She's here!

Vaughan came into our bed for a morning cuddle this morning.  He snuggled down and muttered happily "we're getting a cow today"!

After breakfast I reminded him that the calf wasn't due to arrive till much later in the afternoon - and he was distinctly unimpressed about that "not exciting" news! Of course he later regained his good humour (and excitement).

There was a flurry of activity this afternoon.  We weighed the special calf milk powder, measured water, found a suitable mixing container and set everything beside the calf pen. 

There was much excitement when Swirly-Tea arrived (by horse float) and was moved into her calf pen.

Once the milk was made up, Vaughan gave Tea her bottle. She is learning to drink milk from a bucket too, so we've had some quick instruction in order to continue her lessons! She drank a little from our "bucket" this afternoon before finishing her bottle eagerly.

Nick and Vaughan checked on Tea when the chookies were put to bed.  They shut the house paddock gate, as an extra level of caution - to guard against the unlikely event of our new baby escaping her pen overnight.

Barking up the wrong tree?!

We had an unexpected visitor last night.  Nick went out to put the girls to bed and called me. I thought something dreadful had happened to the chookies (given it was later than their usual lock-up), so braved the cold expecting the worst. 

Rather than a pile of feathers, I was quite surprised (and relieved) to see this Barking Owl in a tree adjacent to the storage container. I called Vaughan outside also - and we all barked a welcoming hello but our guest remained strangely (?!) silent!

We're not entirely mad - before relocating to Victoria we would often visit Blackbutt Reserve near Newcastle. The Barking Owl on exhibit there would "woof-woof" back to us repeatedly when we called!

(The Barking Owl link has a sound file of the bird's call).

Licensed to ... toot?!

It's official - we're now proper Victorians!  At this stage we are traveling incognito as both cars are still registered in New South Wales - but that will soon change. 

Since we arrived in early December, there have been many jokes regarding the impatience of local drivers.  Lingering at the lights for more than a second after the red changes to green will result in loud tooting, as will various other perceived delays. 

Of course now that we are licensed Victorians we have considered blowing our horns more!

Swirly-Tea time ...

Vaughan decided on a name embellishment for his calf today.  She is now Swirly-Tea.  He has explained the change with a big grin - Tea for short (and Swirly for long)!

We have visited Tea (for short) each afternoon this past week, so Vaughan could be involved in preparing the milk and feeding her - as well as some washing-up afterwards.  The tasks will be more civilised once she is delivered to us tomorrow. 

We'll be able to mix her milk in the kitchen, carry it out to her yard and then do the washing up in the sink afterwards (with warm water).

At this stage she is feeding from a 2-litre bottle, not unlike that you might purchase from the supermarket. Tea's bottle has a teat though and a small air outlet valve near the handle.  She wraps her black/pink tongue around the teat and slurps enthusiastically.

From time to time Tea butts against the bottle, which initially shocked Vaughan.  He asked if mother cows had to put up with such antics - and was assured they received worse! 

As she drinks, Vaughan admires Swirly-Tea very closely and has even reported his observations of her nostrils!

Like water for ... chooks!

I mentioned earlier that the bore water isn't particularly palatable to drink unflavoured, so we've been using bottled water for our beverages - and when taste matters!  The other day it occurred to me that the empty water container might be adapted for as a chook waterer/feeder. 

I wasn't sure how to effect my plan, so suggested the idea to Nick.  When we were poking about the dump shop he found a heavy planter base, which was purchased as part of our $10.00 bargain haul.

Once home the upended water container was stood upon the planter base.  A slight modification was necessary but at this stage the automatic chook waterer seems to be working well.  The chookies are appreciative - and we are enjoying not mucking out/topping up their water throughout the day!

Freedom!

Our chookies have been held in protective custody since they moved into the fox-proof fowl fort (FpFF)! 

We aren't being overly cautious because fox poo has been found around the house (and Erin's caravan) on a few occasions. 

Nick and Vaughan have spotted the fox(es) often at night, which is to be expected.  Vaughan and I weren't expecting to see one very bold individual in the late afternoon this week, not far from our driveway.

It's unlikely that our girls will get to fully free-range but they did enjoy some supervised exercise around the yard, scratching through the overgrown gardens and generally poking about.  They are a curious bunch and at one stage were pecking at the front door and peering through the glass to check on us!  (That same curiosity worked in my favour when it was time for them to return to the fort.  I picked up one chookie and two others followed me back to their coop - and the fourth was caught easily afterwards).

