Our Chookhouse

Our beautiful Chookhouse

Russell and I are rather proud of our chookhouse. Please that come over, especially for the first time always comment how it looks like an outhouse :). Yes it sure does but you know what it really services its purpose.

When we started designing it I said that I wanted to be able to get into the house, have it off the ground and have the chooks come and go thru a separate door. So this is the design that Russell came up with.

We assembled it in the shed first, took it apart again and put it up out where it now stands. The door is a little bit smaller than a normal size door. When our house was being built the carpenter got one of the door measurements wrong. The door was left behind and so we ended up using it here. The chooky door has a sliding door with handle on it and gets shut up every night. Inside the chooks have three roosting perches and then four nesting boxes. They usually only use the one... I also keep seed in a metal feeder and a waterer in there as well. Other than that they have wood shavings on the ground and in the nesting boxes.

This set-up has worked really well so far and hope that it sticks around for a while. The posts are hardwood and you should see the bolts used. They should be around for a long time. :)

Currently I am getting 10 to 11 eggs from 13 chooks. The other chooks that I have are either not laying or too young, so think I am getting a pretty good number of eggs currently. Most of them just went thru a moult but not for long really. They are back and at it. They also free range all day and love it. They have lots of area to cover and do a great job...

I Love my chooks, ducks, guinea fowl and geese. Wouldn't be the same out here without them.

Cheers Damaris

I am a proud Greeny

Love being called a greeny... :)

People that have gotten to know me know that I am a bit of a greeny. I love being called that and don't mind at all really. I love to help out the environment seeing it can't help itself. I believe that the government is doing way too little to encourage us Aussies to do the right thing. The first step has to be taken by each and every one of us and we do our bit here on our little patch of heaven.

I love it that my rubbish bin is never full, very rarely gets 1/4 full as I reuse and recycle as much as I possibly can. I can't wait for Queensland to follow South Australia and get rid of the plastic shopping bag. The ones that I use from enviro bags to old bread flour bags is enough for me.

I also like to replace the carbon dioxide that our two cars put into the air by planting trees every year as an offset. We try to do this not just with shade trees but with fruit trees as well, so that we benefit from them as well as the animals that need shade. I like to plant shrubs as well for the birds or small lizards that come and visit our garden. Another reason why we have not used any pesticides while we have owned this property. I realise that owners near us love to use the most deadly poison, that has not been on the market for many reasons for decades but I know that when they hit our 8 little acres they are safe.

I am in the middle of getting our property soil tested. This requires 500 grams of dry soil. This is taken by using a stainless steel apple corer and taking around 30 samples from all over your property. Send the soil to the soil testing company (I am using SWEP) and I am also paying an extra $10.00 for the test results to go to Pat Coleby. You can then ring her and she will advise you on what you need to do to get your land back into shape. This way we can then grow our own fodder which is something that we are aiming to do. I don't want to have to buy off the land all the time as I want to grow here, then the nutrients go back to the soil it came from from the manure...

I am glad also in alot of ways that we are not able to use anti bacterial cleaners, toilet block cleaners, bleach, etc in our waste management system. This way it is also better for the environment. We have had to change alot of ways that we do things and it certainly has stretched us but all for the better I believe.

The boys are also alot more aware of the environment and I must say I love it when at the end of 'No Electricity Wednesday', they ask me, "So how did we do Mum?" They loved doing it so much that they asked if we could do another day during the week without computers, DVD's, DS, etc and I was happy to offer as that day being on a Monday. This also means I won't be blogging on Mondays or Wednesdays.

A friend of mine told me last week that she was also doing this from now on with her two boys. It is really encouraging to see...

Another friend at work is now keeping old jars and milk bottles to reuse. This is also very moving to see as I try to encourage her as much as possible and show her the possibilities of reusing. She is on her way that's for sure. :)

I don't use the dishwasher unless full, same with my washing machine and don't use the dryer, unless absolutely necessary. The boys also bike to school as much as possible too. We only go into town when we have alot of errands to run or we make do with what we have. We also switch off all power points and don't leave anything on stand-by. What a waste of electricity and resources. Our hot water is solar and am looking at the solar electricity at the moment as well. More to come on that as details are finalized.

