Inorganic chickens

I don't know what organically grown chickens are; I've never seen one.

Tony Curtis

Given that "organic" means made up of Carbon (together with it's mates Hydrogen, Oxygen, Sulphur and Phosphorus), it's semi-hilarious that folks sell a lot of organic produce around the place.  In other words, they sell everything.  It's only semi-hilarious because the education system seems to be broken when people tell you that an apple is organic with a straight face - we're like "Duh!".  Even the dictionaries have fallen for what is essentially a triumph of marketing over Chemistry.  Well, who needs Chemistry...

Anyhoo, we now have organic chickens (made out of Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen).  First we had no chickens for such a long time, and then a sudden glut; four "point of lay" Hyline Brown girls, and then four stupidly cute Barnevelders of indeterminate gender.  Oskar is very very keen to either meet or eat them - we're not sure so we are keeping him away, but he does love "chicken tv" which consists of staring so hard at them they may end up hypnotised.

The girls are Ruby (top girl and a great fan of Takeo Ischi), Valery (who likes to go to raves), Portia (who is more of a traditionalist)  and finally Lenya (who is famous in a well known chickumentary - can you spot her?).

We had another fine day in the garden today, and we can even see some green stuff (which we are eating tonight).  Pretty cool!  Also, the sheep are several kilos lighter - two shearers named Corey and Corey came along to divest them of their organic fleece and take our inorganic money at the same time.  Not a bad transaction - well done Coreys!

"Milling" about - get it?

Awww....

The spud queen with her perfect patch...

Re-use(less)

The purpose - where I start - is the idea of use. It is not recycling, it's reuse. 

Issey Miyake

We've been recycling and repurposing up here in the hills.  When we arrived we had a mountain of packing boxes and paper.  Throw out?  Sell?  Or, looking at the fireplace, maybe knock up some firebricks with the internet as inspiration.

So:
1. Mush up cardboard boxes, packing paper, junk mail, etc. in a 20L bucket
2. Add some local (free) sawdust.
3. Add water and the secret ingredient (vegetable oil).
4. Let it sit for 24-48 hours.
5. Use an evil looking homemade agitator on the end of a drill to chop it all up
6. Transfer to another 20L bucket that has holes drilled for collection of water/oil mix
7. Sit weights on the top and leave for 24 hours.
8. Turn out brick and then let sit for a few weeks/months
9. Burn, baby, burn!

The leaning tower of recycling

It's not a biscuit - but it burns in a rather yummy way

Also, recently we had need for an extractor fan due to all the soldering going on <rolls eyes>.  Solder is lovely stuff, and pretty nasty in gaseous form.  You can buy an extractor fan for a stupid amount of money...or...

1. Pull apart an old computer and dig out the (still working) 12V cooling fan.

2. Pull out the housing nozzle and stuff with an activated carbon filter

3. Attach to power source and solder safely

OK so it could have been dusted a bit before the photo shoot.

Complete with dodgy electrical tape heated to seat filter

Anyhoo that's kept us out of trouble for a few hours...

Riotous colour

The flower is the poetry of reproduction. It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life.

Jean Giraudoux

Flowers and Bees now - peaches later on...

Riotous colour pervades our senses as the garden wakes up.  Here is some peach blossom for you, please enjoy it as much as we do!

I suspect there will be quite a few more snaps from the garden in the next few weeks.  Have a grand weekend - we're off to sample some local cider to live music.

Papa Bear Day

You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around — and why his parents will always wave back.

William D. Tammeus

What a grand weekend of catching up with the extended family - here's breakfast at the South Melbourne Markets.

Which one is the Mountain Man from Tassie?

We also caught up with a swag of other peeps and generally ate and drank like vikings.
Thanks kids for a top weekend and I'll wave to you on the merry-go-round any time you need me to...