Around the Farm.

                     This week I have been laid up at home after my procedure on my

leg...The good news is I got the all clear on my nose

so there will be no botox....which is just as well as I hate needles.

So I have been doing some cooking and fluffing around the house, funny

thing is when your told to stay still for a few days all I want to do is get up and do things.

These are super easy biscuits to make

2 cups almond meal

1 cup rapidura sugar 

2 eggs

bind all together and roll in wet hands so the mixture doesn't stick and

cook in a mod oven for 10-15 mins...

WARNING do eat the mixture before cooked as it tastes soooooo

good there will be none left....

Almond meal is quiet expensive so I buy the almonds and grind them up

in my thermomix.

I also use this mixture as a tart base with apples laid on top sprinkled with

cinnamon and sugar. yummo 

I got these recipes from Tania Hubbards book Gluten free Grain free. 

http://www.glutenfreegrainfree.com.au/gluten-free-blog/

Her recipes are so quick and easy go and check her site out.
I have turned these into jam drops, tarts, choc chip bics, ginger snaps what ever you want.

News Around the Farm.

Chooks

I have 3 new Araucana chooks, these little sweeties lay blue eggs.

Below you can see the difference in the eggs,brown, white and blue, they are a true blue colour aren't they pretty? and yes they taste the same and no the egg is not blue....True I have been asked that!!!

I have found that these girls a very flighty so I have had to keep them in a smaller

pen for now, I'm not sure if it is there nature or they need taming a little more.

My other exciting news is we have had our first lambs slaughtered...

Our first farm fresh meat.

We got both lambs done, there is a lot of roasts and chops some stewing meat as well.

Molly was on hand to help, she sat there the whole time watching me pack the meat up.

The only time she moved was when I put it into the baskets to take down to the freezer..

Other exciting news is next Tuesday I am flying to Melbourne for a few

days with my Mum and Alanah for a girly time.

I have never been to Melbourne so am so excited and looking forward to it.

Now if any one has any tips for where to go while we are there let me know.

 Have a great week end

Mandy

A Spend Free Week and Around the Farm........

We have some new members of the food chain here.

Finally we have new chickens after all our rare bread ones were taken in the new year.

Why so long to get some? I really,really wanted rare bread ones again,but they are soooooo expensive.

So I decided to just get any chooks I could for now and slowly buy my rare bread ones 

a few at a time....For now though I am getting eggs again and I am happy.

Meet Martha (black) and Penny (brown)

These lovely girls are saddle back pigs, and they are so pretty and tame. Now we now that they will end up on the table

and every one says I shouldn't name them, but happy animals are what we are about and William and I can't be down  playing with them saying "Hey you" now can we.

As soon as the animals see me they all come running for there food. We have 2 sheep ready for 

slaughter, Starlight and Origin...We still haven't got a new ram after the chicken and sheep disaster at Christmas. I think I will have to buy some new lambs in spring for next year until our ram arrives.

 I was like the Pipe Piper of cows they weren't letting me get away with out something to eat, they followed me all the way to the gate and then bellowed at me. I am looking forward to the time they will be ready to eat as well, for now though we get our meet from a local organic farmer.
Next on the list in meat chickens, but that won't be until after winter, this time next year we will be very close to producing most of our food here on the farm.

This week I am challenging myself to a 

No Spend Week....

It is Thursday and I'm doing well, the cat is now eating weet-bix and almond milk as I have run out of cat food!!!!!

I am cleaning out the fridge and pantry and making some interesting meals.

I have a few things still in the vege garden that we are eating, won't belong before all the crops are ready to harvest.

We do have to go to Stanthorpe this week end for William to play soccer. We are taking the 

caravan and staying at the free site there, food I will take with me from home.

Well that's the plan.....I'll let you know how that goes!!!

It is interesting having a spend free week as I'm seeing that I tend to go to the shops

when I run out of something instead of making do with what I have..

Has any one else tried to to have a week with out spending money?

I would love to hear how you went....

Blessing to all

Mandy

Food........

Today the discussion at Rhonda's is about Food....

Now here's a subject every-one knows about and have there

own views on....and i for one love food, eating, growing, cooking you name I love it..

Here at The Old Dairy I try to grow a lot of our

fruit and vegs.....Last year we had to remove all of our old

fruit trees as they were in continual shade..I replaced them in

a different spot that will always have sun.....

I am growing mandarins, oranges, mango,grapefruit, lemon, lime these trees

have only been in the ground 12months and will take time to produce fruit.. I also

have macadamia nut trees, passion fruit,pineapples....

I try to grow my own veges, but have found this year not a great success with

my brassicas, they have been eaten by grubs..not to mention the odd cow!!!!

Tomatoes, capsicum, beans, peas and eggplant have all done well this year,

as well as the lettuce......I always have herbs growing and they continue to

self seed each year....I also have a good group of lemon grass.....I just remembered

I dug it all out when I was pruning and forgot to plant some!!!!!!!

No more lemon grass tea for me then! (O.k just ran outside an found

a piece with roots on it and have stuck it in water.....)

When I do buy fruit and veges I mostly get them from the local markets.

I also have family that works farms so I get a lot of free produce from

them...It is not organic though.....

The one thing we have done that I had planned to do

was to butcher our own beef.....I know what this cow has eaten and where

it has been so I know what I am feeding my family.....
Yes we had to get a large deep freezer to store but with the price of meat

we will soon make that up....I have noticed that I am saving $50-$70 each

week now that I don't buy meat....I still buy fish and chicken though.

I do stockpile food so as far as having an emergency I no

that I could go for weeks without having to shop....

I am blessed that I have a larger than average sized pantry but I also have a large family.

We also have our chickens for eggs, which we eat daily and feed all our food scraps

to, again I know what is going into my chickens.

Goals......

I want to grow a lot more food in my garden.
I would love for my garden to be more of an edible garden.

I know that I need to go back to companion planting, especially for the brassicas

as I know that this works.

I also need to start collecting my own seeds and growing more from

seeds and not buy so many seedlings...

Bake more.....these last few weeks I have been buying more

and more biscuits and cakes from the shops.....

To buy organic chicken and better quality fish.....

These are the more important areas for me....I am sure you have different needs.

As far as the no spending is going, I forgot about pocket money!

The children have been busy doing lots of jobs

to earn pocket money and today Robbie has been invited

to the circus with a friend who has a spare ticket. He wants his

hard earned cash to take with him...So today I am handing over the$20

that I owe him.....How are you doing with the challenge? It's not as

cut and dried as I thought it would be. I love learning experiences though and I

know that this will certainly be that.....

Enjoy your week-end....

I am of to plant that Lemon grass in a pot.

Here's hoping it will grow...

Blessings to all...

Mandy