Joke egg?!

Q:  What did the chicken say when it laid a square egg?  A:  Ouch!

We don't know which chookie laid her egg in the food dish - or what she said when she did!  It seemed quite a bird-brained thing to do.  Praps she was having a bit of a "yolk" with us?!

As an aside, the food dish was another "dump shop" find. It's made of stainless steel, so heavy enough that the girls can't tip it over.  At $2.00 it was a definite bargain - no joke!

Swept off our feet?!

I have some good ideas - and then I get Nick to make them!

A previous tenant pulled up all the carpet in the house but for two bedrooms.  Given the cold temperatures, it seemed an odd choice.  However I am beginning to realise the decision may have been prompted by cleaning convenience. 

It's rained a few times since we moved in - and the mud moved in then also.

We do have a doormat but it isn't really up to the task of cleaning muck from treaded boots.  I suggested a boot scraper and Nick found one on eBay for $19.95.  Bunnings stocked a similarly-priced but inferior item when we checked yesterday - en route to the recycling (aka dump) shop. 

As we poked around the various "treasures", I spotted two industrial-length brush-heads.  We purchased them with some other good items, all for $10.  Nick cut the brushes in half today and mounted them onto some timber that was already here.  Works great - better than a bought one and it was cheaper too as the total cost was less than $5!

Bright yellow!

It was very grey outside today, even when it wasn't raining. After connecting the hose to top-up the tank and making sure the chookies had food and water, I retreated inside.

I've planned to make lemon butter for several weeks now but kept using the necessary ingredients for something else.  (Obviously, it's very difficult to make lemon butter without butter and/or without lemons)! 

I did a quick tally this morning and as I had everything necessary, I decided to create some lemony brightness to counter the overcast day.  (It worked, too - for me, at least)!

Our chookies have been producing less eggs as the temperature drops.  Seemingly they need their energy to produce winter feathers instead.  That makes sense, though I do think they should have started feather production sooner!  In spite of their lessening productivity we still received 11 eggs each of the past two weeks, so I used six this morning.  Our girls do fantastic work.  I don't think I've ever made such brightly yellow lemon butter!

And in case you are wondering, Vaughan and I have taste-tested the end product.  We had a teaspoon each, straight from the jar.  Mmmmmm.  It's good!

Bored (waiting for rain) ...

I mentioned in a previous post that we are using tank water - or rather more accurately, we are using bore water pumped into the tank! Although there has been some rain since we moved in, there hasn't been nearly enough to impact positively on the tank.

Every ten days or so we need to pump more bore water. How do we know we need water? Easy. Once the water level drops too far (around 8cm) all the taps splutter and carry-on. The pipes clang and bang also - loudly!


Showering then becomes a very interesting experience - sort of like standing on the bow of a ship and getting doused with first hot and then cold water, borne on a very strong wind!

The process of pumping more water is fairly simple. I walk out to the tank, climb the ladder, raise the orange conduit and measure the water level.  Then I walk several hundred metres across the paddock, down to the former shearing shed.  There is a long irrigation hose that leads from the water tank and I plug the end of that into a junction point.  It takes a while for the water to start flowing uphill into the tank, so I walk back up and wait by the ladder until I hear the water is running. As soon as I hear the splashing sounds, I wander back to the house.

I've started keeping track of our usage as well as how calculating how long it takes for the water level to rise. Based on my spreadsheet so far, it seems to take an hour for a 1cm increase. I left the water running for five hours today though and the water level increased by 11cm. Obviously that doesn't quite tally with my previous figures but we did receive some rain during the day. It didn't seem a lot of rain but praps it helped - a little.

Time for Tea ...

Vaughan's calf made a short visit to our house today.  Unfortunately her enclosure needs a few more modifications before she can come to stay. To counter Vaughan's obvious disappointment, we visited her this afternoon. 

Vaughan again watched the milk being mixed and then was able to feed his charge her one and a half bottles of milk.

The young calf was happy to suck Vaughan's fingers at intermission, while her third litre was being measured.  Seemingly her little black tongue "feels like teeth"!

When prompted, Vaughan suggested several names - then I reminded him of his lovely idea made a week or two ago.  And so, let me introduce Tea - "as in the tea that you drink, not the letter T"!

Saucy stuff!

I conducted another kitchen experiment this week - ie. more cheap entertainment!

Last weekend I put together all the ingredients to make a homemade version of Worcestershire sauce.  (Typically, I'd pondered making it for several years before I actually got round to putting thoughts into action)!

