Meet George

how could anyone abandon a small defenseless duck on a train in a box?

but someone did and I now have a new duck called George

He/she was left on the upfield line train in a box and was taken to the lord smiths animal hospital where my nurse's daughter is doing her Vet student placement.

Does any one know someone who might want an abandoned duck? So I got George

He/ she has moved in and at present is living in a large plastic box during the night and the spare hen house during the day.

He/she seems to get on with the other ducks and chooks but lucy would be quite happy to have him/her for breakfast.

Sweet and sour have grown lots and over the past week have decided to free range and have joined the chooks in wandering around the garden during the day. Most nights they go back into their coup but tonight for some reason they have put themselves to bed in the chook house - not sure that the chooks are impressed as they take up quite a deal of room and tend to dirty the water


Spring has decided that it might visit us and we have had some wonderful blossom
Goodnight George and Ian

new family members

A lot has happened since my last blogging.

Frannie and Jim have been and gone.

Frannie and Jim with Bernard and Sleepy Hippo

We had lots of fun eating drinking playing visiting and relaxing.

Lindsey not sharing her wine

Lindsey not sharing her food

Frannie caught up with friends rellies ex work colleagues and i chaffeured. Bernard and sleepy accompanied jim and frannie.

Jennifer Cuddles meets Bernard and Sleepy

We went to a hens night - a nude painting art night, we went to a wedding, had family meals at mt martha and warragul and travelled a lot.

The Family at Mt Martha

We are off to a wedding

Then frannie and jim went home again- the icelandic volcano had stopped causing mayhem and was allowing flights to resume.

Then we started may which is the birthday month.

Emily asked me what i wanted for my birthday - "ducks" i replied - " you cant have ducks" said emily - i thought that was a little rude seeing she had asked me what i wanted.

anyway on my birthday tea - the saturday before 2 three week old pekin ducks appeared with ant and em - poor krumm was left home as it was thought he might eat them.

Sweet and Sour - my pekin ducks

Tony and stella ventured up to mt helen for the tea and stayed overnight- wendy christian and cass also came up for the evening. Ian cooked a wonderful tea- we had ventured out to our first farmer market and bought some tender beef and superb lamb with organic veg including some nice kipfler potatoes which we roasted up. Ian also cooked a moroccan fish casserole for the non meat eaters. Dessert was an apple crumble bought from the market.

Sunday morning saw stella tony and myself head out to look for some more chooks - this time we went to the car park next to one of the farm machinery showrooms. A ute arrived with lots of different sort of poultry and i chose 3 hamburg chooks - they are a brilliant black-green colour.

The girls

the brown chooks are producing their first eggs - or at least one of them is - i am getting one egg a day which ian fried up today with baked beans mushies and bacon. Delicious they were.

The first egg

Life continues to be busy. I am off to brisbane next weekend for a work shop and am doing regular accreditations of gp practices- i am trying to limit this activity to once a month so that i am not away from the practice too often. I am enjoying being on the board of my local gp division and ian and i are planning our trip later in the year to the UK to stay with frannie and jim in a house for a week on the norfolk broads.

An artistic photo Tribeca building East Melbourne
Thanks frannie

Easter 2010

Home grown roast potatoes, Christians parmesan cheese paprika roasted zucchinis and finally my scarlet runner beans all went down to mt Martha for the Easter feast.

Matt and Belinda and the kids arrived. Wendy was already there when we arrived and Christian and cassie turned up last – having got lost – not sure how they managed this as they have been coming down to mt Martha for years.

Ian and I picked up Simon on the way down. We stopped off for ians obligatory 2^nd coffee of the morning and picked up a chocolate crayfish at the same shop to take for Stella and tony.

Ian and I have stayed down for the night – and indulged in fish and chips for tea. Midsomer murders was the TV viewing for the night. We have lost daylight savings so it is getting dark too early now but ian and I managed a walk down to the foreshore before tea.

Emily arrived via Bendigo and Beaumaris. The clutch on her car is playing up and getting in and out of gear is entertaining so I gather – we are all hoping that her car lasts until the end of the year when hopefully she will be gainfully employed and can afford a loan otherwise the bank of grahyde may have to come out of retirement – yet again.

Ant and jess and krumm didn’t come down as they are spending Easter in Blackwood with jess’s family. We went up there for Saturday morning – we watched the blackwood easter parade and then went down to the carnival. It was quite entertaining for a small community of about 300. There were many out of towners at the carnival. We managed to find 2 camels – a finger puppet and a bag. Wendy did remarkably well – she found an old camel – thermos we think – I definitely don’t have one of those. Well done Wendy

Ant then took us a walk along the creek and to the springs – fizzy water coming out of the ground – very odd.