If there are any other ways that my family can help the environment that I may not have thought of let me know in the comments please?

Cheers Damaris

Chooks galore

Bruce the Rooster looking over some of his flock...

Yesterday I relocated the last of our chicks. They were the ones that were incubated. I HAD to try it after all. It is nice to see them grow from little fluff balls to adult size. The boys get a huge buzz out of it.

This is our third lot that has gone out, one after the other. I must say that while I love having them grow up inside and watch them develop their feathers, combs etc I am soooo happy to have my bathroom back.

The wood shavings that I use at the bottom of the 200 litre drinking container (that is used in a paddock for the cows usually but not currently needed) are the problem mainly. This has all the dust taken out of it before packaging, but I still manage to end up with the dust up my bathroom walls, on the ceiling and everywhere else for that matter.

I have a doggy house especially for the chicks. What I do is put wood shavings on the base of the doggy house and then put in there their 4 litre ice cream container with fresh water and their large food container with chick feed. They are usually 8 weeks old at this stage. For the doorway of the doggy house I use an old metal tray and then place a brick against that so that it stays in place.

This way they can say hello to the other chickens who are in the process of getting to know them so that when they are introduced into the flock they don't get attacked. Don't get me wrong there is always the initial - I am higher up the food chain than you... but generally they all get along fine. I have about 30 chooks, 4 ducks, 3 guinea fowl and 2 geese at the moment and have agreed with Russell that I will not be hatching out anymore for a while. We have enough mouths to feed at the moment. Though they free range all day and only use the seed first thing in the morning while still in their chookhouse.

I must just say again, I am soooo happy to have my bathroom back. It is clean, tidy and no chicky noise is coming from it... And the dogs are rather happy to have access to the whole house again as well...

Cheers Damaris

Hanging out the Clothes

My washing line, this morning...

When it comes to hanging out the washing I have always been a bit of a nerd. I like to have it perfect or not at all. I paid for that one a long time ago when first married...

I had asked Russell to put out the washing for me as I was really busy doing other things. He did but when I went to look later how it had been done, I went and redid most of what he had just done. He was sooooo not impressed. That was it - he didn't hang out the washing again for years. Not that I asked. I sort of knew better. Now when he does it, I just leave it and don't say anything about the way it is hung out. I say "Thank you" instead. That off course encourages him to do more... Positive reinforcement works wonders, and not just on the hubby either.... :)

Many friends have commented on how fussy I am with my washing but this is how I look at it. If you take that extra little time to make sure towels are hung with three pegs and really straight and socks are hung together than you have less time wasting later. My tea towels are also always straighten out. Doesn't take any extra time but makes folding them at the line with dry so much easier and gets rid of the need for ironing. I only end up ironing Russell's shirts these days.

I like to fold out at the line and do this in sections as well. The basket is split up for me. I have Russell's clothes on one side, mine on the other. I then have Joshua's clothes on top of mine and Timothy's on top of Russell's clothes. Then come tea towels, face washers, towels, blankets, rugs for the floor and whatever else.

This way when I go inside I have everything ready to go into their spots. First kitchen stuff, then linen off all kinds and then each child gets theirs put on their bed. It is their responsibility to then put it away into their drawers that have pictures on them to let them know beforehand what goes into what drawer. Russell gets his clothes on his side of the bed and I put mine away straight away.

This way the basket is also empty and ready for use again as soon as it is needed.

I have a front loader machine that is 7.5kg so I only wash about every 1.5 weeks unless I am washing blankets. Very economical. I certainly don't believe in wearing something once and then washing it... What a waste. And that is not because I am on tank water only. I have always been like that. Thanks Mum. :)

When Russell and I were engaged I was very fortunate to be able to get ahold of a clothes dryer. It had only been used 1/2 dozen times and as my then step dad's boss was refurbishing his multi-million dollar home from cream to white I got the cream dryer for a bargain $75.00. To this day I only use it when I absolutely need to and also make sure I put money into a jar for electricity as I realise it really chews the power.

I must admit, I love the smell of sun drenched clean clothes and love to sniff them before I put them into the basket. We are very blessed in this country to have so much sun and to have it do so much work for us.

