Farm update - October 2013

The spring weather is certainly here now, with long hot dry days and cool nights, with just the one storm bringing a much needed 35 mm of rainfall. I'll do a garden update next week and tell you everything I've been planting.

At Eight Acres we've stopping milking Bella daily and just milking her about once a week when we run out of milk to drink. Bella and Molly have been coming into the house yard in the afternoon to trim the grass, so we haven't had to get the mower out yet. Donald the bull has been causing his usual trouble with the neighbour's bull, so he's in a paddock by himself where we can't break any fences.

The chickens are laying lots of eggs and some of the babies have started laying too, so there's plenty to eat and extra to sell. Of the five roosters we have left, three are nearly big enough to eat, so it will be rooster kill day pretty soon (we haven't had any chicken for a while, so that will be nice).

At Cheslyn Rise, the house is coming along. Our neighbour is an electrician, so he has been working with us to firstly pull out all the old wiring and then figure out where to put the new stuff. With the house being tongue and groove walls inside, there is no cavity to hide the wires, so they run down the wall and Pete has made some wooden conduit casing to cover the wires. We have to put fans in each room and one of the verandas to meet the energy efficiency requirements (not sure how efficient it is to install more fans!), and I have ordered them online, as well as some lights, so when they arrive the electrician will be able to finish that work. In the meantime, we have a power point at the power pole and its been a luxury to be able to use tools without starting the generator.

Our other neighbour has also been working hard on the earthworks around our place and finished off the driveway (its 1 km, so we wanted to get it in good condition before the wet season), a new dam and general tidying and flattening around the house yard.

We have been using up the soap I made, so I made a new batch using some soap moulds that Pete made for me, and they worked really well, so I'll post about the design soon. I have nearly finished the vest I am working on, and that will probably be my last knitting for the season, now that the days are longer, I'd rather be in the garden.

How was your September? What are your plans for October?

Chime napping

the old wiring removed from the house

Pete cutting my soap with a pizza cutter

the purple potatoes I grew

Baby Brafords

playing with the dogs

Molly and Monty

The chickens

Nancy

Cheryl (she wants to play ball)

Donald

I also want to add this video, which I found an excellent explanation of how processed food (among other things) makes us sick in so many ways, and how we can heal by eating real food. The video is an interview with GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) diet creator Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. She has some interesting thoughts on farming as well.

Cooking and eating beans

When I was growing up, my family never ate many dried beans, they just weren't something that was used much in NZ cuisine. If I did eat beans, it was always from a can (and most likely baked beans). And until recently I was still using beans from a can, but it can be difficult to get organic beans, and to find cans not lined with BPA. Then I had an opportunity to buy some organic dry goods in bulk, so I bought 5kg of kidney beans, 5kg of adzuki beans and 5kg of chickpea (garbanzo beans). I know, that is a lot of beans. And then I didn't really know what to do with them! Not just what dishes to put them in, but how to prepare them, I just didn't know what method to use. So I decided it was time to learn how to use all these beans that I bought, here's what I found out. I started with an excellent ebook called The Everything Beans Book , from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship, which has lots of bean recipes, but more importantly, an explanation of h...

Guest post: Is there a place for power tools in the garden?

One of my regular readers and commenters offered to write a guest post about a horticulture course, its quite a funny read, with some serious insights into our technology obsession. If you'd like to submit a guest post, email me at eight.acres.liz {at} gmail.com. While I am always happy to share links back to your blog or website, this contributor preferred to remain anonymous. I hope you enjoy their story.... -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- Just a few days ago our daily horticulture classes were interrupted by an invitation to review some new gardening gadgets. The idea was to open half a dozen of electric hand trimmers , test them and fill in some review about their goods and bads. As nothing is more dear to a student – even a “hort “ one - to escape routine and mess around till lunchtime, we opened the boxes and got down to business. What did we...

Farm update - August 2017

Its been cold this month, and very nice to have the fire going every night. Here's a photo of my boy in his cape, great for late night woofing at things. Most of July we were either preparing for the butcher to come or putting meat away. Its always a big job, but its only once a year, and its all done now. My lovely neighbour came over to help, so it was fun to have the company and work together. Taz was a champion once again as she helped us to move cattle in the yards ready to load for the market. Gus is not at that level yet and had to stay home (he cries when he gets left behind, but he just gets in the way and scatters the cattle). We have had a few sprinkles of rain here and there, but also plenty of cold nights, so the grass is mostly dead and dry, waiting for the warmer weather to revive our summer-active pasture. Gus in his cape Taz after she helped to move cattle Food and cooking It was all about beef in July and we are v...

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