The Easter Bunnies have Arrived!

Down to the anticipated time and day our baby bunnies have arrived. It was really interesting and fascinating to see the Doe prepare her nest, then go into labour and deliver her babies. She ate the placentas straight after having her babies. This is to give her nourishment but also to destroy any trace of new rabbit,s to any lurking predators.

Next time around I think I may be a rabbit as mothering is very low key. The doe only feeds her babies once a day, normally at night. Rabbit milk is apparently one of the most nutritious foods. Imagine if that was bottled and sold at your supermarket! If she is not feeding her babies the doe is resting, eating and sleeping next to her nest.

 The babies are born fur less and blind. Their eyes open at around 2 weeks and this is when they start to venue out of the nest to hop around with their mother.

We have 10 babies in total. Five black and five grey ( Blue). There is one little runt. My boys are fascinated by them and call them ‘earth worms’, as only boys would. Quinn keeps saying to me “ we are not going to eat them mummy!” My good friends girls have asked me if they can have the runt as a pet as “it won’t be very good for eating” . Have I turned into the nighbourhood monster in these children’s eyes?

My Husband may be Cheating, but he is a great Dad!

What do you do when you have a goat and a box full of dress ups? 

You visit kindy as the Billy Goats Gruff of course! My husband Chris doesn’t need to be asked twice to dress up in a costume and Quinn our 4 year old was very keen to take Frankie to Kindy to show his friends our new milk producing pet.

Chris changed into his ensemble and followed us to Kindy in his car as he needed to rush away to a board meeting soon afterwards.. Quinn, Frankie and I went in my car. Frankie was very happy to hop into the back seat and ride shotgun. Quinn had suggested that we just walk her to Kindergarten but the thought of walking with a goat along the footpath, passing high school kids, commuters and mums doing school drop offs just didn’t appeal to me somehow. Havelock North is a small place and I know I would never live that one down!!

The scary Troll

I think the Billy Goat wins this fight!

Quinn , the proud goat handler

Once at kindy, complete with the scary Troll, Quinn proudly showed his little friends how we milk her. It was amazing how so many kids did not realise that goats made milk and you could even drink it!! The Troll of course frightened some of the girls and had to take his mask off at times.

Frankie had a great morning at Kindy. She nibbled on the bushes and was hand fed the choicest grape leaves by the kids. Quinn beamed with pride thinking it was so normal to have a pet goat in urban Havelock North and the Troll luckily got to his board meeting on time. Lets just hope he changed beforehand!

My Husband is Cheating on Me, Now I Am Sowing My Wild Oats

I have no concern with growing ample vegetables for our experiment but I am concerned about three growing boys and their constant need for sustained energy foods. Also I know they will turn their noses up at veges for breakfast and even though they love eggs, served every morning may become a bit of a drag.

I have had the idea for planting a cereal of some sort to help us in our carbohydrate quest. Growing wheat really is not a practical option as you need to grow a whole field to make your returns of any use and wheat also does not grow well here in Hawkes Bay. All of New Zealand’s wheat fields are found in the South Island around Canterbury. To be practical I need a grain which I can process myself without the need for expensive milling machinery and will grow well in my garden.

We all love porridge for breakfast. I think it is called oatmeal or grits in the States. I have now planted around 3 sq metres of garden in a hull-less oat seed I bought from Koanga Gardens.

Unfortunately after carefully following all sowing instructions and carefully tending the germinating seed I had a very poor germination rate. A lot of the seed was snaffled up by “mice with wings” (sparrows). This is even after I laboriously covered the whole area with what I thought was bird proof netting!

The oats look beautiful growing, they now have developed seed heads and in the wind they whisper to each other. I have planted them close together as they are wind pollinated.

Oats growing in the garden

I am not sure of the next process but I am guessing I need to wait until most of the seed heads have turned a tawny gold and then cut them down on a sunny dry day. Because this variety is hull less I am spared one specialised task of getting the hull off the seed. I intend to bash the seed heads on the inside of a bucket to collect the oat seeds. Then it is a matter of rolling the oats. You can buy special home mills which will do this but I am hoping to improvise by using my home pasta maker. I hope that by pouring the oats through the roller I may be able to crush the seeds flat so they resemble rolled oats.

