Monday 21 July 2014

Spuds wonderful spuds... mashed, deep-fried or roasted...

G'day all and welcome!

Today I had a gardening encounter with earth's most versatile vegetable of the tuber variety, the humble potato. I've been growing taters for a while now,  but I thought I might try one of these newfangled fashionable methods of growing, the "grow bag". 
Heavy weight, UV resistant, durable material with a couple of holes in the bottom. Two person job to move them when full!
Potatoes are not a "set and forget" plant like sweet potatoes or yams. they require a little maintenance to get the best out of your plants - it's easy but requires commitment.

I ordered my seed potatoes and the 75L grow bag from Greenharvest online. I've bought from them many times, and they are fantastic.  It's important that your seed potatoes are disease free - which is why you shouldn't use spuds you've bought from the store, especially if they're not from a certified organic grower.

Clean & disease free. Store in darkness!
Spuds like to be planted about 10-15cm deep. You can sow direct to the soil, or you can sprout your slips in seed raising mix, at about 5cm deep, and then plant them out. Your seed potatoes may be planted whole, or cut in half to give you more plants. If cutting, leave the halves out in open air for 2-3 days so that a scab forms, to lessen the chances of it rotting. Make sure that each piece has at least two healthy looking "eyes" on it, as this is where your vines will sprout from.


Choose a nice sunny spot, spuds don't really like the cold.
For the grow bag, I've put about 15cm of good quality potting mix, and planted the sprouted potatoes about 10cm down. I've then covered the green vine all the way up to the leaves of the plant. I'm using desiree potatoes for this bag. The ones in the soil/mulch hay garden bed currently are sebago, and I've got some beautiful purple congo's that I'm excited to try my hand at too.
Pick a nice sunny spot for your potatoes. Warm soil will help them grow faster, and as the bulk of the plant is well insulated under the surface, they're not easily hurt by a hot day in full sun, even if they may seem to wilt a little on the more brutal summer days.

As your potato plants grow, they will shoot up, and maybe branch. When you have sections of more than 15cm above the soil, gently lay them over, and cover with soil, or mulch hay. This creates more vine under the soil, and gives you more potatoes per plant. For this grow bag, I will be laying the plants down in an anti-clockwise direction, and as there are two plants, they will form a loose spiral as they continue to grow.

Growing in a soil bed in your garden, you have the opportunity to dig for "new" potatoes, throughout the growing period of the plant. You'll likely be pleasantly surprised at how quickly the little tubers develop! You want to look at where the older sections of the vine, and this is obviously easier if you are covering with hay mulch rather than soil.  Try not to disturb the vine, or the budding baby potatoes if you can help it. New potatoes are best used within a few days, as they don't store as well as old potatoes, from a finished plant.
New potatoes and baby potatoes, found easily by lifting some mulch hay. Note the green vine has blanched, and there are baby tuber growing next to the larger ones that can be harvested.
Eventually your plant will run out of green, and decide to wilt and die. Don't be sad! It's all part of the process. Give it a couple of weeks for the whole plant to finish off. Then, when you can't stand to wait anymore, go digging for treasure! If you're using a grow bag, or have built a box, it's as simple as tipping it over. if you've planted in a garden bed, use a garden fork, gently, starting at the edges and working your way in so as not to spear a spud with the tines.
New potatoes - these are sebago potatoes. Great for mashing or roasting, or baking whole.
Store your large potatoes, eat the mediums & smaller ones first as they won't store as long. Make sure to store your spuds for eating in a cool, dry, dark place - a hessian bag in the cupboard is ideal. Sunlight will make the spuds turn green, and green potatoes are poisonous  - do not eat them.

If  you are going to keep some of your harvest for seed, choose tubers that are the similar size to your original seed potatoes of that variety - for me that's about 5cm across, and make sure it has good healthy skin, and a good number of eyes for new vines. Don't wash them, simply start the process anew.
The perfect seed potato (this is a purple congo). Several eyes, no disease or scarring, a fine layer of the soil it was grown in.
Here where we are, we get two (or more) good crops of potatoes per year. I plant at the end of winter (after the last frost) and late summer. If you get snow in your area you may only get the one crop, although you could stagger your plantings to have an early crop planted late winter, and a later crop planted at the end of spring.

And if your sprouts come up and you think they look like tomatoes - don't panic. Potatoes and tomatoes are both part of the nightshade family, and can look very similar. The colour of the vine depends on the variety of potato, and can vary from a light spring green to a deep purple.


Cheers, M

Saturday 19 July 2014

A Whole New Soggy Ecosystem

G'day and welcome!

