CREATURE OF HABIT

CREATURE of habit, that’s what I am. 
  
There’s something comforting about knowing you have a routine.

It’s safe knowing what comes next.

And yet, sometimes wouldn’t it be fun to throw off those shackles and live life a bit more dangerously?

Not train-surfing-at-midnight dangerous, that’s just plain dumb. I mean instead of eating my sensible salad or soup at lunchtime, I stroll online and book a ticket to New York.

Instead of always wearing black, I break out in crimson or cyan, not navy and grey.

Rather than sensible porridge for breakfast I feast on anchovy on toast?
While I’d like to think to myself as a free spirit, flexible in attitude and probably the kind of gal who rides a bright retro bicycle with a basket containing a baguette, a bouquet of wildflowers and small happy dog, in reality I’m an adherent to a different routine.
And if I had a retro bicycle, etc, I’d find my dog had eaten the damn baguette and shredded the flowers before we even got home.

But routines also have their benefits.

When you wake up in the morning and the newspapers and broadcast media shriek disaster, war, takeovers, death and damn politicians embezzling instead of doing their job, knowing you can make coffee the way you like it is such a comfort.

Going outside rain and shine to feed the feather riot who always run expectantly towards me as though I carry platters of caviar rather than small bucket of pellets, is so enjoyable it’s a pleasure rather than a chore.

I love riding my bike to work and waving to the lollipop ladies and bus drivers on route who always smile back.

Perhaps we should celebrate our routines with the occasional shake-up.
Just enough to shake those shackles.

BEANS, Beans, beans

DESPITE the crazy summer weather, the beans have continued to flourish.

 

The really hot dry spell killed off a lot of the bad bugs which saw the beans plants shoot up about a metre.

 

 

As well as Blue Lake, the other varieties including Scarlet Runner Beans and Lazy Housewife are also going (ahem) bananas.

PUMP IT UP

PUMPKINS are one of the easiest and most satisfying vegetables to grow.

 

Toss the seeds in, thin out the seedlings, cut off any excess globes and a few months later these wonderful orange and yellow veggies are ready to be turned into soup or roasted with and served with goats cheese and thyme.

 

 

In my new vegetable garden i did indeed toss the seeds in but neglected to thin them out enough with the result that the pumpkins are not taking over the garden, the lawn and some are even climbing up the fence and giving the beans a run for their money.

 

But its a great problem to have.

 

Now the plants are well established, i have taken down the fence and the hens can ramble around them and eat any insects silly enough to pop their heads up.

 

Roll on autumn.

Big Red

TOMATO time is here again.

Last night I spent a couple of hours weeding and getting rid of dead plant leaves in the Cluckingham Palace tomato bed which is chock-full of cherry tomatoes.

Sweetbite bite cherry tomatoes

It's a fun time of the year with the different varieties of tomatoes are ripening at different stages, so there's a constant supply of yummy types.

Rouge Marmalade tomatoes

 

The free range chef Annabelle Langbein has a great recipe for Harvest tomato sauce...

 

RHUBARB, Rhubarb, rhubarb

IS there anything better than yummy old rhubarb?

I simply love chopping it up, adding a tiny sprinkle of brown sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice before heating and eating.

Or baking in a pie.

Even adding stewed rhubarb on top of porridge!

Today's Weekly Times carries a great article by Peter Cundall on growing this divine vegetable.

GLOW IN THE DARK EGGS

THE ABC has reported that researchers in southern NSW are attempting to develop a new chicken that produces green eggs.

 

They want to genetically modify chickens with a gene that glows, so layer hen operations can tell if there's a female embryo inside the egg before it's incubated.

Each year, millions of male chicks in Australia are culled because it's unviable to keep them.

Read more here...

MAKE HAY

THIS heatwave means mulching is essential.

Last night I collected two bales of straw and this morning, one was put in the chook run.

After cleaning out the hutch, all the lovely old straw was placed in the garden and the feather riot were cackling with excitement with their new clean hay.

The second bale is on the hutch's corrugated iron roof so it is both out of harm's way from the gals and will act as a good insulator in this heat.

And languid the chooks are not!

The hot weather does not appear to be stopping them from dashing about eating unwary insects.

 

Although we are down to three eggs a day so two of them are holding out.

But in this weather, who can blame them?