I figure if it all turns out to be a disaster I can feed the oat plants and seed heads to my goats and rabbits. I have to admit the plant looks stunning in the garden and would be an attractive option on any balcony to grow in a pot for some screening whilst adding impact.

Will keep you informed of the progress! Any advice gratefully received

Someone Has An Axe To Grind

Somebody has reported me to the authorities. It seems that someone read my blog or facebook entry on the day I gave the owners of Hawthorne café some of my honey. Tom who owns Hawthornes have always supported my mad attempts with self-sufficiency and allows me to collect their used coffee grounds each week from the café. They are always offering me free coffees. I give them fresh produce including the odd jar of honey as a thank you.

Anyway someone has reported me to MAF ( Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries)  because they believe I am breaking the law by trading my honey, as bartering is a form of trading. Maybe they were concerned that Hawthorne was on-selling it in the café? Any local knows that Hawthorne are coffee roasters and all the food they sell is sourced from other commercial kitchens. They do not even have facilities to cook food. How could one small 250ml pot of honey given to friend who shares it with his family and happens to own a café potentially get me in trouble? Has the world gone mad? I have in the past been given pots of honey from beekeeping clubs for giving my time at beekeeping field days. I don’t believe any law has been broken then or now.

In New Zealand you are only permitted to sell your honey if regulations under the Food Act 1981 or the Tutin Honey Standard are followed. I know about this as I have written a web page on it here.

( interestingly when I made this  video above about Tutin honey I had this irrate email from an organic honey producer and seller demanding that I take the video off you tube immediately. She stated that she did'nt want potential customers knowing about this risk. Thats great - lets just keep the consumer in the dark! Obviously I refused) I follow the suggested safe guards to protect anyone from honey poisoning with my urban honey. Donating or bartering honey is a form of trade and is also subject to regulation under the Food Act 1981. This does not mean that you can't give honey to friends and family members.

Who has so much time on their hands to contact MAF about me? Why haven’t they used the blogs reply function or facebooks reply function to ask me about this face to face. I don’t believe it is anyone of the 335 people who follow my facebook  page and my blog. All these people have only ever given me lots of support and shared many great tips and advice. Obviously there is someone else who has a bit of a grudge who perhaps has a little too much time on their hands.

I have my suspects. I am involved with a Charitable Trust called Save Our Bees. This Trust is all about informing the public about how important bees are and how their numbers are declining worldwide. The Trust also supports and advises backyard beekeepers who want to do their bit for bees and keep a hive in their garden, particularly people who choose to keep bees in a Top Bar hive.  Many commercial beekeepers are against these sorts of hives as they don’t think they can be checked for diseases. This is absolute rubbish and I have on numerous occasions invited concerned beekeepers to my garden to show them how easy it is. None have accepted. Am I really that frightening?

The NBA and Management Agency recently even made and printed this broad statement that "Top Bar hives are against the ‘spirit’ of the Act" which protects bees and beekeeping in New Zealand. They are insisting that Top Bar Hives become mini Langstroths hives and have a frame build around each comb. This is even after MAF  (who luckily make the laws)  have made a statement that they see no issue as long as the bees in a Top Bar Hive can be checked for disease. The key consideration is that they can be checked.

When I started beekeeping I was very naive. I thought all beekeepers where predominantly lovely bearded gentleman who took on the persona of a bumblebee and had a deep empathy for bees. Unfortunately I don’t believe this is always the case. Don’t get me wrong I know of several hobbyist beekeepers who are just like this. I believe many commercial and semi commercial beekeepers are self-serving, patch protecting members of large cooperate organisations who are making huge money out of honey rather than having any thought for our poor overworked honey bee. I believe they feel threatened by the growth in backyard beekeeping, especially if these newbies are keeping their bees in anything other than a Langstroth hive.

