Rats

Note: this post is not for those squeamish about, or advocates for the survival of rodents.

We have chickens and we have vegetables, so inevitably it would seem, we have rats. We've always had a few hanging around the yard, and occasionally in the roof space but have managed them with a combination of baits and traps. To be honest, if they're not in the house I'm not overly bothered. When we came back from our Big Gypsy Getaway however, the problem seemed to be on a much larger scale. Our absence had seen them move in, in plague proportions. Apparently it's not just our house though, and our area has seen a rise in numbers.

Recently, probably as a result of summer heating up, our rat colony sought refuge in the roof space. I was frequently being woken up to scurrying (which sounded like a heard of buffalos) above my bedroom, and although they didn't seem to be getting into the house, their presence in the roof was unnerving so it was time to take further action. It didn't take long to discover they had set up their main nest in a small semi-open shed next to the chicken coop. The chicken feeder plus the veges were supplying constant food, so baiting was pointless while they had food and shelter readily available. Hubby and a friend went out with a torch one night to discover a hive of "rativity", so they set up "rat-cam" in the shed to get a better idea of their numbers and movements. After a night of filming, the shed (and their nest) had to go.

After complete destruction of their (disgusting) quarters, which discovered some ruined/chewed windsurfing equipment and resulted in a man-on-rat duel between Hubby and the king rat locked in our outside bathroom (the details of which I will spare you all), we began to gain a little control. Hubby covered all the gutters with fine mesh to eliminate gaps between the gutters and our corrugated tin roof. I no longer feed the chickens via a feeder, rather they get a finite amount of pellets plus scraps daily thrown onto the ground, normally in the morning when rats are the least active. We are also continually baiting in known areas of high "rativity", and Perth's heat wave over Christmas and New Year seemed to work in our favour. A LOT of rats died over that period, and I can only think it was a combination of lack of food and heat.

The rat population clearly hasn't moved out of our neighbourhood, and neighbours have said they have seen them. My tomatoes and capsicums keep going missing off the vines, I still hear occasional scurrying in the roof and we still find the odd baited beast "sleeping" on the back lawn (or in the dog's mouth), but all in all the numbers have been significantly reduced.

If you have chickens and/or veges which seem to attract rodents, I hope some of our techniques are helpful to you. I'd also love to hear any coping strategies you have found useful. With small children and animals, mass baiting isn't ideal, and while we seem to be gaining control, I'm definitely interested in other ideas (which don't involve getting rid of either the chickens or the vegetables).

Green bean salad

It's an exciting time of year. The veges are flourishing, the garden is luscious and the weather is finally behaving like Perth in Summer.

While basking in the glory the other afternoon, I didn't realise Chicky and Poppet were harvesting. Before I could turn around they had hands full of dwarf beans and peas and Chicky was asking how we could use them for dinner. I have to admit I hadn't any plans for dinner, so they had me thinking on my toes. We had eggs in abundance, freshly picked greens and a couple of capsicums I rescued from the birds a couple of days prior. The verdict: poached eggs and green bean salad.

To make the salad I blanched the beans for a couple of minutes then transferred them to iced water. I chopped a handful of fresh basil (also from the garden), mixed it with the peas, beans, chopped capsicum, a finely chopped spring onion I found in the fridge and a generous amount of parmesan cheese, then drizzled the lot with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The result: a cold, crispy, very fresh green bean salad. While I can't take any claim over the parmesan or olive oil, this was a surprisingly self-sufficient meal. Having the extra vege plot in the front yard is really reducing our dependence on supermarkets. This is only one meal, and we are a long way from "self-sufficient", but it is encouraging to say the least. Here's to a summer of cool, fresh food!

In My Kitchen - December 2012

Oh my, I cannot believe we are in December already, with only 2.5 weeks until Christmas! I thought I'd better get into the spirit of the pending festivities and fill my kitchen with a few Christmassy things.

I'm a bit of a sucker for Better Homes and Gardens, and while I rarely buy their magazine, I did splurge on the Christmas edition. In it I found some gorgeous gingerbread Christmas trees made out of star cookie cutters. The originals specified 7 or 8 cutters per tree, but I found these cute concentric star and Christmas tree cutter sets at my local Matchbox store and thought they'd be perfect.

I tested the stars out last weekend and created a few gingerbread trees. I had some pink egg-white icing in the freezer from an excessive batch a few weeks ago. I know green would be more appropriate but it was a trial run, and a successful one at that. I think these will feature as edible centre-pieces at Christmas lunch.

I also found some festive mini cupcake liners which I plan to use for mini mince pies...

...and some cute "candy" (or chocolate) moulds.