So winter solstice has passed, the days are getting longer, we've only a couple of frosts between now and what is guaranteed to be a long, hot summer. Summer in Australia is of course heralded by the most loathed of insects, the mosquito.

Keeping livestock as we do, we keep a number of water troughs. One for each paddock really. The smaller tubs, which hold about 20 gallons, are no hassle to keep clean, they're topped up and checked on daily, if one needs to be scrubbed it can be easily tipped into another, mind you that's rare as the constant influx of new water (town water here is chlorinated and fluoridated, yuk) keeps "life" from developing.

However the big paddock has a trough that is sized to cope with the drinking requirements of several large animals on a hot summer day. We use an old bathtub, large, solid iron lined with white enamel, heavy as a hereford bull. The kind that was designed before the words "water restrictions" were ever put next to each other in a sentence!

This lovely large tub keeps the water cool, being more than knee deep when full. The constant exposure to sunlight takes care of any chlorine very quickly however, and between the mozzies that breed there, and the algae that inevitably develops, it needs to be emptied and scrubbed every couple of weeks, until now. This year I thought we'd try a new method, rather than wasting all that water.

An Australian native swamp grass to help with oxygen in the water.
Being inspired by a couple of posts on the Keeping a Family Cow forum, we decided on a couple of goldfish. They're hardy, pretty, and the no-fuss pet of choice for kids that live in apartments.... if city folk can keep them alive, how easy will this be! 

I went to the local pet store, and bought a half dozen, very pretty, brightly coloured goldfish with beautiful fantails.. some with googly eyes, some with spots and stripes. Took them home, followed the instructions on the fish bag, and after leaving the bag in the tub for 15 minutes let them go. 

Little Farmgirl loves visiting the trough!
The casualty rate, was high. 

I'd not really researched it you see, and the limited information bestowed upon me by the pet shop clerk was obviously not going to be enough.

I discovered much about the humble goldfish. Did you know, for instance, that they can survive water temps of "almost frozen"? Apparently in China people break through ice to get to the fish.  Amazing little things. They are extremely hardy, but are intolerant to rapid change of PH in their water, as I found out, it can kill them. 

Crows and other birds also find them tasty treats, those bright colours made them easy to pick off. The beautiful long tails made them slow and cumbersome, unable to escape the predators. 

Having done more research and learning more interesting facts about keeping fish in an outside tank or trough, I made some big changes to the tub. I added some plants, to help with oxygenation. I also chose to purchase some little blue crayfish, some shrimp, some snails, and some new fish. We carved a piece of timber to provide some hidey holes, and weighted it down with a bessa brick,  for the fish to swim through and hide in.

Hiding places are important - if you can see the fish so can the predatory birds like crows.
This time we went with uncoloured goldfish. They're cheap, and for most people, the muted bronze or pewter colours are boring, hard to see, not exciting at all. They're the comet type, lithe, streamlined, lightning fast in the water. These fish are perfect. I also got some feeder guppies... used by people with aquariums to feed their pet oscar or barramundi live prey.

Now we introduced them slowly to the water, a half cup at a time, and with the shrimp, guppies, crays, snails.... and this time we've had much more success. The cattle don't eat the submerged plants, or (to my husbands amazement) suck up the fish when they drink. 

Snail, feasting on algae.
The fish are certainly keeping the mosquito population down, and I've not had to scrub the tub in a month. 

I love going down to top up the trough now. I've got a whole new set of mini livestock to look after in there, and it's a window into another world. The guppies are more social than the goldies, they are easily visible from the surface. 

Crayfish are a useful addition, the clean up any casualties or left over food.
The crays come out most at dawn and dusk, and take care of any leftover food (or the occasional half eaten guppy) that sinks to the floor of the tub. The snails truck around,  cleaning scunge from the edges, as do the shrimp. 
Shrimp, surrounded by guppies.
I'll update if we get to summer, how the mosquito population is declined or not. But for now, even if it's just for the lovely aesthetics I would highly recommend this experience for anyone too lazy to scrub their troughs too often :)

Cheers,  M.

Thursday 15 May 2014

You put WHAT in your breakfast?

G'Day all and Welcome :-)

First actual posting in a while. I've actually written a few and decided not to post... Which is helpful to me but boring for you I guess - so since I've a day at home I thought I'd share a bit of a delicious post.

It's no secret I like vegetables - especially the green and leafy kind. And it's important to try and fit them into your diet as much as you can - but not everyone likes broccoli three times a day! One green & leafy I've been using a great deal lately (it's autumn here and finally cool enough to start winter veggies) is English Spinach.

