It was all a very relaxing picture on a Sunday arvo, with wifey knitting her socks and me pounding away at some sauerkraut in our chasseur. She has nearly finished one sock incidentally. We were pondering our differences the other night - the process drive verses the goal driven person. I reasoned that a process driven person would end up knitting longer socks because they are not focused so much on finishing the job as a goal driven person. This also partly explains why when we are doing a very big job like cutting up a fallen tree or doing roadwork, Helen peels off and looks for a job that is more rewarding and gives her a feeling that she is getting somewhere. However, there are many advantages of being goal driven and she is
much more likely to complete projects in a timely fashion eg. ask for a baby present for friends, and in a matter of hours craft project is completed!
Sauerkraut did get made. 1 cabbage turned into about 2 large jars.
I also decided to try some preserved and fermented lemons. I have tried preserved lemons before with salt and citrus/ tartaric acid and they worked well. Hmm - must look up that Lemon liqueur.
preserving lemons
preserved lemon with cinnamon sticks
Tomatoes planted last weekend at the plot were hit by frost, so we will have to start again with those. Potatoes and beans are still safely underneath the ground. The carrots are getting big enough to pick but should start putting on some bulk in the next month. The snopeas are also feeling the effects of being nicely frozen and are not setting new pods while the already formed pods look a bit speckled.
Planted lettuce and endive seedlings, planted Tat tsoi seeds, thinned tomatos, basil and greens in punnets. My Iranian lemon balm has come up in the punnets which is good. I was given the seed by a man who obtained the seed through his family and it is an annual rather than perennial. I've never seen this seed advertised anywhere and i may be the only seed network that has this seed. My plan is to grow these plants out and multiply my seed supply because this is one of those special heirlooms that could be easily lost.
The Valencia Orange trees are loaded and looking great. These trees never seem to miss a year, while the navel oranges definitely seem to fruit better in alternate years.
This one is growing in the chook yard but its roots are somewhat protected from scratching by black plastic.
Our old chooks have started laying now that the spring is near, so maybe we are not just feeding them for nothing after all.
I enjoyed reading your thoughts regarding process or goal driven people. I will have to ponder that a bit more as I seem to fall somewhere in the middle depending upon what the task at hand is.
ReplyDeleteSo we have been contemplating our chickens feed cost versus return on investment as well. We have thirteen 3 1/2 year old hens that average around 3 whole eggs a day...not that great. Although I must say they have always given us at least a few eggs each day, even in the depths of winter. Anyway, being somewhat new to the whole chicken husbandry venture I was wondering just how many years they will continue to lay for us. If you don't mind my asking, how old are your hens?
Hi Mr H, i think i'm still pondering too.
ReplyDeleteOur chickens are about 3 years old as well and they really went off laying during the last year. i think the spring will see a bit of a peak for them in egg laying but i realy would have put them in the pot by now if i had the time and if we could have accessed some new chicks easily. Beyond 3 years and i think its time to start again. We had 1 young chook and she laid an egg a day throughout the whole winter while the others haven't given us a cracker until just now.
Having said that they will keep pumping out the occassional egg for years to come but they will be costing you more in food for few eggs.