Category Archives: Sustainable Back Yard

R.I.P Alvin

2014-02-08 - Alvin

The Assistant Manager of the Backyard, the rooster named Alvin,  passed away today.  He was a great representative of the Ancona breed, and, above all he had personality and presence. He was like a friend and kept  me company as I toiled in the yard. I tried everything I could to save him – regular worming, the best food, fresh water, warm house, company and ……free range access to the garden during the day.  The last part is what did him in,  I think.  Alvin loved picking up every little thing he saw on the ground, working over the garden from end to end. In my efforts to establish a vegetable garden, turning over the soil to work in compost and lime as well as manure and I keep finding rubbish – bottles with dubious contents still in them, plastic, strange substances and whatnot. I cart everything away on discovery but that has not helped.

I have a lovely ngaia tree in the garden and know that the leaves are poisonous – that probably means that the berries and flowers are, too. I have not observed Alvin eating those, though. Some weeds are a worry and I shall have to check with neighbours to see which are poisonous. I still want to free range my chickens but fear for their safety.

 

12 Square Meters of GARDEN for FREE

BEFORE                                                         AFTER

The previous owners thought it good to plant grass, flax, ferns, etc in a premium sunny corner of the garden – all covered with plastic sheeting and the plants peeping through the holes in the sheet. Not only was it ugly, untidy, unproductive and impossible to work because of all the plastic, but also messy. I have at long last plugged up the courage to remove all the plants and sheeting, dig it over and now have a beautiful 12 meter square bed where I have already planted two olive trees and many vegetables to come. The next few weeks will see a lot of compost going in and hopefully soon it will be very productive as it is probably the sunniest spot in the garden. I just cannot understand people wanting to have a “garden” then cover it in plastic and pebbles as this property was two years ago.

Duck Hunting in Middlemarch

I was very fortunate to be invited for my first New Zealand duck hunt last Saturday. We prepared our Maimais on Friday and was out before light on Saturday. Even if there were to be no ducks, the shear beauty and pleasure of being out in the wild was adequate compensation. We were fortunate to get our share of ducks early on Saturday and enjoyed the views, walks along the streams and fresh air for the rest of the day. Sunday was duck cleaning day and after a few technical hitches, everything went smoothly and soon we had enough duck meat to last a long time. I was fortunate as nobody was interested in the offal and had it all to myself. As soon as got home I made it all into coratella, ate some and packed the rest into about 30 portions for the freezer – wonderful. The ducks were cut into portions, vacuum packed and frozen. I gave some meat to a few close friends and my neighbor across the road tried it the very next day and gave me the recipe for slow basted duck breast with dried figs, a recipe she created herself, which apparently was absolutely delicious.

RECIPE

Braise some onion and garlic in olive oil in a oven proof pot. Dust the duck breasts in flour and brown in a separate pan in olive oil. Now put the duck in with the onion and garlic and ad passata (tomato sauce) wine, chicken stock, dried figs, salt and pepper and bake in the oven for four to five hours at 120C. Turn and baste every so often.

Duck breasts and figs are on the menu for later in the week!

There were various hunting groups in the area and Saturday evening we all congregated to discuss the day and watch rugby together. I was disappointed to learn that many hunters would take breasts only and a few groups even discarding up to 60 entire ducks unused to only go out the next morning and kill some more. I am used to harvest for the pot only, waste nothing, and leave some for next year.

Coturnix coturnix Breeding Progress

When selecting for multiple characters in a single breed, progress is slower the more characters that are selected for simultaneously and vice versa. I have four breeds of Coturnx coturnix for which color is one of the selection parameters. I have therefor decided to have a breed of birds where color does not matter and I am selecting for functional efficiency only. It is remarkable and exiting that in only two years, with relatively small numbers of birds, this new breed (call them BYF Specials) are slowly, but definitely, outperforming the other four breeds. At present most of the birds are dark brown with patches of white. Interesting times ahead!