Chooks and chickens

Having grown up with chickens roaming round the yard and the boisterous crowing of the roosters as part of the soundtrack of my childhood, it seemed only natural that we should have some of the feathery fowl.

Getting started was easy enough as my mother still keeps a motley crew of hens. Working through the technicalities has been a little more challenging.  Chickens are generally low maintenance, forage for a good portion of their food and offer a variety of valuable by-products including eggs, meat, earth moving, feathers, manure and body heat.

Assuming you have a rooster, their tendency to hatch out large numbers of babies means, for better or worse, the size of your flock can grow very quickly.


Got 'matos precious?

Got 'matos precious?

Our tomatoes are out of control, a huge improvement over last year.

We have a bunch of different varieties but the most prolific by far are the roma. Last year a lot of these ended up in the compost and subsequently sprung up all over the garden. Unable to bring myself to pull them out we are now drowning in tomatoes.
February 19, 2011
  tomato  preserve  stew 
olmec
Processing
Cucumbers

Cucumbers

Details   We are finally starting to get some cucumbers out of the tunnel house. Things have been growing like crazy in there, to the point where access is almost impossible.
However, having only one opening prevents airflow making the temperature too high and reducing bees, required for pollination. As a result, yields have been low.
Modifications are in order....
Date   March 05, 2011
Tags     cucumber  vegetable  tunnel house 
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Strawberries

Strawberries

I love this time of year because finally, after the dormancy of winter, the taste of summer becomes evident.
We got a bumper first crop of strawberries (it's still going). All I did was apply some wood ash around the plants when they started flowering, it seems to have helped...
November 30, 2010
  Strawberries 
olmec
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New season potatoes

New season potatoes

We've been waiting, patiently, and finally the potatoes are ready. Here is a selection of freshly dug and washed spuds ready for cooking. The purple ones are a Maori variety.
January 01, 2011
  potato 
olmec
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The season of the bean

The season of the bean

Our bean patch isn't huge but it's managing to produce far more than we can consume. Time to process the excess for use over winter.

While the power is still reliable and affordable, freezing is our preservation method of choice.
February 09, 2011
  beans  freezing  preserving  harvest 
olmec
More photos
Black Turtle Beans

Black Turtle Beans

Four months ago I planted a small handful of beans in an area of about six square meters.

Now they are ready to pick and I have gathered in at least 30 - 40 times what I planted.

This has got to be one of the best and easy to measure returns on effort expended.
March 20, 2011
  beans  black turtle  harvest 
olmec
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Cheers!

Cheers!

Improving the quality of seating with a dash of paint and reusing surplus materials.

Now with wheels!
January 20, 2011
  chairs 
olmec
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Bee swarm

Bee swarm

It started with a few bees buzzing around the corner of the house and quickly turned into several thousand.
Hoping to prevent their entry into the roof cavity I blocked up the small hole they had discovered and tried to forget about it. They wouldn't give up.
November 19, 2010
  bees  swarm  insects 
olmec
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Harvesting Potatoes

Harvesting Potatoes

I have been digging potatoes, clearing ground for winter improvements and mulching.

6 of the bigger plants that had been in since late September (209 days) resulted in this assortment of spuds, drying inside before going into storage.
April 25, 2011
  Potatoes  Drying  Harvest 
olmec
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Measuring the sun

Measuring the sun

As part of my ambition to get a solar electric system up and running I have been conducting some tests.

My interest is in the effect of the suns angle to the panel array and the relationship to voltage. While there are probably some models put there, I have not seen any and find that actual experience is much more convincing and reliable.

My observations will influence my decision to include tracking capabilities to my solar installation.

Notice the clever little rod below the panels whose shadow (or lack of) can be used to determine if it is pointed directly at the sun.
May 18, 2011
  solar  electric  measure  photovoltaics 
olmec
Knowledge tours

Knowledge tours

Details   Students from the Kaikoura Creation Care Study Program spent an afternoon at Blockhill touring and learning about forest gardening, water catchment and other aspects of sustainable land use.
Date   May 09, 2017
Tags     education 
Organic Field Day

Organic Field Day

I attended an informative talk (download mp3) by Charles Merfield followed by a field-day at my parents organic farm.
The general topic was low energy input farming and gardening in an unstable climate.
Was good to meet people at my end of the 'crazy' spectrum and witness the interest in my scything demonstration.
November 21, 2010
  organics  field day 
olmec
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Long lasting tree identification labels

Long lasting tree identification labels

While I have a detailed planting map in the computer, it is useful to be able to identify trees out in the real world so I made these metal name tags using sheet aluminium. The names are stamped out using individual letter stamp / punches.
September 09, 2013
  tree  technology 
olmec
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