snap it 'fresh'

Greetings all,

 Snap It 'Fresh' was an easy topic this week with Faith, Hope & a Whole Lotta Love, as it's the heart of Spring where edible flowers, herbs, fruits, vegetables & salad ingredients are thriving & FRESH.  These went into my herb salad lunch today.

Does anything say fresh like Spring lambs??  Yummy, i mean, super cute!!

Doesn't get fresher than eggs laid in the morning going into baked cakes & delicious dinners.  We've allowed our stock to build up as we're making icecream on the weekend.  Exciting news, those sweet little Pekin bantams we raised from baby chick eggs back in May, have started to lay little white eggs this week.  Well done Oboe & Xylophone, i'm one very proud mama hen here.

Right now i'm drinking freshly juiced carrots, celery, apples & pears - it's my dinner, i'm exhausted & just can't stomach a real meal.  It's hitting the spot.  Love Posie

all by myself . . . . & blogger ate my statistics!!

Greetings all,

Now i love the school holidays so i've found myself in a very quiet (very clean) house today . . . all by myself.  Cue the music.  School has resumed for the final term of this year.  I have a child who will be let loose into the real world in just 4 years time??  Yikes!!  Anyway, i thought i'd play around on my blog & social media platforms.  Oh great, thanks Blogger, you just ate all my statistics.  I am pitching my blog to potential advertisers & gulp, no one has ever viewed my blog apparently!! Good place to start.  Zero!!

So to avoid panic & staring mindlessly at a statistics page saying "no one knows you exist" i headed into the chicken run.  Oh Trombone, i know how you feel honey, "don't want to be, all by myself."  Actually i've always embraced my own company, i think she does too.  

Glorious sunshine.  Time to hire the hedge trimmer.  We just priced them . . . expensive.

How relaxed is Harmonica??  Our ISA Browns have started to lay eggs.

 This was a total time waster . . . watching 3 chickens roll around & 'wash' themselves in lawn clippings.  It was fascinating, i was mesmerised.   

 Here's some scale for you, Oboe our Pekin x Silky bantam (in a little ditch) versus Trombone our Australian x Indian Game bird.  Boy she has some drum sticks on her!! 

Anyone else having Blogger-Ate-My-Statistics issues??  Or am i all by myself??  Love Posie

snap it 'small'

Greetings all,

Well feeling a whole lot better this Wednesday than last - just a little dry cough left - so joining in Faith Hope & a Whole Lotta Love's Snap It 'small' . . . 

i give you some of my smallest Babushka members . . . 

 my small children are learning about manners at school - my mother used to say "point with your elbow" subtle . . . 

 found this small childhood memory on my keyboard this morning, a chatterbox with messages like "you shall see a pom pom/ rainbow/ shooting star/ death" & "you shall eat a pie."  I love discovering how my children think creatively - from pom poms to death??  Anyone who thinks children are boring are crazy, they are SO entertaining, albeit black comedy!!

 I took this photo of my small family to my 10 year school reunion, hiccup, this year is my 20th!!  Luckily i've kept the same husband from the 5 year reunion, there have been a few divorces.

 This small fellow came along in 2004, he hogged most of the Italian genetics, as he's kept the jaundice olive skin & is brown ALL Winter.

 Finally, our smallest chickens - the Pekin bantams Oboe & Xylophone.

 Size comparison with a cabbage leaf & Rhode Island red adult hen . . . 

 & their same age Spangled Hamburgs friends.  They are the friendliest feathered pom poms in the chicken world.

I love small things that make my world go round, love Posie

multitasking in the evenings

Greetings all,

In the evenings while dinner is cooking, i'm often sipping tea while baking a pie, cake, cookies or . . . egg shells.  I like to multitask those chores which require attention in spits & spurts, around something i have to focus on.  I use the oven heat for dual purpose & bake tomorrow's recess while we eat dinner (sometimes cake decorating is best done after the children have gone to bed!!)  I can't tell you how much easier this is with my husband home cooking the dinner . . . i still have 4 children asking homework/ party/ sports scheduling questions at the same time!!

 So tonight i was baking our hen's egg shells to make shell grit to give back to them for an additional dose of egg-making-calicum.  Rather brilliant.  Just 10 minutes in the oven at 170C to remove any flavour of them being their own eggs, crush & serve separate to their grains/ pellets/ corn.  They look like sequins & smell like burnt meringue.  