Must go now and put another load on...

Cheers Damaris

Pins have come out...

The three pins from Timothy's shoulder

Russell and I took Timothy back to Toowoomba Hospital this morning to get his three pins removed. These pins were put in on Mother's Day. Timothy had been playing on a playground and climbed up on a rocket at a park in Toowoomba. He fell about 2.5 metres onto his right shoulder. He went to hospital with the Ambulance and ended up having surgery that night. Next night he was allowed to come home. He has been off school since then, three weeks.

He was really worried about them hurting. Before we left I gave him Nurofen so that he could not feel the pain so much.

We got there and they took us to a treatment room. He was swabbed down on the shoulder and the pins were taken out. Timothy was scared but very brave. He said that it didn't really hurt but felt very strange. He could not decribe the feeling...

So now we have to take him back again in another three weeks and have more Xrays done to see if the bones have mended correctly.

Timothy will go back to school again finally next week. At this stage I am keeping him home for Monday and possibly Tuesday. Where the pins were the holes are still open and want them to close up a little first before letting him lose on the school grounds.

He is now looking forward to getting back there but ponders what he will do when the rest of the school (there are only 30 children in our school) does sports. What is he going to do? We will see...

So here is hoping that the mending keeps going the way it should.

Cheers Damaris

Reisauflauf

Reisauflauf just out of the oven. Yummy...

As you have probably gathered from previous posts, at the moment I have alot of milk on hand. Lorray is still giving me over 6 litres a day and I can't seem to give it away quickly enough. There are people wanting it but they are too far away from me for me to give it to them regularly.

So as a result I have been cooking all things milky as much as possible. Alot of times my boys ask for Palatschinken, which is Austrian for Huge Pancakes. You can either do them savoury or sweet depending on your mood or taste.

Yesterday I made another lot of Reisauflauf. This is the Austrian version of Fluffy Creamed Rice. Joshua and Russell especially love me to make this. Timothy is not so keen on it as his taste buds are more savoury.

I love having this cook on the stove and then when you put it into the oven to finish it off.... oh the smell. I love that smell thru the house. The boys can always tell what I am cooking, especially if it their favourite. I love also making this recipe as it uses up about 3 litres of milk each time. This way the Reisauflauf tends to not disappear straight away and we have it for a few meals or snacks.

I feel very fortunate to be able to do the cooking that my mum and grandmother did before me. I love mixing the cultures together and trying something new. When Russell and I married and moved our cooking books into our new bookcase, you should have seen my surprise. I came with three cookbooks, Russell with about thirty!!! He loves to experiment and cook as much as I do so we are a great combination in the kitchen.

Good excuse to not try to outdo his white sauce for example. I could never possibly do a better job... So why not just let him do it. Forever..... :)

Cheers Damaris

My Dishwasher is BACK!!!!!

My Beautiful Dishwasher, back in its correct spot. :)

My dishwasher has not been working for a while. It started playing up middle of November 2008 but I didn't get onto anyone to fix it for me until February this year. I didn't mind doing the washing so much at that time but it wore thing pretty quickly...

I had a company come out and they said it was just blocked spray heads. Well there were a couple blocked but that did not change the fact that the pump was not pumping water to the top tray... I was not covered by warranty and had to fork out $169.00 for their words of wisdom. Needless to say I will never use them again.

I took my dishwasher to another man in Warwick and he was able to order the new pump in for me... but wait for it... they had none in stock so I had to wait for another seven weeks. So a couple of days ago I got it back. A friend helped me get it out of my car and into my house and even helped me with hooking it up again.

I have a motor and pump (being all in one these days) that is of better quality as they didn't make my older model anymore. Mind you my dishwasher was only purchased July 2007. You would not think so with the amount of trouble it has given us.

I also love having it back in our lives as it only uses 13.5 litres of water and heats it own water. Therefore not using my solar hot water and using alot less than when I do it manually.

But I am optimistic that this is in the past. It works beautifully and perfectly. I am one happy girl. You will soon find out that it does not take alot to make me happy. When I don't have to have my hubby doing dishes on the weekend and he can do other stuff... he is happy too. :)

Win, win situation I believe.

Cheers Damaris