Now that the chooks are producing again it's time to make some Chinese tea marinated marbled eggs https://omnivorescookbook.com/chinese-tea-eggs/
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Now that the chooks are producing again it's time to make some Chinese tea marinated marbled eggs https://omnivorescookbook.com/chinese-tea-eggs/
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Wow. Never come across this before. Are they cooked eggs with a crack in the shells? Good stuff Bumblefoot.
Yup; they're really nice for a snack or to put into a salad. I put the recipe link in the post :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Coote
Thanks. Eggs would be one of the last foods I'd ever want to give up. Love them.
Perhaps Kuni's aren't the best choice alone and they need the company of another breed that will dig up the roots? I did read that pigs love the rootsQuote:
Originally Posted by bumblefoot
Possibly, but you only need one minute piece of root for it to regrow. Many if the roots come from behind the fence and amongst fruit trees etc that would be ruined by pigsQuote:
Originally Posted by Moa Hunter
Everything except the hummus, tomatoes and peanuts off the property or hunted :)
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Another great photo.
update on the pigs vs schrubbery ???????
funny the Mrs has allowed our four chooks into the vege garden for a few hours each day to get rid of weeds etc before we have another go at planting it... oxyalis and cooch/twitch are a right mongrel to get rid of...have though we had it beaten twice only for it to come back.... my roundup gardening skills dont have a place in the vege garden so anything to keep the manual side of the labour down is good.
speaking of chooks.... they go nuts over lawn clippings,the mower comes out and they start pacing waiting for some clippings,there just has to be a marraige made in heaven..commercial lawn mowing contractors and the guys with thousands of free range chooks..... rather than paying to dump green waste/clippings,wouldnt it be great if could turn up however often and tip trailer load in paddock for the chooks... it would be mayhem..feathers flying everywhere as they got it for a good scoff session.
The convolvuls hasn't sprouted yet. This is an interesting vid on raising chooks on compost
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWChH9MHkHg
Always a good feeling making a whole feed from home grown and hunted produce. Last summer I did veni steak, home grown potato wedges and a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, carrots and parsley all from the garden.Quote:
Originally Posted by bumblefoot
Took the old 1916 .303 out for a walk today to take a young goat for the freezer. Saw quite a few, but only took a 12 month old billy. I don't take nannies at this time of year as they have young kids with them. Could have taken more, but only needed one. Nice that the 106 year old rifle is still filling the freezer
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And now chilling in the fridge :)
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2 young wild goat legs (minus the shanks); aged for 8 days in the fridge. Seasoned with lemon pepper, bay, cinnamon and star anise ready for roasting on a bed of leeks and onions
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Roast goat and spuds, roasted leeks and onions, stir fried puha, Russian kale, parsley and beet leaves... Only the spuds and mint sauce weren't off the property or hunted :-) And of course; fresh mint tea...
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Not exactly living off the land re food. But the first steps in tanning a skin off one of yesterday's goats. Spread the skin out and salt every exposed piece of skin with non-ionized salt. Roll it up flesh side to flesh side and sit it on an upturned plant pot in a bucket to drain overnight. Tomorrow I'll repeat the process
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Sorry; goats AGAIN..... This nanny was in primo nick....
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I always enjoy looking at your posts Bumblefoot. I will be interested to learn more about your skin curing process.
I'm just going to use a Leder's Tan for them. I am going to brain tan some, but head shot the 2 goats... ;)
I hope I don't bore people with goat posts. but if you want to be self sufficient then you shouldn't forget that goats are on your doorstep and a reliable source of protein. I used the 223 this time instead of the old 303; it felt like I was cheating on the missus leaving the three oh at home...
Heh.... brain shot = no brains. With a body shot you have the brains but holes in the skin. Some folks have talked about using egg yolk for the fat instead of using brains.
Yup you can. But I want t try a different way...
I look forward to your posts about living the more self-sufficient life, I think a lot of people aspire to do things more like your wayQuote:
Originally Posted by bumblefoot
If anyone in Wgtn is keen on goats, I drive the Akatarawa Rd (back road Upper Hutt to Waikanae) fairly regularly and met half a mob there tonight between the summit and Staglands (Hutt side of summit) around 630pm towards 7
There's plenty of meat running around in the hills
If I could get a goat or two I'd be a happy gourmet.Quote:
Originally Posted by bumblefoot
man I haven't got a goat since I cleaned out the mob on river a few years back. Goat is a great lean meat. Looking at some of the dishes I've seen here make my primitive roast and bbq goat look shameful.
Seeing posts on other ppl hunts and recipes never gets boring.
A simple goat curry:
Go to an Asian food shop, anywhere.
Get some Thai red (or green or other) curry paste in a plastic sachet or jar. Also get a can of coconut milk/cream.
For 1~1.5 kg diced meat,
fry a couple or 3 tbsp, of the curry paste, in a little oil, to bring up the flavour, about 2 mins.
Add the meat in batches and fry a while ~ if you put it all in at once, a lot of water/juice, will come out and it's better, if it doesn't, a handful at a time, lightly browning the meat as you go, is good.
After say, 30~45 minutes of frying, add the coconut milk cream, all of it, or half of it, you choose. Heat to nearly, but not boiling, salt to taste and serve.
You can fancify it with capsicum-chilli-herbs and so on if you want.
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Looks good MarkN. I like to have plenty of fluid in my curries. It soaks into the rice we serve it with and it can really 'stretch' a small curry into a big feed.
