Rhythms of Life

"The Sun rises and the moon sets and each in their season turns and returns, world without end." ~Unknown 

I don't know where I first heard the above quote. I believe it was in a movie I watched quite some time ago, and I can't recall anything about the movie apart from that quote made by a narrator at the beginning of the film. It is a quote that comes to mind any time I get to thinking about the seasons and the rhythms of life.

Since I started keeping chickens and especially since I started to incubate and hatch my own chicks, I have become much more aware of those rythms. Last night, I candled the eggs again, and was delighted to notice definite signs of life in two out of the eight. I think that they are equivalent to day four eggs, even though they'd been in the incubator for 5 days by then.

I had a feeling that the incubator was not keeping its temperature even so I wrapped a blanket around it to help insulate it from fluctuations of temperature in the room and hey presto, life sparked and began to develop!

My days have settled into a rythm too now. Each morning I gently handle the eggs, moving them from one rack to the other, turning them 180 degrees as I move them. Then I check the water in the humidity chamber, cover them up, replace the blanket and go on about my day. I return after dinner and repeat the whole process going back the other way.

Thus, gently rocked from one end to the other, warmed and coddled in their humid environment, the eggs quietly rest and develop.

Around me, the rythms of nature are slowing down. Leaves are turning, birds are finishing the task of raising the past season's young. The hens scratch and browse across the lawn, showers come and go, clouds scud across the sky. The sun peeks through in brief glimpses and then is gone again.

Eastern Yellow Robin (Photo credit Wikipedia)

An Eastern Yellow Robin hunts for spiders in the garden and picks them off our window frames which sorely need de-cobwebbing. I'm reluctant to do it, though because that would mean Mr Robin would have a more difficult search for sustenance.

The season is changing and the wild grasses are in seed. A boon for the chickens and other seed eaters but a bane for me with my oversensitive nose. *sniffle*

I watch Gaia's rhythms, and slow my pace, listening to the hum of bees in the branches of the golden rain tree and smile.




As the seasons turn, I am more and more comfortable with my own steps within the dance.

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Attack of the killer Tomatoes

Has anyone seen that film apart from me? You should watch it should the opportunity ever present itself. It is so dreadfully awful that it is hilarious. I was reminded of it this afternoon when I was outside picking the ripened tomatoes from our garden. It is so hot today, that they were literally cooking in their own skins.

I'm going to offer some to anyone who knocks on my door today! Namely that will be our cleaner for one. I wonder who else providence might send our way?

Otherwise, they are destined to become tomato and basil sauce for pasta!

Still waiting....

Today marks the 11th day of Bertha's long incubation of her eggs. It seems so much longer since we set the eggs under her, but I have checked and double checked the date we set her, and it is definitely day 11. I am tempted to candle the eggs, but as I wouldn't even know what I am looking at, I have refrained from doing so. What will be, will be. I just hope they're progressing and we will end up with chicks out of all this.

I went up to the coops today with some kangaroo mince which I fed to the other three girls, and when Bertha smelled it and heard the special "Ohhhh we have goodies!" call of the other hens, she decided to get off her nest. I gave her some of the mince, which she gobbled down happily, along with some grains and then she proceeded to have a drink, and a leisurely dustbath. She is looking quite scruffy because she has pulled out a lot of her feathers to line her nest. I was going to snap a photo to show everyone, but by the time I went back up there with the camera she was just settling back on her eggs and I didn't want to disturb her again. She looks well and happy otherwise, so I think she is going to see this through.

In the meantime, we have been busy in our garden again and spent yesterday planting seeds and seedlings. We finally got our seed potatoes into the ground, along with planting out the pumpkin seedlings I have been nurturing. We also planted rockmelons, watermelon, beans, zucchini and button squash.

Seed Potatoes.

Yes, there really are little pumpkin plants here!

The chooks were busy, too! (A couple of these were from the day before)

They really enjoy their summer coop!

A well deserved lunch after the hard work.

And this is what Solly, my cat, thinks of hard work!

 It was good to get the planting done, and relax in front of the telly with our special "Grand Finals" cheese and vege platters for lunch!

Making EM Culture!

The past few weeks, I have been conducting highly classified, secret business! I didn't say anything about it until now, because this was the first time I had tried this recipe and I didn't want to embarrass myself if I created a horrendous zombiefied lactobacilli based monster and unleashed horror upon the world.

Yes, I was trying to culture lactobacillus, amongst other organisms for my bokashi bucket. Being on a pension, I try to do everything as frugally as I can, and am slowly teaching myself never to buy what I can make for myself, so, following THIS RECIPE I decided to try and make my own EM (Effective Microorganism) innoculant for bokashi composting. I was a bit worried that all I would end up with, would be a sour, stinking mess, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

A couple of weeks ago, when we were going to eat rice for dinner, I washed my rice and reserved the water, setting it in a large jar in a dark cupboard for 7 days.

