Living the Good Life on 3 Acres in Nelson

Plum Season

Feb 2nd, 2012 by stoney acres

This week I’ve been preserving our plum harvest. While I like to pick them fresh off the tree for eating, we had to harvest them all at once because the birds were having a lovely time eating & pecking holes in them & many were dropping. Its handy having the Silkie chooks in the orchard to tidy up the falling ones before they rot. This year we had our 2010 grafts fruiting so I was able to get some colour into my perserves. The San Rosa plums are lovely but with yellow flesh they make strange looking jam. Luckily one of our grafts is dark. We were told it was Black Doris wood but is definitely not.. still a really nice eating plum whatever it is. Our search continues for some true Black Doris grafting wood if anywhere out there has some to share this winter?? Sultan & Coes Golden drop plums are nearly ripe as are the delish Greengage. Greengages are such an unattractive little green plum.. I never would have imagined the taste sensation until I tried one. Definitely my favourite.

Anyway, I have made Plum Chutney:

Plum Chutne

Plum & Orange Jam:

Fruit Before Cooking

The ENORMOUS amount of Sugar that goes into Jam

I love the hint of orange in there which softens the tart plum (which you get if you are lazy like me & leave the plum skins on). Both these recipes came from the New Zealand Gardener HomeGrown Fruit Trees special edition.

And then there’s the fab Plum Pudding I made. My picture doesn’t do it justice (coz I lept up to take a photo after I tasted it thinking I MUST share this recipe). I made the recipe from the Food In A Minute site but instead of using the black doris jam & water over the top, I boiled about 1kg of our plums until soft & added 1 cup of sugar. Mine looks a bit red because I used mostly San Rosa plums instead of the deep & dark Black Doris.

Self Saucing Plum Pud

I did an internet search looking for some nice labels for my preserves. In the end I made up my own with Word but I found some really adorable labels generous folk have provided for free & thought I’d share their links with you:

Round Labels for Jar Tops from Packagery

Adorable Hearts by Amy Moss at Eat Drink Chic (if you were planning something for Valentines day maybe)

Swing Tags from Domestifluff & Black Eiffel

Tags: chutney, free labels, jam, plums

Posted in cooking, Orchard, Recipes | 1 Comment »

Lulu Has Twins

Jan 24th, 2012 by stoney acres

A very excited hubby squealed at me from the paddock early this morning.. Lulu had just given birth to twins.. a boy & a girl. I think I will name them LindyLu & Luwis (coz I have this thing of naming babies after their parents so I can remember their lineage later). Anyway, they are just adorable (of course) …

Newborns with Mum

Lindy Lu - 4 hrs old

Luwis - 4 hrs old

Lulu is very generous.. allowing us all to have lots of cuddles of her soft wee babies. They both have toggles like mum. Sadly tho, Luwis will be needing a new home soon.. no room for boy goats even if they are too sweet. Anybody out there want a baby to love??

Here’s the links to previous posts on this topic with pics of mum & dad

Tags: goat kids, milking goat, saanen, toggenburg

Posted in Breeding, Goats, Kids | 1 Comment »

Christmas 2011

Dec 29th, 2011 by stoney acres

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas. It was a gorgeous day here in Nelson & we had a picnic lunch with family… as it seems many Nelsonians do these days. Certainly was busy at Rabbit Island. Although, I have to confess I missed setting the table with my traditional gold cloth, napkins, pretty candles & the good china plates. They were traded for vintage Duraware instead. I chose the red & green ones

I’ve been taking lots of photos of our activities leading up to Christmas but haven’t had a chance to post them. So, here we go…..

Some of our Christmas decorations…..

Our new artificial Christmas tree .. love it!

Salt & Pepper shakers my mum gave me earlier this year.. just fit the Christmas colour theme as does the vintage jug cover behind

Rag Wreath I made many years ago.. hangs on our front door.. it has a lavender sachet for a welcoming scent + I think it deters the flies a little

This ornament was given to us for our wedding.. I added the santa hat.. too cute

Candle made by my 5 year old

Our table centre.. usually I have a china chook sitting in this wreath 'nest' but it didnt survive last Christmas so this year I replaced with nesting Santas I found at the school gala white elephant. I love this vintage table cloth which I save just for Christmas use

Christmas Tea for One set hubby gave me a few years ago

Cards on the fireplace

Musical reindeer with Mrs Clauses' washing hanging behind

These are the Gingerbread biscuits & Fruit Mince Pies the boys & I made for hubbies clients…

These are the plaster of paris decorations I made with my sons school class…. they were well received by my family. I do hope the school parents enjoyed them too. Gifts made by little people are lovely aren’t they? Something to treasure for years to come. I found the origami box pattern here & if that’s a bit mind blowing there is an instructional video on Utube. Quite easy once you have done the first one. We used christmas wrapping paper.

