The Week That Was .....!!!

Last week my man and I took a few days away...first holiday in 12 months !! .... after a beautiful 4 nights in Robe, SA, which truly is an absolute gem to visit...breathtaking scenery with a great coastal vibe in the town, we headed to Cape Bridgewater, just 10 minutes from Portland. What an amazing place to visit with its fabulous stretch of beach and absolute tranquility.  

The Doorway Rocks along the Robe coastline, part of the limestone coast...walked the coast trail...just spectacular.

The house we stayed in at Robe was fitted out in 1960's retro - ....50mts from Glass Beach..with ocean view !!

Cape Bridgewater - we stayed in this cute as a button historical stone cottage, with fab views of the beach.

Cape Bridgewater beach which runs for a few kilometres...surrounded by wind farms

The fluffy girls had a blast on the beach....no one around so they were off lead and into it.

My ancestors come from Portland so we visited the grave of Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins..his historical home is listed by the National Trust as he was fairly prominent in the area and also the grandfather of Vida Goldstein who you can read about here ... she was a feminist, a suffragist (along with her mother) and the first woman to run for Federal parliament in Australia.

Samuel Hawkins is the brother of my great, great grandfather.

 I have blogged previously about my love of old cemeteries...there is just something incredibly moving about reading old gravestones...so much history retold in the names and ages.  I came across something you don't see everyday....while it is a bit hard to see in the photo a man called John Pitcher buried his beloved wife Mary Ann aged 32 years in 1867...then proceeded to bury his next beloved wife Charlotte Elizabeth aged 26 years in 1872 in the same grave!!!  Maybe it's just me?

The garden went riotous while we were away and there are eggplants popping up everywhere...we are exhausted with all the tomatoes....passatta, relish and sauce even frozen some (apparently you can do that !) and given many away..  But it was so windy here yesterday that now the garden is in uproar and tomato plants are all over the place...so it may well be the end of the season for them :-( 

Not really an eggplant fan....need more recipes I think....but the sheen and colour is so beautiful

My lovely neighbour looked after the garden and the feathered girls while we were away....but this is the first Isa Brown I have had who has gone broody....I didn't think they did that....I haven't been able to get her to stay off the nest for over three weeks...she sits even when there are no eggs under her and squawks like a mad thing when I move her off the nest....any suggestions gratefully accepted !!

Broody girls wont get off the nest....Oh Dear !!

Some of the other girls who don't know what all the fuss is about.

Five Eggs & Four Chooks ....??

Having had chickens for several years now I thought I knew quite a bit about them..... I have updated to four new girls now...the old ladies didn't settle down so they went to a guy in Longwarry who lets them run around his property....Three of the new girls were already laying and one was just about ready....so since Sunday there have been four eggs from the four chooks every day....but this morning there were five eggs !!! ... two of them are not as big as the others but I have no idea how one of them has laid two eggs?? .....I have had two double yokers lately ... is this the same as a double yoker but in different shells????.... has this happened to anyone else?



The egg mystery..... four chickens + five eggs = ????

Trouble in The Hen House .....

I thought today would be a good time to add two new young girls to the hen house....I've put the new ladies in the pen and left the old girls in the yard to get them used to each other, then plan to lock them all in together tonight...unfortunately the older girls are not all that keen.....

Some new point of lay girls seem quite at home in their new house.

 ....the grand old ladies have not stopped squawking all afternoon...they are standing in the rain, huddled together making an absolute ruckus ...having a stop work meeting I think...fingers crossed all settles down tonight ...!!

The old biddies ...ARE NOT HAPPY !!!

 On the subject of "old girls" , this old girl got onto a bicycle for the first time in I hate to think how many years.....we borrowed bikes while we make the decision if we should each buy one (in our latest get fit attempt).. ..my man and I decided to ride to the two towns trail and just go halfway and then back home....just over 8kms, which I will admit did require me walking the bike up the hills...thankfully not too many...  my man took the opportunity for a photo pic outside one of my favourite gardens as we rode home.......all was going quite well.

....a timely warning to all old ladies who think it's a good idea to try and steer with one hand while you try to get something out of your bag.....DON'T...yes I had a spill, thankfully landed on the grass and no damage done other than a grass stain on my pants and a slightly bruised ego....I asked my husband did I at least fall gracefully and his reply was.... "Sorry babe..but NO, you landed like a sack of spuds"...



Once my man stopped laughing he decided to take a picture....thanks for that Ed !!

I'm not deterred .... we are thinking of buying each other bikes for Christmas...see how that goes hey.