 Lots of city siders have been asking me "is it really that easy to keep chickens??" as i live in suburbia too.  Well i'm home all day & spend at least half an hour with our chicks every day: handling them, spot cleaning, hand feeding fresh fruits & vegetables - it's no wonder they laid eggs all through Winter with the animal husbandry.  Then add 4 children who cuddle & treat them with fresh clover & grasses every afternoon!!  We make the time.  I'm sure most of what i do is unnecessary, but they greet me at the gate, they are wonderful friendly company, they love me back Ok??  

In short, it's a lot of effort for a couple of cartons of fresh eggs a week, but it's so satisfying for our family & my husband is loving the manure on the rest of the garden, literally nothing is wasted.  Ok, i've also found handsome soldier out in the chicken run picking up the affectionate Pekin Bantam chicks - little balls of pom pom feathers - who sit in your hands & chatting to the ducks   

 I have decided that ducks are nearly impossible to photograph, especially ones who excitedly waddle towards you, it's just like trying to photograph a toddler!!  Their feathers are so warm, i'll find the children sitting with a duck on their lap, hands under their wings, adorable.  Can you believe i'm actually scared of birds??

I raise everything up onto crates - from the road side - saves the coop getting wet from the ground up, insulates that little bit more from the cold, you can rake under them & i just really like old coloured packing crates!!  Love Posie

Mondayitis??

Greetings all,

Another cold & icey Monday morning but it got me thinking while driving the children into before-school-sport-practise . . . i don't get Mondayitis, i never have, not at school, Uni, motherhood or in my short-stint-working-life.  I came home to flick on the computer & found this on my desk, aw, everyone needs an 8 year old boy in their life who thinks you are a rock star!!

 Most of this year i've had to have a child at school (20km away) at 8a.m. for volleyball or netball practise, now very comfortable in a new car with leather heated seats, while we hang in the car park in below zero temperatures with primary schooler(s) waiting until playground supervision commences.  So i'm home on Mondays half an hour earlier - a head start on housework or Spin Class at the gym for that gym-kick-start the week.

 My mornings vary, depending on who has sports practise (i prefer before school than after school) . . . without fail, puppy, ducks & chickens need to be let out, fed & watered, then their coops de-poo'ed & freshened up with new straw.  They pay me with cuddles, chattering & some bravely-laid-Winter eggs.   

 Keeping ducks is very similar to raising chickens, ONLY they like to fill their bills with water & spray-saturate EVERYTHING.  This is a chore when they are ducklings indoors, so consider raising them in the bathroom & separated from their fine feathered non-oily chick cousins (when water is around.)

 Our ducks are still less than a month old, so they sleep indoors/ the garage, nesting on old chopped up children's doonas, after a muddy day outdoors & their afternoon swim in the bath.  The blonde Khaki Campbell duckling had to be helped from her shell at birth, the breeders weren't sure she'd survive, now she's spot on for size.   

 What i love about our inherited-from-a-friend adult hens is that they don't seem to have a pecking order - they are so friendly, inclusive & happily mix with ducks, chicks, then sleep side by side at night in the cosy coop at night!!  Can you pick the 3 different ages of the Silver Spangled Hamburgs (4 week chick, 10 week old & adult hen??)

 Undaunted by size, this tiny black Pekin bantam chick (left) hangs out with the enormous blue Jersey Giant (right) we affectionately refer to as The Cracken.  We would so love to raise chicks from her, just to see how massive they are . . . we imagine they'll kick out their legs & walk around with the egg on their head for a while, like The Hulk!!  

I'm happily out there flicking poo at dawn in the freezing cold, in jammies & gum boots, i am really going to enjoy the farm we plan, especially on Mondays!!  As a housewife, Monday is the start of MY week, i have 6-7 hours a day to cook, clean, bake, read, gym, relax, sew, walk . . . & with my husband home on leave (Ok, right now he's in Brisbane for 4 days, but when he's back again) we might even take in lunch & a movie!!

Mondays, love them or hate them, there is no week without them, love Posie

my creative space . . .'Sew It Together' craft weekend

Greetings all,

Yay, Sew It Together is on this weekend - i have to say, there is no blogging community like the crafty one & we have some of the best get togethers EVER!!  I've just finished the fabric packs for the goodie bags for Sheridan - our leader - who cruises in to Canberra tomorrow, then i'm off for an airport run to collect half a dozen of the first interstate arrivals.  I can imagine that many crafters in my car will be louder than my children!!  