On Christmas Eve ( just when you need it!) I noticed the sour cherries were ripe. From past experience I know you have to be quick to beat the birds so the boys & I picked 3 kg & I made it into yummy Sour Cherry Jam.

This is the recipe I found but I made it in small batches, boiling 500g fruit to a pulp & then scooping the seeds off the top (instead of painfully pitting each cherry), adding 3/4 cup sugar to each cup of fruit & the juice of half a lemon, boiling until it looked thick on the spoon (I’m not good at testing jam for setting.. this visual works for me) & I added 1 tablespoon of vodka to each batch.. partly to make it more special but also because I find my jams often don’t keep well.

I also made Whiskey Orange Marmalade as gifts for family. I used Jo Seagars recipe from a magazine but there is one similar here. I used a mix of oranges, mandarins & lemonades.. yummy!

And these are some of the chocolate gifts we received.. many from hubbies clients. I think they will last us all year!

Tags: Christmas, decorations, gifts, jam

Posted in cooking, Crafts, Orchard, Recipes | No Comments »

Babies .. new and coming soon

Nov 29th, 2011 by stoney acres

Just thought I’d share a few pictures I’ve been taking today…

I showed you Lulu & her man visitor back in August. I am delighted to say we are fairly convinced that she is not just fat this year & that we are expecting kids in January. I couldn’t actually capture her size in the pictures but she is quite big for a first time mum with 6 weeks still to go. Her udder is really expanding too.. poor thing is obviously feeling quite uncomfortable.

Lulu.. lady in waiting

And here are some more adorable chickies. I dont think there is anything cuter than a baby Pekin. This breed has so much personality which adds to their appeal.

Pekin Bantam Chicks

They actually have a couple of Orpington sisters/brothers which are huge beside them. Can you believe those little blue chicks actually come from this mum…

Pekin Hen ~ Pickle

Will be interesting to see how they change as they grow. Pickle lays her eggs in this old metal bucket in the garden. I have lots & lots of Pekin eggs at the moment. Please contact me if you’d like to buy some to hatch your own little chicks.

Yesterday I gave in to our determined Silver Laced Wyandotte & let her have a few Orpington eggs to sit on.

Broody Silver Laced Wyandotte

I was told recently that if you spread native leaves in the nests the bugs dont like it, so hubby has shredded some punga for this girl. All my broodies also get a couple of drops of Ivomec on their skin to ensure the mites won’t suck them while they sit.

Posted in Breeding, Goats, Kids, Poultry | 1 Comment »

Lamb Update

Oct 27th, 2011 by stoney acres

Very sad to report that our rescue lamb has not survived.. I feel so sad

She just went down hill over the day & was not interested in feeding. Maybe her mother knew all was not well.. that’s the animal way isn’t it? At least I tried.

Posted in Sheep | No Comments »

New Additions

Oct 25th, 2011 by stoney acres

I have a lot to blog about, with all the Spring happenings here, but time keeps getting away on me. Today, however, I have special news which I just have to share.

This morning we rescued another lamb from hubbies workplace and, I’m delighted to say, so far all is well. Hubby spotted her newly born this morning and noticed the mother had not licked her and was generally disinterested. After 2 hours we made the decision to bring her home. She had been slow to get on her feet and I was concerned there could be problems but, after a little goat colostrum and Ketol, she was soon up and almost running.

This time it is our younger dog that has taken on the mothering role.. and a very proud and protective mum she is.

Lambie wandered over to the fence to meet our donkey & miniature horse. They are such nosy animals.

There have been more chicks hatch here too. Some Pekin bantams:

And Brandy, my lovely bearded Silkie, has some Silkie babies and a couple of Wyandottes.

Posted in Breeding, Equines, Poultry, Sheep | No Comments »

Clipping Their Wings

Oct 12th, 2011 by stoney acres

We have 2 orpington x wyandotte hens, Sylvia & Shirley, who decided it was a better life over the fence living with our little Pekin bantams in the house garden. I raised them from our own eggs last year & they talk to me every time I venture outside. We have fun & games finding their eggs, anywhere from under the beans to in a rusty garden bucket. The problem with big chooks in the garden is that they scratch.. a lot.

