From farm to plate

For some of what we eat we talk in food metres rather than miles.  A rainy day today so I decided to do some cooking with all that spinach we have coming out our ears (Popeye would be in heaven). The result was a heap of spinach and ricotta pies, using our own spinach and eggs.  Very easy to make and I freeze them so I can take them to work for lunch or we can have them with a salad or veggies for dinner.

Recipe: wash, chop and blanch spinach so is soft and wilted. Dice an onion and fry in pan so it is soft (you can substitute shallots or chives here if you have them growing in the garden - I often do.  No need to fry them in the pan first if you use them instead). Combine spinach, onion, ricotta cheese and an egg or two in a bowl.  Add salt and pepper to taste. If using pre-prepared pastry sheets, cut into quarters. Push each square into a muffin tin or small ramekin (you can make one big pie too if you prefer). Spoon in some mixture.  Fold corners of the pastry down over the mixture.  Bake in a moderate oven until brown.

Hello world!

The eggs under the broody hen are hatching.  This little one popped out today to say hello.

Using what we have

It is so tempting and easy sometimes to just go and buy what we need. So many things these days come ready made or in kit form. you don't need to think, you just go buy it and install it. With a little thought and sometimes some lateral thinking though, you can build what you need with what you have and it will do the job just as well, and often better, for much less. When we moved in here, I needed hooks to hang things on. I wanted lots of them in the utility cupboard under the stairs and on the wall outside the door for hanging hats, outdoor coats and dog leads. My dear other half raided the workshop and came up with some pine offcuts and some dowel. A few coats of leftover stain from doing the windows on the house and it looks fantastic. Better than a bought one!

Sheep shelters here get the same 'use what you have' treatment.  A few wooden pallets, some star pickets and some leftover colorbond from building the shed and we have a very solid and practical shelter. To build, stand a pallet on its side and drive a star picket down through the gap at each end.  Do the same with the other pallet so they are facing each other to make the ends of the shelter. Lay about three beams across between the pallets to make a support for the roof and nail/drill/tie them to the pallets.  You can use wood - we used some metal cross beam offcuts from the shed. Screw or nail your corro/colourbond or other roofing material to these beams. We also put colourbond across the back and screwed it each end to the pallets.  It didn't need supports and the whole structure is very strong, even in our high winds. If you wanted to be sure though, you could add cross beams or simply use a couple more pallets for the back.  The shelter in the orchard has an addition made to it, as well.  A few more pallets at the back, a bit more colourbond, and we have another shelter that provides a bit more protection from the weather and is perfect for lambs.  We have built our lamb pen around this. The chickens love hanging out in it too. 

Eating local and sharing with others

I had someone from my work contact me this week.  They heard through the grapevine that I grow vegetables and wanted to know if I would be able to supply them with fresh produce each week.  We often have surplus of certain things so I decided I would be happy to share what I have, when I have some to share. That is part of what it is all about, after all - building a strong local community network for the production and consumption of local home grown foods. When you have excess that can't readily be stored, why not share it. This week they are eating some of our lovely oak leaf lettuce, baby spinach and parsley, picked fresh on the day of delivery. Theoretically it cost nothing to transport as I was not making any extra trips to deliver it. To me, this is how our food should be grown and sourced. Fresh, local, seasonal and shared.

Chip, chip, cheep!

Today is day 21 of incubation. The theoretical 'hatching day' for chicks.  In reality we started hatching at day 18 and chicks have been emerging at regular intervals ever since.  As I type we have chicks in the process of emerging from their shells. It is such a long slow process so on advice I am trying not to look too often! Easier said than done.  I know some people make a point of going out on hatching day so they don't get too impatient. 

Something I didnt know before: When the chicks begin to hatch they still have the yolk attached to them.  They need to absorb it before they hatch completely.  One of the reasons why you shouldn't try to help a chick out of the egg.  It will come out when it is ready. 

