Hello, this is Cordelia speaking to you from our Palace. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to have a name. It means a lot to a chook like I. And not only one name, but a surname as well! Cordelia Spandangle. Very apt for a Spangled Hamburg - my mum would be proud.
I thought you might like to see around the Palace.
Lovely old pumpkin
First of all the Forecourt. As you can see, delicious things are scattered all about. There are mushy old pumpkins and weeds with lovely roots and crusts. They attract little insects that we find particularly delicious. Yummy hey?
Brian saves scraps from home and brings them on Saturday. We like him.
Daddy Warbucks and Opal - it should have been me!
Then we get mash and corn brought to us by Daddy Warbucks. We call him that because he must have lots of money to feed us as he does. He also brings us wood shavings for the floor of our house. Luxury!
Our excellent ramp
Here’s the ramp that we use to get in and out. It’s nice and wide so that when we feel an egg coming on we can get in quickly and jump into a nest.
We all like to lay in one nest, it’s more homey that way.
One morning's worth
After the ducks' bath!
There are ducks next door! They are an inferior kind of poultry although I think they are some kind of cousin many times removed. Anyway, they come into our precinct sometimes and bathe in our water! Very poor manners, ducks. This is how they leave it, although I must say it still tastes ok.
Inside looking out. We can keep an eye on the ducks next door.
Inside, Nice and cosy.
Hope you enjoyed the tour. Lovely to have you visit!
Our independent judge, after careful research and many questions (he drove me a little crazy with questions until I finally had to get firm with him) decided that the beautiful Spangled Hamburg should be named:
Cordelia
It suits her very well. Isn't she gorgeous!
June Marryat from New Zealand came up with Cordelia. However, we had many wonderful entries and rather than waste them we decided to go a little crazy and give the chooks complete names – first name and surname.
So we have:
Cordelia Spandangle
Cindy Amaryllis
The 4 white ones are:
Chookaroo 101
Queenie I Chook
Chic Chic Tilika
Binkie O
The 4 Brown ones are:
Piebald Mama
Ophiuchus (the 13th constellation in our heavens)
Henrietta Cluckaby
Selma Speckles
Claudia Isabella, Opal, Piebald Mama and Henrietta Cluckaby
The 6 Black ones are:
Claudia Isabella
Opal (very apt for the blacks as their feathers shine in the sun)
We’ve decided to hold over Malvolio and Farouk for the rooster. He’ll have some version of Amarooster Malvolio – we’ll have to think about that. Or, if you have suggestions, write them at the bottom of the blog.
Janet and I had rather a hilarious time with the names, and we couldn’t help thinking of personalities to go with them. So Donatella Gucci is probably a very fashion conscious self absorbed chook who struts about a lot. Chic Chic Tilika is a long legged model, Henrietta Cluckaby a deep bosomed, motherly sort and so on.
Fedora Toots, Frieda Spades, Ozmoa, Chookaroo 101
We raised $50 to be used for the garden. Thank you to you all. Oh yes, we had entries from Australia, New Zealand, America, Spain and Portugal. Hopefully, word will get out about this blog and people will use it to stay in touch with the one of the grass roots (yes – pun) activities at this favourite spot on earth.
Another perfect day at the garden yesterday! Weather perfect, soil perfect, cup of tea perfect.
The shade structure is now almost complete thanks to the efforts of Brian and John. Last Thursday we moved all the plants in pots – paw paws, macadamia and some citrus, into the new shade area which gives us a lot more room to sit comfortably in the people area.
Yesterday (Saturday) was mostly devoted to harvesting vegies and preparing them for sale at our round-about stall. I mentioned last time the vegies we harvested so I won’t bore you again, but this time we added white radishes. And in the next few weeks we should be harvesting potatoes as well.
Colourful stalks of silver beet (chard)
Curly leaf kale
There are two Knowledge reviews today so there’ll be lots of traffic and we wanted to take advantage of an opportunity both to increase our revenue this week and to show off our lovely produce.
As Janet and I were setting up the stall several cars pulled up (volunteers on various projects) and bought almost a third of what we had for sale! It gave us a chance to socialise too – I met some people I only see once in a blue moon so I guess there are hidden benefits to volunteering on “the farm”.
After our socialising had provided a rest for we admittedly weary “farmers”, we had enough energy to pick some citrus from the orchard. We picked loads of oranges and lemons, but occasionally we had trouble deciding which was which. There are some lemon-like things which are big enough to be oranges but not the right colour. Turns out they are lemonade lemons. Then there were lemons that looked like limes – the jury is still out on them, they’re the right colour for limes but not the right smell.
Not only did we have the stall at the roundabout, we had an extra stall over at Sandy Creek for the caravan club who were using it for the weekend. We put pumpkins and citrus over there. This really has been a big weekend!
And to top it all off, today is the last day of our “Name the Chook” competition (see previous posts). We’ve had some really good entries, some delightfully silly entries, and of course a winning entry – but more about that in the next few days, after our feathered panel has chosen.
For the next few weeks we have a lot of planting to do, and a lot of weeding too. Janet managed some of that yesterday, and I planted two rows of tomatoes, but we need more lettuces and silverbeet and we have to get going on some root crops too.
