Have roosters - will slaughter?

Andreas and Rene getting plucky

Having to deal with too many roosters is tough at times, but when one buys chickens for the purpose of eggs, and self sufficiency there are some factors which one needs to consider.

We initially chose to get Koek-Koeks seeing as we had heard how hardy they are in a farmy setup. And for the large part this is true, they don't mind rain, and  for the most part can scratch anywhere to find food. But... the downside is that the hens do not get broody, so even though they are moderately good egg layers, we would have to get an incubator in order to grow our, at the moment, very meager chicken population which consists of Kleintjie our one and only hen, and Mr. Rooster, her partner, and then 4 extra roosters, of which there are now two left.

One pluck, two pluck, three pluck, four..

I have ordered a new lot of 10 unsexed chicks from the Red Barn in George, and assume that they farm with Bosvelders, which we have heard are excellent scratchers, layers, and they go broody. Our end goal is to be able to have a hen or two, and actually let them hatch their eggs. By doing this we will have a steady supply of chicken as well as eggs. It has really been a learning curve having the chickens, but even though its been more error that trial, I don't think we will go back to not having them.

Rene is almost done with his chicken

Our experience on the homestead over the past 3 years, has been nothing short of amazing. Our boys have shown that they can live this lifestyle without moaning and groaning too much, and we have managed to do things that we probably never would have dreamed of doing if we had stayed in the city. For that I am grateful, and also for the knowledge that our boys will grow up with this experience to take with them. :-)

I want our kids to learn that although living in the city is cool, and you have everything you could possibly want and need right on your doorstep, there is another way of living too - One where growing your own food, and living in harmony with the Earth, showing respect in knowing where your food comes from, and the effort it takes to live sustainably, and trying to leave as little a footprint as possible behind in everything that you do. Conscious living, living with thought. :-)

Andreas loving to do his bit. :-)

In short being able to slaughter our own chickens has been such a valuable lesson. And of course there are people who think that we must be such barbarians because we slaughter our chickens. I don't see it that way, as its more barbaric and ignorant to buy the shop chicken, knowing that the chickens who dies to put perfect drumsticks and thighs in our shops have had miserable lives.

What we do is very "cerebral", we have raised and cared for our chickens, given them a good life, and therefore when we slaughter they can give back. I am really ok with the thought of growing our own meat, or buying from the local farmers in the areas who we know treat their animals well. In my opinion there is almost some sort of karma involved in living the way we do. :-)

Mr. Chicken-claw-man

I mean think about it this way: We look after our land on the homestead, and the animals, trying to keep things as organic as possible, and in turn the land looks after us by providing food for us.

That being said we slaughtered two of the four superfluous roosters, and it was a team effort for Jan and the boys. The only protest we got was from Rene who said to not post the photos of him on FaceBook... lol.

And although the two chickens were plucked and done in record time, fun was had by all who took part. :-)

Three men and a chicken... or two... :-P

Jammin' on the Biogas Stove.

Weighing in the contenders.

Sometimes we have an abundance of crops, and then you might wonder: How do I use it all without wasting any.. answer is simple actually, you make jam, or you pickle, or you just eat extra of x, y or z.

Now this season we seem to have gotten the Tomato seeds mixed, and  ended up with an abundance of cherry tomatoes, which I have been harvesting for the past couple of months for salads, and sauces and to add to oven dishes. And then we had a week of glorious sunshine, and it seemed like they all just went red all at once.

So I harvested that too not to waste any of them, because they really are good, sweet and fleshy. That saying: Homegrown is best, actually is true. Nothing beats the flavour of a homegrown tomato, except maybe another one.. hahaha..

Anyway so I always weigh the amount of crop I have for jam before I start cooking it. Reason? Simple - to get the sugar ratio just right, and even here I have a rule, one which I have used ever since I started jammin', and that is half the weight of the fruit in sugar... so with these tomatoes I had harvested 1,8kg, therefore the sugar added will be about 900g. I have found that this gives a much better flavour in the jam, and with some fruit its actually nicer to be able to still taste the fruit rather that just sweetness.

Tomatoes gone potty!

Having added the tomatoes to a pot, with a squeeze of water, I place them on the stove and start cooking, stirring now and again to ensure that it does not burn. I chose the Biogas stove for this jammin' session because I wanted to be able to say that the Jam is organic (we don't use any chemical pesticides), and because the bag in which the gas is generated was very full. :-)

Once the tomatoes are boiling and bursting from their skins, I add the sugar, and cook for a further
5-15 minutes, sometimes longer depending on the amount of water, or runnyness of the jam.

