lot of them have become bowling practice for the boys, and a bruised little treat for the animals, they've also found themselves squeezed tight into jars and sealed. With varying degrees of success.

A request to freecycle Hobart for old jam and preserving jars netted 38 and a combustion stove top preserving unit. A couple of trips to the second hand store netted 40 more jars, of varying sizes, some of them huge. We finally figured out how to use the jars and seal them with the Fowlers system, but found the jars of apples would cook down so far that they'd only be half full. So I've ended up stewing the apples filling the oven heated jars and then topping it up with water before putting seals on and boiling them, or using the clear cellophane sheets, that if you do exactly right work fine, but it took some time not to get nice fluffy kinds of mould on the top.

We've been drying apples too, using the apple peeler and dipping the apples in a solution of citric acid to stop them going too brown, and drying them in the warmer drawer. Tomatoes too, halved and dried, Trev downs them by the dozen, or puts them in jars of olive oil and herbs.

The Capitulator

On Tuesday night Today Tonight aired a segment on our family. After the previous segement we had vowed 'Never again!', and when Gavin Alder first approached us a year or so ago we were quick to repeat never again, but recently, in view of the ongoing financial issues that a lot of Australians are now facing, and having just pondered how we could inspire more backyard gardens we capitulated.

It wasn't that hard a decision, it was obvious that Gavin is 'a good bloke', and understood where we are coming from, he promised not to use the 'G' word, I thought he meant Gympie, Trev thought it meant Geeveston, but no, it was the 'guru' word. As always, we spent around 8 hours filming to gain just over four minutes of finished product.

The crew did a great job and if missed it you can read the story online here.

Not sure how long the video footage will be available online, but it's currently accessible through Today Tonight, here.

P.S We are currently absolutely swamped with emails from all around Australia, Trev's answered a fair few, I hope to get into the rest over the next week, so if you read this, and haven't yet read a pesonal reply you eventually will (plus will get to my backlog from the last month or so).

The recycled pram

Caleb and his mate Stan have assembled themselves a go cart from the base of an old pram. It even has rudimentary brakes, not that that helped Caleb much when he 'cart wheeled' out of control and through a blackberry patch. An entire box of bandaids later... but no doubt he will give you the low down on that story himself. It's been fantastic watching them careening down our hill dodging goats, sheep and tree stumps. Apart from a bike helmet each there is no real protection from electric fences (which are difficult to pass through at speed) and other obstacles, so they've got quite good at it. It's quite a steep slope and I enjoy watching them walking up it as much as I do seeing them speed down. At last, an activity that rivals The Age of Empires!

Apple Picking Season

Trev's abandoned the building site and is instead, seen at regular intervals picking apples in the orchard across the road. I've helped him with two five hour days, but mostly he picks four bins of apples a day - and then knocks off and comes back home. It's hard work, I have bruises on my shoulders just from the weight of the bag straps, and the ladder work isn't much fun. But once you're in the rythym of grabbing two apples and lifting them sharply up while placing your thumb at the apex of the stalk and the stalk attachment and placing them in the bag that hangs around your neck and moving on to the next two it's almost meditative, it certainly helps you sleep well. The bag, once full, is unclipped and the apples slide gently out the bottom of it to ensure they're not bruised. A tractor races around the orchard picking up full bin and replacing them with empty.

It's a beautiful place to work, Nuju runs up and down the rows and kids run around eating apples and generally getting in the way, it's like a scene from a bygone era and it's all just 100 metres away.


This is Trev's second year picking. I'm not that keen on him doing it as his AF is triggered by strenuous work and he has it almost permanently at the moment. And he won't give himself an inch, and collapsed during one recently day - the 36 degree heat didn't help. The only way I could get him to stop was to take his place.

I've been picking up fallen apples and chopping them up for the animals who seems to be happy enough to chew through a motza of them. We're doing our best to keep up too.