Some of the early chicks were getting just a bit too impatient and rowdy after being in the incubator for 36 hours and were pecking at each other and the emerging chicks, so I took a risk and took them out.  So far so good and both the chicks in the brooder and eggs and chicks still in the incubator are doing well. The chicks in the brooder have now had a drink, have started eating and are much happier, having settled in under the heat lamp.  Not long and the rest will be joining them!

Fresh from the Salad Bar

One of the things I like about growing our own vegetables is that I can walk outside and pick something from the garden and within minutes can be eating it for lunch or dinner. It is early in the season for us here but already we have a 'salad bar' of lots of leafy greens and herbs to pick. Frankly I have lettuce coming out of my ears at the moment and there is no way we can eat enough salads to use it all!

We have artichokes too.  I picked some this morning and now have to decide what I am going to do with them. I have Maggie Beer's book Maggie's Harvest which is a wealth of information on preparing and using different ingredients and one of my favourite books. I will probably pull that out to get some ideas.  I am thinking we will eat these ones fresh.  The smaller ones coming on now I will try preserving. 

A few more weeks and the garden should be going full steam. The bean and pea seeds have sprouted, the tomatoes and capsicums are growing well now there is less chance of frosts, and I planted cucumber, zucchini and yellow squash seedlings this morning. The bok choi is well on its way too so we will be eating them soon as well.

Tag, you're it!

Today is a big day for the poddy lambs. Today they are getting their ear tags, having their tails banded and are being vaccinated. The older Wiltipoll lambs were done weeks ago, but as these little ones are younger, they are getting done now. At three weeks of age they are growing strongly and putting on lots of weight.  These two are out of the lamb pen during the day now, learning how to graze in the orchard and having a fun time running, exploring, and chasing the chooks around the yard.

We tag the sheep on the ear to identify them so we can keep track of individuals and bloodlines.  It is also now a requirement that all sheep be identified and traced in accordance with the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) .  Each property must have its own Property Identification Code (PIC).  Amazing how much paperwork and red tape there is to comply with these days, even for a small farm. On our tags we have our PIC, plus a number to identify the individual sheep.  Each years lambs get a different colour tag. This year they are green.

Like a mother hen - part 2

One of our hens is broody.  Seriously broody.  Usually I try to break their broodiness early if possible so the egg supply doesnt reduce too much, but there was no stopping this determined little hen!  She is sitting tight and fluffing herself up with an angry look and peck if you get too close. I have decided I might as well make use of mother natures incubator and set some eggs under her so tonight she and the eggs will be moving to the broody pen and we will see if the move agrees with her and she stays sitting.

The sooner we move her out of the main coop the better.  One hen sitting on a nest box can prompt the others to go broody too and yesterday we had another try it on for size.  She decided this morning that she wasn't serious though and after a bit of indecision went off to follow her pals hanging out in the lamb pen.

As for the eggs in the incubator, they were candled at 14 days yesterday and all looks good for most of them.  I am happy as we have had storms this week and lost power a few times.  Lucky not for more than an hour or so each time, but it can still affect the eggs.  At least I have a broody hen now, so if we have any more blackouts I can always pop them under her.

Preparing for a rainy day

We have been a bit slack lately and have let our supplies get a little low. Maybe not low by some peoples standards - we could probably live a few weeks on what we have here with a little creativity and a lot of monotony - but it is not as organised as I would like it to be. So, at the moment I am working on restocking and making sure we have a reasonable amount in reserve for that proverbial or literal rainy day.

Last year during all the floods I was reminded how important stockpiles can be.  We are in a good position here on a hill so our biggest problem is being cut off rather than washed away. As we have quite a few low creek crossings on the road to our place though, that can happen fairly quickly, so it pays to make sure we have enough supplies here to last should we need them.  Last year we were cut off for a while and in reality it didn't really affect us much - apart from having to stay home - as we had what we needed right here.  I must admit to being aghast, however, when the radio reported that food drops were being arranged for people living in a rural 'lifestyle block' area a bit closer to the city as their properties had been cut off from town and they were desperate for supplies .... after only two days!  Are some people really that unprepared and undersupplied?  Particularly those that live out of town?  How long could you last on your supplies?

