Eight Acres

I have published "Our Experience with House Cows" on lulu.com in ebook format.  Personally I think it looks better in .pdf ( buy from scribd ), but if you prefer ebook format , you can buy it here instead .  If you just want me to email it to you, send me a message on eight.acres.liz at gmail.com. If that is too confusing, just look at this photo of lovely Molly, now don't you want to know how to get a house cow of your own?

One Straw Revolution - An Introduction to Natural Farming  was published in 1978, a collection of Masanobu Fukuoka's writing translated into English by Larry Korn , who had spent time on Mr Fukuoka's farm.  The most recent edition (2009) also includes an introduction by Frances Moore Lappe , and preface by Wendell Berry .  ( Excellent podcast interview with Larry Korn about One Straw Revolution here , in which he explains that natural farming is complimentary to permaculture, but not the same thing) (photo source) One Straw Revolution describes Mr Fukuoka's invention and practice of what he calls "Natural Farming", or "do-nothing farming".  The basic concept is to work with nature rather than against it, but not to abandon it completely to the wild.  Natural farming has only four rules: No cultivation of soil No chemical fertiliser or prepared compost No weeding by tillage or herbicide No dependence on chemicals If you are starting from eit...

I am often asked if we have to milk our cows twice a day, everyday.  I don't think we could handle that kind of schedule, so thankfully the answer is "no"!  Sure, if you want a lot of milk, and you have the time, you can milk your cow that regularly, but we only need a few litres of milk a week.  We use the calf as a share milker as soon as its big enough, and I've written all about it over at my house cow ebook blog ...   Click here to read the rest ... Molly with baby Ruby You might also be interested in my series on getting started with homestead dairy Interview with myself Interview with Mark and Kate from Purple Pear Permaculture Interview with Kim from the Little Black Cow Interview with Rose Petal Interview with Marie from Go Milk the Cow Interview with Ohio Farmgirl Buy my ebook "Our Experience with House Cows" on  Etsy ,  Lulu  and  Amazon , or email on eight.acres.liz at gmail.com to arrange delivery.  More ...

Unless you really need every drop of milk from your cow, you can make life a lot easier for yourself by using the calf as a share-milker. Here is how it works. Molly cow with her calf Ruby A cow makes the most milk after she first calves and then her production gradually decreases. The amount of milk she makes will depend on her genetics, her health and the quality of her feed. We notice a huge difference in milk production if we have lush green grass in summer compared to dry grass in winter. For the first few weeks after the calf is born, you leave the calf with the cow and milk the cow twice a day. The cow will gradually produce less milk and as the calf grows, it will drink more milk, so the amount you get at each milking will decrease. When you’re only getting 2 L at a time for a few days, you can cut back to milking once a day, either morning or afternoon, and the calf gets the rest. When you’re only getting 2 L a day, you can stop milking altogether. Now if you wa...

When I occasionally walk up the "cleaning" aisle of the supermarket I am baffled by all the different products, gadgets and essential items required to keep our house clean!  I have never made a secret of the fact that I don't particularly like spending time cleaning the house.  I have much more interesting things to do in the garden, but I do try to keep in to a minimum standard (and to be fair, Pete is the chief toilet cleaner).  We don't buy any cleaners from the supermarket these days, but we do occasionally clean the house.... more on this in a minute.... This July Pete and I have taken up the challenge once again to reduce and analyse our single use plastic consumption with  Plastic Free July . Throughout July have to shared with you our progress, and lots of tips and ideas, and its been great to see you all join in. I have one more giveaway, so join in, share your ideas and have a chance to win some plastic-free products this July! In Week 1 I wrote about...

**  Sign up for my weekly email updates here , you will find out more about my garden, soap and our farmlife, straight to your inbox, never miss a post!  New soap website and shop opening soon.... Cooking chokos (not be confused with another post about cooking chooks ) has been the subject of a few questions on my blog lately, so here's some more information for you.  A choko on the vine Chokos - also known as Chayote, christophene or christophine, cho-cho, mirliton or merleton, chuchu, Cidra, Guatila, Centinarja, Pipinola, pear squash, vegetable pear, chouchoute, güisquil, Labu Siam, Ishkus or Chowchow, Pataste, Tayota, Sayote - is a vine belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family, along with pumpkins, squash and melons, with the botanical name Sechium edule . The choko vine growing over the garden fence Leaving chokos out to sprout Here's one that started sprouting in the kitchen, the others have been outside,...

For a while now I have believed that the main barrier to me doing a better job of sewing my own clothes was my lack of a or dressmaker's dummy (aka dressmakers form or mannequin).  When I last investigated the cost of  a dummy, they seemed too extravagant, so I looked for a way to make my own.  There are a few methods around, using plaster bandages , using paper packaging tape , and finally, the one I chose, duct tape ! Not only is making your own dummy very cheap, if you are careful, you end up with a form that exactly matches your own body.  Well its a lot closer than an expensive adjustable dummy anyway.  All you need is a few rolls of duct tape (at least four to be safe), and old tight-fitting t-shirt to wear (and cut up) under the duct tape, a spare 2-3 hours and at least one person to help (pick someone that you don't mind smoothing duct tape over your upper body, I used my husband).  The first element is the easiest, the others can be more difficul...