The actual process was super-simple.  All the ingredients (vinegar, garlic, cayenne pepper, cloves, salt, lemons and treacle) were mixed together in a large jar. 

The jar was placed near the insulated bag which contains my sourdough starter - so my morning routine included feeding the starter and stirring the sauce. Easy! 

This morning I strained off the sauce and decanted it into an empty vinegar bottle.  There was a little over two litres.  According to the recipe, the mixture should now rest for two weeks.  I already have a generic brand of Worcestershire sauce in the panty, so the flavour of my home-made version will have plenty of time to develop before I start using it. 

Of course, I don't actually use large quantities of Worcestershire sauce, so it will be interesting to see how long my two-plus litres lasts!

Friday afternoon delight!

Unfortunately delivery of Vaughan's calf has been delayed till Monday afternoon, so we visited her today instead. 

She was skittish but came over to suck Vaughan's fingers.  He was a bit grossed out by the calf-slobber so wiped the excess onto his pants - and promptly changed clothes as soon as we returned home!

There were many giggles as Vaughan fed his calf her second bottle of milk.  She feeds twice a day, receiving three litres each time - and when she lives with us, Vaughan will be responsible for each of those feeds.

Bread and water ...

I've been looking after my sourdough starter for nearly three weeks now.  Except for one day when I forgot to feed it.  I did feel incredibly guilty the next day when I remembered - and when I thought it was dead!  Happily it survived that small glitch and seems to be doing well.

For the first week or so, the jar resided in one of my thermal cooking pots.  The obvious problem was that I couldn't use the thermal cooker for anything else.

Starter - newly fed and watered ...

After pondering the issue, I switched to using an insulated bag (purchased for 50c from an op-shop). Although the insulation is much thinner, the starter seems to have coped with the change.

We are on tank water here - or would be if it rained. Until it does, 10-15cm of bore water is pumped into the tank every couple of weeks.

The bore water is perfectly fine for most applications though the taste and texture aren't particularly pleasant for tea/coffee (or drinking without additives). 

I've therefore been using bottled water for beverages - and for the sourdough starter!  I'm not totally spoiling it though because for the past two weeks I've only used room temperature water!

So. Is the starter ready to use yet? I'm not entirely sure. From my reading it could take 7-10 days for it to smell "good - sweet, fruity, yeasty, almost boozy - having lost any harsh, acrid edge". At that stage, I should feel "enticed" to start baking. There have been definite changes to the texture and smell of the starter. It does seem to have mellowed quite a bit (and given the less than optimum temperatures, I feel it is reasonable for the process to take longer than suggested).

There were a couple of days this week when I was nearly "enticed" to use it. It's probably not nearly good enough yet though - and I reckon it will be at least another week before any baking occurs.  I'm not too worried.  Even using organic flour and bottled water, it is still very cheap entertainment!

Rambling road ...

It's about 5km from our house to Vaughan's school.  When he first enrolled (and we were still commuting from Kew), we would often see several sheep wandering by the roadside - and occasionally spotted them munching along a neighbour's driveway.

We have very recently learned those rogue/road sheep ate a large portion of our neighbour's silverbeet crop, before he packed the gluttons in a trailer and returned them to their owner! 

It may be the silverbeet incident prompted some fencing repairs and/or greater sheep supervision because the road has been largely sheep-free for at least a month.  The sheep are back though.  We can't be sure they are the same sheep as previously but for the past week or so we have regularly seen two or three browsing along the road edge.  They scramble back under the fence as soon as we slow down to take their photo - no doubt trying to look as if they have been in their paddock the whole time!

It's a bit of daily drama we enjoy seeing, along with the roadside rabbit and a large mob of kangaroos that live in the huge paddock opposite our driveway.  Of course, there are various cattle along the way also - and sheep that stay inside their fence (despite the grass being less green)!

Calf chalet completed!

Nick has finished construction of the calf chalet.  The shelter is partially lined and an old door has been utilised to provide some extra wind protection - prompted by today's icy breeze!

When we moved in there was a play-pen like structure surrounding the combustion fire (as the previous tenants had three small children).  We had no need of the fire-fence but it works wonderfully as a gate to the calf's enclosure. 

Vaughan returned from school this afternoon and was quite impressed with progress.  He has since helped Nick to fit the front door better.   (It is definitely much warmer inside the shelter than out)!

All is now on track for the calf's arrival on Friday afternoon! 

She will be keen for her evening meal so will be fed after being settled into her quarters - as a demonstration to us and a "welcome home" for her.