Other events have reinforced my belief that being prepared is practical.  The eathquakes in New Zealand and the experiences of friends and family there brought the need to be prepared for the 'unexpected' back home to me. I was reminded of that again this week by a friend in the US who has lived for over a week without power and running water and limited road access after major storms. Remember that no power may also mean no ATM access and no money to buy things - if you can get anywhere to buy it in the first place. So, we are stocking up again so that a shorter term emergency at least doesn't become more stressful that it needs to be.

There are lots of tips on the net about how to stockpile.  One of my favourite forums Aussies Living Simply discusses this quite frequently and there is lots of great advice there on how to go about it.  The bare basics though are really a decent safe water supply and a decent food supply.  For us water is not such a major issue.  We rely on tanks so have a ready supply right here.  I do keep a supply of water in bottles and containers in our pantry too though. Food wise I have been trying to keep a supply of drygoods.  Flour, rice, pasta, salt, milk powder, dried beans & peas and so on.  Then there is a supply of canned and bottled goods. Canned goods that can be eaten cold in an emergency or used with things like rice to bulk them out. Oil and vinegar and canned vegetables like tomatoes and corn and such.  Surplus from the garden that has been preserved.  I really need to do more of this, but we have a few things. One of my aims this year is to grow enough to put away as well as eat fresh. Our wood heater has an oven and stovetop, and we have a gas BBQ and portable camping stove, so we can boil water and cook.

Our garden, chooks and other livestock also provide us with supplies too and should help in a longer term situation as well as the short term. The more self sufficient we are the less we have to worry that we can't run down to the shops because the road is cut or there is no fuel or power or the supermarket will be closed for the day...or longer.  I just don't want to be like those people who need foods drops just because they can't go shopping on a rainy day.

Responsible livestock guardian dog breeding

Anyone involved in breeding livestock for profit or purpose will know that to improve your chances of success you need a plan and you need to pay close attention to your breeding program. Type and structure is important and they need to be able to do the job they are designed for. Have a plan and you have a better chance of success.  Why oh why then don't many of these same people understand that this applies to dogs as well?  The same people who are so careful breeding and raising their livestock are happy to go out and buy a livestock guardian dog from anywhere  - a dog often produced with no care or plan in relation to its breeding and raising.  Then they wonder why it doesn't work out or write all livestock guardian dogs off as useless. It simply doesn't make sense to me.  It you are going to invest in an animal to protect your quality and valuable stock, why would you take your chances on a possibly inferior animal?  Investing in a good livestock guardian is like investing in a good ram or bull.  Sure any old scrubber might get results, but they may not be good ones, or the ones you want. You want an dog that can work with you as an important part of your farm team. They are there to protect your investment and livelihood so it can pay to treat them as the valuable asset they are.

Breeding and raising a good livestock guardian dog starts well before the dog is born.  It means carefully choosing the best breeding stock, paying attention to genetics, to health, to structure and to breed type.  Basically it means making sure that you start with a good foundation of healthy, structurally fit animals, with a known pedigree of healthy and structurally fit animals, that have the inbuilt ability to do their job.  To do this you need to choose a breeder that pays attention to these details - who breeds according to a well thought out and researched plan.

But those dogs advertised on your local for sale site were 'bred on the farm' so 'will make good livestock dogs', right?  Wrong. Let me tell you that being bred on a farm doesnt guarantee anything. Just like every ram lamb born on a farm is not going to be your next top stud ram (or even a decent flock ram).  All it means is that it was born on a farm - nothing more.  There is much more to choosing a good dog than the place it was born and while some good dog breeders do own farms, some don't.  Even in their country of origin some of the better breeders of working livestock guardian dogs don't necessarily live on farms.  But they know what traits they should have, they know how to raise them properly and they know how to help choose one that has a good chance of being a good livestock guardian with the right management. And the right management can be just as important too, but that is a whole other topic.

