06

In a largish pot, bung in chicken portions, enough to do for however long you want or however many you wish to feed. Cover with water and a couple of cups of rice. Boil until chook is cooked. Rice will be too. Take off heat. Beat the whites of 3-4 eggs until stiff. Then put the yolks in with the whites and mix. Don't worry, Brian just heard from a trained Nutritionist out at Deakin University that you would have to put away a dozen eggs every day before the albumen does you any harm... latest research findings. Slowly add the soup to the egg mix, so that the eggs don't turn scrambled. Return the warmed egg mix to the soup. Add the juice of 3+ lemons, or, if like me and a lemon-o-holic, you'll get a stronger flavour by pouring lemon juice straight on the individual serve. Serve up with salt if you find it a bit bland. I have a tendency to have this for all three meals, which, when I am home, means throughout the day.

Still haven't heard back from Mr Stewart re: his Highland heifer. As someone said of the Mercedes, "This too will come to pass."

Porgy and Bess are doing exceptionally well, although to hear them every time we pass they are anorexic. The only time I hear more squealing is when the Carnival is in town.

The rains have well and truly come, and my last load of washing had that damp pong to it which I loathe, but even with a fine day, the washing doesn't dry too well, and I will be grateful when Brian has hitched up the line in the kitchen via a pulley.

Naturally, the feather pen is a quagmire, and I keep remembering that old hit, "Slip sliding away..." Brian is sure the feathers enjoy the mud. Problem is, he decided when we first set it up, to put the outflow from the bath/shower through it. Well, the chooks have well and truly come home to roost. We have dug a channel so that it goes through the chook yard and into the septic, but that, of course, has now filled with mud. I call it liquid gold, I reckon we have more than Texas, and it will be wonderful for transporting to the veggie patch come Spring.

The guinea pigs are suffering however. They do not like the cold, so I must give their cage a thorough clean out and put it on blocks inside the tank that is part of the Feather Pen. I'll also put in shredded newspaper. If it works for winos, it should work for the smaller rodents as well. Mind you, I would rather the winos didn't have to resort to having the Dailies wrapped around them. But that's another issue.

I had to rescue two of the cavies and put them by the fire in the kitchen, feeding them some porridge. They came good, and now they're back out in the wilds of the cage. They had a terrible time in the kitchen, getting banana and carrot and sooking, so they probably, if they had brains, would settle for a little hypochondria if they could.

Today, I cleaned out their cage. Phew! Took me hours, and am I glad someone invented rubber gloves! We saved the wonderful gunge ( a delightful and heady concotion of dead food, faeces, live things which do not bear mentioning here, hair and other wonders of the Feather Pen, but no dead mammals, Praise the Lord) and put it all in a genuine plastic barrel (no expense spared, here) where it will rot down with the chook manure that I placed in there earlier today, so that I could move the cage into the tank, and Brian will put holes in the side of the barrel and we will grow strawberries there. Eventually. Away from the geese.

Speaking of which, Brian just about cold cocked one today that was fighting. It was sooo woozy, it let me pick it up and cuddle it. I ended up placing it in isolation and let it out a short while later, where it was greeted with less than approbrium by the rest of the Farmyard Mafia.

He also did a hatchet job on the one-of-several-too-many roosters we have. The dogs and cats enjoyed the carcass, I didn't have time to turn it into human food, and dashies love a good chew. Saves me buying food for them, and it was a quick death. This rooster didn't even get named.

Oh, since I had such an overwhelming response (not!) to the offer of the last kitten, I gave her away today. I took her into Warrnambool in a pillowcase, which is, I know, one of the safest and easiest ways of moving felines. Probably except the big cats, those with claws that rearrange buildings with one angry swipe. Leave moving those to the experts with blow guns, I reckon.