Cooking away happily.

I add a teaspoon and a half of pectin powder which is mixed with a tablespoon of sugar (the pectin powder I get from overseas, but locally one can add lemon juice, or rind, or even an apple or so). The pectin helps the jam to gel. Once the pectin has been added I turn the heat down to a low flame, this allows the jam to cook slowly for a while.

I let it simmer for another 5 minutes or so, while I skim the foam off the top. The foam is usually impurities which were on the skins of the fruit etc. And while it simmers, I boil some water to sterilize my bottles with. I like using jars that have the pop lids... you know the lids with the raised thingy in the middle which pops when you open the jar. Well they work in reverse as well, and I have found that if I bottle my jam while its still hot, and put the lid on straight afterwards, then the heat of the jam creates a vacuum on cooling, which sucks this pop thingy in thereby creating a very good seal. Of course I also have some Consol jars, but like to recycle as well. :-)

Jars of Jam - Tomato Jam.

With the jam bottles and sealed it can be stored in the cupboard till we decide to eat it. Jammin' and pickling is very rewarding as it allows you to enjoy your crop and harvest for an extended period of time. If one is a smallholder like we are, it makes perfect sense to do that, otherwise we could just as well live in the city and buy all our jams etc.. We have not bought any jam since December, as we have more than enough now to last us a good while.

Doesn't that just look yummy?

We do however still buy beetroot pickle and gherkins as those are our favourite pickles, but this will also change as soon as we are able to produce enough beetroot to pickle ourselves, and grow gherkins to pickle as well...  :-) So there you have it, making your own jam is easy-peasy, and cheaper than buying!

Mudroom - Now with glass and new roof!

Glass.... Yay!

I know it's been a while, and I have been a little slow with updates on the blog.. but believe it or not I have been rather busy..

Not only did I become a mom again, but since then everything else has sort of taken a back seat.. and this includes the house, the garden, our veg patch... *sigh*. But you know what, I don't feel bad actually, because I know that once I am fighting fit again, then I can once again focus some more the things that need some attention. :-)

Anyway to the matter at hand - We have managed in between baby and mad dogs, and overgrown garden, to put glass in the windows of the mudroom. This has vastly improved the inside climate of the kitchen as well as the sitting room, which means that in winter when we use the fireplace, we won't lose as much heat as we did before we built the mudroom extension.

First layer of cement on bad patch

Having had the builders do the brick work for the mudroom left us with some of the old plaster in a bad condition. So obviously it needed repairing. Due to the house being built of clay bricks, they are very week in some places, and we have been told by a very knowledgeable source that the best way to strengthen clay brick walls that are damaged or crumbling, is to fasten some chicken wire, and then plaster over that. So we have done just that, but still need to do one more layer of plaster just to finish it off nicely.

The door you see next to it, is going to be replaced by a window eventually. This will then mean that we will only have two doors on the stoep instead of three.. :-)


We also still need to paint the whole exterior again, and put up the ceiling in the mudroom, and do touch ups here and there in the kitchen, and bathroom... There is still a lot of small things that need doing, and it will probably take us the rest of this year to complete everything... but och.. that's what happens when you have a house in the country.. :-)

Jan - the uber handyman!!

And seeing as we are doing most of the work ourselves, in between work and other duties, things are rather slow going at times. But - the rewards are immeasurable, the satisfaction of having done it yourself being the biggest one. :-)

I am so looking forward to being able to repaint the outside of the house, and to start making things pretty, getting some pot plants etc, finishing the inside decor, doing the loft room up as a room for Rene so that he has a private space. And then there is the garden as well.. this has been sorely neglected and will need some love and attention again soon. We have many plans for it - but more on that later. :-)

Little Butcher Man - The homesteading way :)

Andreas getting all plucky...lol

As most things go, we are slowly getting rid of all the superfluous roosters, and they have been a great source of meat for many months.. :)

This time round we slaughtered Squeeky, seeing as he was just turning out to be a really bad chicken! He had gotten loose one morning, escaped from the dome, and was just causing havoc in the veg patch. So as I tried to get him back into the dome, he decided to upstage me by attacking me... what a cheek!!

Its kind of cool when your kids get involved

So after a battle of wills, I did manage to get him back into the dome, and in the same token achieved some scratches and bruises on my shins. After which I got our prime chicken catcher Rene to catch him for me, and bring him to meet his maker! I am sorry, but our homestead has no room for aggressive animals and this was not the first time that Squeeky had decided to lash out. We therefore promptly slaughtered him, and of course this was done humanly, with as little suffering as possible.

