Hello!
Around here we are:
.. holding onto the fun we had with the beloved Milkwood Permaculture team here this weekend, running Serious Backyard Veggies. We tried to encourage them to move in by feeding them delicious food (and hiding their keys) but to no avail. The class was lovely, and stoic in the rain, and relieved, I think, when the sun finally came out!
.. excited about some cherry tomatoes that came from Mudgee with Kirsten, and we're planning to make as much of them as we can - more tomato jam or pizza sauce?!
..watching chickens grow, as you do, when you grow pastured chickens. Tory and I can be seen running at high speed out of the farm kitchem if we spy Goshawks near the chickens in the paddock. The Goshawks are beautiful and enormous but can be seriously problematic for free ranging chickens. Having said that, we haven't lost any birds to Goshawks this week, but one chicken died a couple of days ago when a crow dropped a golf ball on it. That's not a risk we've planned for.
.. gearing up for a double-market week: Wednesday's farmers market and an Easter market on Saturday in Gerringong. We'll have bone broth, sauerkraut, whole-egg custard, muffins and cakes, bread, pate, and bacon jam. Come and say hello! (And take home something delicious!)
.. running a series of workshops on Thursday nights! We started last week with Introduction to Fermentation which went really well - this series is being run by Tory who started as an intern then came back for a month to work with us, a nutrionist and wholefoods chef - and this week we're doing Grains and Legumes, how to prepare them properly and include them in your diet. There's a couple of spots left in this week and a couple next Thursday ("Wheat, Dairy, Sugar - Friends or Foes?") More info here.
.. breathing new life into an old table, in Dad-style-MacGyvering. I mentioned this morning that I'd really like to raise the height of our kitchen table, it's too low and impractical, what did he think? This table has been in the kitchen for as long as anyone can remember. Dad has seen it get laminate tops and seen them stripped off. It's endured endless children and stabilised endless very early morning cups of dairy farmer tea (white with one, in an enamel mug.)
He took some measurements and went away and came back with what I think is irrigation pipe, perfectly cut to size, which he put on the bottom of each leg, and it fitted perfectly. The table is completely stable and the ideal height. Unbelievable. What a legend.
Hope your week has started well too?
xxx
I have a similar table but I copied an idea I saw in Oz somewhere. Four old green glass insulators did the trick for me. But our dad is a true MacIver.
Posted by: joanne vidal | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 02:30 AM
Didn't you mention in an earlier blog that you had a collection of insulators in a shed and didn't know what to do with them to which I sent a response? Mind you irrigation pipe is a great substitute. Isn't it grand to have inventive people around us? Many unlikely bits and bobs have been adapted for various uses in our house over the years, such as a bit of left over steel and an odd terracotta pot plant saucer now provide a cat clear bird bath for the birds in our city neighbourhood. It's lovely to have a bit of country in the city. The birds clear the way for the water man to clean and refill the bath. It is very entertaining.
Posted by: June | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 11:00 PM
A crow dropped a golf ball on it?! Did you see it? Sorry, I'm laughing too hard at that. Poor old chook, but really...
Posted by: wanderingsue | Wednesday, 16 April 2014 at 03:34 AM
So very excited, because we are coming to visit you on the 7th June for "From Scratch" after following you for the last couple of years. We drive past Gerringong on our way up to the big smoke occasionally and I often think of Buena Vista Farm as we drive by. Your table looks great and so does that pate'.
Blessings Gail
Posted by: gail.firenze | Wednesday, 30 April 2014 at 07:00 PM