Pigeons...take two.

I am sorry to say the first try at meat pigeons was not a success.
The birds I obtained for breeder stock had spent their entire lives caged up to this point. Consequently they were very weak fliers and this made them easy prey for both the local hawks and unfortunately our Maremma, Alessa. Now the hawks were a known factor and I expect to lose the occasional bird to them. That is the nature of both hawks and pigeons. I had unwittingly aggravated the situation however by slaughtering a beast the week of their release from captivity and this brought the raptors from far and wide as always. Of course when they had finished cleaning up the remains of slaughter they turned their attentions to whatever else there was to eat in the area. Bad timing on my part.

I had not expected our Maremma, our flock dog who is supposed to guard the livestock, to view the pigeons as a tasty snack. I was somewhat disappointed to say the least. Some retraining was involved and I hope she has learned her lesson. I will have to watch her closely to see if it has worked.

In any case our original stock of twelve birds was whittled down to five in the couple of weeks after release. So I went and picked up another twenty birds, instant flock, and have re-incarcerated all pigeons for another fortnight. So far so good. This time they will be released in a raptor free environment and with the Maremma on a short leash until they have settled in.

Winter muckies

We had exactly one week of beautiful weather. Perfect blue skies and cold. I love those days.
Now we have returned to the winter muckies as I call them. Foggy, piddly, windy and cold. Yesterday it remained as dark as nightfall all day keeping me huddled inside by the fire.

The local old timers tell me this is the result of having a very poor wet season- a long wet winter. We have a very specific micro climate here formed by a mixture of altitude, proximity to the mountain ridge and prevailing winds. This means we tend to get a lot more water than most other areas.

It also creates many challenges growing some things. Sometimes we just have to accept that we cannot have something we desire. Tomatoes for example. Growing good tomatoes is something of a passion of mine. However, our soils locally are infested with Fusarium fungus and this makes it near impossible to grow tomatoes to fruiting unless I grow them in pots of sterilized soil. Bananas likewise will thrive in our area although the majority of bunches do not ripen before the cold weather arrives each winter. Mangoes too will grow vigorously but never set a single fruit due to the rain destroying the flowers each year. If I go five kilometres over the hilltop I can see farms with mangoes and bananas fruiting heavily. On the plus side, we can grow green veg like no one else here. Our leeks are fat and healthy and last well into summer, our cabbage, carrots, kale and lettuce grow easily with little intervention from me and I grow the biggest and best snow peas of anyone in the district!
So my philosophy is to look for what will grow easily rather than try for what will not. When I try a new type of vegetable (or animal for that matter) I like to test several different varieties in the same year. This way I know that Nantes carrots and Yakumo snow peas are ideal for our area whereas Balinese sweet corn and Wiltshire horn sheep are not.

Now I will admit I am building a hot-house/green house thing over some of the veggie garden in an effort to improve the yield each year. This is mostly to stop the wet season rain beating the garden to death but it will also alter the micro climate of the veggie garden somewhat and hopefully give us a few more options in what we can grow.

Food crisis for thought

Oh please oh please, I need a food shed

Oh give me a shed where I can process all our harvest

and preserve so it will last us

and make a brew in a bottle or two,

Where I can cut up all the beef 

so tender I won't need teeth

and have plenty of cheese to spare.

Today I am setting up to cut up the beef that has been in the coldroom these last two weeks. This will happen on the back covered area beside the house. The only place large enough and with the facilities I will need- power, water and shade. So I have removed all the toys and tools and then hosed down the floor and tables prior to scrubbing them down with detergent and hot water. I then hauled the big cutting boards, mincer and meat band saw from the shed and cleaned them up too. Then a variety of knives and hooks are needed, scales, tubs, plastic bags and wrapping paper are brought out and prepared.

Tomorrow I will begin actually cutting up the beef.

Our plans for a food processing shed would make everything a whole lot easier. We already have the shed, the problem lies in that we have filled it with all sorts of other stuff that must be stored out of the weather. So we need a new shed.

The final food shed will be our main processing area for the produce from the farm. We already have a large coldroom but will be adding at least one cheese fridge (set at 12.5 degrees Celsius), chest freezers, a large and deep sink as well as a kitchen sized sink for washing up, large draining boards, a stove and oven, and plenty of work benches and shelves for storage. Here we will process our beef, poultry, pigeon and pork. Process the dairy and make cheese, yoghourt and cream. Preserve fruit and vegetables. Brew booze. Extract honey and do whatever else is needed to keep ourselves in tucker.

Now I realize this may sound like a tall order but we actually have almost all of the equipment we will need, we just need another shed so we can move my workshop out. So I like to think the end goal is close. We have begun clearing a space next door for the new shed although I still need a man with a big machine to come in and level it off properly. The new shed will be roughly 7 X 9 metres, a little larger than the food shed, and it will house my workshop (mostly my woodwork shop) in two thirds and have a closed store in the remaining third for garden tools. Along the front we will add a covered cement apron so we can get to the house in the wet season without getting too wet. I think it will also be a lovely place to sit out in the afternoon with some quiet work such as testing the quality of the latest brew.

Winter jobs

Earlier this week the youngest cloud farmer and I cleaned up some long grass out front. I needed cut hay to put on the floor of the chook shed as well as for nesting boxes for both the chooks and pigeons.

 My tools of choice are the scythe and hay fork. Why? Because they are the easiest and best tools for the job. I can listen to the birds singing (or my son telling me all about the birds singing even though I can hear them already...) and it takes the same time, or less, than using a powered brush cutter. The hay is also neatly cut and left long rather than being turned into worthless pulp as a brush cutter will do. But mostly I just plain like using my scythe.

Here the littlest cloud farmer is standing in the "mow". That is to say the area cut by the scythe and this is the origin of the word. To his right is the windrow of cut hay deposited as I cut. He is supposed to be spreading the hay to dry but prefers to take more of a managerial role and tell me how to do it instead.

And this is some old guy, (well, ok... me actually) whetting the blade. A scythe is kept sharp enough to shave with. Every dozen or so strokes I will stop and whet the blade to keep the edge keen.

Winter beauty

Once again the seasons amaze me. I captured this beautiful sunset earlier this week. It was cold and late in the afternoon with a low mist rolling in and the orange sun burning through creating a halo on the horizon. Some times it sure is tough having to live in such a beautiful place...

A big day for the pigeons

Three weeks are up and today I removed the wire from the pigeon shed.

Pigeon shed. It does not quite have the rustic ring of Loft or Fly. I suppose I could cal it a coop although I prefer the sound of Doocot, Dovecote, pigeonnier, colombier, Fuie, duivenkot, columbaria, colomendy or even Culverhouse. Will have to give it some thought although I do rather like the latin Columbaria.

I then installed the ledges and dividers to create the hole entrances. These holes make it difficult for crows and raptors to enter the shed itself. Pigeons, having evolved from a cliff dwelling bird, have no problems negotiating the narrow ledge and holes. The pigeons appear to be quite impressed and were soon out and about.

Next I need to finish the rows of nesting boxes needed. I was originally wanting to make a timber series of boxes but a lack of both timber and cash means this will not be happening any time soon. So plan B involves making boxes from salvaged materials.

Cleaned and cut properly these drums will make fine boxes that should serve our needs well. Tomorrows job.