I also tested these out, using the lemon-flavoured Callebaut callets from the sample pack I bought a little while ago. Strangely the lemon-flavoured callets are green, but that works well for Christmas! The tree chocolates are milk (34%) base and lemon-flavoured trees. The father Christmas shapes are made from a 70% cocoa base, with father Christmas' hat made of left over lemon. Hubby put my first set of moulds in the dishwasher and melted them. Luckily for him they were less than $5 so I bought another set to make more for the big day.

 

There are also a few non-Christmassy things in my kitchen at the moment. The lovely Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial sent me some mahlep spice so I could test out Barbara's Kaak Cookies. I made a third of a batch of these tonight (sorry, I didn't take a photo), as the original recipe specifies 1kg of flour and that would just mean way too many biscuits. The result is a bit like a shortbread but with a lovely spicy hint. I just adore the smell of the mahlep and get a pleasant surprise every time I open my pantry at the moment

 

Celia also included in my surprise parcel, this beautiful mould. I pressed the Kaak cookies into it before baking, but unfortunately most of the design is lost in the oven. If anyone has any ideas what else I could try this mould out on, I'd love to hear them.

My rhubarb plants are earning their keep at the moment, and while the fruit (is it fruit?) is plentiful, rhubarb crumble is making its way onto our dessert menu. I'll post the recipe one day soon.

 

My mum has an over-excited lemon tree (as opposed to my lemon tree that has taken 8 years to produce 4 lemons). Last week she gave me a few and so last Sunday I made a lemon meringue pie. I'll post the recipe to this one too, one day soon. I have to admit I am lazy and never make my own pastry, but those frozen flan cases are cheap and taste so good! Plus, a lemon meringue pie is never about the pastry, so why stress over something I'm not good at? I should also admit that there isn't actually any of this left in my kitchen anymore. While the girls weren't particularly taken by it, hubby and I managed to polish it off over a few days.

That's what's going on in my kitchen at the moment. If you'd like to see what's happening in a few other kitchens around the globe, particularly as silly-season approaches, head over to Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for some links. Happy Christmas baking!

In the Garden - November 2012

I've been holding out until the end of the month to do a garden update because I thought I'd already done one for November. Clearly I haven't so my waiting has been in vain. Talk about baby brain! The weeks, months, years really are flying by. I was quite excited by my dimness however, as my garden is a little bit exciting at the moment.

We FINALLY got some soil for the new front vege patch. We knew this was going to cost a bit to fill, hence the delay, but I'm so glad it's full now as I have renewed enthusiasm for the vege patch.

The six watermelon seedlings I grew in pots from seed were big enough to transplant into the ground.

The front bed is also home to some new cucumber and zucchini seedlings which I also grew in pots to inhibit their consumption by slaters. This picture gives a good view of part of the front plot, which bends around to the left in a kind of "L" shape. Our whipper snipper is in pieces in the shed at the moment, so the buffalo is getting particularly friendly with the railway sleeper border.

The front is also home to some corn (which I've never had the room to grow before) ...

... dwarf beans (also grown last month in pots then recently transplanted) ...

... and some peas.

Remember the tree that we lost in a storm while we were away? Well the stump, which we never got around to pulling out, is now a bush!

Things are going great guns out the back too. With summer approaching, the basil is finally getting a bit more sun and looking quite healthy.

 

The small capsicum plants, of which there are six, are all bearing little capsicums. I'm a bit worried that the plants themselves are too small to hold the fruit, but time will tell. 

 

 

 Some oregano seeds that I planted several months ago, and had given up for lost, have sprouted! The last oregano plant I grew in this pot in the same place in the garden, lasted about 3 years, so I'm quietly confident.

 

The biggest of the rhubarb plants has stalks large enough to harvest. I think a crumble might be on the menu one night this week.

The grapes are getting bigger. We're all looking forward to this season's fruit. I had Chicky in tears in the supermarket the other day because I refused to pay $25.99/kg for grapes. I assured her that in a few more weeks we would have more grapes than we know what to do with.

The flat leaf parsley is just as unkempt as ever, and seems to be multiplying. I use more parsley in cooking now than I ever have, because I can.

 

The potato tubers that I planted last month have all sprouted and are getting quite leafy. I never did get around to adding more soil so I hope they are not too restricted by space. These are in an unprotected part of the garden, so my current task is keeping the chickens away.

The tomato seedlings are growing. A few more self-sewn plants have popped up in between from last year's crop so I am sure the tomato garden will be just as crazy this year as it was last. I'm looking forward to lots of salads and a freezer stocked with pasta sauce.

