I don't think I have shared with the www that I'm back in the work force.

I've been given the amazing opportunity to work in the delivery suite (as a nurse) at our local tertiary hospital.
I'm still orientating to the area, so I'm currently working full time. The kids and husband have been coping surprisingly well. We've had awesome support from my parents in law with child care and consequently the kids have been able to spend some very happy times with their grandparents.

As for the work, its wonderful.
Being a participant in such life changing events has really humbled me.
Seeing such raw and uncensored emotion during some very sacred moments has been extremely fulfilling.
However as you'd guess, it's not all happy babies, and it is a very fast paced and intense area to work in.
So, much like the women and families I'm coming into contact with, I feel like I'm on a journey. Reconciling emotions, moral beliefs and opinions along with the huge amount of new knowledge and skills. But I feel that I may have found my niche.

Till next time x

Surprise Arrival!

2 Days ago, I found our AWOL bantam hen, brooding in the woodshed.

I hadn't noticed her around for about 2 weeks, so when we found she was sitting on at least 3 eggs (she was crammed into a tiny space) I thought I'd have at least another week to get ourselves organised for any new chicks (hens have a 21 incubation period).

Well today, we thought we'd encourage her off the nest to have a drink and some food. To our amazement when we lifted her off we were greeted by 11 fluffy chicks, plus 1 dead one.

We've moved her and her brood, to a pet carrier inside a stock cage. Shes a tiny hen crossed with a light breed rooster, so I think her babies will all be mini sized.


This is her in her new abode with her babies snuggled underneath. And yes that is the dead one in front of her. I put it back with her as it was still warm. I've made the mistake of discarding a dead chick before, only to find it couple of hours later (on top of the compost heap where I'd put it) cheeping and very much alive! This one I think is well and truly dead though - no miraculous resurrections just yet!


This is Pete our Golden Campine rooster, and new dad! He was the only chick to hatch in our last attempt back in April.

Now to find out how many are pink and how many are blue...

Amazing

Just had to share this:

September Happenings

September whizzed by in a whirl of birthdays, kitchen painting and cooking!

My fluffy headed fella became more streamlined and so much more grown up!

Then he went and had his 2nd birthday




We experimented with hootenanny - needed a bigger pan, but was still well received...


Japanese cheesecake - heavenly!

Quick Catch Up

As you can see I have once again been remiss in my blogging duties!
The last few moths have felt chaotic at times.
We've had new baby goats join the family, animal husbandry and routines to take care of, the kitchen has been humming with cheese making and preserving, homeschooling and tearful farewells to my sister who has moved to a distant land (thanks goodness for Skype!).
But now I feel that life is taking on a more gentle pace. The animals are more established and I've come to grips with the ins and outs of milking. My mind has turned to the unfinished projects that have been left languishing for the last few months - painting, half finished upholstry, knitting projects etc. With the days getting longer, there is a feeling of renewal in the air, and somehow amongst it all I can feel my motivation beginning to creep back.

Poppet

Whoa!! 3 posts in 1 day!

Another new addition to the clan - Poppet.

An old acquaintance of Flicker and Flamingo, I'm hoping they will all get along well. They will be separated till everyone has had their babies - don't want to risk any fighting at this stage.

Fiesta Friday

We've decided to have a weekly Fiesta Friday - idea blatantly stolen from Owlet
Yesterday we choose France to kick things off.
We talked about what France is famous for, the capital, currency and language
We spent a few days formulating a menu, shopping list etc and Ally even made menus:


So what did we have?
Almond Chicken
Cauliflower Casserole
Homey Roasted Yams
and for pudding Plum Clafoutis
Photo credit: Ally

Boots!

We have had so much rain lately - like weeks of constant rain. Anyhow, of course that would be the perfect time for my long serving gum boots to split across the toe. So I've been limping through puddles trying to keep my socks dry.
So yesterday I splashed out (hehehe!) and bought some super expensive new boots - my recently retired pair lasted me for 6 years, so I'm expecting the same length of service from these ones.

Oh the excitement!

Baby Wearing

Just a tiny disclaimer - I, in no way wear my bra this low to the ground just yet!

Milk

Well, we are milking...
Sadly, a small amount of milk is all we have to show for poor Flickers birth experience just over a week ago. Unfortunately neither of her buck or doe twins were born alive.
I'm not sure why they died or what caused it. But it was a traumatic experience for all. The vet had to come and remove the babies, despite Flickers best efforts.
After a few days of grieving Flicker seems to be improving and gradually also giving me more milk - although initially I felt rather mercenary, milking her after what happened.
However I must say that the whole experience has bought her and I closer together, and I now appear to have a dog/goat -she follows me constantly when I'm outside and gives me gentle kisses when I milk her. Shes a lovely girl and has a great temperament for milking.
Now we wait for her sister Flamingo... at least humans can tell you that they are going into labour, thus I gaze at my goat, watching for the slightest indication of impending birth!
Wish me well - my nerves are shattered!