A Return to Simple Days....

Such a lot going on at the moment..... hopefully all will calm down soon and life can get back to the simplicity that I love.   Moving house is certainly one of those times when you can take stock of all your "things" and realise you don't really need as much "stuff" as you think you do.  I hope to clear out all unnecessary "things" .... and reduce us down to mainly just the essentials.
There is a lot to do before we move in just 7 weeks...the time goes so fast and I really need to find the time to just stay in the moment and enjoy life.
We celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary last weekend....unfortunately too busy helping my beautiful girl move house herself to get up to much celebrating...but we will hopefully take time out this weekend for a nice dinner for two.

Beautiful bouquet from my lovely man for our anniversary...hyacinth's  my favourite flower

 Managed to squeeze in a trip to the clippers for my fluffy girls....Daisy looks so funny when they trim all of her hair and eyelashes away....all eyes and nose.

Gorgeous Daisy after her haircut......I much prefer them shaggy . but she looks lovely and clean

 With our impending move I needed to sort out which chickens would be coming with us as we are moving to a much smaller yard.....I decided to keep the three youngest girls who I have raised from eggs, as all three lay eggs every day... my two lazy light sussex and one 4 year old isa have been retired to a small farm....and no that is not a euphemism for putting them down....they have literally gone to live on a lovely little property with 13 other chickens...four horses, three cats and three dogs....I know they will be happy there among a pair of staunch animal lovers. 

Three younger girls are coming with us...

Have not planted any vegies in our patch so nothing is growing and I miss it so much not being able to go outside and get food from the garden......can't wait until I have things up and running at the new house....hopefully in time to have some goodies in during Spring !!

Eggs at Last............ !!

 Finally a little surprise in the henhouse ....... the girls that I raised from fertilised eggs that I posted about here and here  have laid their first eggs....albeit a bit funny looking....the colour doesn't appear to be uniform on the shell but they were fine inside..... it's the first time I have raised chicks that have laid eggs....previously in 2013 when I put eggs under the clucky mum they were both roosters....this time I got 3 girls.... it's great.

My two funny little eggs......at last they are laying.

All the girls foraging beneath the fruit trees.................they love it.

The six girls out foraging under the fruit trees....three old girls and three newbies.....I just love watching them peck around the garden..... they are such a natural addition to the yard and worth the effort.

The Good....the Bad....& the Sad...!

 We had a lovely Easter....home made hot cross buns on Good Friday..... a lovely sleep in on Saturday...then an Easter egg hunt in the back garden with the Gboy on Sunday morning, followed by Brunch.....and a visit to our parents in the afternoon....My man having 4 days off in a row....perfect.

All ready for the oven......very wonky but who doesn't love imperfection !!

All brushed with sugar syrup and ready to eat..

This week I got around to making tomato relish from some of the last of the crop......followed the recipe I found on the internet and I did think 1/2 cup of salt into the chopped onion and tomatoes seemed quite a lot.....2 cups of malt vinegar also.... and it took forever to reduce.... upon tasting it is very very salty....I checked the comments on the recipe and they all said way too much salt.....I bottled it up anyway and will see how it tastes in a couple of weeks time...such a nuisance using a recipe that I wasn't too sure of.....would love to hear from anyone who has a great tomato relish recipe!


after a quick dip in boiling water the skins come off nice and easy.

Red and a couple of yellow heritage tomatoes, onions.......and loads of salt !



Will see how it goes, but I think it is going to be a bit nasty ...!

 And sadly the little chicken who hasn't been well for quite a while died yesterday......when I went out in the morning to let all the girls out she was just standing there not moving and let me pick her up.....she was so thin......I placed her in a small cage and put her on the porch in the warm sunshine...she laid with her eyes closed all day only waking occasionally.. and the fluffy girls and I sat with her in the sun for ages....she seemed quite peaceful but I wondered if it would have been more kind to put her down....It is such a dilemma but I let nature take it's course..... she had been eating and running around the day before.......hopefully her last day she was peaceful away from the others who were starting to peck at her....I buried her in the backyard under the lemon tree.

Daisy and Daphne sat with me keeping their eye on the poor thing...she was very weak and listless.

One of Those Days ......

Yesterday was one of those days.....the ones were nothing seems to be going right... one of the light sussex has gone broody again just 14 weeks after the last lot of chicks....  a few of the said chicks flew over the coop fence into the yard... they got into the greenhouse and ate all of my seedlings....and destroyed the strawberry bed...... one of the old girls doesn't look too well and she has been laying soft shelled eggs which keep breaking.... A zucchini bush has developed mildew on the leaves....  . the tap on the water filter started leaking and dripping all over the place... argued with the guy I work for.....this was all before breakfast......then while I was having breakfast  I saw this little worried face watching  me.... somehow your pets know when your not happy....made me realise none of the things going on were insurmountable....just annoying.