Cool chooks

KEEPING my hens cool and watered during the heat this week will be an additional challenge.

 

Along with their usual deep water bowl I'll be adding two more into their enclosed pen.

 

Plus positioning the market umbrella to keep them in the shade.

 

If you kave any backyard chooks, be sure to check they have constant access to fresh, clean, cool water.

 

Also look out for snakes and other reptiles who may be attracted to the chooks water supply.

 

Hilda enjoys prime position on the bird bath

Tasmanian backyard egg sellers could be fined

TASSIE'S backyard chook breeders have until tonight to register their feelings on new regulations that will introduce heavy fines for the sale of unstamped eggs from unregistered flocks. 
  
Under draft food standard regulations, anyone who sells eggs – no matter the size of their flock – will be required to register their name and address and the number and location of their birds and stamp each egg with a unique identity mark, The Mercury reports.

Those who fail to comply face a $650 fine.

 

 

Information about egg producers in Victoria can be seen here.

New year's eggs

SEEING the first eggs of the new year is always exciting.

 

It's a nice way to start off with fresh eggs for breakfast. So on January 1, I made pancakes and gave the hens the left-overs as a reward.

 

 

 

The little devils tried to get into the  basil posts growing seedlings and the cherry and rouge marmalade tomato beds yesterday and I was just in time to stop Hilda from tearing down some cherry tomato branches.

 

I've been a bit lax in staking them up enough so must get into it.

 

Coincidentally, Peter Cundell addresses staking tomatoes in the Weekly Times today.  



Free range debate

THOSE of us lucky enough to have chooks in the back yard know the joys of enjoying delicious, free range eggs.

However, labelling laws in Australia are all over the shop - pretty much any egg producer can call their eggs free-range.

On Monday January 6, ABC Radio ran a story about a group of Australian egg producers are urging state and federal governments to create a legal, enforceable definition of free range eggs. Listen here...

Meanwhile, the feather riot continue to produce the best darn eggs this side of Geelong. 

 

Friends say I'm fortunate to be able to keep chooks and I have to agree.

 

So if you have a spare patch of garden, think seriously about giving a couple of former cage-hens a loving home.

 

They will reward you with more than just lovely eggs.

 

SCRAMBLED

EVERYONE who has chooks in the back yard reckons their girls produce the best cackleberries with which to make scrambled eggs.

As do I.

And I'm going to put my money where my mouth is and give you the recipe:

2 freshly laid eggs
1/2 cup of milk
mushrooms
tomatoes
fresh baby spinach
fresh basil leaves - chopped roughly
olive oil
Salt and pepper
Sourdough bread

Beak eggs add milk and combine until fluffy
Place a splash of olive oil in the pan
Add chopped mushrooms, tomatoes and half  the basil and gently toss until cooked
Place bread in toaster or even better, under the grill
Carefully pour in egg mixture over the mushrooms and tomatoes, sprinkle salt and pepper to taste then using a spatula, push the mixture back on itself as it cooks
When cooked place spinach on toast then lift scrambled eggs on toast
Enjoy!

FREE RANGE ID WIN

CHOICE, the consumer's lobby today announced their key wins for consumers in 2013, including the NSW Department of Fair Trading announced in December that it would champion a national crackdown on dodgy free-range egg labelling after CHOICE made a complaint earlier in the year.

This is an important step towards an enforceable free-range egg standard in Australia.

If you can, consider having a couple of chooks in your backyard.

Here's the label for the egg-cess bounty from my feather riot...

Gidget’s Cluckingham Palace

Fresh laid free range eggs from the happy hens: 

Gidget, Layne. Ledger, Laura and Hilda.

PAVLOVAS

MAKING meringues is always a hoot.

It's easier than working out what to do with all the left-over egg yolks if you are not planning on whipping up mayonnaise afterwards.

Last night I had fun baking mini-pavlovas for the fire brigade barbecue tonight.

Listening to 3RRR, drinking a diet ginger-beer and keeping an eye on the chooks to make sure they did not invade the bean patch, it's a pleasant way to spend a sunny summer evening.

As I'd already made the chocolate spice and vanilla butter cakes, the oven was well heated so I could easily lower the temperature.

To check they are cooked, gently tap the meringue - it will sound hollow if it is done.

While a large pavlova looks spectacular, for a buffet I prefer to make single serves so people can help themselves.

