Costuming

Things on the property have slowed down somewhat since my last post here.  Due to a number of things, such as my body arguing with the cold weather, no wwoofers at present and also being distracted by the work I am doing on costumes at present.  I have become fixated on the Outlander series and the books written by Diana Gabaldon.  Mainly due to my fascination with all things historical.  I have just packed the sewing machines away after a two week slog on my latest creation. It has been a big challenge as I didn't have patterns for this costume and basically cut pattern pieces on the dressmakers model.  It is based on an outfit worn in series one by the leading lady, not identical as I wanted it to be individual.  So here is my twist on a woman's 1740s gown in the highlands of Scotland. I will be debuting this outfit at a Heritage Festival in a nearby town on Father's Day.

Making great memories

My wwoof hosting journey continues and at present I have a young man from Germany here with me.  Simon has been such a breath of fresh air and has also been a marvelous help around the property.    We have managed to finish the drip watering system in the olive grove, along the chamomile row and in the rosemary hedge.  This will lighten my workload on a daily basis as I will no longer have to water everything by hand.  Bless him for his efforts in that.  We also managed to complete the timber raised bed that was not quite finished when Simon arrived and today we filled it with soil, horse manure and straw.  This will break down over time and become incredible soil for future planting. On top of this we have begun to plant the winter crop and replenished some of the flowering plants to encourage bees to the area. During the two weeks with me, Simon has experienced a number of firsts.  He got to go fishing for the first time and caught a beautiful yellow belly.  I cleaned it and then cooked it up for his dinner that night.  Simon's first catch and first taste of an Australian fish.  Top marks to him for his attempts there.   His prior host had organised for Simon to go to a local rodeo, to help them man the bar.  While there he got to see Buck and bull riding as well as many other events during the night.  Another first as they don't have rodeos back home, he said.  Simon came away most impressed with it all. On the Saturday Simon came back to me and along with my sons, we went to the local speedway racing.  Simon had never seen this kind of racing in Germany as they only have Formula 1 and rally driving.  During the course of the night, I jokingly said to him, If I can arrange it would you jump in a car and go for a ride with a race driver.  He was most keen on that idea, so at half time while in the pits, I spoke to my favourite driver and his daughter (also a race driver) and jokingly mentioned what I said to Simon.   Young Chloe jumped at the chance to take him along in her car the next day and told us to be back at the track at 2.30 for him to be fitted with a race suit and for him to learn the ins and outs of safety and such.  Simon spent the entire night with the team and rode with Chloe during her 4 races.  He even had the opportunity to be with her when she won the finals.  He is still smiling like a cheshire cat and I am sure that when he moves onto the next leg of his journey he will cherish all he has seen and done here.

Another step toward self reliance

Over the last year I have worked toward learning new skills.  This weekend I managed to fit in one exercise that has achieved that.  My friend and I went shares in some goats to kill and dress.  Once that part of the deed was done, we got busy with a mincer and sausage stuffer and made over 10kg of seasoned goat sausages.  The end result was great and I have even managed to learn the art of tying the sausages off.

Pretty chuffed with myself and I am now confident enough in the task that I will endeavor to do chicken ones in the near future.
Today I also spent about an hour researching and pricing mincers and stuffers so that we have extra equipment to cover big production days.  Having 2 sets of equipment means we will get the job done in half the time. Our aim is to provide meat products for 4 homes.  Almost like feeding a village when you think about it.   Sharing costs, work input and then at times enjoying the end result of all we have done, together.  Over a fire pit, bbq or even at times using the spit to do whole animals.
I am planning on introducing meat birds in the very near future, that will increase the food production by at least another 15%.  These birds can reach weights of 2 kg in just a matter of 10 weeks, when they are culled, dressed and processed. I will dress some out as roasting birds, some as chicken pieces and some as mince for sausages. The infrastructure is already in place so it will not be a huge task to prepare for their arrival.
I already have a small flock of ducks roaming through the orchard, where they clean up the pests that can be detrimental to the fruit trees in there.  I am also planning to only keep two ducks and a drake for future breeding.  The offspring with then be processed in various ways to be shared amongst those in my circle.