I finally registered the dogs with the Council, Mowgli, being not up for stud yet (come on, he's only seven months old!) cost me $50. The wallet is wincing as I write. The Council were going to charge me an extra $40 for the cat, but I said, "No, I'll find a home for her, too", so now I have to get a home for an intact adult moggy. Any suggestions in what is a flooded feline marketplace? Maybe I should start up "Rent-a-cat" and just forget to pick her up. Although the Council charge less for working dogs, so perhaps I could get a discount for a working cat. It's an idea. Not a good one, admittedly, but one has to start somewhere.

Enough of this waffling, however enjoyable. I read a bit from an old book, Country Women - A Handbook for the New Farmer, by Jeanne Tetrault and Sherry Thomas, which is virtually autobiographical, and goes from land purchase to seperation with husband onwards. It was printed in 1976, and, just as an aside, has the most wonderful pen-and-ink borders by Leona Walden, which idea I intend to copy and do on my skirting boards of the next house. They are terrific!

In this book, we learn from a woman's perspective about homesteading. We learn how hard it is with a critical husband, how the marriage fell apart, and how she gained confidence in her own homesteading abilities. Like many homesteading journals, there is a lot of honesty and the mistakes are not glossed over. Lots of little handy tips, as one would expect; "To prevent a cracked pump: insulate your pump house of box; keep a light bulb or other heat source near the pump during a freeze; leave a faucet running at night; and change the pressure setting so the pump runs more frequently and cannot freeze. If you can't find a water leak on or near the pump, start tracing the lines. If they are buried underground, this will take some time. you may have to leave the pump running so that enough water will flow out the leak to soak the ground above the leak." p. 61

The book is a mixture of diary and advice, and, like all good reference books, is still relevant today. For example, on p.157, there is a beautifully illustrated table on the Days Between Waterings:

Sand Loam Clay

Shallow Root 4-6 7-10 10-12

Medium Root 7-10 10-15 15-20

Deep Root 15-20 20-30 30+

1" of rain

penetrates 12" 7" 4-5"

To quote further:

"Gardens need a lot of water. I have read that they need an average of 3/5 of a gallon per square foot of garden. This means a 30'x40' garden requires 720 gallons of continuously flowing water; one 100'x100' garden needs 6,000 gallons.

"If you have a shortage of water, you will have to compensate in various ways. I plant the vegetables that need large amounts of water as soon as the soil is warm, so that they will get as much natural rainfall as possible and need little help from me. I am careful to plant my rows parallel with the ground slope so there is little erosion or run off. I plant in flat or slightly depressed rows so the water will puddle around the base of the plants; raised rows require a lot of water.

"Whether you have a water shortage or not, very thorough, infrequent waterings are the best. The perimeter and depth of a plant's root system are determined by the size of the moist area. Deep root penetration gives plants a greater resistance to drought or freezing and produces larger vegetables.

"What this means specifically in your garden is subject to a lot of variables - soil type, watering method, weather conditions, and age and type of plant. Young seedlings of all types need a lot of water. After that, needs vary with the type of vegetable. For shallow-rooting plants (lettuce, spinach, onions, squash, cucumbers), I water when the top inch of soil is really dry. For deep-rooting plants (cabbage family, carrots, beets, turnips, etc.), I push my index finger all the way into the soil and water when it is dry to that depth. Overwatering can be just as bad as drought. It floods air pockets in the soil, robbing poants of oxygen, and can cause fungus diseased, mildew and rot.

"My soil is a sandy loam that drains very quickly (it seems to gulp down gallons). I have found that watering very slowly with a drip method or shutting the sprinkler off at thirty minute intervals to allow time for penetration works best. Non-porous clay soil requires more water less often since it retains moisture. With clay, though, there is often a problem getting the water to penetrate at first. Very slow, steady watering is best."

Don't be put off by the strangely mixed feminist message intrinsic in the voyage of discovery that the author undergoes. Like all reasonable books, grab what you need. Still available second-hand.

I'm always curious as to what has happened to the authors. I tried a Google search and one on MSN, and drew a blank. I would appreciate input from Nita's subscibers if any of you have an update. Thankyou.

Dominus tecum,

Leonie

This is what Nita found on a Google Search: http://www.twbookmark.com/authors/79/376/