We are off to chaddie today to catch up with ians mother and then we will do a shop at Chadstone.

The house is as usual being babysat by Ross – we are eternally grateful to him and his assistance with the dogs and now the chooks.

chook run extension

one has to love ebay.

i went exploring chooks, chickens and poultry on ebay and found a chook run extension.
i checked out the prices and descriptions and bid for it and it duly arrived yesterday.
Ross must have been home as it was inside when i got home last night and bright and early i was up constructing my run.

The construction and materials werent as good as the bunnings chook coop but i wasnt expecting them to be considering the price and the feedback on the ebay site but it was remarkably easy to put up by myself and the chooks will enjoy it during the week while i am at work.


ross seems to have taken over the middle of the day letting them out and in again in the evening.

they are exploring further around the front garden and are chasing off the sparrows from the bird seen on the ground. hopefully the native birds which are larger will put up a better fight.

i have been back on ebay and bought an upright bird feeder and drinker so that their water will last longer and the feed will be above the ground and hopefully away from the mice. will probably be delayed in delivery due to easter but we will see.

All we have to do now is await the arrival of our first eggs in about a month and also hopefully the arrival of more rescue chooks from the vet school.

The girls

The veggie patch is coming along



we haven't had huge amounts of produce but then again i hadn't done a lot to prepare the ground prior to planting.

I am starting to dig in the mulch and cow poo ready for next summers plantings.

We should also by then have a fully operational watering system from water tanks so that i will be able to water more than 2 times a week.

we have enjoyed beans peas broad beans broccoli squash spinach and silver beet and a few tomatoes. but we have really enjoyed our potatoes and have learnt to microwave them and then roast them covered in a sprinkling of salt. I hope i have enough in the ground to dig up for next weeks Easter feast.

Last week however we acquired 3 chooks. They have been "rescued" from the local vet school. One of my staff members daughters is studying vet and the staff member announced that the school had left over chooks and did anyone want them. I had been researching chook runs and coops on google and was ready to go with knowledge but had to find a coop.

So last weekend we put together a flat pack chicken coop from bunnings - it was remarkably easy i must say- especially as ian did most of the putting together using his electric drill.


The girls - bubble, squeak and leftover moved in last Saturday. They will be pleased to know that they have names as everyone knows that you cant eat animals that you have named. They spent this week acclimatising and yesterday i was brave and let them out for their first free range. They stuck around that end of the garden - next to the veggie patch and last night needed only a little encouragement to go back inside the hutch. They didn't however need any second telling to come out this morning.

Krumm has been up for the weekend.
He has shown great interest in the chooks - i think however that they would have preferred a quieter weekend with no visitors
He got up this morning and had to make sure that the foxes hadn't got his girls - all was well

I am hoping to find a run extension on ebay so that they can have extra room to move around in when ian and i are working although i think that ross will soon play with them and let them in and out.

We are hoping for out first eggs in about a month as they arent very old at present. I am also hoping to get another 3 or so in the near future to keep them company - the vet school seems to have an on going supply.

We have got ourselves a tumble composter- i have never been able to make good compost but have been assured that the tumble ones work well. I have also invested in a worm farm. Emily is a bit concerned as it lives next to her bedroom but so far it isnt making any nasty smells and the worms seem not to have died - always a good start for a worm farm.

I have broad been seeds starting to grow ready to be planted. Full steam ahead for the next season of veggies.

2010 new year

the veggie patch is coming along well

we are now producing small amounts of peas broad beans brocoli zuccinis silverbeet squash and so far a single cherry tomato. We have for the first time in about 10 years have a few apples on the trees and possibly some lemons if they continue to grow.
I think i may have some corn growing
It has cost a small fortune to set up the latest cost being the mulch to help protect against the hight 30d days
The rabbits seem to have decided to keep away from the patch - helped by a hastily put up fence and the kangaroos have had a stern warning about keeping off the veg!




the start of the veggie patch
ian is putting in holes for the fence posts - we do like bylsma hire
early days of the beans and peas

our new apples!



santa dropped in to protect the corn which is now somewhat larger - about 3 weeks later

see i told you the corn had grown

my broccoli ready to eat

I stopped gardening temporarily on NYE to enjoy the rain in Daylesford with ian and simon