Updates and Lessons Learned

There have been a few things that I’ve posted about that I thought it was worth giving updates for.  I toyed with the idea of making a note at the bottom of the original page, but I don’t know if many of my readers go back and reread stuff they’ve already read.

Garlic

When I first started this blog, I wrote a piece about preserving garlic.  I found after a week, that my little jar of chopped garlic seemed to be constantly forming bubbles and leaking oil, so I put it in the fridge.  I’ve done this to garlic in the past and never seen this happen, so my only thought is that it may be because it was imported garlic from the supermarket.

My cloudy creamy garlic

In the fridge, the oil became cloudy first and then changed to a soft cream-like consistency.  The garlic has yellowed a little too.  It still tastes great and smells even better.  If I leave the jar out of the fridge, the oil returns to a more normal appearance.

I’ve seen this before when I was making my own herb infused oils.  Rosemary infused olive oil goes very cloudy when it’s cold but clears when it’s warm.  It’s quite normal and still perfectly okay to use.  If anyone has followed my recipe and is worrying that they’ve made a mistake or something is wrong.  Don’t.

Onion Jam

My jar of onion jam came out at New Years.  It didn’t last very long.  One of the friends who was staying with us ate it straight from the jar and raved over it.  It was delicious and very well received - even by those who normally pick 90% of onions cooked or raw, out of their food (Hubby).  I will be making some more.

Things I’ve Learned Over the Last Month

Pigs take a lot longer shagging than cows or chickens.  We were quite thoroughly impressed by George and Darla’s stamina in this respect.  Hopefully, we’ll have our first piglets in a few months. Three months, three weeks and three days I'm told.

Clipping a hen’s wing makes absolutely no difference if she’s already figured out how to climb out of the run.  After herding Scrappy (the last of our original chooks) back into the run a few times, I clipped a wing.  We took her back down to the run and put her in, only to watch her jump and then climb up the netting and come back out.  We have a few schemes in mind to keep her contained.  We’ve got out of the habit of closing doors to keep the chooks out so I’ve had to clean up a few messes inside and she’s eaten all the cat biscuits on more than one occasion.

We really need nesting boxes in the chook house.  When we built this version of the chook house, we left it as a nesting shelf.  Mrs Wolowitz has gone broody and is currently taking all of the eggs to sit on.  At last count there were over 20 eggs under her (barely, she’s a bantam).  When she’s hatched however many she’s going to, I’m going to get rid of the other eggs, put in boxes and mark the ones that any future broody hen is allowed to keep.  With four hens I shouldn’t need to be still buying eggs.

When the septic tank needs emptying, get it done before it’s really full.  We had to cut an easily removable lid in the top of ours.  It had a large concrete slab that the previous owner used to lift with a tractor for the septic tank man.  We don’t have the facilities to do this, so Hubby had to buy and borrow tools to be able to cut through the concrete and steel to make a smaller lid.

The side effect of this wait is that the tank was so full that it blocked up the pipes.  Months later, we’re still dealing with blocked pipes.  Most drainlayers aren’t interested in doing this kind of thing anymore, they only do new builds.  Anyone who would do it AND come all the way out here is going to charge through the nose so we’re getting used to clearing sewerage blockages.

When you buy a new freezer, check that it’s working before you put food in it.  We bought a large chest freezer (as we'll need one when we start calling out the home kill for cattle) and emptied our smaller chest freezer into it because the older one needed defrosting and cleaning.  There were two bags of pork bones, some hocks and fillets, the five big bags of savouries and three pizza slabs for New Years Eve, some bags of ice and a few other bits and pieces.  On New Years Eve, Hubby went to get some ice and found that the freezer wasn’t working.  The smell was dreadful and the waste was heartbreaking.  Fortunately, Fisher and Paykel are going to pay us out for the lost food.  Apparently this is a fairly common problem!

The puppy should be called Houdini and is the most talented escape artist ever.  For summer, his kennel is in a good shady spot and we were chaining him to it at night.  He’s chewed up two collars - one was a decent, expensive thick leather collar - and has figured out how to slip chains and chokers.  Hubby has built a big cage around his kennel, he has room to move around without needing to be chained up.  We’re living in hope that this will contain him.  He’s a big puppy and only seems to be getting bigger.

When money is tight, handmade Christmas presents beat all. I spent a day baking biscuits for my parents, I made fudge and coconut ice for Miss Seven and crochetted a dolls dress that seems to be the favourite present for Miss Seven.

A few years ago, when I was pregnant with Master Fifteen, money was very tight and I made little hampers for everyone.  They were personalised with preserves, shortbread, russian fudge - whatever I knew that the recipient liked.  Another year I made bath salts and oils for my mother and my mother-in-law.  I’ve given cross-stitch pictures as presents.  The fact that I’ve taken the time to make something seems to have more meaning than buying the perfect gift.