 

I'm pretty happy with my garden at the moment. The back is filled with weeds, and the grass is overgrown but the useful stuff is doing well. I'm sure we'll have a bumper summer crop if the sun isn't too harsh. What's happening in your garden this month?

In the Garden - October 2012

Last month I planted some seeds and seedlings, ready for a summer crop. Regardless of the beer traps, the slaters dessimated most of the seedlings as they emerged. They seemed to be helping themselves to the beer, but not before feasting on the zucchini, cucumber and pea seedlings. Determined not to let this happen again, I did away with the beer traps (which smell really bad if you don't empty them regularly) and planted some new seeds in pots. The physical barrier seems to have done the trick, and seedlings mk II are now hopefully big enough to hold their own and be transplanted into the vege patch.

I didn't have anymore zucchini or cucumber seeds, but I did have a lot of other options so planted dwarf beans....

 

...peas and watermelon in the background.

Something I thought the slaters would leave alone due to their lack of real leaves, are perennial carrots.

I thought I'd try my luck with spinach straight into the ground, because the thought of transplanting spinach plants wasn't particularly appealing. Similarly, I'm lazy and never thin my carrots, but it makes for some interesting shapes and sizes.

I think there may be one saving grace for the spinach. At the end of each row, a rhubarb plant has re-emerged. When we returned from our Gypsy Getaway, my rhubarb plants (of which I had 3 established) had vanished without a trace. I was a bit disappointed as they were doing well, but they have come back! The slaters love the leaves but don't affect the stalks so this may just be my new slater solution.

The chickens did a great job preparing the tomato garden plot, and this week I transplanted the cherry tomato seedlings I grew in pots from seeds (or rather I dug holes and Chicky did the planting). We planted 7 plants, which will inevitably be too many, but I will attempt to tame them with tomato mesh so we can keep some sort of control on the area.

Here are the girls, looking puzzled about why they're no longer allowed to forage in the tomato plot. Or maybe it has something to do with their tiny brains. :)

Veges aren't the only things blooming in the garden at the moment. The grape vines have gone from dormant to prolific in a matter of weeks. The 5 vines we currently have are in their second fruiting year and teeny tiny grapes can be seen everywhere. I can't wait!

The mandarin tree has some very small fruit emerging. Fingers crossed the birds save us some.

The orange tree, although struggling with some kind of leaf curl, is also managing to fruit this year. Citrus need a lot of TLC in our sandy soils, and really benefit from regular fertilising. This is hubby's job. My slap-dash approach to the garden doesn't involve such luxuries for the fruit trees.

The passionfruit vines seem to take it in turns fruiting, and I was a little surprised to see one of them flowering given we had a winter crop. Providing we get enough bees, I think these will be the purple-skinned fruit. I love the flowers, they are just a little bit Little Shop of Horrors-esque.

Finally, here is what I hope will be a potato patch. I had a few sprouting spuds in the larder so scattered the tubers and covered them with soil. I'll add some more soil when the sprouts emerge and try to get a mound happening, to maximise yield.

For now this is all that's happening in my garden, but with spring in full swing things are moving swiftly.  It's great, and I don't need to play much of a role. Now I sit back and watch things flourish. I'd love to hear what's happening in your garden this spring (or otherwise, wherever you are).

In the Garden - September 2012

With the weather in Perth starting to warm up, the weekend provided a great opportunity to potter in the garden. Having missed a winter crop due to the Big Gypsy Getaway, I was left with empty garden beds just waiting for spring. Empty apart from a few weeds, but that was nothing a little hard work and some help from a few willing feathered friends couldn't fix.

The new garden bed in the front yard is structurally complete, but we're still getting around to filling it with soil. With the rear bed ready to go, I bought some seeds and seedlings on the weekend and the girls and I got planting. Actually, I got to dig holes and the girls did all the planting. We planted capsicum and basil seedlings, as well as cucumber and zucchini seeds. For some reason I have real trouble growing capsicums, so I opted for seedlings.

Cucumber and zucchini however seem to run rampant in our sandy soils and I have had lots of success with seeds in the past. Slaters and slugs also run rampant in our garden, and I've had entire seedling crops disappear overnight in the past thanks to some ravenous slugs. In an attempt to tackle the problem before the seedlings emerge, I have set quite a few beer traps. They just can't pass up the sweet smell of several year old home brew, and I'm happy to put it to use! A few strategically placed vegemite jars full, should do the trick.

I bought a LOT more seeds, but I have been guilty of over-planting in the past, and ending up with a very busy vege patch, so I'll hold off on anymore planting until we get soil for the front.

