New chooks & more creations

Yay, it's Thursday tomorrow! Only two days until the weekend! 
I feel as though I have been dragging myself though this week. I have a little head cold. As Aj is out having a catch up with a mate, I'm just sitting here at the table making Christmas decorations, talking to my sister on the phone, and playing on the net.

NEW CHOOKS

Just got some new chickens for ourselves and some more that we are quarantining for Paul. Paul took the 9 silver laced girls and 3 others so I felt lost without my tribe. They are such nice friendly birds. But we are back to a 49 head count and I am happy...until he wants to take others back hehe.

Ours
3 Isa Brown x hens

The steers are starting to feel more comfortable with us.
They still bolted when I went near though.

2 Leghorn hens *NEW
1 Leghorn rooster *NEW
3 Australorp hens *NEW
1 Australorp  rooster *NEW
25 Pymouth Rocks - the best will be for breeding and the rest for meat

Paul's
3 Light Sussex hens

Big speckled rooster, Langshan, & Light Sussex

1 Langshan hen
4 Buff Sussex hens
2 Buff Sussex roosters
1 hen (can't remember the breed)
1 speckled rooster
1 large (but not fully grown) speckled rooster 

MORE CREATIONS

A Frenchie doll ready to be sent to her new home in Victoria.
I make these as custom orders.

Tonight's Christmas Decoration, thinking of
doing a few as teacher gifts and thank yous.

TAKE NOTE OF THE FOLLOWING.
On Monday I received a text from a friend '...Just wondering if you could put your thinking cap on and make Miss B some fabric tea bags?...' Well I did and this is how they turned out. Do you like them? Cute aren't they. Best of all, I made Miss B, my girls and two blessed 'blog followers' some. Just comment below this blog that you would like some and on Sunday I'll announce the two randomly-picked blog followers. Easy as! I'll then just need your postal address.

Happy rest of your week.
Chat soon, Mel xo

The Cows Weren't in the Meadow...

Blog recovery: original Sunday 22nd July 2012

We have an elastic gate in one of our paddocks. When it's stretched across the opening, thin wires in the elastic carry the electricity through it, helping to keep the cows in their paddock. Great idea - but, like any gate, it only works if it's closed...

That's our bedroom window and front door - and hoof prints in the garden bed.

Mel had wanted to round up the chooks on Friday night, and opened the elastic gate so she didn't have to climb over it. Job done, she came inside for the night. Well, the job was nearly done.

When I opened the curtains on Saturday morning, our two steers were at the gate, just inside the wrong paddock. I say it's the wrong paddock because the one they were in is open to our front and back yards, and they could have walked down our driveway and onto the highway...again.

Fortunately, when they saw me, they ran back into the right paddock. Gate shut, job done. All's well that ends well. I mean, they could have been in our front yard during the night and we'd never have known...and that's when we saw the hoofprints. In the soil. 6 feet from our bedroom window. At least 20 metres from that gate.

Safe - behind the elastic gate again.

Seems the steers were on their way back home from a nocturnal exploration. It could have been so much worse...

Raspberry and Pear Muffins

Blog recovery: originally Sunday 15th July 2012

I did some baking this afternoon. Muffins for the freezer. That way they make easy recess snacks. I have included the recipe I modified from a Grandma's Recipes cookbook that I have.

My pear and raspberry muffins

3C SR wholemeal flour (regular SR flour can also be used)

3/4C raw sugar

125g butter, melted

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1C milk

1 1/3C raspberries

1 ½ pears, blended – my babies got the other half a pear

Mix the flour and sugar

Mix together melted butter, eggs, and milk

Combine dry and wet ingredients

Fold in raspberries and pear

mini muffins look great on display

   

mmm...cooling. Just look at those raspberries

  
Bake on 190oC until tops are browned and knife comes out clean when put into the middle of the muffin.Spoon into large muffin pans, I made approx 12.

A gift from my sister, salt n pepper set. 
I loved these, and they look so very real.

My nutter dog relaxing
in front of the fire

Update time: 

No ducks :( It's amazing how 6 ducks can just vanish...but they have.

