Once again we have had a few busy weeks, with trips away to the grand kids, stocking up the pantry and trying to reduce our stock number for various reasons Our son had been here to visit and he and Brian decided to find a big rock( and I mean BIG ) to put on our beautiful old blue girl Tilly's resting place.
So they found one, and this is where they dragged it from with the tractor,
I have put some colour changing solar lights up there, we have still to fit them permanently but will wait until my sister in law completes a beautiful mosaic headstone marker that she is making for us.
We headed to Parkes to spend some time with our Grandchildren while their Mum and Dad were at work. We had a great time with the girls, playing, shopping, cooking and doing activities. These chocolate cupcakes were fun to make and decorate with the girls and especially yummy to eat.
While there we were pleased to see the few ewes that we had taken over there to semi-retire are doing extremely well on all the green grass there as are their latest offspring.
The country around Parkes looks amazing compared to here, great expanses of green crops and wonderful oceans of yesslow canola fields.
We then left Parkes after 4 days and headed to Wollongong to our other daughters home to celebrate the 3rd birthday of our gorgeous grandson. They had moved house not long ago and we were keen to see the new place, it was great with much more space than they previously had in the old place.
He got a brand new bike for his birthday and we went to a nearby park to see him play with it, he and Poppy had such fun.
We had dinner that night at a lovely Mexican restaurant and after returning back to our daughter's home we had a fire in the back yard fire pit.
I took a lot of photos of the fire on my phone, just because I like fire photos and was totally gobsmacked later in the night while scrolling through those photos to find this photo.
and here is a closer up view.............
I still don't know what is in that picture and can offer no explanation for it what so ever.
On our return home one of the hens that had been sitting hatched out 10 beautiful little chicks,
and yesterday I popped down and checked up on them and they are progressing really well, she is a great little mum.
As part of our stock reduction we got together with some neighbours and had a poultry dispatch day,
We hung them in the coolroom for a few days and then cut them in half and bagged them up for the freezer.
I got in and made up a good batch of chicken stock ,
After setting this in the fridge overnight , I then canned it up the next day, This is just wonderful as the base for my soups and curries that I make.
I also made up another big batch of turkey curry,
I also made up a couple of big pots of turkey/chicken and vegetable soup.
Hubby also butchered a few sheep ,
and I used up a few legs that I had in the freezer and decided to make up a batch of lamb curry.
These are really handy to keep on the pantry shelf, we use them quite regularly as a quick meal with rice.
It's good to have lamb back in the freezer again, and nothing beats a meal of home grown lamb chops.
We have a healthy supply of rosemary growing at the moment and the bees are loving it.
Brian has been doing a few jobs in the caravan , one of them being installing a new 12 volt television for our viewing pleasure when we are travelling.
We have had some beautiful visitors outside the dining room window the last few mornings. Brian installed a nesting box up in under the eaves for them and they return each year to raise a family.
The storm clouds have came and went and sadly we didn't score a single drop.
So, sadly we are still hand feeding, we are heading off on a holiday tomorrow, and our son has arrived to farm sit for us until our return.
Today Brian showed him the feeding routine and the poultry care that is required .
It is terribly dry, there is no feed left , we have a small paddock of oats that Brian planted as feed, and it is all but gone, so we will open it up tomorrow to the sheep as no rain is predicted for the next few weeks and they may as well have it.
I will update again soon as I have something else to share, but will need to find the time to post .
So until we meet again, take care of you and yours.
Cheers,
Jane and Brian.