The new chickens have been busy settling in, and have found a few favourite places to lay their eggs. Almost everyday there is one in the back corner, furthest away from the house and difficult to get to given a passionfruit-covered bird net about a metre off the ground, covering this area. Egg-collecting is Chicky's job. She has the advantage of being only a metre tall. We've been letting the chickens out most days and they are getting quite socialised. Isa Browns just don't seem to mind being handled, which is fortunate when you have a 4 yr old and a 2 yr old trying to give you cuddles all day.

The same passionfruit vine has grown nicely over the girls' Kombi Cubby, and is taking over the non-existent windscreen. It adds quite a nice ambiance to the cubby, and makes the giant volkswagen in the garden bed a little less obvious at first glance. That's what I tell myself anyway.

Spring has definitely sprung in my garden, and it's only going to get better. I'm looking forward to getting the rest of the garden organised and planting lots more veges. The girls are at great ages to appreciate where food comes from and can take some ownership over their plants. Lets hope the lovely weather hangs around, on the weekends at least.

Flocks and Friands

The complete lack of egg production from our chickens over the last 8 months made us reconsider the flock. The cochins, very attractive birds, had grown quite large. Two were clearly roosters and we aren't allowed to keep roosters where we live. The two females hadn't started laying yet (I've read it's quite normal for them to take 10 months to start, but then egg production isn't consistent or reliable). They were also fairly unsociable and the girls couldn't handle them like the Isa Browns. Unfortunately we lost two of our original Isa Browns at various times this year and the only remaining hen had never laid. Given all of the above, we decided to re-home our flock and start again. Approximately 3 minutes after I posted a "free" ad on Gumtree, the phone calls began and by the end of the week the chickens had gone to 3 different homes.

On Saturday afternoon we picked up four new Isa Brown pullets. They quickly made themselves at home and started fossicking through the self-sewn tomato plants.

My girls were very excited to meet the new girls of the garden, and Chicky has taken on the responsibility of taming them with lots of "pats and cuddles".

And we are already being rewarded. Since arriving on Saturday afternoon, they have laid 10 eggs. I'm excited just thinking about all the baking I'll be able to do!

Speaking of baking, I got straight on the job tonight and baked some Raspberry and Dark Choc Friands. I don't think I've ever eaten a friand before, let alone made any, and I wasn't really sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by the finished product (yes, I've eaten 2 already).

The only change I made to Celia's recipe, was using Callebaut 54% dark chocolate callets in place of 70%. In the absence of a friand pan, what else could I use but bright blue patty pans? These made the friands a little smaller than in the original recipe so I stretched the batter out to make 9. How good are raspberries? I must have eaten a handful of frozen raspberries in the process. Friands will definitely be going on my list of "morning tea possibilities" when I have visitors.

In the Garden - July 2012

While we were off galavanting the country, our garden took a bit of neglect. We had people caring for the animals, and picking any produce that was ready while we were away but we had our reticulation turned off so relied solely on rainfall to water the garden. Perth experienced some crazy storms in June which provided a lot of water, but also destroyed one of our Eucalypts (and at the same time sent out trampoline for a visit over the neighbours' fence). Here is what remains of the tree.

There were some pleasant surprises in the garden on our return too. The chicken run is about half covered by a passionfruit vine which we only planted late last year. The vine has grown prolifically and is now sporting quite a number of fruit. These passionfruit don't go purple, rather turn a yellow colour and have almost orange pulp. We tasted the first ripe one today.

Loretta (the lemon tree) has also come up with the goods this year, after around seven years of dormancy. She gave us one lemon last year, her first fruit, and we were pleasantly surprised to return home and find she has five fruit growing.

Larry (the patio lime) is also oozing with life this season. He is sprouting blossom everywhere so hopefully he'll be a very healthy litte tree and might even bear some fruit.

Given none of the chickens are laying at the moment (I suspect two of the four cochins are roosters), I've given them another important job - preparing the rear vege garden for sowing. They're doing a great job of weeding, turning and fertilising.

 The front vege garden is also coming along nicely. We edged it with old railway sleepers and Hubby has just finished the reticulation for it, adding a zone to our bore retic just for the vege gardens (which were previously watered manually via mains water). Once the chickens have done their job, I can start planting!

As one of my favourite Australian bands, The Waifs, say: "everytime you water the garden, you also water the weeds". Here is one of those weeds that is just too pretty not to photograph. I think I snapped this shot about half a second before Chicky plucked it from its stem, sending seeds everywhere. What can you do?

I have to say I was very pleased with the garden after 10 weeks of neglect. Nature never ceases to surprise. I'd love to hear what's going on in your garden this Winter (or Summer, if you're on the warmer half of the planet right now).