Essie is getting very big. She has long, lanky legs and is getting better at helping with the chooks. They aren't scared of her though. Tonight, while I was counting that they were all in the house, they were pecking at her while she sat at my feet. She just sat there and took it. 

The next big project I have is to paint strip and beeswax an old 1960s(?) children's cupboard and set of drawers. They will go in the babies' room.

My Creative Side

Blog recovery: originally Friday 20th July 2012

I started this blog on Wednesday night...I finished the craft project only today. It has been a very busy week for us homebodies. Doctors, vet, morning tea... :)

I love being creative. My mind never stops being creative, whether it’s dreaming about appliqued tee shirts or vegie patches or cottage gardens.

I have been decorating MDF letters, words and shapes for a number of years now. This project is for a friend who has just had a little boy, and I thought I would run you through the steps. I hope you are able to understand the way I do things. Don’t hesitate to ask questions :-)

Things needed:

MDF letters, words or shape

Scrapbooking paper

Paint, general craft

Glue

Files: KaiserCraft file set, strip of sand paper, nail file

Embellishments: gems, ribbon, buttons, stickers…whatever you want to add.

How to go about it. I am using my letters as example:

1)      Layout the letters and write paper on the upside.

2)      Place the letter face down on the back of the paper and trace it. Make sure there is a little extra on the letters edge for a neater finish later. Cut out the paper letter and place it to the side.

3)      Paint the sides and back of the MDF. Don’t worry if it goes over onto the front. You may need two/three coats depending on the colour and thickness. Remember, a thinner coat will come out smoother.

4)      Glue on the paper by putting a thin layer of glue onto the face of the MDF. Press down the edges. This means the paper shouldn’t lift off as the glue will have reached the egde of paper/MDF.

5)      Allow to dry and then shave off the excess egde with a file.

6)      Repaint the back if needed and paint the sides, just covering the egde of the paper.

7)      Embellish with extras.

8)      Sit back and enjoy looking at your work. Well done.

You can spray your work with a Matt Sealer (Spotlight) if you wish.

I find it harder to embellish boys' things as I like to make words and letters a little more timeless, so I have settled for less is more on these letters J

STEP 1

STEP 2

STEP 2a & 3

STEP 4

STEP 5

STEP 6

On my creative to do list:

Sand back and beeswax a vintage children's wardrobe and set of drawers

Make a French Doll – pattern from Dolls and Daydreams – for my sister

Make a doll for a friend

Make a tissue box cover

Paint a few frames for the loungeroom

…a few more too...and then there are the outside jobs hehehe

What's on your To Do List this weekend?

Oh and I'm excited to have received a most beautiful quilt for our bed this week from

www.myonebrownmouse.com.au 's mum, who has made a few quilts from Kerry's sewing scraps!

I got it thinking it'd be nice to go on the spare bed but no, I'm keeping it for us :o) 

I LOVE IT!!!

Go and check out Kerry's work :)

Now to make some nice pillow covers to match...another job :)

Tiredness

Blog recovery: originally Wednesday 11th July 2012

Tiredness. This is what’s in my head tonight. tired [ˈtaɪəd] adj 1. weary; fatigued 2. (foll by of) a.  having lost interest in; bored b.  having lost patience with; exasperated by 3. hackneyed; stale My husband (and my mother) pick on me for the way I say tired. I say it in a tired way, with only one syllable (tied) when it is meant to be two. Tiredness is something we all experience at one time or another, especially with little ones, but to be honest my little ones aren’t the reason I am weary! Tiredness is a vicious cycle: stay up having me time & designing stuff, tiredness in the morning, drag myself though the day, stay up having me time & and more wasting time… My two worst enemies are 1) procrastination, and 2) my mind just never stops!!! I need to just get myself to bed earlier of a night, get the housework done while the bubs sleep (10/11am – 1pm-ish) and then spend the afternoon being creative. If I was to stop procrastinating and just get things done I would be so much better off. I also need to learn how to shut off. I was designing and creating blogs for this blogger page months back. I need to allow those thoughts to come and go (or to write them down) and not let them stop me getting on with my life as wife, mother and household runner. Here’s to a start of earlier nights, less tiredness and even less procrastination.

