Fluffy Ducks.

Bren will be at The Slow Food Farmers' Market at the Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne tomorrow (Sat 26th) from 8am - 1pm. Mention this blog and he'll give you a free certified organic, free range dozen pullet* eggs.

The Abbotsford Convent is in St Heliers Street Abbotsford, Melways ref 44G5

Have a great weekend, keep warm and Go Saints!

*Pullets are chickens that are less than a year old. Pullet eggs are small and packed full of the good stuff. People often tell us these are their favourite eggs.

Ducklings & Chicks

Last Wednesday Bren brought home 300 day-old chicks and 25 day-old ducklings.

The chicks are made up of three different varieties. The whites are Leghorn cross New Hampshires, the blacks are Australorp cross New Hampshires, and the browns are Gingerhams. The ducklings are Khaki Campbells.

We have had never had ducklings before and are all absolutely taken with them.

When we brought home our last batch of chicks in July they were very sleepy for a few days and stayed huddled together, some barely opening their eyes. This time the weather was a bit warmer and they were quick to jump out of their boxes and explore their new surroundings.

Some even jumped off the side of the brooder, ready to take on the big wide world.

Did you see the Discover Daylesford exerpt in yesterday's The Age newspaper?

On page 12 there is an article about local producers.

And page 13 has a big picture of our betroot.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend.

Quack quack.

Chooks Out, Chooks In.

Follow that path just a little bit further into the green clearing and there you'll find our flock of chickens that are now ten weeks old.

They are living with a flock that are about 25 weeks old and are doing really well.

Bingo the Maremma is happy guarding the chooks, although sometimes they make it difficult for him to enjoy his dinner.

Most of the time it is difficult to tell the 2 flocks apart. But look closer and you'll see the ten weeks old are smaller and their comb hasn't developed or filled with blood to make it red yet.

A ten week old above and a twenty five week old below.

Now the brooder is empty what are we meant to do?

Clean it out, restock it and send Bren off to the other side of Melbourne to pick up a new flock. This time we are getting three hundred one day old chicks and 25 ducklings.

Ooohhh, I can hardly wait.

Make sure you pop by later on to check out them out.

Eggs & Lemons.

Did you see this in yesterday's The Sunday Age newspaper's Sunday life magazine?

Thanks Alla!

Look what my friend Sally just sent me home with. I am so excited. It's too cold to grow our own lemon tree here but I adore them, skin and all.

I'm off to do some baking now...lemon squares, lemon cake, some juiced and frozen for later.

Does anyone have a recipe for preserved lemon? Or in fact any favourite lemon recipe?

I hope your Monday is a funday.

Eggsellent Market!

We're home from Collingwood Farmers' Market, the baby is asleep, the big girls are eating their dinner and I am about to collapse but before I do I thought I'd give you a quick rundown of the day.

We had a fantastic market.

It started off slowly and the weather looked a bit dodgy but that just gave us extra time to set up, drink more coffee and catch up with our neighbours.

Before long the eggs were selling like hotcakes(?) and it felt great to be back after our 2 month break.
The Health Inspectors visited and ticked all the boxes.

We caught up with other stall holders and swapped produce.

Above is Kylie and her wonderful dips and below is Monique, her and her husband make the most amazing felafel and nougat.

After a while the wind picked up. It managed to blow a tent off it's frame, lift a marquee weighed down by twenty kilo sandbags and even pull some tent pegs out of the ground, but as far as I know there was no damage to person or property.

By 11am we'd sold out of 120 dozen eggs, a record in egg sales for us.

It was fantastic to meet Lindsey (the guy) and Miss Jane (I can't find your blog please send me a link). If anyone else came to claim their free eggs after we had packed up I am sorry and look forward to meeting you next time.

Thanks Mum for your help with the stall and the girls. Especially for the fifteen laps you did with the pusher trying to put Miss Pepper to sleep.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.

To Market - To Market.

This Saturday the 12th of September we will be at Collingwood Childrens' Farm farmers' market.

We will be selling the most delicious free range, organic eggs in town.

The weather will be a perfect 25 degrees so come and say hi and make a morning of it.

Anyone who mentions this blog will get themselves a free carton of pullet* eggs.

*Pullets are chickens that are less than a year old. Pullet eggs are small and packed full of the good stuff. People often tell us these are their favourite eggs.

Can't wait to meet you!

Home in September.

We've been away at the beach for 2 weeks.

I thought I'd keep this blog going while we were away but with reports from home of massive amounts of rain, crazy winds and wild, wintry conditions it felt like we were a million miles away. It felt like things would have changed so much, that the photos I had taken before we left would have been out of date.

We got back last night and went for a long walk this morning to see what was going on.

The calendulas are flowering like mad in the green house.

The parsley is bushy and tastes amazing.

The kale has gone to seed.

The broad beans are flowering. I adore broad beans and am very excited by this progress.

The cabbages have hearted.

There are puddles everywhere.

Miss Pepper seemed very happy to swap the water sports of the past 2 weeks for this new type.

The first 3 globe artichokes of the season.

We had a lovely time away but it is great to be back.

Oh, except for the fact that it has just started pelting with rain and it is about 20 degrees colder than what we've become used to.

A HUGE Happy Fathers' Day to my Dad, to John, Bren's Dad and of course to Bren, the wonderful Dad of my girls.