There's a lot of talk about how the husbands will cope for the weekend while we craft care free, well i know my husband will be fine (he's such a natural parent) & this year it's local . . . tonight he made chocolate caramel slice.  Our daughter made a batch in high school cooking class today, however, was reluctant to share, so i boldly announced i had the ingredients, we'd have a cook off (when i say 'we' i meant 'my husband'.)

 While i'm still not sewing since hand surgery - partly unmotivated, mainly busy with other things around the house - i decided to change all the linen on our high schooler's bed, including a new wool doona too.  Her room (half of my studio) is really cold at night, she's loving her new bedlinen, including owl flannel sheets & when i find a European pillow insert - a lovely Euro pillow too.  It was a surprise while she was at volleyball the other night, she loves me.  You really can buy a teenagers love!!  It's all from Bed Bath & Table, around 30-40% off.

 I love these colourful wall paper suitcases from Lark, i did buy them for my studio, however,  they look so pretty here & i love that this child is still into colour.  The whole room is very Dutch inspired, i was always a big fan of Room Seven (daughter of the Oilily family.)

 In our spare time, we've been cleaning out the garage (no royal 'we' here, i'm doing the heavy lifting.)  I normally do this myself but i need my husband's tough love approach to tossing things out, especially as i no longer do markets, i don't need the props!!  Seriously, we have boxes which have remained unopened for 4 interstate moves, so we cracked them open & shredded the tax returns from the last millennium.  So happy to find all the school photos from NSW & NT.  We also tossed the last of our garden chairs, purchased in 1998!!  Already 2 trailer loads have gone to the tip, i'm on an organisational high. 

 Our ducklings are one week old, could they be cuter??  The children gave them a bath - adorable - they loved it (FYI ducks are so messy, they fill their bills up with drinking water & spray it all over their cage, they love to be wet, so you have to put their food up high & dry) & we loved watching their dry-dance.  As always, the runt/ little one/ last born/ had to be helped from shell is thriving, i think we have a gift with special needs farm animals.  Bless our hens too, still laying eggs in the -5C nights, some during the day too, nice surprise when i clean out the coop after the school run.

 Our 4 children sat in a circle watching these sweethearts dry themselves.  They don't have much oil or any feathers yet so we let them do their own thing.  Then added their friendly chick gang to the mix on the lounge room floor (that is 4 Hamburgs & 2 Pekin bantams) who are growing very fast & feathery.  The children sit them on their desks while they do homework - these chicks & ducks are amazing spellers & mathematicians!!

Let's just say - making up creative excuses on what i have to keep in the garage, baking new recipes, a craft weekend & raising these ducklings indoors, while they soak everything, is keeping my creative brain active.  To all of the cool ladies attending Sew It Together this weekend . . . welcome to Canberra!!  For more creativity, check out Village Voices My Creative Space.  Love Posie

i'm grateful for . . . 'nurture'

Greetings all,

Following Maxabella Loves lead with being grateful for 'nurture' this week.  We were offered a challenge - to raise a bullied chick, being pecked to death by its 9 siblings - it was the chance to exude nurture in buckets.  I knew how beautiful, loving, caring our first chick was when her sibling failed to thrive . . . she would be an amazing nurture powerhouse to this brand new chick, albeit, only 25 days older.

 So i gingerly placed this day old 25gm chicken with our Viola (she has to be a hen, or a very nurturing gay rooster) & just look at them.  Yes, i had tears in my eyes & a swollen heart watching this.

 Not sure how many heat packs you need when you have a feather doona hugging you.  The expression 'taking you under my wing' comes to mind.

 We have named this new chick is Piccolo.  To think Viola does not find Piccolo annoying is incredible, as she darts under Viola, while she eats, sleeps, moves . . . 

 or just leans on her.  They are inseparable & absolutely meant to be together.

 You know the best thing??  We have since taken 2 of her siblings (3 days later) & guess what, Piccolo is stronger, heavier & higher up the pecking order.  Nurture wins!!

 The children of course are loving more baby chicks to play with.  To make way for them in the coop, we're investigating some adult chicken recipes (sorry adult hens & potential roosters.)  

 We also picked up 2 baby Pekin bantams, who are the cutest things on earth . . . pom poms on fluffy match sticks!!  They like to snuggle into ear muffs & scoot under their 4 Hamburg room mates.  

Special mention to my son who let me chop up his favourite robot blanket.  Thank you readers for not groaning about another chicken post, they are truly melting our hearts, even handsome soldier's . . . i've caught him picking them up for a cuddle too.  Love Posie