Freedom!

We often let the hens out in the front yard, particularly on a weekend. They love it.

Weeding and fertilising

Watch dog so adventurous hens don't trespass in back yard where the veges are growing.

 Mumma hen also had a residential relocation.....and we supplied a bodyguard for her and her offspring. She keeps him a wingspan away at the moment but I think he'll be more than a bodyguard soon. After playing second in charge to Figjam since he was a "teenager" he's very pleased to be allowed to flap his wings and crow without receiving a physical chastisement! I'm considering which breed of hens to add to his flock as I'd like some meat producers without purchasing commercial meat hens.
He also needs renaming as "Junior" doesn't sound dignified enough now he has a missus and kids!

The perfect end to a lovely Winter's day.

Cheers,

Robyn Louise XO

Wet Worms

I checked the worm farm a few days ago and discovered that very cold nights make for morning condensation and strange things grew in my worm bed.

On the other side though the worms seemed fine and there was no offensive smell. 

The top tray and the middle tray were quite soggy, though the inhabitants weren't affected. 

I added oat straw troughs in the bedding to soak up moisture. Also, spreading the bedding more evenly through the 3 layers, as well, will assist in evening out the moisture.

After I emptied out the worm fluid, into a container, the bottom tray was layered with dry straw/grass and then the worm farm remained open in the sun for a couple of hours for the moisture to reduce.

 

As I won't require worm castings until Spring I'm trying to breed my little workers over Winter and I'm thinking that the longer, shallower bathtub (the one underneath) will make a nice new home for some of my worms in the near future.

Any advice on increasing worm populations and creating a worm habitat in a bathtub, from those who have done this before, would be most appreciated 😊.

Cheers,

Robyn Louise XO

Personalised Muesli Slice

I've made this muesli bar slice since the day I found it about 2 years ago. During the last 3 weeks or so I've bought some different ingredients and formulated a fruit and sugar free (not sweetener free) recipe so that PC can have some energy snacks on hand that won't give him a hypo due to his DNA quirks.

Muesli Bar Slice                                

1 cup rolled oats

½ cup wholemeal SR flour  

½ cup desiccated coconut

½ cup chopped almonds

¼ cup pepitas

4 tbsp sesame seeds

2 tbsp linseed meal

4 tblsp sunflower seed

 ½ cup rice malt syrup

 125g coconut oil

 2 tbsp honey              

• Place oil, honey and rice malt syrup into a saucepan and melt until the ingredients can be mixed together reasonably well
• Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl
• Add oil mixture to dry ingredients and mix until sticky
  
• Press evenly into a greased slice tin. Use a potato masher to flatten out
  
• Bake @ 180c for 20 - 25 minutes until golden
• Cut into bars / squares when cold
• Keeps for 5 - 6 days in airtight container

As it is the sweet taste of sugar that triggers an unfavourable reaction with PC this recipe has been altered specifically to suit his individual needs. 😀 They are very filling and because of the content of dry ingredients they are a slow release energy.

Cheers,

RobynLouise XO