The beautiful Daisy........she was worried....doesn't normally put her head on the table.

Broody hen is now in the broody buster ( my husband's trailer).... today I will clip the wings on the teenagers...separate the sick chicken to see what's going on with her....pull out the mildewy zucchini plant ... salvage any seedlings from the mess and save what I can... and get the water filter repaired..... then off to writing group.

It's All About the Yolks Folks.......

Production is down in the hen house due to the new chicks born in November....and I'm only getting one (sometimes none) eggs a day....For the first time in 3 years I've had to buy eggs....I bought "free range" eggs from the supermarket yesterday.  I had one of my girls eggs that was laid yesterday and poached it along with the supermarket egg for breakfast this morning.....can you spot the difference !!  That gorgeous golden gooey ball of deliciousness is my egg...that insipid looking, pale yellow watery blob is the supposedly free range egg from the shop.  People often ask me why I go to all the trouble of having chickens, picking up their poops, cleaning out their house and making sure we have locked them away safely every night, even running late if we have trouble getting them in before we have to go out....well people, this is why!!   I actually fed the shop egg to the dogs, I couldn't bring myself to eat it.

There is no comparison to a home grown freshly laid egg....

Killing Them With Kindness ?...........

I have another sick chicken...this poor old girl is pretty lethargic, has a floppy comb and very watery motions and is emaciated....I have isolated her into the chicken hospital...ie: my husbands trailer...she is eating and drinking a little but is on the way out I think...I'm trying to boost her with meal worms....dosing her with antibiotics, upped the ACV in her water and will keep my eye on her....I have a very strong suspicion that by spoiling my chickens with treats, lots of green leafy stuff and organic seed mix has been detrimental to their health.  All of my girls are underweight even though they have access to food all day and free range in the back garden a couple of times a week, have a large enclosure the rest of the time.  I cannot get them to eat layer pellets....they just flick them all over the yard and refuse to eat them....they have become very fussy which is obviously my fault.  I have had them for 3 years and they usually lay every day even throughout winter...I don't think the nutritional value of the leafy greens I grow for them is high enough, they need more protein and calcium.  I know isa browns don't live as long as other breeds but I'm sure they would do better on layer pallets...



3 year old isa brown....she is not looking too good

To top it off I went out this morning and the girl on the left of this photo....she is only about 18 months old....was very dirty on her bottom and didn't come for food...on closer inspection I saw she had a very soft shell halfway out of her vent which had broken and that was all over her bum....I had to carefully remove the crushed shell which thankfully was still intact...then put her into a salt bath and cleaned her up...hopefully she will be okay she seemed to perk up once the egg was out.

Looking a bit better afterwards....but these girls are both very thin also.

The new chicks will certainly be raised on layer pallets...they will get tough love...not too many treats and limited leafy greens.....I think the incorrect diet has caused me numerous problems over the past couple of years.....Does anyone else have feeding issues or any tips?

Sweet 16 ....

The chicks are 16 days old today....I couldn't believe it when I saw 4 of them roosting ....this roost is about 40cm off the ground....they flap their little wings and fly/jump all over the place.......they are looking a bit odd as they are losing the fluffy down and their feathers are coming in....baby #5 was sitting underneath mum....they still tuck themselves up under the hens all times of the day....... incredibly cute and they grow like weeds....fingers crossed I have some girls among them.

Not the best photo but I was in a hurry in case the little monsters jumped down......

 The very first flower on this tiny rose plant....it is huge...and smells amazing...Haven't grown roses before so was very happy to see this..

It's the only rose on the little bush and it's huge....

 Finally a bit of action in the vegie garden...this is the corn that I grew from seed....first time ever....it struggled at the start with snail attack but it seems to have survived....should be able to remove the temporary fence now...big enough so that the chooks won't destroy them.

Corn has struggled but it's getting there...

Just another day of watching things grow.....it gives me such a sense of purpose....and I get so much joy from seeing what I can produce....although I can't take credit for the chicks...those hens are doing what nature intends them to do...so glad I gave them the opportunity.

Hallelujah .....