In a family way..

Well the fencing is all done - tight, strong and partly electric.
And 2 weeks ago Pepper found her herd!

We welcomed sisters Flicker and Flamingo to our little community and they've been settling in well. They are pedigree Anglo Nubians and are around 3 years old.
Also, very excitingly they are both in kid! Since they have both had TRIPLETS before, I'm planning on the goat numbers swelling by 3-6 new kids.
I feel like an expectant mother myself, knitting baby goat coats and preparing a wee nest for the mamas and their babies.
Pepper is enjoying the company - although she seems to be the annoying hyper active teenager of the group. They are very affectionate and love a scratch and a snuggle and I'm slowly attempting to train F & F to the milking stand.
Of course my master plan is to milk both Flicker and Flamingo for the house, and I'm expecting around 4 litres a day at peak production. Who knows, I may even branch out into cheese!
Unfortunately I have to get the vet out to see Flicker tomorrow - I'm reluctant to man handle the girls since they are only 3-4 weeks off kidding, but her rear hoof really needs some attention.
I'm very excited about the arrival of the babies, but thank goodness the girls have done it before - my goat midwifery skills are pretty non existent at this stage!

Solitude

I saw this wonderful poem on the blog of my friend Erin and just had to share.
Oh how I long for solitude and alone-ness.....

Salsa Verde and Free Plants

It's been a whole month since I've updated here - life has just been so busy lately that I feel I'm only just keeping my head above water.
I'm studying (obstetrics and gynaecology) which is fascinating and challenging, but boy has it been stressful! I've been very proud of myself having broken away from a life time habit of procrastination, but homeschooling and life in general doesn't leave me with a lot of energy to spend the evenings studying and writing assignments. Anyhow this is the season we are in...

On the home front, we have exciting times ahead - well they excite me - so that's the main thing!
Our new paddock fencing is being done as we speak, in preparation to let Pepper roam free and also for our new arrivals (you'll have to check back in a few weeks to find out who!) I am busily foraging and scrounging to build things like hay racks and will also be converting part of our shed into a stall.

After a dismal chicken hatching episode we'll also be getting a few new recruits bought in to boost the numbers and hopefully egg production.

With all the various live stock related expenses, our budget for any thing else is basically $0 -and when I say budget, there was never a livestock budget. I've basically financed it all through Trademe sales (so I'm quietly very pleased with myself!) Unfortunately, I'm still wanting to do planting around the house and will also need some trees for the edge of a drain which will be re-fenced.

So this morning, whilst lamenting our lack of funds I began to cogitate on DIY rooting hormone - thus, I dragged my brood of children across the farm to harvest willow branches. Wizzing up the leaves and soft branch tips into a salsa verde looking concoction, I'm going to take some Buxus cuttings and try and propogate them myself.

The boys harvesting willow leaves.

Also on the grow (hopefully) are a number of different flax varieties that I stole/foraged a few months ago - they need to stratify in the fridge for a couple of months before planting, so hopefully they will take and I'll have some flaxes in a few months.
And last but not least were the trees I need for the drain edge. Whilst our fences have been down, I took the opportunity to harvest some of the Pittosporum seedings that have been growing along the fence line. They are now snuggly occupying one of the vege gardens, all ready to transplant to their new home one the fence is in place. So all in all, it has been a very productive day - hopefully I will see the fruits of my labour over the coming months.

Until next time x

What have we been up to?

Aside from the usual knitting, bike riding, on-going house renovations, animal care and schooling, we've been:


eating Easter chocolate


Making garlic bread


Making quince jelly from foraged fruits and tomato ketchup.


playing the cello, which is really challenging my aging brain!

Paper Power

As a child, I remember we used to go camping at the home of a family friend who lived in the Hokianaga Habour. One summer she employed my sister and I as child labour to clean her windows. To my surprise we used only newspaper and water but with only a moderate amount of elbow grease the windows shone.
So today, after frustration over fly spots on my new french doors, we went rummaging in the recycling bin.
I'm sure my grandmothers never used window sprays around their home, so why pay good money for something you can essentially do for free, and with the same amount of effort! I think newspaper is here to stay.

Tired eyes for him, tired eyes for me..