How long must a chook as gorgeous as me have to remain anonymous?
I know I stand out from the crowd of other feathered floozies anyway because of my alluring beauty spots, but I crave a name like those other old chooks who work outside the chicken wire fence.
Perhaps I could just recycle one of their names. After all, there's a lot of recycling going on here.
Janet? No, not glamorous enough.. Anita? Don't like the 'eat her' bit on the end! Jenny? Possibly. Might prefer Jennifer though.. Martine? Tres Francais and a distinct possibility!
Oh, WTC!* I want my own name!
Some of you have sent in a few suggestions and that's good. But I do want more choice. You've got until Sunday to come up with a large variety of monikers (Hmmm..Monica?) which describe my many attributes - including:
1. Beauty 2. Charisma 3. Assertiveness
There's a full-feathered frontal shot of me as First Prize and the promise of a peck on the cheeks for the Runners up! Honestly, how could you resist?
That's all for now, from She Who Remains Nameless!! (cluck, cluck)
PS: $1.20 gets you one entry. Cluck the Donate button, put my new name in the comments box and Double cluck - you're done!
“Beautiful one day – perfect the next” as a politician liked to say about Queensland.
Yesterday was perfect. Neither hot nor cold. Marrow-warming in the sun, refreshing in the shade. A cup of tea accompanied by chooks clucking and an occasional loud announcement of the arrival of an egg (5 by the end of the day). Lunch eaten with clean hands but grubby fingernails – evidence of digging in the soil. A quick meeting to catch us up on the happenings in the garden - what was harvested, what was planted, how much money was taken at the “honesty” stall near the roundabout.
The stall at the roundabout.
At one point a young hawk sat on top of the duck house, eyeing off the young ducks. Marking out future meals. John got up to chase him away but there’s not much danger really since Joe has put a roof on the duck compound.
In between cups of tea and lunch we weeded and harvested and planted and built. Janet and Jenny weeded a large patch of nut grass. Shocking stuff it makes a web of “nuts” under ground and pushes up spikes of bright green grass. It has such a strong life force I always think it must be good for something medical. Anita hoed and sowed – beetroot I think.
Janet and Jenny dealing with nut grass.
John and some visitors built some more of the new shade area outside the shed.
You can just see John with a hammer in hand - although you might need a microscope with this size picture!
I collected eggs and harvested kale, lettuce, bok choi, rocket (aragula), onions, mustard greens (purple) and coriander. Janet picked some silverbeet and we found some small sweet potatoes left over from the harvest. My little gardening soul was in heaven!
Really putting their backs into that weeding!
That tiny figure is me, standing over a bathtub (literally) washing the vegies ready for the stall. The peas in the foreground are nearly ready to pick. They're quite delicious eaten very young too.
Here in Australia we have a gardening show called “Gardening Australia” and until recently it was hosted by an 85 year old chap who could easily have passed for 60! He swore that his vigour was due to eating lots of kale.
The purple mustard greens (!) we grow have large purple leaves which are a bit rough – like nettles. They don’t look appetizing to me but Viv swears they are fantastic in a sandwich. Jenny said they were awful eaten raw but an Indian friend cooks them and swears they are delicious!
Stay tuned to this blog for recipes in future. Our Nameless Chook is still nameless – enter the contest to name a chook (chicken) and win a lovely poster (oh, and support the garden of course).
Cheers for now
Norid
Coriander in flower, spring onions and white radishes. In the background, the girls still weeding!
Spent about 4 hours at the Farm yesterday. I hadn't been able to make my usual Saturday trip out there, so come Tuesday, I was really missing it.
Had a pleasant time sweeping and weeding paths, digging for sweet potatoes - no luck, they've all been harvested - and replanting some tumeric plants. Wielding a shovel isn't usually my thing, but the soil was so rich and soft after recent rains, it was a pleasure to dig.
What first struck me when I got there was how well cared for it looked, and also how the garden - though small - is beginning to flourish. It looked picture perfect - from the beds of silver beet and kale, to the beds with bok choi and coriander and the larger crops of potato and garlic - even down to our funky (and functional) little sheds. Can't wait for our potato harvest next month sometime.
Stopping for a cup of tea after some mild exertion is a common practice at the Farm.
Personally, I find it promotes appreciation! And I have to say, I do appreciate being able to come to this beautiful property (over the course of nearly 20 years) and to be part of a relaxed team engaged in something productive, satisfying - and healthy!
So here are the latest pics (above) though they don't do it justice...
Oh and by the way,the chooks are all doing well - if a little bossy and demanding of anyone who comes close. But they had graciously yielded 8 fresh eggs - one still warm as I put it into the carton. The Spangled Hamburg (still unnamed) strutted about with a certain panache.
The veggie stall with honesty box up on the other road is doing well. It's like it's always been there and I imagine it will be a fixture now. It's a no-brainer that this property should be yielding produce and supplying to a regular ready market of people who flow through to help.
So that's it from me (Janet) for now. And do remember our naming competition. It's much simpler to enter - now that we've figured out the Donate Button! $1.20 per entry to name this frivolous creature.
