Tuesday, March 29, 2011

I Hate Waiting

I'm sure everyone does, Rob had to have a mole removed today but the Doctor wanted to cut it out to get it tested, and robs a wuss when it comes to needle so I was dragged along for moral support, to take advantage of the time we would spend waiting I went to the library borrowed some books, grabbed my knitting and the time went quiet quickly the only problem is we know have to wait a week for the results.. not fun.
(don't ya love my library bag i made it from a pillow i got from the local op shop).
 and this pretty girl is the newest addition to our rabbits, we now have two does and one buck, they are the kids pets but they are also meat rabbits we breed from, two are New Zealand  rabbits and the other is a Flemish  X  British they are all giant breeds .

Where to shop

I am getting to a stage where I'm unhappy with shopping at the big shops (Woolworth's, coles and Aldi) but where to shop instead. I buy my meat from my local butcher and my eggs (when my chooks are of the lay) and roasting chooks and the occasional duck are from Nulkaba farm where I have also gotten some laying chooks from recently and also meat chicks. I go to my local fruit and veg shop for fruit, veg and  milk ( which comes from a local dairy). I have also started shopping at Bibina and also Organic feast for certain dry goods, cheeses, herbs etc. And for the last 6 months I have been getting my flour, dried beans, nuts, pulses through my brothers wholesale. I just need to work out where to get toilet paper, tooth paste and I'm sure there is other stuff I cannot think of at the moment. When I think about it my biggest problem is habit its closer for me to just go to my local shops, I need to be more organised and maybe change my menu planning to shop monthly for all dry goods and just shop weekly for fresh fruit and veg , plus meat. Hmm it all seems so much simpler written down.

Home Grown and Buying Local Produce

This  photo makes me kinda sad the last of our home grown garlic
And this one makes me happy the first of our eggs after a long moult and one egg is from one of our new pullets yay.
 These next two photos are and example of what what veggies we are having most night with dinner all from our own garden. We have also started harvesting potatoes, sweet potatoes and eggplant.

 Local eggs, gotta love the price $5.50 a tray and some Quince i got from my local fruit and veg shop, these 3 babies weight in at a total of 2kg.
 The quince's were quickly used to make 3 jars of quince jelly and 5  lots of quince paste (only 4 in the photo as the kids had eaten half of one before it had even cooled).

Meat chicks

So we have decided to have a go at keeping meat chicks and to see if its cost effective (I'm comparing cost to organic chickens not mass produce full of crap chickens).
So far the cost is 7 meat chicks@ $3ea = $21
Chick Crumbs 20kg = $ 18
Total so far $ 39 
I will update cost as we go along, the cost of the feeder, drinker and the brooder aren't included as these are thing I already had. Mind you the brooder cost as nothing to make as it was form materials that we were given and had laying around and the feeder and drinker are both around the $5 mark from a local produce place so not overly costly and they last for yrs (our are 3 yrs old).
 

Just Kidding Around



Whats more fun then playing with the goat.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

What are you dreaming about

Things that you want but for the moment cannot have?
I know I am..
With winter on its way and woodcutting on the to do list (gotta get in early) all i can think about is wood stoves.. am I weird. I know that were we are living now there is no room for one. But I will definitely be having one in our next house thought I have a feeling it will be one of the simpler (cheaper) ones, like this one, but my favourite's are this one and this one oh and this one ahh ok i like them all .

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Newest member in the Family is


Our cute little Anglo Nubian she 6 months old and  has decided that I am her new mother, she loves me and whenever she sees me, she just want to follow me around. We have had her for over a month now and shes becoming part of the family more each day. She loves chasing the chooks and when shes out of her pen her favourite spot is under the mulberry tree eating the leaves.. she also loves jumping of the verandah (She can fit through the rails) onto the ground then then runs around the house at full pelt only to repeat the process all over again.

Whats your home rating

So after read this blog I used the calculator to find out my family's electricity and water ratings.. I will admit i wasn't expecting amazing results, anyway I was happy with our water rating the results showed we have a 5 star water rating woohoo, the energy rating wasn't as good 2.5 stars. So whats your rating and are you happy with it???

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

All before 7:30am

Lincoln had friend have a sleep over and this is what I woke up too, I really need to take more photos of this under ground cubby as its expanding daily.
The plans they are working off.
and cheeky ninny had to join in.
By 8am they had picked this watermelon, and had eaten half of it, luckily it was ripe.

busy busy

We have all been very productive lately with both lincoln and I making things on the loom.
Finished this cost me nothing to make as i used left over wool and plastic bags, lots of them.
Here is a close up of what it looks like


Lincolns first attempt at making a something on the loom.


Robert has been working on this one for a while, as he made it all from scraps of stainless steel.. the only thing that was brought was the cheese basket..ohh i should mention its a cheese press.