Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree .....

Martin Luther



Although I have not planted an apple tree yet, I have planted a few fruit trees that we love to eat. So heres a list of them so far

4 brown figs

5 prickley pears

1 quince

1 plum

3 peaches

1 Apricot

1 pear

Tropical fruit trees and vines

1 pineapple guava

1 guava

a variety of bananas (cavandish, drakka & ladyfinger)

2 paw paw

3 mangoes

1 passionfruit

1 loquart






Citrus trees

2 imperial nanderines

2 orange

2 lemonade



Nut trees

1 macadania

still looking for a few pecan nuts trees

2 Bunya pine trees (they are great roasted)



Fruit tree and vine Wishlist

Pecan nuts

Kiwi fruit

more citrus (grapefruit, oranges, lemons and limes)

Grapes

Berries

Persimmon tree


Motherday I received a voucher for the nursery near us , so I am wondering if I should buy that persimmon tree I have been eyeing out for sometime now. They take 8 years before bearing fruit. So far the trees are doing well and we hope to have a constant supply of fruit for perserving, making fresh juices and eating fresh in fruit salads.



Recipe for Stewing Guavas .... great for preserving, or eating cold with ice cream .



a large quantity of guavas

1/2 cup sugar for 1 kg guavas peeled and halved

a little water as fruit will make it's own juice.



Peel and slice the fruit in half, place in a saucepan, pour over sugar. Best to let it stand for a while .... add a little water. Cook on a med heat until it makes it's own juice, increase heat for a further 5/10 mins of until just tender. Place in bottles to preserve with the liquid and seal. Or serve cold with custard or ice cream.

Meet some of our beautiful animals

Our Beautiful English Springer Spaniel Knight

Some of our Moggies, most were unwanted kittens when we first got them, except Rat. She spoke to me at Parklea Markets, promising to be the best puddy cat. Sleeping on my bed everynight for the last 12 years.

Our old man Chester, still loves a good play.

Chester and his girlfriend Rat, both very addicted to cheese.




And our baby BurmeseX named Jellybean because she was so tiny when born. Beans just loves to spend time with Knight, accompaning George and Knight on their early sunday morning walks. She is always following you in the paddocks amongste the sheep.







Nelson and his 6 ewes. Nelson loves a good scratch around his ears, sure he must have been handraised when little. Can't ever see us eating him cause he is so cute.....




Clyde with his ladies Bonnie, Thelma and Louise They are Chinese Silkies.

RIP Lacey your made it to doggie heaven, where you young and healthy again. We will miss you.

Lacey Pants winner of many shows including the Sydney Easter Show, came to life with us when the Breeder retired her. Knight is one of her grandsons.

Food for thought

Getting older and maybe a bit wiser ....... Something we all going to go through, if we lucky. I turned 50 this year, so I am getting there or rather on my way there. Recently I spend 2 weeks overseas visiting my Mom. She lives in a retirement complex, not as modern as the new ones where every need is catered for, residents all have their own little self contained units and most still drive everywhere. In a newsletter with all activities and news I found this great bit that I would like to share with you ...... for us grandmothers out there.

Grandmothers
(by an eight yr old schoolboy)

A grandmother is a women, who has no children of her own
so she loves the boys and girls of other people.
Grandmothers have nothing to do, they only have to be there.
If they take you for a walk, they go slowly past
beautiful leaves and caterpillars.
They never say "Come along quickly," or
Hurry up for goodness sake"
They are usually fat, but not too fat to tie up my shoe laces.
They wear spectacles and sometimes take out their teeth.
They can answer any question, for instance why dogs hate cats
and why God is not married.
When they read to us, they never leave anything out.
They do not mind if its always the same story.
Everybody should have a grandmother especially
Those who do not have a television.
Grandmothers are the only grown ups who have plenty of time.


Hope you loved it as much as I do.






This is my beautiful grandsons Cobi and Luke feeding ducks at a local park in Brisbane.

Our feathered Friends

Driving back from LavenderHill on sonday afternoon to Sydney, we drove past a sign "Silkies for sale" well we had to stop there anyways for fresh orange juice. They have the best OJ so if you every driving to Taree or Port Macquarie, do stop at Moorland and buy some juice. I bought my first chookies ever, just so excited, forgot I needed a nice home for them but that was soon sorted. Bonnie & Clyde soon got 2 more friends Thelma & Louise. Then Ginger & Fred came along, they're Buff Pekins. Yep three of them went broody with 20 eggs amongest them, all sitting happily sharing one nesting box ... Ginger got to raise two chickies. Not a good success rate .... Lesson no 1 .... to many hens in one nesting box.





Ginger is a very good little mum, defending her babies with puffed up feathers making her look a lot bigger than she really is. Well we will soon see if silkies are good mums as Thelma & Louise are sharing a nest with only 4 eggs. Should start pipping in about 7/9 days Only one will get the chicks too look after. Bonnie has only just gone broody and is sitting on two eggs but I might just exchange her eggs with 3/4 austrolpe eggs. Too late in the breeding season.




They 8 weeks old here, and have just found a loving
home, looks like a pair, one's got the startings of a comb.
New Mum's thinking of naming them
Maryann & Gilligan... I like that.





Building a chook houses and run is really not such a big deal
but it needs to be warm&dry and secure from foxes, dogs
and cats. Keeping chooks in your backyard is a great way of
using up kitchen scraps. We give our chooks old rice, bits of porridge, a little finely grated carrots, spinach leaves (no lettuce) and watermelon. A litlle container of Darling Downs chook food. Most afternoons they get to free range for about an hour before they take themselves to bed. Most councils will let you keep a few hens but no roosters.



Advantages of keeping chooks in your backyard.



Fresh eggs ... real tasty eggs with bright yellow yoke

Less wastage ... they eat kitchenscraps & food that would have gone waste

Hours of entertainment ... just love to watch them having a dust bath or chasing bugs

Great little helpers in the garden ... great manure and scratch around for insects



It's great for small kids to keep chooks. They learn to take care and love animals. It is important to handle them calmly and quitely with adult supervision, so not to hurt or scare the chooks or kids. So much better than getting a bunny that is soon forgotten. How many kids can take a chook to show & tell?



Disadvantages



You need to clean the chookhouse once a week

Sprinkle a little lime on the floor once a month, it helps with lice prevention. Worming is important for healthy birds.

Another forum for you to join.

You could be walking the dog and picking up pop.




A very good blog on keeping chickens I have just discovered.
www.freerangereggs.blogspot.com.