Why can’t we all work together to help the bee. It is so counterproductive to have this 'them and us' situation. Backyard hobbyist have a unique position to be the guardians of bees protecting numbers when New Zealand encounters a collapse of colony numbers as many overseas countries are already experiencing.

Late last year when I was over in New York learning from hobby beekeepers I asked them if they experienced the same sort of negativity. They seemed very surprised and said ‘no, we are all working together to help breed and keep resilient healthy bees”. What’s wrong here?

 Anyway getting back to the phone call I received today. The authorities were  concerned that perhaps I was bartering pots of the stuff which was being used in the food sold at the café. After an explanation of who it was for they were very supportive and stated there was no problem with gifting honey to friends and family. They even wished me well with my experiment with living off the land.   Unfortunately it appears there are some evil spirited people out there in the cyberspace realm with too much time on their hands and an axe to grind. I hope she/he/they get a life. Perhaps as a tax payer I should invoice them for the time they have wasted these Government agencies with this complaint.

Honey- the new form of contraband?

From this, to this to this.....

Japanese quail are born after around 16 days of incubation. Because these quail have been domesticated for so many years they rarely go broody and sit on their eggs. A incubator is required to hatch the eggs.

When the quail hatch they are the size of a large bumble bee. they tot ta around on unsteady legs. I feed them chick crumbles. It is important to keep them warm in a brooder and ensure that they can't drown in their water bowl. I use a jar lid with pebbles in it. Keep them in the brooder for the first three weeks. By this time they are fully fledged and can be moved outside into a small hutch if the weather is warm.

The quail are mature in six weeks. The hens will start laying in 7-8 weeks. The male has a dark ring of feathers around his head. It looks like a headband from the 70's.  The male also makes a thrilling call. It is best to house one male to about 4-5 females. Don't keep males together as they will fight. They require a high protein diet of around 20% to lay well. they don't require a lot of space. I keep mine on  my balcony in a modified rabbit run. The hens will lay an egg most days.

Killing is never fun but it is easy with a quail .I use garden shears to cut off their head. Plucking only takes a few minutes. It is best to do this when the body is still warm as the feathers come out easier. Gut and rest the bird in a salt brine solution in the fridge for 24 hours before eating.

Quail is a delicacy.  The flesh tastes like sweet chicken. I cook ours in our Targine with a tomato based sauce. enjoy. Thank you quail.

 

 

Out Foraging for Wild Blackberries

This afternoon, making good use of the early Autumn sunshine, a gaggle of family and friends have come foraging for some wild blackberries. I have been keeping my eyes on this thick blackberry hedge throughout summer. Watching as the flowers are buzzed by bees turning them into green, then red and finally dark purple sweet berries.

With a handful of willing workers it doesn't take us long to pick enough berries to make a blackberry and apple crumble. The  apples for the crumble are picked from our trees we recently planted on our council verge .How local is that!

After licking his plate clean Edwin promptly asks "can we go and pick some more tomorrow". I think foraging is great. You get fresh local food. The kids learn how food grows. And we all get to learn about the seasons and harvesting fresh food.

You can tell who has done the most picking
by the state of their hands.

The end result. Blackberry and apple crumble.- there wasn't any leftovers!

Guerilla Warfare in my Neighbourhood

As I try and make use of every bit of growing space in my garden my eyes have now turned to the space just outside our gate. That unused piece of road frontage that officially belongs to the City Council but we are responsible to mow and keep tidy. You know the one you probably have one too!. What a waste of space growing grass, I have decided to start growing some of my food on it instead?

I love things a bit sneaky and undercover! Guerrilla gardening ticks all these boxes.  Guerrilla gardening is a term that has been coined overseas by people who actively plant and beautify neglected and underutilised urban spaces. There are armies of Guerrilla gardeners in large metropolitan centres such as New York , London and Paris. One groups catch cry is “Lets fight the filth with forks and flowers”   Guerrilla gardening is even slowly catching on here  in New Zealand.

The boys preparing the planting holes
along our street verge.

