Work and Play: Personal Branding Fun

If you know me well, you will know that I don’t like having my photo taken. I always manage to pull a face, close my eyes, look away, pull a double chin, talk…the list goes on. I’m used to being behind the camera; it’s where I feel comfortable.

One of my New Years resolutions is to feel more comfortable in my skin and learn to laugh at myself more often. I’m nearly 49 years old…it’s time.

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My good friend Edwina, from *Edwina Kate Photography, visited in early January to do my personal branding and well, visit. We had fun. We did some sightseeing, we ate a lot, we drank a lot and in between there was work; Edwina taking photos, me preparing food orders and Edwina helping me prepare my orders. It was a huge week!

By immersing herself in my work and play, Edwina was able to capture photos that represent me and most aspects of my life: wife, caterer, gardener, student, amateur photographer, blogger, farmer and adventurer.

As part of play, Mr D and I took Edwina up to Kiandra which is situated in the Snowy Mountains NSW. It’s an interesting place to visit even though not much of the town exists anymore. You will find information plaques and what remains of Kiandra along a designated track. Note: Please wear jeans and boots or joggers. The March flies did not leave me alone for most of the walk. And they bite.

While I was taking photos, so was Edwina. It’s hard not be self-conscious when you know someone has a camera pointed in your direction.

The sheep needed drenching and vaccinating while Edwina was here. It’s something I haven’t been able to capture properly as I am usually holding the drench or the vaccine.

Food takes up a lot of my time as a caterer. Cooking is something I’ve always enjoyed however I never really considered making a business out of it. My accounting and bookkeeping days were definitely over, so why not. My friend and neighbour, Narelle, who is also a caterer, gave me my first opportunity and I haven’t looked back. And just like the chores on the farm, work still happens when visitors are here. Edwina made a good prep cook, having had plenty of practice with her chef husband, Craig.

My poor garden has been neglected. I think it’s my worst year in the ten years we have lived on the farm. At the time I should have been planting seeds, I was flat out with work. AND we’d had no rain. Watering the garden becomes a luxury when you’re on tank water. Regardless, Edwina managed to find the upside through her lens…and I don’t mean me (looking very glamorous in an unkempt kind of way).

And because I believe in work life balance, here is a view to my crazy side. This was the eve of Edwina’s departure. We both had eyes hanging out of our heads as it had been a very long day however, the show had to go on.

This part of the personal branding I struggled with as the camera was really in my face. I like a wine, no question there, and if dutch courage is what was going to get me through, then dutch courage it was. We laughed a lot through this session. A LOT! Feel free to have a laugh at my expense.

And there you have it.

The Personal Branding experience has given you a glimpse into my life and the person I am. Much more than I would have offered up previously.

Thank you Edwina from Edwina Kate Photography.

Enjoy and laugh! Mrs D x

 

*The website is still under construction however you can look Edwina up on facebook.

The photos on this site are not to be used without the express permission of the author.

Monaco and Monte Carlo

The next part of our adventure took us to Monaco and Monte Carlo via Èze.

It was in Èze that we toured Parfumerie Fragonard – L’usine Laboratoire. This was a nice surprise as it was not on the itinerary. I LOVE perfume so I really enjoyed the experience. It was not everyone’s cup of tea though. Mr D and others in our tour group, found the perfume in the building very strong and had to head outside to get some air. It was free to enter so, nothing gained, nothing lost.

 

After our visit to Fragonard, we headed to Monaco, or more specifically, Monaco Ville or the old town. We made our way, on foot, up to the Prince’s Palace. There was a lot to see however not enough time.

The Oceanographic Museum of Monaco

St Nicholas Cathedral

(Cathédrale Notre-Dame-Immaculée)

Palais de Justice de Monaco

The Prince’s Palace

Mr D and me trying to master a selfie with the Bay of Monaco behind us.

Next stop was Monaco’s most famous quarter, Monte Carlo, which is home to the Casino Monte-Carlo and also plays host to the F1 Grand Prix which takes place on the Circuit de Monaco (the road we travelled). The casino is a magnificent structure however one can’t help but marvel at the cars (if that’s your thing) parked near the entrance. It certainly takes showing off to another level. Before you’ve entered, you know to bring your money with you.

The entrance and what I would call the reception hall, is very grand. At this stage, you can still take photos however, you will be asked to leave your camera with the concierge if you wish to enter the casino. This was something I was not prepared to do and so this concluded our visit.

I love a view, especially of the water. You won’t be disappointed with a trip through the French Riviera. It is a feast for your eyes.

I hope you’re enjoying my trip down memory lane. We are off to Italy next. First stop Genoa.

Enjoy! Mrs D

 

Nice

My last post from our trip to Europe in 2017 saw Mr D and me in Paris, so I have a lot of catching up to do.

On with the adventure!

The next morning, we were on a bus to the station where we caught the fast train to Marseille. Upon arrival, another bus was waiting to transport our tour group to Nice via Cannes, a seaside resort town and home to the Cannes film festival. We didn’t spend a lot of time here; enough time to stretch our legs and enjoy the glorious weather and vistas.

Our next stop was Nice.