Once very commonly eaten, known as Popeye's magical booster food - spinach is breathtakingly easy to grow. Literally loosen up the soil, seed, wet and forget. When it first shoots, it will look like blades of grass - don't worry you have planted the right seeds!

I now use spinach in place of lettuce - to me it tastes similar enough to Cos Verdi, and is much better for you. It's also great in cooking - a big handful stirred through the mashed spuds before serving wilts just slightly and is very tasty. This morning - I put it in my breakfast. Enjoy the how to below!! 



 
Step 1 - get your bacon frying in your nice, hot CI pan
Step 2 - add a big handful of lovely fresh green English Spinach; it will wilt down some so be generous!
 
Step 3 - cover with the pan lid and let the spinach wilt a bit, this takes maybe 30 secs?
Step 4 - grate some cheese on; I'm using a New Zealand vintage crumbly cheddar, with a nice strong flavour.
Step 5 - beat a couple of eggs, a splosh of milk, some black pepper... 
Step 6 - and pour it into the pan. I give the bacon / spinach a bit of a push around so the egg mix goes under them as well.
 
Step 7 - lid back on for a minute or so. This helps keep the heat in, while I'm waiting for the bottom of the egg mix to get crunchy.
Step 8 - lid off, when the egg starts to come away easy from the side of the skillet - she's ready to flip over.
Step 9 - flip and sizzle! Plenty of steam, and yummy smells coming from the pan now. If you weren't hungry before, you are now!
 
Step 10 - more cheese. Mmmmmmm cheese.....
 Step 11 - once the cheese is melted and the bottom of the egg is crisped, put it on a plate, and see if you can make it as far as the table before you start eating... I couldn't! 


Hope you all enjoy your spinach!

M






Thursday 6 February 2014

Dinner with Friends (or, chickens that don't lay eggs)

G'Day all and Welcome :-)

On the topic of poultry, I've been known to wax lyrical. I can appreciate the musical crow of a giant Croad Langshan rooster, the fine dark speckling on the shell of a freshly laid Barnevelder egg, and the amazing genetics behind the feather colouring on a Blue-Laced Gold Wyandotte are enough to keep me talking as long as you'll listen.

I'm an advocate of "backyard chickens" in general. I'd recommend them as a starter pet over guinea pigs for your kids any day. They're a great "gateway" livestock animal, and have so many benefits to your garden and kitchen.... wait, did I just say KITCHEN???

I must be talking about eggs, right? Sure. Free range or pastured hens eggs are fantastic. Bright yolks, the colour of which can't be artificially replicated, the product of your chickens running free in the backyard during the day... But only half the chicks you hatch will grow up to lay eggs.

So there's more than just yummy eggs to be had from backyard chickens. Home-raised chicken has a flavour that by far surpasses the meat you buy in a store. There's a slight colour to the flesh and fat, that only comes from birds that roam freely and eat grass.

This is the part most people don't like to think about...

Today I sent a couple of cockerels to fridge camp. They're 18 weeks old. and by this age, you can clearly tell that these birds are not going to be laying hens. Even with your most androgynous birds, by 18 weeks you can tell if they're about to start making eggs or crowing!

The method I use is quick and simple. One blow from a freshly sharpened hatchet, and the bird is hung by a string to bleed out. There's very little blood in a chicken, it takes almost no time to drain. I don't pluck my birds unless I'm roasting, I mostly skin them instead - very similar to skinning a rabbit, and much easier to gut, just one good scoop and the innards fall out freely.

Hangin' on the line....

I take the legs off at the knee joint, and the wing tips off at the elbow. By this stage, the bird looks similar to what you'll find in the supermarket, but longer of limb, and much more slender. A naturally raised cockerel of a laying breed won't be stumpy, pudgy and ghostly pale like birds raised in a shed. I give him a good rinse under running water, and it's done.

Because the bird is young, he can be used for frying or roasting, or I can take the bones out and do stir fry, he'll be quite tender. If I process older birds - say, spent hens, or a breeding rooster that has turned nasty of temperament, then they go straight into the stewpot, as older birds can be tough, although very very flavoursome, the older bird the better the broth!

I've often been asked the question "How can you eat your pets?" or "How can you eat an animal that you know?" and the best response to this questions is another question... "How can you eat one that you don't?"

With a home raised bird I know that he's hormone and anti-biotic free. He's not been pumped full of water to make him weigh more, and not been treated with a chemical to make his flesh appear pink.

16 weeks, the smallest of the four boys, still a good and tasty feed for my family.