Turns out Andreas is not too bad at plucking

We did the boiling water thing, and promptly started to pluck the feathers out. Andreas wanted to help so I allowed him to. I believe he is learning really valuable life lessons by participating in the chores which living like we do bring. On a homestead, everybody has a part to play, and its also good for him to understand first hand where our food comes from, and what needs to be done before it looks anything like what you buy in the shop.. :)

He actually did about halt the plucking

Being 7 he had all kinds of questions, which we obviously answered to the best of our knowledge, and once Jan started to clean the chicken, and de-gut it even more questions came. Learning about animals and what they can provide, and which process they must go through before we can eat them was all very fascinating for him... and he did inspect everything!! The skin of the chicken after plucking, the different organs, the intestines got a really close look.. but you know what - Its good for him, because one day when he gets older and has to make life choices, he will remember these experiences, and take them with him into the world and in his own life. Its reality!

The concentration.. :)

I would never have thought that choosing this lifestyle for us would have such an impact on our boys, but it has. They both love living here, and obviously because Andreas is younger he has grown with the homestead, and has gone through much of the emotion, and experiences as have we. Rene I think will always be a city kid though, even though he loves the mornings here, and waking up to the bird noises and so on. They both take part in feeding the livestock, and they both have other chores to do around the place, which gets done with minimal complaint.. so all in all we still believe it was the best move ever!

The no-poo way - for your hair!

This is just a short blurb to say that I have decided to embark on an adventure to free myself from using commercial shampoo/conditioner. I have opted into the no-poo way!

What does than mean you might think? Well in simple terms it means not using shampoo and conditioners that are commercial.. So how do I wash my hair then?

Bicarb paste and condition with Apple cider vinegar! Yes its that simple. So today I washed my hair for the first time using the bicarb-paste, and the ACV/water conditioner, and I will report back as to how my hair behaves by the end of the week.. But today its soft, and seemingly more shiny, and has a little more body that usual as well..

I was inspired to try this by another blog, Yes a "green" one... which I follow. Its called Bonzai Aphrodite and is an excellent source of all kinds of info regarding "greening" up your life..

You can read more about the whole No-Poo idea here: Bonzai Aphrodite

If you want the recipe, let me know!!

Project mudroom & shade house

The beginning of things to come.. New front door.

Towards the end of January we decided it was time to start on some of the planned projects for 2012. One of them involves building a section of our stoep closed in order to create a mudroom, or utility room actually.

This will be a room where we will have space for extra storage for "stuff" that does not belong in the house proper.. like the washing-machine, the deep freeze, Jan's Biogas things, storage cupboards and shelves for seeds, and that sort of thing... and the dogs!

The inside..

Granted its not going to be a massive room, but with some clever design, and storage it will be an awesome addition to the house. Not only because it will be a nice room for Jan to showcase and demonstrate how the Biogas stuff works, but also because then the dogs will be moved out there to sleep in the evenings.. and much less dirt and hair in the house.. Yay!

We have wanted to do something like this for a long time, and now this year we finally have gotten around to starting this, we have two builders who will be helping on an on/off basis.

The front with a nice big window

 The builder himself is a Rastafarian, and his helper is just an ordinary guy. But I tell you what.. our house is not perfect, and by no means square, or straight, so that alone has been a challenge for them. We don't mind though, cause at least some of the originality of the house gets preserved... hehehe.. And usually after lunch break things seem to go a little off kilter... I will not say why, as you can probably imagine.. lol. But it matters not, because it has been a pleasure having them here for the two weeks it took them to build up to roof level.

Up to the roof

We opted to build in two doors - one onto the stoep itself which will be the new front door, and one going into the garden, and down to the washing line, which will serve as the back door. we will also not plaster the outside, but rather lime-wash the brickwork. We will also have to build a parapet-wall on each end of the room to accommodate for difference in roof/ceiling heights.. I did say that nothing in this house was straight or standard by any means..and once we are done with the new roof, then we can actually paint the which plaster, which is in dire need of a fresh coat of "GOOD" outdoor paint... :)

The seed tray shelf

Another project which we have started is the new shade-house. This is one part of the Permaculture principles which we are slowly incorporating into our small-holding.. Its a place where we can propagate seeds, and sow seedlings for planting out once the season comes around.

We started by building a long shelf of sorts along the kitchen wall. This will hold all the seedling trays, which can be moved along as we make new trays, and as the seedlings start to develop. We already have shade-cloth in place here, and for that reason Hazel suggested that we make the shade house here, also because it is our access point to the veggie patch.. so it could not be more perfect or practical!