Yesterday was 21 days and right on time the chicks started arriving....from 8 eggs the ladies got 5 healthy chicks and one stillborn...it had managed to break through the egg but appeared to be trapped in the membrane...after seeing this poor little body which mum had pushed out of the nest.... I had to assist as midwife...other's will say interfering busybody...as the last two to arrive also appeared to be unable to break the membrane.

only two chicks in the photo...the others are tucked up under the mums..

The mother hens are fabulous...they don't seen to mind which chick tucks itself under them, they both just make sure all 5 babies are tucked up somewhere...nature never ceases to amaze me.

First close up.....they are so cute...Isa Brown chicks..

Hopefully there will be a couple of girls among them...I can't be so unlucky that all 5 will be roosters can I ???....watch this space.

Broody Hens and Honey Bees.....

The Bee workshop I attended on Saturday was a real education and got me to do some serious thinking...I didn't realise how much of a commitment it was to take on a Hive, regular checking in Spring to ensure the Hive remains disease free and that the Queen is still OK and laying her eggs.....the need to prevent swarming and ensure they have enough room in the Hive....strict hygiene and ensuring no bee by-products or honey from your hive are left lying around in case other bees come in contact with them....the list goes ...I genuinely want to do this but feel I need to get a bit of hands on experience before I go ahead and commit myself to the maintenance and upkeep of a Hive....I had no idea that a single hive can contain up to 60,000 bees in Spring...I find that incredible...I also have to ensure that I have the correct location to place the Hive...so the delightful Bec from Becs Bees has invited me to go onsite with her when she opens up one of her hives to see how I go...really looking forward to that.  It will be quite the challenge but will certainly help me decide if I am up for it. Responsible beekeeping is quite involved including registration and yearly honey samples sent to a lab for disease testing.  It's all food for thought.

The little bags on the honey bee for collecting her pollen....nature really is incredible...

Two of my light Sussex girls have gone broody again...last year I put them in and out of a broody box and it drove me crazy because the next day or two they were back on the nest.....it went on for ages until they eventually gave up but they wore me out....this year I don't have the heart to stop them and have decided to let them sit on a four eggs each and see how they go....hopefully better than the first year with them.. when 2 out of 3 eggs hatched and after 9 weeks I found out they were both roosters...thankfully Isa Browns don't appear to go broody....although it's beautiful to see the girls on the nest so determined to get chicks and so contented...

This is the first time they have been broody at the same time....they have snuggled up together...it's now just the waiting game and see what happens in 21 days....they are on fertilized Isa Brown eggs so hopefully I may wind up with a couple of hens...fingers crossed...anyone else got broody hens on the go?

Sad Day in The Hen House .....

I usually spend a bit of time each day watching the hen house girls....just for the pleasure of watching them and also to make sure they are all ok...yesterday I noticed one of the girls was continually straining and lifting her tail and I caught a glimpse of featherless, dirty bottom which looked very odd...I prepared a salt bath and popped her in it and then noticed the area below her cloaca was very red and swollen...it appears to be full of fluid and she is waddling....I have no idea what this could be and Google has put up a few suggestions.....I isolated her into a smaller cage and brought her inside and have kept my eye on her overnight...while she appears bright enough and is eating and drinking.... her poop is very strange in colour...some of it looks like cooked egg... and her bottom is getting more swollen...I have made the decision to take her to the vet and put to sleep...she is almost 3 years old and I'm not going to put her through things suggested on Google such as piercing the swelling with a syringe and draining fluid or putting anything into her vent....I've put her in the sun....she's had yoghurt (her favourite) and water and now off to the vet...I only wish I had it in me to put her down myself but I am not brave enough....it's a sad day and more tears will be shed before the day is over

She looks really well from the front end...a little trouble standing straight..

Her rear end tells a different story...it is almost touching the ground when she stands

The swelling is causing her feathers to stand out...it is warm to touch and swells below her legs

I would be interested to hear if anyone else has had this problem with their hen.....it's not vent gleet, could be Ascites found here ..she may be laying internally....the prognosis is not good and she could possibly live for a little while getting progressively worse.....but I don't want her to suffer unnecessarily . It's  a hard decision... this website helped enormously , but I think it is the best solution for her.

Monthly 9 Link Up For August.....

Joining in with Linda for the monthly 9 link up.  The year is flying by and spring is here...such a beautiful time of year and so good to get out into the garden again after the cold wet days of winter.

Nourish: It just takes a few days of sunshine to nourish the soul...last week we had three glorious sunny days to send Winter on it's way...washing on the line coming in smelling of fresh crisp air...one of my favourite things....nothing can compare to clothes dried in the sun with a gentle breeze...

