Back to our Blog at last!

It has been weeks (actually months) since my last posting.  And I can hardly believe how this year is flying by already.  Since December we seem to have been on the go constantly.

Our darling granddaughter, Emily, spent part of January with us before she and her Dad and Mom and little brother left for Montreal, Canada. She had such fun ‘on the farm’.  She particularly enjoyed the chickens plus going with Grandpa in the bakkie, swimming, playing with the kids next door, playing at the river, baking with Granny, swinging and so much more. She and young Hayden Bitcon from Bahrain had a ball swinging on a tyre swing as can be seen below. It made me realize how much there is for young people to do on farms – I wish more children had the chance to experience getting out and about with no need for the constantly attached cell phone and couch potato TV  time most common during holidays.  Once they get involved with helping with the chickens, going into the veldt in the bakkie and breathing the fresh air while looking at fascinating rocks and stones I often hear “this is so cool!”

During February we were involved in preparing for Kate and Ruaan’s wedding in March.  There was a pool to be installed plus other garden improvements which were long overdue and are a welcome addition.  A garden is never finished, thank goodness, and work goes on as and when time allows. My Granny was an avid gardener on the farm next door and I have this clear picture of her with her old straw hat on going about her job of continually increasing and improving her garden.  If I have just a small bit of her in me, I am lucky.  Mind you, my mother wasn’t known as ‘Stella Blom’ for nothing – always snaffling slips wherever she went and still does to this day, much to my father’s irritation!  And why not?! – it is a joy to have bits and pieces in one’s garden which remind you of where they came from and the people who so generously gave them to you.  Makes a garden so much more special.

The wedding was a very special day – farmy and down to earth.  It rained for two days solidly before the big day much to my horror.  But thankfully, the sun shone on the bride and groom for the afternoon and everyone had a good time.  The speeches were the best and funniest I had heard at a wedding in a very long time.  And the help we had from our family and friends was quite something to behold.  It is just fantastic being part of this close community – something which not many townies may ever experience!

And now more chicken news as always. Young  guests, Cameron and Luke from Johannesburg, had the full benefit of our darling new baby chicks and were a great help putting them to bed and giving them big dollops of love.  We have two lots of babies – one of twelve and another of seven.  All surviving and thriving – but enough now!  We started with six laying hens and six bantams eighteen months ago and have had a few losses to creatures that prowl in the night but our gains have been enormous – currently we are up to thirty two of all ages, sizes and colours!  So now, we need to find homes for the cockerels as there are currently six which compete before sunrise and I imagine our guests could start demanding chicken pie on a regular basis!

 Our 'little' lamb which is now called Lambie was introduced in a previous blog.  He has grown into a lovable, mielie munching teenager who loves Kate as his own mother.  Mind you, when he sees me he comes running - always hoping for a tasty morsel or two.  He has taken to headbutting our gardener Michael and I watched with great mirth one evening as we were putting the chicks to bed.  He had one stick to herd the chickens and one to fight off Lambie.

Next blog, I will give you a recipe for Macaroni Cheese which is a favourite in our family.

Regards,
Anne

The Possible Pecking of the Pecan Pie

We are continuing our saga with the chickens – simply because they offer hours of amusement. 

Our little black hen is still sitting on her eggs in the pot pourri basket in the dining room. We had a group of 14 wonderful people staying for the weekend, so there has been lots of food and fun! Little hen was not disturbed in the slightest by all the party noise and mayhem going on just two feet from her nest. Such a dedicated and special mother!  She sits there day and night as still as a stone, only going out for half an hour a day to stretch her legs, grab a bite to eat, a drink of water and fluffing her feathers.  Then after her ablutions she sneaks back into her nest, shifts the eggs around, as they need to be turned every so often and there she lies looking after her brood.  Actually, it is quite comical to see her off the nest because she has a genuine problem with walking and looks like a cat with socks on.  She can’t quite decide what to do with her feet after all the sitting!

