One of our Old English x Modern Bantams has very recently hatched six adorable bantam chickens. Here, the mother bantam is teaching her young charges to scratch for food.  This last year has been an extraordinary year, with most of our chooks going broody in February, and they almost never go broody at this time of year. Not only the bantams went broody, but the Rhode Island Reds, too, so this has meant a dramatic shortage of farm-fresh eggs, but they are starting to lay again, now.

~~~oooOOOooo~~~

For those of you who have been praying for us – thank you from the bottom of my ♥, my husband’s pain is much better controlled for now. I think that the best thing that could have happened for him was to be admitted to hospital, as they have now given him Kapanol capsules, which the doctor had previously prescribed, but they have now doubled the dosage, so his pain is much better controlled. In hospital they also gave him STRONG antihistamines, and the HUGE spots that he had are starting to subside.

There have been wonderful lessons learned during these times, too. My son has learned how to milk effectively and to feed the animals, and my daughter has learned how to make a delicious goat stew and helps with the ironing and anything else that needs doing inside our home.

Around our home, it is the weekend, and things are so much more relaxed – God is so good as He gives us times of refreshing and showers of blessing as we wait on Him, knowing that He works all things out for our good!

Jeanne wrote a post the other day about how “Fresh is Best“, and this started me thinking about how we actually live on the farm. With three asthmatics, we have to be very conscious of what we eat, and pre-packaged foods contain some real nasties, such as MSG, sulphur as a preservative and loads of other additives that we really don’t need. Consequently we don’t eat  much that is prepackaged, the exceptions being yoghurt, cheese, fritz, pitta bread, tinned pineapple and mettwurst.

Kalleskes of Tanunda make a really delicious mettwurst, and we use this for home-made pizzas, using pitta bread, tomato sauce, grated cheese, pineapple, fritz and mettwurst which is our Sunday night meal. The majority of the foods that we eat are fresh, as we live on salads, fresh fruit and vegetables and our own farm-fresh produce.

In our home, we :

• Make our own bread.
• Make our own ice-cream.
• Milk our goats.
• Grow our own sheep, chicken and turkeys for meat.
• Keep chickens for eggs.

Last night we picked up our meat from the butcher’s, maybe in a slightly different form to when we dropped her off, but this sheep was VERY fat, and dressed almost thirty kilograms, which means that as live weight, she would have been about 60 kilograms. Our butcher kills and cuts up our meat, rolling the front legs into roasts, and all for $30.00. We don’t have a meat saw, nor do we have a cold room in which to hang the meat, so this seems very good value to us.

This afternoon I went out to water the strawberries, as they don’t like bore water, and one step from the strawberry trough, I nearly stepped on a baby brown snake. Now, I don’t know how much you know about snakes, but a baby brown snake is as deadly as an adult!

I let out a HUGE scream for my husband, and in one bound I was on top of the outdoor table, with my feet on top of the bench seat. Did I want to be anywhere near that snake? No way! No siree! Nope! I hate snakes with a passion, and my vocal chords certainly had their workout for this week. My husband came out and re-located the horrid thing, and I dissolved into a flood of tears. Now, why, oh why, do they have to pick our back yard to have their babies?

The strawberries are growing wonderfully well, and we actually get to harvest our fruit, now that a good friend gave us a helpful hint:~

When you plant strawberries,

make sure that you have tinsel

scattered around the strawberries,

so that the birds don’t beat you to the fruit.

AND this helpful hint actually works. We only planted our strawberries this year, and they are fruiting so well. We planted blackberries (the thornless type) last year, and this year they were badly frosted, so we didn’t expect to harvest any, but they are actually fruiting again, now. This morning my daughter and I actually had our first taste of thornless blackberries, and they are every bit as good as the variety with thorns – YUM!

This morning my daughter picked the ripe tomatoes, and they are absolutely divine – I love home-grown cherry tomatoes, as the taste of a home-grown cherry tomato is so full of flavour! There are also a few Apollo tomatoes that are good for sandwiches, as it is so fiddly trying to place cherry tomatoes onto a sandwich.

I praise God for His constant provision over us, and I am truly thankful that He constantly provides us with all that we need. Notice that I said, “All that we Need”, for He provides for all of our needs, but never our greeds. I also praise Him for keeping me safe from the fangs of the brown snake that intruded into our back yard today!

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. Colossians 1:16, 17

When my son went down to see the turkey poults and bantams this morning, he found that the turkey hen had stepped on and squashed two turkey poults, and the other turkey poult had skin missing from its neck and was dead also. The turkey Mums are so clumsy – the bantams are usually quick enough to keep out of her way, but the turkey poults are slower moving.

Out of seven turkey poults, we have lost three, so we have moved them into our laundry with a light set up above the box to keep them warm. We have also given them crushed grain and a small water dish, so that they won’t drown in it. Aren’t they just so cute – I know where to find my daughter if she goes missing.

AND

Guess where the turkey hen was?  She was looking for her chickens, and flew up on top of the car shed roof. My husband has removed her from the roof, and now will trim her wing so that it doesn’t happen again.

The bantams and turkey poults are lovely and warm now, and they have been eating and drinking well, so they should thrive and grow quickly. Just as the turkey poults and bantams will grow into adulthood using the warmth of the light, we, too, will grow into the sort of people that God wants us to be if we walk in the light, as He is in the light. Praise God that we still have some turkey poults to be able to grow into adulthood!

Today our turkey hen has started hatching her chicks, and they are so lively – my son held the newborn turkey poult in front of him, but next to him so that it couldn’t jump out of his hands. So far she has hatched four turkey poults and two bantam chickens. She is still sitting on all of the other eggs, and some of them have cracks in them, so we are praying that God will grant the increase. Turkey poults are very similar to ducklings when they hatch, especially in colouration.

We have another broody hen, so we intend sitting her on bantam eggs and turkey eggs, especially if the turkey won’t continue to sit. Turkey meat is the most delicious meat that you can eat, and it is also the least allergenic for people with asthma and allergy problems. Did you know that a group of turkeys is called a rafter? Turkeys are frequently used for Thanksgiving and for Christmas in many countries.

Our gobbler is delightful, and he talks with me whenever I see him – scary thought eh, talking to a turkey? He doesn’t like the males in our family, but he is ever so friendly to my daughter and me – perhaps he thinks that we are a part of his rafter. The protuberance from the top of the gobbler’s beak is called a snood, and  our turkey gobbler’s name is “Snood”. He’s ever so cute!