So, where do you go to look for a good breeder? A good place to start is with a breeder who is registered with one of the State member bodies of the Australian National Kennel Council. Just as you have societies and associations for different livestock breeds, this is the one for dogs. A good place to find a list of some registered breeders is the Dogzonline website.  Click on the 'breed pages' link to go to a list of breeds.  The livestock guardian dog breeds currently in Australia include Anatolian Shepherd Dog, Central Asian Shepherd Dog, Komondor, Kuvasz, Maremma Sheepdog, Pyrenean Mastiff, Pyrenean Mountain Dog, Spanish Mastiff and Tibetan Mastiff.  To learn more about these different breeds and livestock guardian dogs in general visit the Livestock Guardian Dogs website. I highly recommend a visit to their 'Library' page.

The Tyranny of Distance

There are lots of benefits to living in the country, and I wouldn't change that for the world. One of the things we have to deal with though is the fact that to get anywhere takes a bit of time. As we don't earn what you could call an income from the farm, working somewhere else is a must. For me that means an hour drive each way to get to work and the expense of petrol and a car to get me there. Unlike 'cityfolk' we don't have the option of a bus or train or riding a bike to work so a car it has to be. And those petrol bills can really add up! I am lucky as my job allows me to work from home a couple of days per week. A big plus for me as I love being able to stay at home and work in my office here. It does reduce the petrol costs a bit and gives me that travel time back. For the other three days a week though, and whenever we need to do something on the weekend, I need to hit the roads.

I have been debating car types lately. Trying to find the best car to do the jobs we need it to do has been daunting. A ute would be a bonus around the farm - we need a vehicle that can tow stuff and carry stuff and does ok bumping through the paddocks. To drive into town a small economical car would be better to reduce the fuel bill. To cart my dogs around to shows and other events I would love a van. You can't fit too many Pyreneans plus gear in a normal car! But having three different cars is impractical so at the moment I muddle on with the old 4WD which does none of the jobs perfectly, but at least it does them all.

I will say that driving in the country is much more pleasant than through city streets. I do enjoy the 'break'. A lot less vehicles to deal with and no traffic lights. On the other hand, defensive driving is as much a necessity out here too as while the human traffic may be less we have traffic of a different kind. Depending on the time of day I regularly see kangaroos, wallabies, echidna, wombats, possums, turtles, foxes, rabbits, snakes, lizards, owls (who like to hunt from the road at night) and all manner of other bird life who like to swoop in front of the car or sit on the road. I have even had a wedge tailed eagle swoop down in front of the car as I was driving along our road. It gave me quite a fright I must say. And then there are the neighbours goats, but we wont go there. Some days it can be quite a slalom course trying to avoid all the animals and you really do need to keep your mind on the job. While the distance has its problems though I wouldn't change living here for quids. There are too many positives to living away from the shops and chaos and close living of the city. We love our space too much. So for now we continue the commute and enjoy the scenery as we drive.

Taming the Tussock

One of the most time consuming and expensive things most farms will have to deal with is managing weeds. It can be a never ending issue. One of our biggest problems here is Serrated Tussock. It can take over very quickly if not controlled and nothing really eats it so the more tussock you have the less decent food you have for stock. And then there is the Patterson's Curse and Sifton Bush. We were free of Patterson's Curse until a couple of years ago, but a neighbour bought in some contaminated feed during the drought so we are now tackling that too. Amazing how fast the weeds can spread. We are spot spraying this week. I hate using chemicals but at the moment it seems to be the only way to deal with the problem until we get it to more managable levels. There is just too much to take out by hand. We are making headway, though it may take a couple more years to get the tussock hit on the head. Frankly, we need more stock and more fences too to better manage it. We are building them up slowly. The paddocks are looking so much better than they were during the drought when we bought the place though - they have gone from bare and overgrazed to lush and well covered. It all takes time, and we just have to keep on top of those weeds.....