Pilfered Plum Preserve!

We've been eyeing off the local plum trees for a few weeks. You might remember last year we scored about a kilo of red plums for a Pilfered Plum Pie and then gained another kilo of mainly yellow plums to make plum chutney? 

We did even better yesterday!  Erin and I stopped by the yellow plum tree and easily picked a kilo or so. In the late afternoon we returned with Vaughan and our combined total was 4.5kg!

I washed all the plums this morning and then set about making plum jam.  I did some quick research first.  Although I'm fairly comfortable making chutney and relish, I have less experience making jam.

Lovely Annabel at "The BlueBirds are Nesting" blog posted a method for making microwave jam, so I tried that.  The plums are softer this year and it was easy to squeeze the pips from the flesh, which is far quicker than trying to cut the fruit from the stones as I did last time!  When I had a kilo of fruit, I tipped it into a microwave-safe container and added sugar and lemon juice.

Our microwave doesn't have a working light.  It's not usually an issue but would have been handy for watching jam come to the boil - or boil over!  I lost a bit of my first batch.  Even so, it made two full jars.  I did better with my second batch (after cleaning the microwave) because I used a lower power setting.  It yielded two and three quarter jars. 

Of course, taste-testing is an important part of the process so I made a quick batch of lemonade scones and whipped some cream.  I think it's an indication of the jam-making success that there is no photographic evidence of the Devonshire scones!

I expect I have a bit over two kilo of plums left to make more jam or perhaps chutney but that's a mission for tomorrow - and once I've finished, I'll need to wash the sticky kitchen floor!

Edited to add - I went out today to buy lemons for the jam-making.  They were $9.99 a kilo!  Lucky the plums were free, eh?!  I checked the price of plums while I was in the shop.  They were $3.99 a kilo, admittedly a lot larger than our freebies but we even so, our haul was quite a saving.

I've just now calculated the cost of ingredients for today's two batches of jam - $2.90 for nearly five jars.  Gotta be happy with that!

Bags the bags!

I've been saving our feed bags for quite a while, fully intending to convert some into sturdy tote bags.  (I actually started the conversion process of one just before Christmas but was a bit too busy to complete the project).

Our chookies recently swapped to a different brand of feed.  It is the same price but a better quality than what we were using - and has this great image!

I made two bags this afternoon, using these instructions as a guide.  Rather than use bag offcuts for handles, I substituted ANZAC ribbon bought at a liquidation warehouse.  The colours work quite well with the rooster graphic and the fabric will be much nicer to hold.  Their is a slight size difference in the bags but overall I'm pretty impressed with my first efforts.

Why the tags?  Well, these bags are destined for use as laundry bags in our caravan.  I'm hoping my family will separate dark and light items according to the labels - therefore streamlining the washing missions once home again!

Like living in an ... aquarium?!

I have previously mentioned the limited shelter available at Hamby Home(in)stead.  There is a large shaded area adjacent to the house but it is not waterproof, so we struggle a bit in wet weather - keeping us, our firewood and chook-feed etc dry. 

Nick's been thinking of a solution and spoke this morning of acquiring some second-hand roofing iron (or similar). 

We were on our way to the tip shop and once there, I spotted a trolley full of folded and rolled white plastic canvas pieces.  I showed them to Nick and when we investigated further, we found they were large advertising signs. 

On checking the price, we could have the "smaller" pieces for $5.00 each and the larger one for $10.00. 

Initially we thought two smaller signs would work for our undercover area.  As we checked they were intact, Nick mentioned one might be good to provide shade in Tea's paddock.  It also occurred to us that one might make a fabulous screen for our outdoor movies!  In the end we bought the four that were available - for $25.00!

On the way home, we called in at Bunnings to buy some grommets and other fasteners.  Once home, Nick rolled out the fourth sign.  We hadn't checked it before purchase and assumed it was the same size as the smaller two, given it's weight.  It's actually a bit larger, so Nick decided to use half of it on the roof.  The installation is not quite finished but is looking good at this stage!

Cost of project:-  $3.13 for half a sign and $7.50 for fasteners!  Much better than the estimated $200.00 for a more permanent solution, requiring a lot greater effort! 

Chook hospital!

You might remember Princess Fiona was subjected (hah!) to a bath last year.  It is a suggested treatment for an egg-bound chook. 