ALISON'S NO-FAIL MERINGUES

4 egg whites
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 pinch of salt
2 TBL spoons sifted pure icing sugar

Beat egg whites, Salt and sugar until thick, glossy and firm - about 10 minutes
Gently fold in icing sugar until fully combined
Line flat trays with baking paper 
Pipe into small swirls
Bake in a low oven - around 100 degrees for about an hour (every oven is different so keep an eye on them to ensure they don't brown.)
Fill with cream and scatter with blueberries or grated chocolate
Enjoy!

BAMBOO BASHERS

ERADICATING bamboo can be a thankless task.

 

So thank goodness for the feather riot.

 

Before the combines attack of mattock and chook

 

  

After the hens and the mattock

 

Looking at the bare earth down the pathway behind my studio and chook run, it's a testament to those cheeky chooks.

 

The before photo which was taken from the other end of the path shows the triffid-like jungle the bamboo had grown into

 

These hens have been working hard.

As have I - swinging a mattock is a great core and upper-body workout but it took ages to cut down the bamboo and then dig out the roots.

 

The bamboo poles were then left to dry out and cure and as you can see from the photo above, are perfect for staking tomatoes and beans.

 

There's still the occasional bamboo shoot, but by the time the hens have a nobble and scratch it's all over red rover.

 

 

PANCAKES

PANCAKES are one of those you can 'feel them doing you good' breakfasts.

 

Particularly when made from fresh eggs collected a few minutes earlier.

 

 

No-fail pancakes

2 eggs

2 cups milk

1/2 cup wholemeal SR Flour - sifted

1/2 cup SR flour - sifted

 

Beat eggs and milk until frothy

Gently add flours

Combine until creamy

Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes

Heat non-stick pan and grease

Use a table spoon to drop small amounts of batter in pan

Serve with lemon and sugar or berries

 

Note - the chooks will love the scraps!

 

BISCUITS

IS there anything more fun to do in the kitchen than baking biscuits?

 

They are simple to create, use eggs from my hens and emit such a lovely fragrance as you pull them from the oven!

This morning I had the old sunbeam mix-master working overtime as I made cakes, Anzac and butter biscuits before work for an afternoon tea for a friend.

Easy to bake but they make an impact as everyone love loves gifts from the heart.

HAPPY HENS

KEEPING your backyard chooks happy is the key to getting great eggs.

 

Ensuring they have a constant supply of cool and clean fresh water, food and a relaxed environment all make those cackleberrries extra-good.

 

Free-range is the go but foxes, even in urban areas, can be a problem.

 

Lat night a galpal on acreage at Bellbrae called to say her flock of hens were being stalked by a fox. So confident was this it predator, it was even turning up while she only 10m away putting out the washing!

 

Now she is going to build a totally enclosed run to keep them safe.

 

 

As my yard backs onto the Bellarine rail trail which can seem to be a fox highway at times, so I don't allow the gals out in the garden unless I'm there.

OVER THE FENCE

ONE of the loveliest things about walking or cycling to work is looking at what everyone else is growing in their gardens.

 

Roses rambling over fences, lemon trees showing their bounty as you walk past a gate, even tomatoes soaring a good couple of metres up, in this case. even growing above the lattice nailed to the timber fence. 

 

While dashing along Carr St last night, I stopped to admire this tomato which was enjoying the sunshine. It was taller than I am (not hard at 5'3") and covered in flowers which bodes well for a later summer harvest.

 

I can understand why people want privacy in the gardens, but sharing your trees, shrubs and flowers looks and scent is one of the great benefits of gardening all year long.

 

CRY FOWL OVER NEW EGG-SHARING LAWS

ALL states bar Victoria will affected by new regulations to come in next year which may mean the end to the sharing of backyard eggs.

An article in the WEEKLY TIMES said from November, selling, trading or giving away eggs produced in your backyard could be banned.

Well, I for one am appalled.

This is serious as it means that backyard chook keepers like me who give away eggs (and those who also sell), will have our egg trading restricted.

My hens produce 4-5 eggs a day and the majority are given to friends who are unwell or I use them in my baking.

The WT article said all states and territories have signed the Australian New Zealand Food Standards Code and each state has had to draft its own legislation.
It added so far Victoria has an exemption from the stamping requirement until November 25 next year and an ongoing exemption for duck and quail eggs.