At this stage of the trip, we’d started to realise how lucky were to be touring with this group of people. Forty eight people, the majority being from different parts of the east coast of Australia, thrown together for the purposes of a holiday. AND most of them got along. Add to that a couple of great tour guides, Eirini and Thanasis. Random chance or fate?

Life goes on in Nice, as with most touristy towns and cities. People watching and immersing oneself; this is the attraction of travel for me. Walking down the street and being able to buy fruit and veg off a street stall is so appealing. You don’t see it so often in Australia. Smaller sellers can no longer compete with supermarkets.

The Cours Saleya market was an interesting place to visit. It was also a good time to stop for a coffee break and, of course, make use of the facilities. The toilets, funnily enough, were upstairs, so a photo seemed appropriate while I waited.

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Some touristy stuff. From top to bottom: Cathedrale Sainte Reparate, Apollo Statue in Place Massena, Le Palais de Justice and the Clock Tower in the Place de Palais.

And, around every corner, food and wine. My idea of heaven.

Enjoy! Mrs D x

 

A couple of things:

Our tour group stayed in the Hotel Kyriad, Nice Port. Don’t do it! The reception was frosty and the room was falling apart. You couldn’t fault the location however there has to be a degree of comfort after a long day of touring. The little bar across the street, Caffe Italiano, made up for some our dissatisfaction.

Zippers slow down pick pockets. Do not leave things in pockets if there is no zip. Clothes, handbags and luggage. Carry your backpack at the front of your body or always have a travel buddy walking behind you. Don’t let your luggage out of your sight. Anything is fair game.

 

 

 

 

 

Take A Day Off! 4th December 2016 Edition

Here is another old and unpublished post. Mr D has had two birthdays since this post. I think my reason for not completing it was that the photos I took on Lake Burley Griffin were not great. The weather had turned inclement and the boat was a bit rocky. It was still a great day though so I’ve picked the best of the bad bunch and here it is. Enjoy!

4th December, 2016.

Every now and then, Mr D and I have to escape the place. We’d had a week of weed spraying (for Mr D) and whipper snipping (for me) so it was time to get out!

Anyway, last Sunday we headed to Canberra to have Yum Cha at Ginseng in the Hellenic Club, Woden, and after that, the rest of the day’s plan would be anyone’s guess. We decided to have an early celebration for Mr D’s birthday as he was going to be in Albury for work on the actual day.

It was our first time eating at Ginseng and we couldn’t fault the food or the service. We’ll be back. My advice is to book as the place was packed by the time we left.

Our next stop, as it turned out, was Old Parliament House. Can you believe I’ve never been to the old or the new Parliament house? Not even on a school excursion as a kid. Pretty sad!

Our tour guide’s name was Rob and we were lucky to be the only ones on the tour at that time. Rob talked solidly for over an hour: so much information and so interesting. During the discussion, we found out that Rob works in the library of the now Parliament house and also worked in the library the Old Parliament house.

King’s Hall and the statue of King George V who opened Parliament in Melbourne on the 9th May, 1901.

These photos show the House of Representatives. Something I should have taken a photo of was the carpet. It was green with a gum leaf design. I wouldn’t have noticed if Rob hadn’t pointed it out. I know…little things!

The Senate.

The Prime Minister’s office. This is how it was left when Bob Hawke (the Prime Minister at the time) moved to the now Parliament house in 1988.

The Cabinet Room. This is where all of the secret business took place….so they thought.

Old Parliament House, now known as the Museum of Australian Democracy, is well worth a visit. It’s a gold coin donation to enter and the tours are free.

To finish off our day, we took a boat ride around Lake Burley Griffin. The boat operator was very informative and, being the only two people on the tour, we learnt a lot about Canberra that afternoon. Here’s something I didn’t know. The Australians of the Year Walk, located on Commonwealth Avenue, has plaques engraved with information regarding each Australian of the year. Each plaque is on a plinth which has been situated on a musical stave embedded in the path. Each plinth position on the stave represents a note for our national anthem, Advance Australia Fair. I love that!

The cost of the boat ride around Lake Burley Griffin was $20 per head. Make sure you take cash. The tour lasted about an hour.

There is so much to see in Canberra. You don’t need an itinerary. Just go and do it.

Mrs D x

 

 

Christmas In July 2016: Pig On A Spit

This blog post has sat in my draft folder for 2 1/2 years. Where does the time go? We’ve been busy which means things like blog posts take a back seat. It is my New Years resolution to get back to the things I enjoy and while I’m at it, reminisce about the things I’ve enjoyed. Let’s start with this post.

The main aim of this post was to share what Mr D and I learned about doing a Pig on a Spit which was the star of the show for Christmas in July 2016 with family and friends. It never occurred to me how excited people would be about such a thing. I was excited despite being  way out of my cooking comfort zone.

To say this was an ambitious project would be an understatement. It had been months in the planning which included slaughtering one of our home grown pigs, researching the process and let’s not forget the preparation leading up to the day.

I’ll start at the beginning.

On the 21st May 2016, a local butcher came out to the farm and prepared 3 pigs and 2 lambs (our livestock) for the freezer. One of the pigs (the smallest which weighed 36 kgs dressed*) was kept whole for the purpose of putting on the spit. We invested in a 700 litre chest freezer for the occasion.