But most importantly for the people asking that question, all food aside, is I know 100% for certain that this bird has had a good life. He's enjoyed his life, running in the grass with his flockmates, eating green things, and bugs. He's been able to roost comfortably and naturally in a secure coop at night. No cold floors, overcrowded or unclean sheds for this bird.

And I honour the bird by keeping him and eating him. Many people who keep fowl will sell their males off at the markets, to meet with someone else's axe. Or, they may even kill them at one day old, if they are able to tell the sex!

When I want to hatch some babies out, to grow for replacement laying hens, or some hens to sell to others, I don't worry about how many boys vs girls I have. Because both are valuable, and able to provide for my family.

M

Wednesday 29 January 2014

Living with Livestock - an acquired taste!

G'Day all and welcome :-)

I love my livestock. It's addictive even. I find it very hard to say no to a pair of dark brown eyes, cute cloven hooves, or a set of soft and glossy feathers. There's just something in me that is inherently drawn to keeping animals. So much so that I'm forbidden to go to a cattle auction yard unaccompanied - since I already have a menagerie at home - and even then when properly escorted I manage to sneak one or two in the car.

I've been guilty of telling the quick lie "we've had that one for ages" or possibly "oh that one, you're just noticing her because she's moulted" and of course the famous "but honey, it was a giveaway". 

     

I've been known to go up the mountain for a bobby bull calf to put on my cow, and come home with a pair of heifers instead (but they were so cheap!) and I'm certainly known to be a sucker for visiting the sale pens at the country markets, the cash just forces it's way out of my wallet and into my hand, I swear!

I'm the person who gets calls from friends whenever they have an animal related question, or better yet, when they've come across a stray. Need milk or colostrum for a suddenly orphaned calf? I'm your girl. Need bags of CMPK because it's 2am and your cow has milk fever but the vet is going to cost you your first born? Yep that's me too. 

Somehow got possession of a stray sheep that wandered onto your property from god-only-knows-where and have no idea what to do with it? Morgan will know, she's got livestock, right?

And that's the thing. At some stage during my foray into farming, I went from having "a couple of chooks and a dog" to OWNING LIVESTOCK.

It used to be that when someone said the words "owns cattle" I imagine a weathered man in faded blue jeans, well worn boots and a wide brimmed Akubra. Stockwhip curled at the ready, perhaps leaning against a post & rail cattle chute, with a fire pit nearby - branding irons aglow upon hot coals.

I certainly wouldn't have conjured up an image of myself in my present state. A 30 years old, mother-of-one, in knee high gumboots (or barefoot, often as not) and a long braid falling down my back. Have to say I do kinda rock the jeans & Akubra look - though I don't wear my hat when I'm milking, it would just annoy Annabelle.

Owning livestock, (and at the moment I've got two cows, one beefy heifer calf, a horse, about 50 chickens, 4 turkeys, two great danes and a 3yo toddler girl) means a great deal of chores. Lots of work that the "normal" suburban mum doesn't have to fit into her day. 

It makes for long days when you're milking at 5am, before you get ready for work (& kindy) as well as collecting eggs in the afternoon, alongside the regular stuff like doing the laundry. 

I have different shoes for home and work - because anything worn in my front yard is likely to have some kind of manure embedded in the sole. Not to mention making sure I don't run late and have to throw out hay while I'm in my work clothes, nothing worse than the telltale itch of lucerne twigs in your shirt!



It's worth the work for someone like me though. When you're drawn to keep animals you don't notice the odour of a freshly fallen cowpie. You simply get used to collecting it in the barrow from the places likely to be frequented by visitors, and putting it in the veg patch, ready for the next bed to be dug over. The crow of a cockerel in the dark hours of the morning doesn't wake me anymore - but the dull thumping of hooves at 3am, signifying something chasing the stock in the paddock will.

And I don't mind being the "farmer" friend. People ask me about things to do with the cows, or the chooks, or the garden - and I'm all too happy to share what I know. 

It's a delight to be able to provide someone else with eggs from my beautiful free range, happy chickens, because unlike them, I can own livestock. Or to be able to go to a barbeque and take some prime cuts of meat from the last beast we butchered, home grown, happy beef - because I can own livestock. 

It's not for everyone, but it sure is for me. 

M

Thursday 16 January 2014

Beans Beans the magical.... legume!

G'day all and welcome.

Have I mentioned I'm an avid veggie gardener? I grow a few different types of veggies, and I'm willing to give most anything a go, but my favourites are pumpkins and other cucurbits, and the whole beta vulgaris family, which is beetroot and silverbeets etc. I always have corn growing, and tend to swap between sweet corn for eating, and some of the older varities for flour or cornbread. 