It came out, looking something like this

Image via Hawaii Healing Tree.

So, first part, successful! Now I had to add 10 parts milk, to 1 part rice water. I measured out 100ml of the water, to which I added 1 litre of milk, and back into the cupboard it went for another week.

That part came out looking like this:

Not the most appealing looking stuff!

I admit, I expected this to smell revolting, even though the recipe said that it should just smell like yoghurt, and I was surprised when I took the lid off, to discover it did actually smell just like, well, yoghurt! So that was looking good! I then strained out the solids from the liquid and put the liquid into another bottle which I added half a teaspoon full of molasses to.

There was a little fluid left over after filling the new bottle, so I poured that onto some potted plants as it is meant to be good for the soil.

It looks a lot nicer in this, final state, and it should keep for about 6-12 months under refrigeration. It smelled sweet because of the molasses and if it ever smells sour, it will mean that it has gone rancid and should be discarded.

Oh, as for the milk curds?

The chooks got to enjoy those!

Poor Bertha, she still doesn't understand about food and fences!

The Garden

I was a bit sore and sorry today after yesterday's efforts in the yard, so I confined myself to lighter activities such as photography and light housework. I thought I would share some photos of our garden. This is the first year that we have tried having a serious vege garden as opposed to growing a couple of lettuces in a pot.

Roma Tomatoes

 

 

 

They're floweing!

 

Dwarf Peas

 

Various Lettuces

Pumpkin seedlings

These are just the first few things we have planted and we've already eaten a few leaves off some of the lettuces. They're very tasty and soo fresh! Free Range egg and home grown lettuce on a sandwich. It doesn't get any better than that.

I also took photos of some of the other plants in our garden.

Sunflower Seedlings sprouting for the chooks

The flowering Mulberry tree!

A native honey bee pollenating the mulberry blossom

 

More Mulberry flowers

Young Marigolds

Mango blossom

 

Budding Jasmine

 

Jasmine

 

 

Not sure what this is called, but it's pretty!

Banksias, Bokashi and Birds

I had a very busy day in the yard, today. Actually, because I have limited abilities, I had a very busy couple of hours, that felt like a whole day. LOL.

It started out with the Bokashi Bucket springing a leak on the kitchen counter, which meant that I had to deal with the contents of the bucket in order to fix the leak, so I decided that since it was pretty nearly full anyway, I would bury the contents in the backyard, in the place where we intend to put our composting bins when we set them up. So out I went with a spade and a hoe to dig a suitable trench for the bokashi.

Since I was digging anyway, I also decided that I would gather up windfallen citrus and bury them along with the bokashi compost so that the EM (Effective Microorganisms) from the Bokashi would help to break them down underground. So I grabbed a bucket and went around the yard, collecting up all the fallen cumquats, mandarins and oranges. I also pulled a few spoiled lemons from the lemon tree. (our orchard produces far more than two people can eat!).

The chooks came over to see what I was up to, "Wha-wha-what?" they cooed to me as they pecked at the ground under the trees where I had picked up the fruit. They found some tasty grubs in the still damp earth and were well satisfied, wandering away again once they'd eaten them.

I paused for a while, standing near the plum trees and watching soft white petals drift like snowflakes on the playful breeze.  A pair of kookaburra's chortled and guffawed in the Eucalyptus tree at the end of the yard. In the branches of the plum trees, a plum headed finch dodged his own shadow and flirted with me and my camera as he sipped nectar from the blossoms. The air was filled with the heady scent of jasmine, hinting at the warm spring and summer to come.

Image from Wikipedia.com

But dawdling under the plum tree was not getting my work done, so I carted my bucket of citrus over to the composting area and started to dig a trench.

The earth was soft, rich, alive, and smelled delicious, like rich chocolate in the warm, springlike sunshine. I started to perspire as I worked and the thought of sweet, ripe mandarins on the tree was tempting me to stop for a break.

I kept at it though and finally had a trench spade deep, ready to put the fruit and the Bokashi into. It only took a few moments to bury the fruit and I went to pick one of those tempting Mandarins, carrying it down the patio to eat. It was every bit as delicious as I'd anticipated and did a lot to quench the thirst I'd worked up.

 After a little while, Sandra came outside, taking a break from her studies and we decided to dig out a dead banksia tree from in front of the aviary. This is a job that has been on the list for a while, and why not get it done while the tools for the job were already out of the shed?

It took a while, but we eventually broke off the stubborn roots and got the old, dead tree up out of the ground.

It was time for a well deserved lunch and an afternoon spent on the patio with a glass of chilled apple juice and a good book.