Sometimes, the days you are dreading turn out to be the sweetest.
Learning to stop, put the lists aside and recover, can bring such peace to a fraught day.



Whitetail spiders and sharks in the ocean - apparently.

Food Inc

If you care about where your food comes from, how it is produced/manufactured/engineered/grown, what it contains and who are the stake holders in the food industry, then you need to take a sobering look at the documentary Food Inc.

The film is American made (so much for land of the free!), and Lee and I came away from watching the film, primarily thinking - thank goodness for living in little ol' New Zealand.

By no means do I think that our food here is unadulterated by corn and soy products, don't contain a plethora of unhealthful ingredients or come from a highly mechanised system. But here our farmers aren't under the strangle hold of multinational corporations - see the film and you'll understand the extent to which these companies will crush and ruin the lives of producers who do not comply.
Our animals here, for the most part feel the grass beneath their hooves.
As private citizens we aren't under threat of litigation for saying something disparaging about a brand or producer, who are ultimately in bed with the powers that be and regulatory bodies.
We have freedom to grow our own meat and have it processed by home kill butchers - in the States there are a total of 13 abattoir (for the whole country) imagine if you dare, the mass production, complete disregard for the animals and the distance the meat travels to reach the end consumers.

This documentary is compelling, fascinating and terrifying all at once. Please watch it if you get the opportunity.

Atumn foraging

The simple pleasure of foraging for chestnuts at the local park.

And in animal news......

Finally one of our hens is broody.
We've needed to grow some replacement hens for a while, but none of the hens have been agreeable to taking on the role of mother. But at last our frizzle hen has started to brood.
It's been very good timing since one of our Barnevelders passed away yesterday - not unexpected since she was 6 years old.
I'm expecting some fertile eggs to arrive in the mail today. We've got Dorkings, Barred Plymouth Rock and Golden Campine eggs coming.
I wanted the Dorkings purely for posterity - being the oldest breed of chicken they date back to Roman times. The Barred Rocks I have found to be large birds which are good layers, so would be good it we take the plunge and raise our own meat birds -eek!
And the Campines are bit of a lucky-dip, I wanted a good egg laying breed and this is what the breeder recommended.
So our task for today is to get a broody box and cage sorted out, so our new family will cozy and safe!

Moments

Disruptive!

We've been having a lot of work carried out on the house for the few weeks, namely a new roof and plastering in the kitchen/dining area.
It will be worth the pain, dust and disruption, but it always takes a lot longer than you think it will.
Some progress pics of the house:


Please excuse the array of child paraphernalia, and yes that is a small boy poking out from under the deck!

Earthquake

As the list of people lost to Tuesday's horrific earthquake in Christchurch grows, our hearts ache for the people who have lost loved ones, homes and livelihoods.
As the earthquake has scared the land and our hearts it has also scared our small country.
However, during our collective grief, I have never felt more proud to be a New Zealander and of our nation.
The selflessness, generosity and banding together of communities to help and support those who have been traumatised and displaced has brought tears to my eyes again and again.

Kia kaha Canterbury

Mildly Outraged!

A trip to the supermarket on Saturday was yet another illustration of soaring food prices here.
$3.98 for a lettuce! In the middle of summer! Can you believe that? I told another shocked woman beside me "I'm not paying that for a lettuce!" (in my best indignant voice). Although reluctant, she did buy one of the golden lettuces, where as I opted for a menu change and went for a small head of broccoli.
My grand plans for successive lettuce sowings has been hampered by bad weather and laziness - if I'm honest.
So needless to say, I scurried home and sprinkled a whole tray with lettuce seeds, which in the current humidity have germinated in a day and a half!

How single income families manage to feed their children on modest food budgets without producing some of their own food, I'll never know.
Well I do know - nutrition suffers! When you can buy a bag of frozen chips for cheaper than the cost of a bag of dirt covered potatoes!

Anyhow, I need to go an rescue my tomato plants that were battered by the gale force winds we had over the weekend. They are laden with fruit, so I'm watching out for blight and other nasties.

Till next time x

From the Kitchen

We've had a busy time trying to cope with the glut of vegetables from the garden, but have been enjoying the fruits of our labour!
We've made, marrow and banana jam, cucumber pickle (which is one of the most delicious pickles I've ever had - if I do say so myself!), home cured bacon, 3 flavours of sausage plus some pickled walnuts. Also our water kefir grains have been bubbling away nicely
The walnuts were a total experiment and since I've never had them before I've got nothing to compare them to, but they are very strong and salty and go well with cheese.
There are 2 very large walnut trees on the farm and they are groaning with walnuts, so it's nice to be able to put some of them to use.