Chicken a la carte

We now have 12 Isa Brown chooks foraging in the nursery area. As well as producing big brown beautiful eggs, Isa Browns are known for their enthusiasm for devouring snails, slugs, spiders, worms and other creepy crawlies. They are also terrific little diggers and will clean up the weeds from under trees more efficiently than I could possibly manage. Within our chook yard, a persimmon, pomegranate, elderberry and some apples are currently benefiting from the ultimate chook experience: natural weeding, pest reduction and lavish deposits of natural fertiliser. I say “currently” because the chook run is a moveable contraption.

Our “Chicken a la carte” system involves a converted trailer/cage that is moved by a tractor to the desired location.
An electric fence is then erected around an area of approximately 50 square metres and the chooks are released into their new territory. They spend the day digging around the trees and fertilising the area and then in the early evening they are released into the nursery area to clean up snails and other pests.

The “Chicken a la carte” comes with all mod cons: perches, suspended water dispenser, feeding tray and nesting boxes with external access. Fresh hay is laid over the wire mesh floor and manure enhanced mulch is removed at regular intervals. The cage is completely fox proof which provides peace of mind when foxes are active in the area. The electric enclosure stops foxes entering as well as discouraging chooks from leaving. We still have one earnest soul who insists on escaping, despite the shocking experience, and is probably laying eggs in some yet-to-be-discovered hidden nest.
Fortunately they are all industrious little diggers with the added bounty of producing large eggs with rich yellow yolks.
After gorging ourselves on poached eggs, scrambled eggs, omelettes, soufflés, custards and meringues we realised that if we consumed all the eggs the “girls” were producing, we’d end up with dangerous cholesterol levels.
We have now come to a very satisfactory arrangement with a roadside stall at a nearby farm where they sell our eggs and we get a discount on their vegies. A perfect "eggs-ample" of community co-operation.

Millions of Peaches

This blog is a bit post-harvest as “The Peaches” have now finished for the season but I thought it might be interesting to include some photos here and a short item. When the peach trees are in blossom, in early September, the orchard is a picture in pink, although the windy weather and even occasional snow fall that we can get at the same time has a devastating impact on the fragile flowers.
When we bought “The Laurels” 14 years ago it had quite a few peach trees – about 200 in all and most of the peaches ripened during the school holidays (late December/January) so it timed in nicely with when we were all around and able to pick, pack, sell and process.
Since then, the trees have aged (and so have we!) and now there are only a handful of the original peach trees left. We planted another 100 or so varieties to test them for suitability but the soil on the new site was not ideal for peaches and the wildlife (wombats, wallabies and rabbits) took more than a passing interest in the new plantings. Although some of the new peach trees have flourished, others have failed to thrive and some have ultimately perished. One variety that does well is the Fragar. This is a white-fleshed peach that tastes divine, like a Nectarine but with the characteristic fuzzy stubble of a peach.
We have yet to harvest enough of the new varieties to be able to sell them but they are a welcome addition to our annual bottling frenzy.
This year our peach preserves featured Plain Peaches, Peach and Ginger Jam, Peach and Blueberry Jam, Brandied Peaches, Peach Snapps and Peach and Kiwi Chutney. After the peaches were finished, we started processing the plums and then came the blueberries and the grapes and now the apples, kiwi fruit, medlars, persimmons and quinces are waiting in the wings.
We have been germinating seeds and taking cuttings and grafts of some of our successful fruit trees and will be eventually adding them to the nursery catalogue. At the moment there are a number of pots of Calamondin and Cape Gooseberries freshly germinating from seed. Some Apples, Blueberries, Plums, Peaches, Kiwi fruit, Currants and Quinces are coming on nicely but are still too young to sell.
We have had folk asking when the next plant sale will be on, so we are tentatively planning for an Autumn plant sale some time in April. I have propagated some new plants, like Stevia, Arthritis Plant and Mushroom Plant that were not available previously plus the Sages like Bethel, Bog, Pineapple and Fruit Salad are in full flower now and looking very colourful. More on plants to be offered for an Autumn plant sale in the next blog.