Prepare:  Haven't spent a lot of time in the kitchen this month....did make a big pot of chicken stock from carcasses I had frozen .... can't wait until I have garden goodies to play with. . Did have to prepare the chicken run against predators...covered it in bird netting to prevent overhead attack from predatory birds...lost one of my girls early last week.

Reduce:  When my daughter moved into her new place she took a bit of our furniture to help get settled.  I needed to replace a unit for the spare room and managed to source a lovely little cabinet at the local second hand shop which they had refurbished.....loads of character...they just don't make furniture the same way anymore and it's upcycled..what's not to love about that.

Lovely second hand cabinet for the spare room...displaying one of my old paintings.

Green:  There is always something new to learn about being green....I've only recently discovered the problem of micro-beads...I don't use exfoliants or shower gels but I have in the past never realising what they contained and how it could be a problem.  This Green lifestyle article explains the damage they cause to the ocean and marine life and the health complications when humans ingest seafood contaminated with micro plastics.....food for thought !

Grow:  Last weekend I got very busy in the garden, weeding, turning over garden beds and planting out additional seedlings...zucchini, lettuce and capsicum to add to the broccoli, cauli, garlic, potatoes, strawberries, onions, leeks, beetroot, spinach, kale and peas that have been slowly growing over winter....and have taken off with a bang after last weeks sunny days..

Create:  Am working on a crocheted cushion cover for my daughter....almost finished, didn't quite get it done in the month...but I have included it anyway.

Current project ....will post a picture when completed

Discover:  I've discovered that the current government does not have it's priorities in the right place as far as I'm concerned.  I usually try to avoid politics but I have to say I am appalled at several of the decisions made by these poisonous politicians.....not the least is removing not only the carbon tax but also the mining tax and then in the same meeting they are cutting funding and staff to the Red Cross assisting the refugees, they have also scrapped the renewable energy target thereby diminishing investment in renewable energy ...that says so much about where there priorities are.

Enhance:  Bookclub update for August reading...The Vanishing act of Esme Lennox....very moving novel about a women who has been forgotten in a mental institution for 61 years....and what happens when she is handed over to her only living relative... The Elegance of the Hedgehog....not sure where this one is going...should have finished by now but it's hard going...has been translated from French into numerous languages...maybe something is lost in translation !!


Really enjoyed this one....

Have absolutely struggled with this one....translated from French it is hard going.

Enjoy:  We had a great weekend away to Castlemaine which was fantastic...so great to get away and see all of the sights around the Victorian goldfields .  We also went to see James Reyne at Crown...the tickets were a gift for my man's 60th from my daughter's....it was great, even though I am not a big fan of Crown Casino and all that it stands for.

 

Bit hard to tell from the photo but this is James Reyne...they played all the songs from Australian Crawl Days.



Compiling the monthly list is a great reflection on how I have spent the month and motivates me to live a truly inspired, creative and simple life. Happiness is where you find it.

Where Does the Time Go?...........

We had a really busy weekend moving my daughter into her new home......Sunday night locking up the chooks my man found one had died and its neck broken and the feathers picked off, no other damage.....the other girls were looking very subdued and nervous...next morning silence from the henhouse and I thought the worst.....but they were ok just too scared to come out and kept looking skyward....I think that a large bird has attacked them and tried to carry one of them off and has only managed to kill it .....I hastily erected the bird netting over their enclosure and they came straight out and have been happy since.....I've had the chickens for over 2 years and this is the first one I've lost to a predator....have managed to keep them safe from Mr Fox, but didn't think of attacks from above.

Wedding anniversary and bouquet .....so lovely....I feel very lucky to be sharing my life with

such a terrific man.....he really is a special person.

An anniversary bouquet.....lovely to celebrate every milestone.

Am racing to finish of a crochet project for my daughter's new house....haven't crocheted in a long time, but it's like riding a bike.....you just get back on.....hopefully this cushion cover will be finished soon.....

Progress on the cushion cover is quick when I have time to get onto it....12 ply works up fast .

Another project is renovating the ensuite.......so far all we have managed to do is start to pull our the shower......fingers crossed we can arrange reliable tradesmen and things will so along smoothly....does it ever???......renovating anything is problematic at times....see how we go !!

Yikes, I hate renovating but our ensuite needs fixing....including leaky broken shower.

I can't believe that we are heading into September next week....where does the year go....it flies past and before you know it another year is gone.....I took the time today to sit in the sun with a cup off tea and just enjoyed doing nothing for 20 minutes...just being thankful for my life and all that it entails...the good and the not so good....it really is what you make it....so make the most of it.