I don't think that I am disorderly (my family may think otherwise)  but it's these discoveries that keep me procrastinating :)

Ducks

Blog recovery: originally Sunday 8th July 2012

It is never easy when you lose something you love. Even harder when that thing isn’t yours, is an animal and has been entrusted to you for a time.

Late yesterday afternoon we had 6 Indian Runner ducks go walkabout and they just have not come back. I had thought the chooks and ducks would like to be released and to have some fresh grass to pick through, so we left the gate to the chook yard open. We saw the ducks about 4-4.30pm and when 5.30pm came and Aj went to lock up they just weren’t there. We have friends visiting for the weekend so Aj and Trish spent a good hour and a half out in the dusk/dark looking. We looked again most of the day. They knew home; they had come and gone from the yard before yesterday. We have looked high and low, more than a few times, and door-knocked the neighbours.

What more can be done? Trust God and be at peace. Yes, easier said than done. Especially when the ducks aren’t mine and I feel terrible, sick and as though I have let our friends down. But that seems all that I can do now. And as sad as reality is, they may just never come back L

I love these ducks. I would like to get two of my own but maybe it’d best for us to get them really young so they know nothing but our place as home.

If you want more information on the beautiful Indian Runner ducks please click on the link.http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/factsheets/Birds/Indian-Runner-Duck/982

On a lighter note, have you ever seen baby worms? These tiny little white wriggly things are baby worms from our compost pile :) The kids love it! Lets hope my cauliflower and broccoli seedlings love them too.

Hot and Cold: Apples and Ice

Blog Recovery: originally Wednesday 4th July 2012

Aj here. Last night I made Swedish Apple Soup. Best effort yet!

 
It's a fantastic recipe that I got from The Ultimate Outdoor and Camping Cookbook: a Handbook for Hungry Campers and Hikers. Full recipe and reference below. So good!

Then this morning we awoke to find that the birdbath had frozen over during the night. not solid, as you can see, but great fun nonetheless.

 

 

Swedish Apple Soup

PREHEAT oven to 180 C.

PEEL, core and slice 6 apples.
GREASE a 23cm pie dish and build up layers of apple slices until the dish is 2/3 full.
ADD:
Cloves, to taste
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Cinnamon
Nutmeg

COMBINE in a bowl:
12 Tbsp butter, melted
2 C brown sugar
2 C plain flour
2 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence

POUR mixture over apples
BAKE 45 min
Serve cold.

From The Ultimate Outdoor and Camping Cookbook: a Handbook for Hungry Campers and Hikers, (2005), Philpott, D & P. Cameron House, Wingfield, SA.

Let us know if you try the recipe!

What's your favourite winter warming dessert?

First Birthdays and My New Item

Well we celebrated the twins' first birthday with a party this Saturday just gone. We have family here from Victoria so it was perfect timing.

I made a rainbow cake. I used a butter cake recipe, doubled, and then separated into 5 lots. I coloured each mixture and baked them in cake tins of the same time (3 bakes). I put them in the freezer as it is easier to trim the cakes when frozen.

I used jam to join each layer and should have trimmed the edges but thought that the icing would cover up the edges but no…I stuffed up the icing. Oops! First it was too much of the blue colour, then to much milk… then to much red. I wanted to start again, the whole thing, but mum said no.

Doubled Butter Cake Recipe
500g butter, softened
2 cup caster sugar
4 teaspoons vanilla essence
6 eggs
5 cups SR flour
1 1/3 cup milk
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease and line a small-medium sized square cake pan with baking paper.
Using an electric mixer, cream butter, caster sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating to combine. Add half the flour. Stir to combine. Add half the milk. Stir to combine. Repeat with remaining flour and milk.
Separate into equal portions and colour each portion.
Pour into tin and bake at 180oC until the skewer comes out clean. 