Sylvia & Shirley ~ Orpington x Wyandotte

Now, hubby is a patient man, who knows I adore these girls so, 2 weeks ago, he completed a fence around the main vege garden to keep them out. That has worked well BUT we also have 3 separate raised beds & yesterday hubby came home to find all his newly planted potatoes dug up. Less than pleased, I was given stern instructions to find a way to keep them in the paddock or rehome them. I have clipped their wings. Tried it before, wasn’t very successful, but so far today they have not managed to get back over the fence. Clipping does not hurt the birds .. just prevents them from flying too high.

If your birds need a bit of this ‘confinement’ treatment, there are good instructions here.

It’s going to be strangely quiet without these girls.. but probably a lot less work.

Tags: chooks, wing clipping

Posted in Flower Garden, Poultry, Vegetable Growing | No Comments »

Mini Garden Cloches… saving my dahlias

Oct 6th, 2011 by stoney acres

In August I showed you the garden cloche hubby made for our raised vegetable garden. He’s been working in the shed again, on rainy days, making me some mini cloches. As always, cleverly constructed from recycled timber (kwilla from a discarded pallet).

Last year I had quite a battle trying to get my dahlias growing, due to my darling chooks taking a liking to the young foliage emerging. This is our answer:

Mini Cloche in natural timber

Hubby says it could be cheaper in the long run to sell the troublesome chooks.. but he didn’t really expect I’d go for that idea

I got the cloche idea from a NZ Gardener magazine.. they called it a Strawberry house but I instantly thought of many other uses for it. You can find the plan on Jane Wrigglesworth Flaming Petals blog. ( Her blog is well worth a look by the way if you love flowers. Lots of eye candy & great ideas). Hubby has modified their plan to make a stronger version. I’m sure I could encourage him to make a few to sell if you are local and cant find the time or manage the task yourself.

Mini Cloche with Tulip Peach Melba

I have managed to chop the cloche top off in this picture but it does have a fancy finial as per the original plan. I won the Peach Melba Tulip bulbs from Jane’s Flaming Petal blog… they were sent to me courtesy of Garden Post. Such a pretty colour. In the foreground is a plain green tulip (whose correct name has escaped me for now) .. not quite as delightful as I was hoping. Looked better on the packet picture!

Tags: bulbs, mini cloche, plant protectors, strawberry dome, tulips

Posted in Crafts, Flower Garden, Poultry | 2 Comments »

Lulu Had a Visitor

Oct 5th, 2011 by stoney acres

I forgot to tell you… back in August… our 3 year old goat, Lulu, was getting VERY vocal about wanting a romantic liason so a kind friend offered the loan of her Saanen buck. We just had him here for 3 days as it was love at first sight for Lenny & Lulu. Jane, our 2 year old, was not impressed with his arrival & she had a few head to heads with Lenny.. as you can see in the photo. On his last day here, however, she decided he wasnt so bad after all, so, maybe, we will have some baby goats in late January. Lulu has been quiet since his visit which is a good sign. Her udder is filling, as it did at this time last year, but we are just milking her once a week to keep her comfortable & I have frozen the colostrum in case it is needed. I’m told it will keep for a year in the freezer.

Lenny & Lulu .. love at 1st sight

Lenny & Jane ~ head to head

Tags: goat breeding, goat kids, milking goat

Posted in Breeding, Goats | 1 Comment »

First Chickens and HUGE Eggs

Sep 30th, 2011 by stoney acres

My first chickens of the season have hatched. 3 Silkies and a Pekin.

I love chickens and I already have a number of broody hens but I will be trying not to hatch too many as I’m finding the bantams hard to rehome. If you are local & looking for Pekins or Silkies.. I have some to sell! I used to have a waiting list as long as my arm for them but seems the current trend is to the large “heritage breeds”. I’ve seen quite a few trends in my poultry breeding years. I’m sure the bantams will come back as they make wonderful pets, and, unlike the large birds, they dont require huge housing, don’t scratch your garden beyond repair and are more economic to feed. While their eggs are obviously smaller, I simply use 2 for 1 and they make fantastic egg salads.

I do have the larger breeds too, mainly orpington and wyandotte. I have set a few of their eggs under a broody silkie. I have to confess that the big fat orpington chickens are probably my favourites.

While on the subject of big hens.. we have 1 lady who, once a week, lays us an enormous egg. I presume it is the same hen and I dont know if she lays normal eggs as well but our best so far weighed in at 126 grams!!! It was 80mm long & 51mm wide. It seemed so huge to us that we thought this was possibly a record but an internet check found lots of large eggs including this statement “A spokesman for Guinness World Records said: ”The largest hen egg was a five-yolked egg measuring 31cm (12.2in) around the long axis, 22.8cm (9in) around the short and weighing nearly 340g (12oz)”. Can you imagine that? Given the average hen egg is 62 grams. Here’s what our big egg looked like amongst our standard eggs….