In organising the girls' new chicken feeder, Jo was observed to be not quite herself.  I watched her while I was doing the washing and called Erin to conduct an examination. 

Jo's much larger tummy was compared to Judge Judy's and a bath was suggested.

A warm bath was run in the laundry sink and Jo seemed quite happy to sit in the water. She was then dried off with a towel and settled in a box by the fire.

Our chook obviously felt a lot better post-bath. She tried to climb out of the box, so has been tucked up for bed- with a light washing basket cover (and towel) over her temporary bed!

PVC Chicken Feeder!

I had an afternoon nap today and was woken by construction noise.

When I roused myself to investigate, Nick had just finished mounting this set of PVC tubes to the old aviary inside the chook yard.

There is talk of using a deeper container at the bottom but the prototype seems to be working well.  As you can see, the girls were quick to investigate their new feed station.

The ice-cream container at the top should stop water entering the pipes but the bowl needed shelter. Nick found a sheet of corrugated iron and leaned it against the aviary. It's being held in place with a couple of "Lightning Ridge nails" (aka bricks)!

We visited Lightning Ridge in 2011 and were amused by some shacks that had rocks to hold down their roofing!

Tarp de - um - clothesline!

We thoroughly enjoyed a beautiful day of continued sunshine today. It was lovely!

The weather is definitely variable here. It doesn't just change once but can vary many times in the space of a day - and that's probably one of the trickiest things we've had to adjust to since relocating South. 

I'm still coming to terms with the cold - and the changeable climate. It's quite tricky. We've had some memorable outings this winter.  There was our misty Mount Macedon picnic and some geocaching in gale-force winds!  Those are extreme examples but we had a number of cold-weather picnics too, where we were very glad of our thermoses.  As I've said quite a few times lately, if we sat around waiting for perfect conditions, we mightn't go anywhere at all!

Of course, the constantly changing conditions play havoc with the more mundane missions also - particularly drying our washing.  When we first moved in to Hamby Home(in)stead we were hit with a horrendous electricity bill.  I was absolutely stunned when I read the figures.  We've since paid that off, double-checked all settings on the meter and changed electricity provider.  Even so, we are still not tempted to turn on the under-floor heating, stopped using the dishwasher soon after arrival (due to tank water restrictions) and limit our use of the clothes-dryer. 

Last winter we had clothes-airers set up permanently in the lounge-room.  Obviously that wasn't an ideal solution - and I scorched one of Vaughan's school jumpers when trying to fast-track it's drying!

There is very little outside covered area at Hamby Home(in)stead but I've found space for one airer in a lean-to area outside the laundry door.  I started pondering other possibilities and remembered that a previous neighbour (back in New South Wales) had a clothes-line cover.  It was something like this.  They cost about $200.00.  I suggested to Nick that a tarp might do the same job. Nick agreed and we bought a 12-foot square heavy duty version from the local camping shop. $40.00 total! 

Nick rigged the tarp over the line a few weeks back.  It's obviously not as neat as the commercial cover but works well.  Heavy rain pools in one area, so we need to tip that off from time to time but otherwise all is fine (hah)! 

Saturday swap!

We shifted the Fox-proof Fowl Fort to surround a tree last December.  Our two original girls used the area from then to the end of February.  While we were away, they enjoyed a holiday with our landlady.

Judge Judy and Jo arrived home in early May and had the fort to themselves till late July, when we recruited four new chookies.

As the yard has well and truly been scratched over, it was time for a new location.  Shifting the fort is a larger job.  (The move was on the agenda for last weekend but put back due to Oscar's funeral).

Nick and I chose the new location a few weeks back. By using the back wall of the house as part of the yard boundary, we were able to increase the overall area - so our six girls will have more space for scratching.

Our landlady has given permission for us to use the existing aviary as a chook-house. It would need some modification though, which we are pondering. For now the girls will continue to roost in their usual wooden house. They have to snuggle in quite cosily together but as it's still cold overnight, I expect they appreciate the extra insulation!

It took about two hours to shift all the fencing panels from one place to another.  As before, we kept them in two-panel sections.  Nick and worked together to drag the pieces across, then re-assemble the enclosure with new cable ties.  While we were doing that, the girls spent some time in Tea's old yard, slowly preparing it for use as another garden area. 

I'm still getting used to looking out from the kitchen window and not seeing our chooks.  However Erin has mentioned that each time she walked out to the clothesline today, she was closely supervised by all the girls!