Last year, neighbours in our street got together and decided to plant some fruit trees along the council verge in front of our properties.  As a community we all loved the idea of our children walking home from school munching on a sun ripened apple picked straight from a tree. We didn’t ask for council permission as what sort of Guerrilla gardening would that be! You do need to act responsibly so we ensured that the trees are maintained, don't interfere with services, including power lines, and remain attractive. Importantly ensure they don’t obscure any views for cars reversing out of driveways. As with any sort of digging we first checked where underground services were located.

Our newly planted trees.

The plan is to graft several varieties of apples on to each tree so we have a good variety of fruit available throughout the season. We have chosen the older heirloom varieties as these types generally do better in an organic system without a rigorous spray programme. These newly planted tress do require a level of care for at least the first year, until they are established. They require regular watering during dry periods, staking to protect from high winds and a good idea is some sort of trunk protection from lawn mowers. I use the leg of an old gumboot cut off and inserted over the tree down the trunk. You can cut it off as the trunk grows.

if you are concerned about people picking all your fruit you could choose to plant types that need some processing before they are ready to eat. Plant quince, olives or medlars. Imagine if most streets was growing some edibles on their council strip, rather than just grass.

Low maintenance Productive trees for guerrilla planting.

• quince
• hazelnuts
• Plum
• Mulberry
• Fig

• 

  Some of our street apples ripening.

  Apples- disease resistant heirloom varieties such as Monty’s Surprise, Hetlina, Winter Banana, Ballarat, Cox’s Orange
• Medlars
• Feijoa
• Grapefruit
• Lemons
• Olives

Another idea is to plant your verge in nectar rich wildflowers. This will naturally beautify the space with an array of colourful flowers in spring and summer but will also create a habitat and food source for important pollinators such as honey bees and butterflies.

Imagine being able to havest this from your curb?

Is your neighbourhood big salad eaters? Why not plant your verge in mesclun mix salad.  I did this last summer and invited the neighbourhood to come and harvest whenever they wanted a fresh salad. It is a great way of meeting your neighbours and the kids sold freshly picked salad from their roadside stall to earn some pocket money. I do suggest that you erect a simple wire barrier around your crop to keep the dogs off it. 

Eddie making seed bombs.

Seed bombs are part of the arsenal of a guerrilla gardener. They are a great way to germinate an area with a variety of seeds easily and successfully. Seed bombs are small round, hard clay balls which have an assortment of seeds encased within them. When they are thrown on to bare soil they will sit and wait until conditions are right for germination. The clay will absorb moisture but protect the seeds from birds, heavy rain and frosts. Eventually the seeds will burst out of the bomb and fight it out for world domination in your garden. Making seed bombs is a fun project to do with the kids.

Do you have local space, maybe a park, reserve, walkway or stream gully that is neglected? Why not plant some low maintenance edible perennials in this space for your family and other members of your community to seasonally harvest. It is important to be responsible and not introduce any plant which is deemed a noxious weed by your council or any plant that can become invasive. A good idea is to plant these edible resources away from any path edge so that they are not removed by any over judicious council weeding programme or sprayed with any herbicides. For a successful planting, choose low maintenance, drought tolerant perennials that can cope with being planted and then left to fend for themselves.

Why not draft your own army and get out there and start creating gorgeous productive spaces from local neglected urban wasteland.

Globe artichokes.

Here are some of my suggestions for low maintenance perennial edibles

• Kale
• Horse radish
• Rhubarb
• Asparagus
• Jerusalem artichokes
• Globe artichokes
• Parsley, rosemary, thyme and oregano
• Rocket
• Miners lettuce (Claytonia)
• Amaranth
• Cape gooseberries
• NZ Cranberries
• Garlic
• Florence fennel

Our grass verge next to our letter box is now growing heirloom maize, which I hope to harvest and make cornflour from, pumpkins and potatoes. Can't wait until harvest time! Next year I think I may grow some barley grass as a neighbour has got the bug for home brews!

My heirloom Maize growing on the council strip

Pumpkin vines snaking out onto the road.