It was an interesting day. A lot of people that we had invited couldn't make it. I am glad that we had family (and friends with a little 1yr old) or it'd have been a weird birthday party with just our four kids. I know that the kids don't recognise the goings on but this was our first '1st' party without all the extended family around. I felt pleased by those that did come and we had a lovely cosy (with the fire going) afternoon.

We followed it with a bonfire. The boys (big and small) loved it!!! Oh, and I did too :)

I got myself a new dining room dresser on Saturday night. It is about 80yrs old and originally from an old farm house in Circular Head. I love it. VERY rustic but looks like it belongs to the house. I didn't realise how heavy it was. Solid pine that dresser. I had originally gone to have a look at bedroom dresser but was told that there had been a mistake in the listing and it was made to look antique not an actual antique. We chatted about our tastes in the vintage/antique furniture and she then rang me late last week with the offer of this dresser, which was just too rustic for their new home.

I have been having internet connection issues so please understand if there is a longer gap between posts :)

Night all x

Something I forgot to mention was that, today when I went to refill the chooks water I had to turn the tub back over and out popped a Plymouth Rock. Poor little guy. I wonder how long he was trapped for. I was kinda funny :)

Playground, Patience and Painting

Blog recovery: originally Wednesday 27th June 2012

Playground:
We have family here at the moment and we have been creating a playground for the kids, the big ones too. We have designed one with round pine posts, with triangle ends and a top bar :) My brother-in-law is also adding some chin-up bars. Looking forward to the kids being able to play on it. We haven't had a swing set since we left Victoria over 18 months ago and I do think the kids have missed it.

Patience:
We went into Burnie yesterday and I had my first of 'those parenting moments' as my 3 year-old didn't like my parenting choice and let the whole of Burnie know of her disapproval. She screamed from Toyworld all the way back to the car. Halfway though, my sister took her from me as I was at my wit's end. What can you do in public when your child will just NOT stop?!? Nothing, but hold your chin high and keep on keeping on. I was so very upset. She has never carried on like that before. All because I wasn't going to argue with her. Grrr.
She was much more pleasant today. I think she understood.

Painting:
We have painted the hallway and started on the bathroom. Hallway: from a light plum with a 90s border to chalkdust (a soft white). Bathroom: from maroon to chalkdust. Such a lighten up; we are putting our touch on the house.

Pictures tomorrow.

Chookens are all well. The new rooster is settling in (or, should I say, the other one is accepting him a bit more ;)
More were free-range today as they flew over the pen fence. They are able to get back in but two were found in the hayshed and needed to be put back.

Life is good. So happy to be living here and making it ours :)

The Harvest*

Blog recovery: originally Sunday 24th June 2012

*Harvesting time. 

A friend of mine said that we her family used to kill chickens for the freezer they called it 'harvesting' and we have adopted that word too.

Last night we isolated the three roosters we collected on Monday night. We isolated them to be able to make sure any food in their system had time to work through.
This morning, Paul (who has given us the layers, Plymouth Rocks, etc) came around to run through with Aj how to kill a chicken, and prep it for eating. I will let Aj tell you about it :)

Aj here. I've never killed an animal for meat before. While it didn't go quite as smoothly as when Paul did the first one (ha! - he made it look easy!) it certainly wasn't a disaster. It's quite a strange feeling looking the creature in the eye and realising that it will die so that I will eat meat. It makes you acutely appreciate where your food comes from. Not that I'm giving up meat; it was actually quite an amazing experience, and I wasn't squeamish like I thought I might be.

After tossing it up, I gave my five year-old the option of watching the process. He absorbed it well and understood that this was not a lighthearted matter, and I'm very proud of him. And, thanks to Mel doing the gutting, we have three whole birds ready for cooking!

I'm not sure what this week holds. My babies first birthday party on Saturday, so I guess I will fill it with preparing for that :)

Night!

I knew better...

