Fortunately I have NOT cut back on any animal fats and have NEVER eaten margarine.
Category Archives: Sustainable Back Yard
Making Compost
Today was compost aerate day at Back Yard Farmer, but it was not such a huge effort as I fortunately had a lot of help, as can be seen.
Organisms such as those we want to propagate in our compost heaps require oxygen to survive (Aerobic), therefor all high temperature aerobic composting needs to be aerated frequently for rapid odor free decomposition. The process of turning over and aerate the compost heap also helps to reduce the initial high moisture contents, but also turn those materials that were on the outsides to the center and expose these to higher temperatures as well. It is also an opportunity, if turned by hand as most small gardeners would do, to sort larger pieces which are slower to decompose as well as any foreign materials such as rocks, etc from your compost. A good healthy compost heap would smell like good fresh soil with a loose consistency with no compaction and slimy wet parts and contain a ton of worms, which more than often is a good yardstick of the general well being of the compost.
At Back Yard Farmer we keep a number of bins under the sink in the kitchen and sort our waste immediately when generated. We have bins for Compost, Worm Farm, Rabbits, Chickens and Quails as well as waste for disposal. Then all of our garden greens, poultry and rabbit used bedding and manure also goes into compost.
Cured Salmon
Fresh South Island salmon from our friend Ross Hutchinson at Blue Water Products in Dunedin is an excellent product for this easy to make delicacy.
Fillet and de – bone one FRESH salmon. Mix 800 gram coarse sea salt and 200 gram granulated sugar with the grated rind of two organic fresh lemons. In the bottom of a large enough stainless steel container to have both fillets lying flat and not touching, place a layer of the salt mixture. Now lay the fillets, skin side down, on the salt mixture and cover well with the rest of the salt mixture. The fillets should be totally covered. Refrigerate for 24 hours, then turn the fish over and again completely cover it with the salt mixture. Refrigerate again for 24 hours. Remove the fillets and wash very well under cold running water until all the salt is washed off. Pat dry with paper and your salmon is ready to eat. I normally cut it into four pieces and vacuum seal those pieces I am not going to eat immediately. In the vacuum sealed bags in the fridge these should last a good four weeks.
Today we had quail eggs topped with truffles Mrs BYF brought back from the promised land, with cured salmon and fresh garden salad – sprinkled with ground black pepper and a dash of olive oil. Excellent with home made ciabatta and home made wine.
Another, and a big favorite in our house, is to place a bit of home made ricotta on a piece of fresh pane di casa and top it with cured salmon and caper berries, freshly ground black pepper and a dash of good olive oil. Wash all of this down with the best Italian Prosecco you can afford and pretend you are in heaven
ENJOY!!
National Poultry Show – Oamaru
Today Mrs BYF and I took the two grandsons and their mother to the National Poultry Show in Oamaru, The poultry show was great and we admired all the not so functional efficient poultry breeds, as well as those that have a purpose of existence. The grandsons were very intrigued by the pigeons that swallowed balloons and those who forgot to tame their punk hairstyles. One of them wanted a balloon pigeon to take home, the other opted for a goose.
The other reason for attending the show was to see if their were any Anconas worth adding to my flock. I found the organisation a bit haphazard. Following my inquiries days before the show about birds for sale, I was informed that there would be “silent” bidding for animals on sale but nobody seemed to know anything about this “sale”. Also trying to find which animals, if any, were for sale delivered little results. Needless to say, I came home without any Anconas – to the delight of Mrs BYF.
The best of the trip was experiencing the Victorian part of the city – very impressive. The picnic on a stone table with the harbor on the one side and the playground on the other, was a great success attracting lots of comments from passers by, as we were the only picnickers. I forgot the home made wine as well as the tablecloth at home, but a bottle of local plonk went down well with the home grown salads, quail eggs, home cured salmon, focaccia, lamb and cucumber sandwiches and bread. By the end of the picnic the kid’s sandwiches lived up to their name – containing real sand from the playground. After the lunch the trip back seemed much longer than the trip going.
Out of Africa
Being married for almost half a century and having been told every so often that I have too many animals, I never thought the day would come that Mrs BYF would buy me another. Returning from darkest Africa, after three months on safari, she returned with this guinea fowl. If I have a bird, given the practical farmer that I am, I either eat it or breed from it. Eating such a valuable bird seems wasteful, so, to improve the genetics of my flock, I now am trying to extract some valuable DNA from the African beads, (which Mrs BYF has a passion for) and coat hanger wire.
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