The whole seedling shelf

So in future we will start sowing seeds in the trays, and then nurture them under here, slowly moving them into the sun, so that by the time they are big enough to plant out, then they will be strong enough to survive. :) The problem we have in our valley, is that our spring/summer seasons start very late, sometimes as late as January, so we have a very short season in which to grow stuff, and sowing directly into the ground is risky, because we have frost, and very cold conditions very late in the year.. Like last year our good weather only started halfway through December! By them most people in the rest of the country already have good plants, and might even be harvesting crops!! So maybe by changing the way we sow seeds, to accommodate the micro-climate in our valley, we might have a better chance of getting a better yield. But hey.. that's how we learn, and given that we have only been here for three full years, I don't think we are doing too badly. :)

Newest addition to the homestead

Kevin enjoying a milky

Last month (December 2011) we got out first little piglet. He goes by the name of Kevin Bacon, or just Kevin..lol.

We got him at four weeks of age, so he still needed some milk, and we had to do this by hand with a bottle. Poor thing was the last one of his litter to survive after his mom had laid on the rest. He comes from our friends, Pierre and Carmen Nykamp who live in De Hoop in the Bo Kouga.

Yum... I get little sleepy..

Such a small guy. We got him some salve for his wounds, and pretty much got him settled in quite quickly. He does love his food though, and his favourites are fruit like apricots and peaches, apple and basically any kind of waste from the kitchen, so he gets a nice variety of stuff. He has also not at  about 7/8 weeks started to grovel with his snout for titbits in his pen. He is just such a cutie, and has grown nicely already, his wounds are all healed, and he has a very nice skin now.

ooohhh... what are these ??

So this being our first little chapter in the Animal Husbandry of the homestead, we wanted to introduce Kevin to everybody. :) Our plan is to get a sow soon, and to let them have piglets twice over the next two years after which we will slaughter Kevin. He is a Landrace (the pink ones) and will just grow to an unmanageable size if we keep him. So when his two years are up, he will literally become bacon. :) But we have made peace with the fact that although we will get animals here, they have to work, and serve a purpose, otherwise there is no point really..

Rene the farm animal whisperer!

The kids know this too. Rene our eldest has been a good example to his peers this holiday. He has taken not only Kevin under his wing, but has really helped with the lone roosters too. Feeding, giving water, socializing.. We are very proud of him. :)

Up to date at last with news from the garden

Cherry tomatoes in a bottle - hopefully.. 

So where are we actually at now time wise with this blog..? November? Ahh.. :)

Okay - what have we done. Well for starters we are continuing our permaculture journey by incorporating other ideas into our garden, and even bringing some of the veg into what we consider to be Zone 1, which is the immediate area around your house.. in a manor of speaking the veg patch is a Zone 1 as well seeing as this is adjacent to the house. Never mind - the more the merrier!

Rhubarb in a box

Our..errm basin planter..  :-P

So for starters we moved the planting boxes/raised beds to the front garden. I have used the one for a rhubarb crown that I had grown from seed, and nurtured carefully ever since. This rhubarb with its new semi-shade spot has now exploded into a very nice looking plant, and I am very excited about having rhubarb in my garden. I grew up with my Gran's glorious rhubarb that were so huge the leaves were the size of an open umbrella!! And I also love what you can do with it. :) The other box now has a flowering creeper in it which will compliment the Wisteria on the otherside of this afdakkie (Afdakkie = a covered area where you can sit). We are also still using tyres and other crazy objects to create interesting and/or useful areas in the garden. Like our basin planter in which I have sowed Petunia seeds, and the tyre next to that has Calendula seeds in it. These are coming up now..Yay!

We have also sown some cherry tomato seeds in adapted 5l water bottles. I find that this is a nice way to recycle them, and thereby create less waste.

Our SA prayer flags

Our afdakkie.. :)

Recently on a trip to Timberlake, between Wilderness and Sedgefield, with two very good friends, I found these South African prayer flags which I thought were quite cool, and since they appealed to my pagan self, and could even work for anyone else of any other faith I thought they would make a nice addition to the wind chimes and fairies in our garden. I have plans to add even more objet d'art of that nature as we go along. Some might think we are hippies, but you know what - I don't really care! My garden makes me happy, it gives my kids pleasure, and we enjoy being in it with all the points of interest, and the dare I say ethereal sounds of the chimes around us.

We have an abundance of bird life, and we actually spotted a Paradise Flycatcher the other day in our Pepper tree.. very shy little creature, but oh so pretty. As you have probably gathered by now, I am a fan of pretty, of flowers and flowers with uses, and also of the quirky. Who knows how the garden will develop in time. For now I am loving it just the way it is. :)

August 2011 - Its Spring...almost.