On Saturday for dinner we served roast lamb, venison pie with vegetables and two puddings – one of them was Pecan Pie (this is a pecan producing farm, so all our guests get a pecan pie experience at least once!).  While I was out of the kitchen, one of our guests, Linda, who was sitting on the stoep like a dassie in the sun with her knitting, heard a noise in the kitchen and found our darling, cheeky (foul) fowl “Chicken Pie” in the kitchen on the counter sniffing around for a tasty morsel.  The Pecan Pie was cooling on the counter and she was fast approaching it with serious intent when she was shooed out of the door.  I then came in to hear of this near disaster and on telling the story to my daughter, Kate, we decided to name the incident “The Possible Pecking of the Pecan Pie”!  I was relieved to see that she had not started on her snack and the pie was unscathed all thanks to Linda, “The Protecter of the Pudding”!  It was enjoyed by all and soon the recipe will be posted on this blog for all to enjoy.

Right, enough about the chooks and on to the change in the weather.  Spring is springing and it is just bloody marvellous!!  Everywhere there are signs of new life.  Newborn lambs, blossoms, pale green new leaves on the trees, especially the willows.  There is almost no sight more heart-warming for me than to see than the willows coming back to life after a hard, cold winter.  Having grown up here in the valley, I have always had a soft spot for willows in particular.  We had them in our garden and one of our favourite playtimes was grabbing a branch and swinging over the furrow – so much better than a jungle gym!  Also, they were very climbable so we spent many an hour pretending to be monkeys and other creatures.  My ‘cuz’ Alan did the best impression of a monkey – but more of his antics as a child another time.  A legend and still naughty to this day!!

Oh, so much to tell you and so many recipes to share!  Today’s recipe is for Easy Cheese Puffs.  And the name describes them to a T.  I made them for breakfast this morning to wide acclaim. So here goes:

EASY CHEESE PUFFS

Flour                      - 1 cup (250 ml)

Baking Powder    - 1 dessert spoon

Cheese                  - 1 cup (grated Cheddar)

Milk                       - 1 cup

Oil                          - 50 ml (mixed in the milk)

Salt                        - small pinch

Cayenne Pepper - small shake

·       Mix all the ingredients together

·       Put into muffin tin

·       Bake at 180 deg - +- 20 minutes

 See how easy it is?  They can be baking while you set the breakfast table or if a friend pops in for coffee, while she (I am presuming it will be a she, but you never know!!) is talking, you can mix a batch while the oven is heating and the kettle is boiling and you are hearing about the latest shopping expedition/bargains/husband irritations (but don’t we just adore them!? – most of the time!) you can sit down and enjoy soft cheesy puffs with butter oozing out of the centre and forget about any angst for a few minutes.............. YUM!

Regards,

Anne

Clever clucks!

Our darling chickens - bantams and the other hens - are proving to be both a joy and extremely invasive! On one hand, they provide us with endless entertainment and on the other they have a fascination with the inside of the house and will sneak in at any unguarded moment.  No matter how we have chased and shooed, they still give it a go and although we at first thought it was rather sweet, it has become quite an irritation.

Observing their behaviour has been really interesting as we had never thought about poultry having brains but birds do have brains, pea-brained as they may be! The roosters (cocks sounds downright rude in polite society!) are so very good to their women and humans could take note.  The male will find a tiny morsel and make a particular clucking noise which gets the females running to him.  He then puts it down for one to eat and immediately presumes she will be willing to pay in kind.  He prances around her doing a sideways dance with his feathers splayed out beautifully and then pounces.  To us humans it is most comical.

Currently we have a little black hen sitting on eggs in a large basket of potpourri in the dining room  As you can see from the photos, the menfolk find the right spot and try it out for size.  Then they encourage their ladies to test it and once one has shown her approval, she will begin to lay her eggs - usually one a day.  Once she has enough, she will start to sit continuously, getting off once a day to eat, do her ablutions and stretch her legs. Such good and devoted little mothers they are!

We have decided to allow this hen to stay inside to give the chickens a chance to hatch because if they are outside, their eggs are stolen by a grey mongoose who has dined royally these past few months and we have had two bantams and a large hen taken in the night by some predator - possibly a wild cat of some sort.  So they need to be closed in their 'hoks' at night to keep them safe.  In fact it is almost time to go and see to them now.  They will be given some stale bread which they absolutely love and follow me like I am the pied piper and before they know it, they are safely put to bed.

Regards,
Anne