The 'handy' goats near home are fairly scarce now, and the few in the area seem to be wise enough to stay off the property where I have permission to hunt. But I'm always keeping an eye out for them. My current preference is to get the white ones first, hoping that the darker ones will breed up and not look so obvious on the hillsides. If people don't notice them, they are less likely to get worked up into an anti-pest fervour.
https://i.imgur.com/FK7kxAf.jpg
The trials and tribulations of trying to live off the land... Well over the last few days I noticed that my white Orp rooster has been picking on my favourite old chicken. She's been able to keep away from him by going into a pen he can't fit into.
Today I was going to move her but couldn't find her. Anyway, this evening I had a funny feeling something was wrong and went out to check. The bastard was standing on top of her bashing the hell out of her. I think he may have killed my other old girl a week or 2 ago...
So... I grabbed her and put her in her other pen. And him? He's in a plastic bag and will be soup tomorrow. He won't bash any of my girls again... I checked on her and she's ok. Another 10 mins and I'd probably have had a dead chook. He was the last rooster in my line of white Orps. But no arsehole roosters last long here. There are plenty of good ones...
The old hen is at least 8 years old and nicknamed the "Dog-Chicken" because she's like a pet dog. I got her when she was about 2 years old, about 7 years ago and she was a proper mess. she'd been poorly cared for. She's a lovely bird
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That's an appropriate bag for the rooster. You've given me a business idea. Pre-printing coffins with emojis and words that express our feelings about the passing of the occupant.
Yeah; I wasn't happy doing it. Especially as he's the last rooster from my own line. I couldn't breed for few years while I looked after he folks so only have 2 of my own hens left... I have some birds from bought in eggs; but it's not the same as your own line...
Is she a cross with a silver laced winedot ?
bravo -that would suit mew down to the ground .ya know" in life he was a real bastard ,now hes lyin here whats changed???" lifes a series of leg ups -im here cause me wife saw me gettin the wrong leg up!Quote:
Originally Posted by Coote
@Moa HunterI'm not sure; but has the wrong body shape. She has got Dorking in her though and looks very much like the Dark Dorking. She has 5 toes on one foot; so Dorking in her somewhere. I started a project to breed a Dark Dorking (there are none in NZ) but after putting my pure Dorking rooster over her I caught a bad case of lepto and gave the offspring to a friend who was keen. I was too crook for too long to continue the project.Quote:
Originally Posted by Moa Hunter
I wonder if you had some eggs that hadn't been refrigerated... and had been fertilised by your rooster.... maybe you could stick them under a broody bantam
get in touch with said friend and get some fertilized eggs to incubate...Quote:
Originally Posted by bumblefoot
@Coote The old white hen only lays every 2 days and she's been sneaky and stopped laying in the nest box. Typical! I'm not sure whether him or her were fertile (she is old) as I had no fertile eggs from them. I have 5 roosters and 5 hens from bought in eggs from a Rare Breeds Assn member from last year. But typically for Rare Breeds (people who try to make as much as possible from their birds and are economical with the truth...) only 3 hens and 2 roosters have the correct coloured white legs. I wondered why they always fudged around answering my questions about leg colour....
I have one other hen from my strain; but am not sure whether she is an egg eater or not. I had 2 other hens; her and a second one. One only laid pullet sized eggs and one was potentially an egg eater... One died a week or so ago without me discovering which was which. I'll put that remaining hen and the other old girl in separate pens. That way I'll get eggs from the old girl and hopefully discover if the other is the egg eater.
It was so disheartening to not be able to breed for those years. As the numbers dwindled. I will put a rooster from those bought in eggs and try to hatch any eggs. And if she is still laying now they maybe fertile to my (now departed) rooster. It's not quite the same having someone else's strain in your birds; or losing your strain completely. Most breeders off any livestock would know the feeling. But looking after the folks was more important in those years. But I lost 6 years of breeding...
@Micky Duck I'm sweet for Dorkings. I have my old boy and his 2 sons. One of the sons is an absolute stunner... I've only got 3 hens but am going to put eggs in the incubator this week. It was the white Orpingtons that I'm in the shit with a bit. Good ones are like hen's teeth and I had developed a cracker strain over about 5 years of intensive breeding. Most whites have the awful grey legs, but I'd eliminated that and they were looking like Cook's original Orpingtons; not the powder puff show birds...
These are the Dorkings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1mUY4HotbI
well I love my rhode island reds..but we bought 4 rescue hens...having done one season on big farm,they were $5 each and we get 2 eggs on bad day and 3 most days,havent had four in a day yet so not entirely sure that there isnt a freeloader among them...I have my suspisions as one has comb thats not as bright as the other 3... decent pullets cost an arm n leg that is for sure.
@Micky Duck Rhodies are nice birds. It's funny how people have preferences. I went through the breed books and the birds I kept coming back to were the White Orpingtons and Dorkings. Yet there is a white Dorking in Europe; but I didn't like them; yet I like the white Orps. Weird eh?
Browning off some goat neck chops before they go in the crockpot. Seasoned with bay leaves, cinnamon, star anise, black peppercorns, lemon pepper, garlic, onions and tomato paste. Cooked in stock in the slow cooker for about 5 hours
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The slow cooked wild goat neck chops.... Soooooooo tasty...... Definitely doing that recipe again.... it's nice when a plan comes together....
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