One of the plant varities I always have to have growing, is beans! Green beans, beans for drying and then cooking into mexican style food.... it's one of the real benefits of living in QLD, is that we always have enough warmth and sunlight for beans unless it's the very coldest part of winter. I'm not a fan of the less-hardy french type or bush beans, I like good old fashioned runner beans (or pole beans, or climbing beans... depending on where you come from!).

Here's a shot of the bottom of my bean trellis, I sprinkled a handful of Zebra Beans along here when I pulled the old stalks off two weeks or so ago, and look at the little beanstalks grow! No wonder the story of Jack and the Beanstalk wasn't called "Jack and the Grapevine" instead, eh?


In fact these Zebra Beans are so prolific and easy to grow I have them coming up in a couple of spots in the garden - where the wind or maybe a bird has landed a pod from the original stalks. In a couple of those spots I'll just pop in a couple of bamboo sticks, and make a crude bean-teepee. If they're happy to grow, I'm happy to eat them!

Beans don't need much in the way of high-nitrogen fertilizers, as they get it from the air - and are known to improve nitrogen content in the soil they're grown in. this makes them a perfect companion for things like corn, which is a heavy feeder. 

The native americans used the three sisters method - growing corn, then planting beans at the base to grow up the stem and fertilize the soil, and then planting pumpkins or squash as a ground cover to keep the weeds under control (as well as make pumpkins!). This is an excellent example of harmony in nature - companion planting at it's very best.

I'll add to this blog a new picture here and there as these beanstalks climb their trellis and start producing. 

Then I might even add some of my favourite ways to cook them!

M

Monday 13 January 2014

Welcome to my farm... Glenkeachie Homestead.

Hi there.

My name is Morgan, and I'm a farmer.

It's not my fault really, you see my father is an avid vegetable gardener, as was his before him. My mother has always had chickens in the backyard, and had a milking cow (or four...lol) when I was young. So it's natural progression I guess. In my genetics, to be inclined to keep livestock, and a veg patch of my own.

As an adult, I started of course, with the humble backyard chook. Or six. Then a dozen, then 20 or so... Chickens are notoriously a "Gateway Livestock" and should be treated with extreme caution for new homesteaders. They're addictive you see. To date I've found no 12-step program to keep me away from farming!

Over the last ten years or so I've experimented. I've tried duck (muscovy ducks) and decided that I love them, but that I need a bigger farm to keep them as I'd like to, so we've none at the moment. I've tried sheep (dorper x) and found that sheep were very flighty and prone to panic. I'd like to try them again in the future, when we can keep them in a paddock just for the sheep. 

I've also tried goats... boer goats. Let me tell you something about goats, they're smart. They work out which room you sleep in, and then stand outside just before dawn and bleat loud enough to wake the dead... ask me how I know! Let's just say it was a "tasty experiment" in the end, and goat keeping is another thing I've shelved for the future.

So our current little plot of paradise is home to my milking cow Annabelle (who is a jersey x brown swiss) and her calf at foot (a beef cross, by a Santa Gertrudis sire) plus the two dairy heifers I bought last year to foster on her. and that's the cow herd. 

Then there is Reuben, my Waler x QH gelding. He's a beautiful paddock ornament that I don't get nearly as much chance to ride as I'd like! But he likes to hang out with the cows, and he likes pats, snuggles, general grooming, and bananas. Don't come between Reuben & bananas!!

We also keep two great danes, Ivory and Paroo. You'll get to see fun photos of them in my blog, largely because Ivory is a photobomber... Level : EXPERT. The pair of them like to supervise anything I'm doing outside, from hanging out the towels to digging in the garden - they help out where they can.

The poultry.... as before mentioned, are addictive and prolific. I keep my addiction under control by selling pullets (young hens) and selling eggs to friends and family for a meagre contribution to my grain bill. I do a sell off every so often, usually when someone asks me "how many chickens do you have?" and I actually have to count them, and I realise I have WAAAAAY too many.

In addition to the chicken population, we keep American Bronze Turkeys. They're one of the heritage breeds, so they're not the biggest meat variety out there, but they are very pretty and they seem to keep the snakes and hawks away. 

I believe I've covered everyone, although I'd love to add more creatures to my menagerie, we're on a very small block for a farm. It's approx 2.4 acres you see, more of a "farmlet" or a "farmish yard", and the worst part of that... it's a rental.  We're working towards a new farm, hopefully in the not too distant future. So for the moment I'll share my tips on living frugally, keeping livestock in a smaller space, and keeping a small vegetable garden.

Hope you enjoy!!

M