Blog recovery: Friday 22nd June 2012

Don't you just kick yourself for those moments when you knew not to do something but you did it anyway. Well I knewnot to put a bucket/tub of water out, that a chook couldn't get of if it fell in, but...yep I did it. I was thinking of the ducks and how they seemed to like being in the water dish...I am still kicking myself. I lost four Plymouth Rocks today. My 3yr old was with me and she reacted better than I thought she would! She was so matter of fact.We took them out of the water, I took the tub out of the shed and replaced it with a smaller tub and a 4L ice-cream bucket. I'll be thinking twice from now on :(


I had to round up the chooks at lock-up time last night. You see, three silver speckled hens, a white rooster and one of the brown hens had got out when I went to feed them. I thought they might just fly back in (our 3 layers do) but no. I found the girls in the hayshed. They were easy to collect and put back to bed but there was no sign of the rooster.
I had to go out and Aj had no luck when he went out to look. I prayed about it and felt that I just had to trust God and that all would be ok. We found him 2 minutes into the 10.30pm hunt. He was up in a tree settled in for the night. Aj grabbed him by his tail and, before we could get him properly and stop him flipping over and over, his tail feathers disconnected from his body :/ He wasn't fussed. We grabbed him properly either side of his body, stopping him flapping about. He was VERY glad to be back in the shed and went and snuggled in with the other chooks.

My puppy, now 9wks old, is doing an excellent job as chookdog. Her parents were both working dogs and you can see the herding instinct in her. She lays down in the grass waiting for her next command. I am working on her running around the back of the chooks by using the command 'come around' and trying to get her to follow me. I loved it yesterday morning when as I stood at the shed door releasing them for the day she layed down placing her chin on my boot.

Happy weekend peoples!

The Rooster Chase

Blog recovery; originally Tuesday 19th June 2012

Last night we were given 3 white roosters, taking our poultry count to a massive 50! 

A few Plymouth Rocks

Our girls: Happy, Ellie & Charlotte 

So now we have:
3 layers - Highline x IsaBrown
29 meat birds (yes, for eating) - Plymouth Rocks
3 roosters, which will be prepared on Saturday for the table
We are also looking after 6 Indian Runners and 12 other birds for friends including a most lovely friendly rooster (it'll be sad to see some of them go as they allow me to pick them up and are so friendly!)

Tonight it was chook lock-up time. Normally you lock chooks in their house for a few days so that they get accustomed to where 'home' is, but the Plymouth Rocks almost fell out of the door this morning so I let them all out.
Our birds get out into the house yard but the silly things don't like to 'just fly back in' and we have to open the gate and usher them in. All but one were in...and that was one of the new roosters. He got out when spooked by us and flew up the fence and almost fell over it.
He just would not go where we needed him to, to catch him. In the end it was best just to leave him and hope to grab him later. Aj found him in the hayshed (next door to the chookshed) and grabbed him by his tail  much to his disgust :) I know we will lose chooks (that's life), but I don't like having chooks out at night!

On another note, today I got myself an old style briefcase for $1. Hoping that it will mean that I can keep my farm information neat, tidy and in style with my house :) I love the vintage/antique and we are finally in a home that suits it, being built in 1938.
I love to know the history behind vintage pieces that I have. I often ask about it when buying on ebay etc. This case has B.M.F. on it and it gets my brain clicking over with who it could have been and what that person might have used it for.

Tomorrow: Wednesday, the middle of the week. Playgroup for us. What's on for you?

Welcome!

Monday 18th June 2012

Welcome to Providence Meadows!

I am finally blogging! It's been in my head for a few months now, but with random posts on Google+. I thought it was about time to have a central location for my journey.

I hope to be able to blog about a wide range of things, from my current craft project to the animals coming and going here on the farm.

Feel free to ask questions; just use the comments box.

Why not subscribe or follow me and we can enjoy the journey together.

Mel.

DISASTER! All my posts have gone!

Tonight Mel accidentally deleted all our posts. She wanted to clear the drafts and somehow they all went. We dunno.

Anyway. We've got a cached page of most of the July posts, and are looking for the June posts. We'll keep you posted... I know, right? They get better, folks. I'll be here all week.

The posts will be put back up ASAP. Thanks for your patience and continued reading!