I often forget how much plastic is in a "normal" bathroom.  Bottles, tubes and tubs of shampoo, conditioner, bodywash, deodorant, hairspray, hair gel, hair dye,  moisturiser, cleanser, toner, eye wrinkle cream, make up remover, make up containers x a million, toothpaste, tooth brush, toilet paper packaging, razors, shaving cream etc.... more on that in a minute.... This July Pete and I are taking up the challenge once again to reduce and analyse our single use plastic consumption with  Plastic Free July . What's plastic-free in my bathroom? Homemade soap (details here and here ) Homemade deodorant ( recipe here ) Homemade skin salve ( recipe here ) Damadi moisturiser (made in Australia, packaged in glass jars that I reuse for the above) Shaving stick and brush homemade salve What's still plastic? Toothpaste (Miessence organic, in a plastic tube, something I should make, any suggestions?) Toothbrushes (just the normal supermarket version, I tri...

I realised that the rainwater in our new plastic water tanks was acidic when I wanted to test our garden soil pH and I couldn't get the pH meter to work properly.  I thought it was broken.  I recalibrated it several times, and still it was reading below pH 5 on water from the tap.  After some research, I realised that the pH meter wasn't broken, our rainwater really is that acidic. the water before treatment You've probably heard of acid rain.   Rain absorbs gases such as suphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere , which creates sulphuric, nitric and carbonic acids respectively.  In concrete water tanks, the acid dissolves the lime in the cement and returns the water pH to neutral (7), but that's why concrete tanks usually end up leaking.  Evidently a similar reaction occurs in rusty metal tanks, probably with the iron, as our water used to be pH 7 in the old tanks.  In plastic tanks, there is nothing to react, so the w...

We usually keep around ten to twenty hens for eggs.  Unfortunately, as hens get older, they lay less frequently, and that's an awful lot of hens to feed if they are not producing eggs.  Every year we cull the older hens, but they don't go to waste.  If any are really skinny or unwell, we bury them in the garden, but the rest of them we butcher and cook.  Sure old hens can't be cooked the same as a young rooster, but you can still prepare some delicious meals from them. We don't buy chicken meat, so any opportunity to eat chicken is a rare treat for us and we don't waste anything! Roast hen - you can roast the hens, but they need to cook for a long time, several hours, in a closed roasting dish with liquid in the bottom so they don't dry out.  I season with herbs and garlic. Minced hen - we also like to mince the breast and leg meat and make meatballs, this avoids the stringy texture. Chicken stock - I fill the slow cooker with as much wings ...

Ironically, this July is the beginning of the end of recycling in the South Burnett Regional Council area.  Yes, you read correctly, from July 2014 we will no longer have curb-side collection of recycling, its all going to landfill.  Not to recycling at the landfill either, we don't even have the option to take our own recycling to the tip, there is simply no facility for it. Essentially our council tricked us into this change.  They sent out a survey and asked if we wanted to pay extra for another bin for recycling.  We were happy with our one split bin - half for rubbish and half for recycling.  Unfortunately the options weren't well explained, and our region didn't vote for the second bin, our council is now only providing one bin for rubbish, no more split bin.  Apparently they are now "looking into" providing recycling facilities at our landfills, but at the moment there is no local recycling options.  More on that in a minute.... image source ...

I bought a tiny little soapwort plant a couple of years ago and I have been waiting patiently for it to grow because I really wanted to try using it for laundry detergent.  I found out about soapwort after I started using soap nuts for laundry.  I like soap nuts , but they are imported from overseas and can't be grown here as they are considered a weed plant. my soapwort plant before I harvested some leaves Soapwort ( Saponaria officinalis ) is commonly grown as a flowering plant (unfortunately I don't have a photo of mine in flower).  Its leaves and roots contain saponins, which is a chemical that lathers when mixed with water.  This makes soapwart an effective cleaner.  Soapwart can also be made into a decoction to treat external skin conditions (I haven't tried this), and although it can be taken internally for various ailments, it comes with many warnings, so I haven't tried that either.  As soapwort can be poisonous, you need to grow it where gra...

June was really warm (relatively), it didn't feel like winter at all, and then after winter solstice its suddenly got properly cold (for Queensland, that is!).  We still have day time temperatures in the mid 20degC, but it has been frosty overnight.  I have been heating up wheat packs to stay warm in Brisbane during the week, while Pete's had the woodstove cranking back home (and telling me about all the roast potatoes I'm missing out on!).  The harvest in late June was the last of slightly frost damaged chokos (more about them later in July) and tromboncinos and lots of brassicas.  A few peas that have climbed so high, they may survive (they tend to only get frost damage on the tendrils).  Radishes, although I never find these easy to grow (why does everyone say they are easy??) and some stalks of celery (I pick it as it grows rather than waiting to pick an entire bunch).  And two eggs from our newest laying hens, its a good time to buy new hens, as the...