The garden waking up from a winter slumber

So as August was trudging along at a very cold and slow pace, we began to notice how despite the freezing temperatures, the garden was starting to slowly awake from its hibernation. Its never ceases to amaze me how nature works, and the wonders unfold in her own time and pace.

We had a very cold and long winter this year, and at some point I was beginning to think it would never end. Yet..

A weaver spying out the Apricot blossoms

When it happens, its like an explosion of colour and smells. The air was filled with the sweet scent of apricot blossoms, and everytime we walked across the stoep, and the breeze floated by, so did the smell of spring.

I would like to dedicate this blog entry to the season of Spring, because it truly is a wondrous time of the year. So to do that I am adding a poem that I wrote a couple of years back.

Our morning coffee spot on the stoep.

Spring is approaching

Like a quiet dream

Colours exploding into reality

Making the senses dither

The glow of the sun bringing joy

Across the infinite field of life

The rolling landscape bringing the message of life

Being filled by the coming harvest

That numbs our hunger for the things

We cannot achieve before the end of time. ;-)

July 2011 - The solar cooker

Our solar cooker

Now I ask you - what homestead is complete without a solar cooker?

We acquired one in June, but actually only had an opportunity to try is in July due to rain, rain and more rain... but we should not complain though seeing at it benefits all of our gardens, and the wild flora as well.

But the day finally came where we had glorious sunshine, and promptly decided to try our new solar cooker. So .. Jan found some chicken pieces, some random veg, and placed everything in a glass casserole. This went into the cooker with lid on, and then we just had to let father sun do his job. :-)

Our casserole in the cooker

The notion of not having to do anything at all to cook a meal was quick strange, and initially we would check the cooker very 5 or 10 minutes just to see if it was actually working. We soon discovered though that cooking food this way takes longer than an oven, and we then left it.

Jan checking our lunch

 It was still all rather exciting though, and we discussed it at length wondering what a solar cooked meal would taste like even..

About 2-3 hours later after having checked the cooker probably a hundred times in between, and having watched it slowly start to simmer, and emit the most amazing smells, we took it out of the cooker. But I have to add, that this thing is super efficient, and even though your food takes longer to cook, the steam and heat created inside is very very hot!!

Our chicken casserole

So we had our chicken casserole for lunch, and boy did it taste good. The flavours were so pure, and untarnished if one can say say that about food. It was a nice simple dish,with a lovely flavour... definitely worth the investment, and definitely something we will do again once we have more sunshine days. :-)

June 2011 - Stoep revamp pt2

New roof  :-)

New roof from a different angle..

We eventually got the new zinc for the new stoep roof. We decided that a part of it should be covered, like over the soon to come Dining-room double doors, which will open onto the stoep. Ja.. I know more building, and more changes...more mess and more dust...

But once its done it will be lovely. :-) We also on this side of the stoep want to create a small sitting space, a kind of comfy-nook where we will have two chairs, and a small table.

Just right for enjoying the sunrise, and having a cuppa, or reading a book, or even all three! So that's the plan anyways. And we will have some hanging baskets with geraniums/pelargoniums in them for a splash of colour, as well as actually getting around to re-painting the whole house one day.

The other side we are going to build shut, in order to have a mud-room. A what? A mud-room... its kind of like an extension of the kitchen, but also kind of like a scullery.. its actually just a place for the freezer and washing machine, and a place where we can let the dogs sleep, and walk in with muddy shoes. That way my theory is that we will have mush less dust and dirt in the kitchen proper, as well as the rest of the house! We will also, by doing this, minimize the number of entrances to our house.. But more on that later.. haha!

May 2011 - Stoep revamp

Since we thought it would be a good time to revamp our stoep as well, and it would be a good source of zinc for the purpose of cladding the new chicken coop.. we started that as well concurrently with the building of the actual coop... Completion of the latter sort of depended on the beginning of the first.. :-)

Construction site?

So we removed most of the zinc, and just cleaned up the outside of the walls to prepare for the new beams. We had to remove the round pillars as they started to crumble with the removal of the zinc. This in turn meant we also had to rebuild the pillars. For them we decided to just go square using brick. and for the new beams, we decided that round ones might be good, and had to therefore create holes/recesses for these in the house wall. Not major structural changes, though because the house was built using clay bricks, we are ever worried that the walls might crumble.. so any structural things that we do, we reinforce the immediate area as we work.

New beams up

With the new beams in place, we could continue with the cladding of the chicken coop..