Moo-ving along!

A while ago our landlady suggested Vaughan may like to raise a poddy calf.  She has had a couple of orphaned calves since but neither was suitable.  One was a boy and although the other was a girl, it's twin was male - and in those circumstances the female twin is often infertile.

It was looking as if we might make a trip to the calf market but an older (Belgian Blue) cow recently gave birth to twins. 

The mother had insufficient milk to care for two calves and after checking that both were girls, the more placid twin is set to become Vaughan's.

Nick is rostered off this week so started construction of a calf shelter today, using timber and corrugated iron that was already on site.  An enclosure will be the next mission. 

As soon as the calf's quarters are finished, she will be delivered to us - ready for Vaughan to take on the responsibility of bottle-feeding her a milk formula twice a day (and checking her poo to ensure she remains healthy)!

Vaughan volunteered to do his first-ever washing-up yesterday.  He said it would be good practice for when he was looking after his calf!

Rainbow connection ...

Last week marked our five-month anniversary of arriving in Melbourne - and it has been two months since we moved into Hamby Home(in)stead. 

There have been many happy happenings during that time.  Not least was the sight (the day after our anniversary) of a perfect double rainbow arched over "our" paddocks!

And when I stayed in the right spot, it seemed both rainbows ended just at our house. How magic is that?!


Many years ago, I consulted a psychic. I don't remember all she said. The part I remember most was her drawing a card from the deck that showed a beautiful rainbow with children playing under it. The gist was that there would be many trials and tribulations but I would eventually get to such a place - and there would be much happiness ...

Chookas to the chookies!

The girls have done it - laid their 100th egg!  I thought they may have achieved the milestone yesterday but their productivity is definitely dropping as the weather cools. 

We received 20 eggs the first and second weeks after the girls arrived. The tally dropped to 19 for their third week and then 14 the week after. Last week's total was 15. We've received 12 eggs so far this week. Depending on tomorrow's gifts the overall count may increase but it is unlikely to be more than 15 (and probably 13 or 14 is more likely).

It was so windy yesterday that Nick constructed a small windbreak to shelter one corner of the fort.  I told Vaughan about it when I collected him from school.  He asked in all seriousness whether it was to stop the girls being blown away!

Holy Goat, they're good!

No kidding!  We purchased two Holy Goat cheeses from the Lancefield Farmers' Market last Saturday, namely the veloute log and pandora. 

I had already purchased both a blue and triple cream brie from Aldi, so served a selection of all four tonight - by the fire, to celebrate Friday night and Nick being home for the weekend. 

We had sampled the Holy Goat cheeses prior to purchase, so knew they were lovely but they tasted even better this evening.  Our platter included slivers of pear, onion confit, savoury fig jam and fig paste.  The onion confit has been a firm favourite for several years but it was the first time we had tested my fig paste - and it was good!  I was quite chuffed with myself!

(When Tanya visited at Easter she bought some me several bottles of cider and I still had a choice of two tonight, to share with Nick.  I decided on the pear variety and it was very pleasant with the cheeses). 

Friday food ...

The past two Saturdays we have visited farmers' markets in the local-ish area.  Our swag of goodies from last week is pictured at left.  The bread is gone, as is the corn (yep, I'm a poet and didn't know it)!

For something new, I used the green tomatoes in another batch of chutney.  The beetroot is also destined for chutney, though we sampled one in a risotto the other night. 


Vaughan has enjoyed several serves of "fresh" orange-blossom honey - and I have tried a few cups of chai made from the pre-made concentrate.  I am not convinced it is a good substitute for the real deal but it is a lot less messy and time-consuming. 

Surprisingly the goats cheese is still in the fridge, or was till I put it on the bench for serving tonight - along with some home-made fig paste.  Our portion of English marrow is also on tonight's menu, stuffed with a mixture of spicy mince and chickpeas.  Hopefully it will pass the taste-test, though I guess I should have a Plan B for Vaughan (and/or generally)!

"Look but don't smell!"

Such was Young Master Vaughan's advice when I checked on my sourdough starter this morning.  In spite of the cautionary advice, I took a quick sniff and didn't think the smell was as offensive as yesterday.  Vaughan wasn't taking any chances though! 

I spooned out about half the starter and discarded that portion for composting.  I then added more flour and water to the jar, stirred well and tucked the starter back into the thermal cooker.  I'll check on it again tomorrow - and do a bit more research about sourdough baking in the meantime.