The spit was purchased from Aldi for $199. Timely really, although you can buy them at Bunnings and Masters for a similar price (give or take $50). If time had allowed, we may have built our own. Their are some great designs, as I discovered, which were probably more effective than the prefab spit that we used.

Now for the research. I did a LOT of reading. You would be surprised to know that there is not a lot of information regarding spit roasting, certainly not spit roasting a 36 kg pig. A lot of forums or posts were related to each other so I found myself reading the same material over and over. One forum started off to be quite interesting and informative however quickly turned into a slanging match between the forum participants. I did manage to gather enough information from various sources and the rest we were going to learn the hard way.

The first decision was whether to use charcoal or wood. Most advice was to use charcoal. Charcoal may have been a safe option however it was going to add over $100 to the cost of the event and as we have wood everywhere, it made sense to use wood.

Building coals is important and takes time and practice. Allow at least two hours on the day (a good day with no wind and/ or rain) and plan to have a separate fire pit so that you have two lots of coals. Placing cold wood on your spit coals will affect the heat and could be detrimental to the cooking time of the meat.

Allow 48 hours defrosting time. I’m glad we did. After 24 hours, our pig was still frozen underneath. It took both of us to flip it over. I’m pretty on top of food safety and the importance of defrosting meat in the fridge however our pig would not have fit, even with everything removed. We placed the pig on a towel on top of the freezer which is in a cooler part of the house (and it was Winter). The second day, I placed ice pads and bricks on and around the pig and covered it with a wet towel that had spent time in the freezer. This practice would not work in the summer and would be dangerous to your guests with regards to food poisoning.

Cooking times vary and even though I allowed 8 hours (based on recommended cooking times) for a 36 kg dressed pig, it took over 10 hours. AND we had perfect weather on the day. Plan to start early and be flexible with your serving time. I set the fires the night before and had them started by 5.30 am.

Have a practice run. Mr D and I cooked a smaller piece of roast pork the Saturday before the big event. I wanted to see how long the coals would take to build in the base of the spit roaster, how long the roast pork would take to cook and discover anything else that might go wrong or could be done better. It was well worth the exercise.

Stuffing. I’m not a fan of stuffing (especially the bread crumb variety) however I recognise it’s purpose. The problem with a traditional stuffing is that it would have added to the cooking time which is something I didn’t want. You do, however, want to retain moisture and add flavour to the meat from the inside. I decided we would fill our pig with a mixture of apples, fennel, garlic, onion and leek.

Allow time to prepare the pig for the spit. It took Mr D and I about 2 hours the night before to stuff and truss the pig. I can’t stress enough to you the importance of trussing the pig. You don’t want all that time and effort dropping into the fire. The spit pole needs to run along the underside of the spine and be wired all the way along. We used a mild steel wire, and a lot of it, which was very effective. This wire needs a wash however is safe to use with food and it’s not expensive. Don’t be afraid to overdo it!

Have muscles available on the morning to place the pig on the spit. 36 kgs of pig, plus the pole, wire and vegetable filling left me really struggling with the weight when it came time for Mr D and I to put it on the spit.

Place the coals under the thickest parts of the meat to start. The middle of the pig will cook more quickly than the butt and head ends.

Make a pig on a spit an all day event. Our Christmas in July didn’t start until 3 pm however we really needed to have friends taking turns watching the spit and the coals over the course of the day (just so other necessary stuff could be done). You may need to provide lunch by way of a sausage sizzle or something similar. This is not a set and forget activity as some forums may have you believe and this is something we learned the hard way. By the time lunch time had come around, Mr D had grabbed a beer and just resigned himself to being the spit custodian.

Don’t plan on crackling. Like all things cooked over an open flame, they turn black. The skin and the layer of fat underneath it are important though for preventing the meat drying out.

Basting was highlighted as being important when spit roasting. It was not necessary for the pig. Something like lamb though, basting would be very important.

Have a meat thermometer on hand. Our aim was to cook the pig to a medium rare which is about 63 to 65 degrees celsius. I bought a leave in thermometer which was a waste of time and money. A couple of flare ups, caused by the fat dripping into the fire, blackened and ultimately cracked the glass on the thermometer. Just place the thermometer into the thickest part of the meat when it’s coming to the end of it’s cooking time (what you perceive to be the end that is).

Plan for flare ups. Our pig had quite a layer of fat which turned out to be a headache when it started to drip into the fire. Fat and fire equal a towering inferno. Even the cattle crush that we used as a shelter had caught on fire. I would have a photo of this if Mr D and I weren’t in such a panic trying to quell the fire before the meat was completely ruined. Hosing is dangerous. Small amounts of dirt were effective. Sand would probably have worked as well. The plan was to stem the flames without putting the fire out which would be a disaster.

Have a plan for carving. Mr D, with the help of a friend, carved the pig while it was still on the spit. This proved the most effective way given the size and weight of the pig and saved anyone from being burnt trying to remove it from the spit.

Don’t stress! That’s hilarious coming from me. Stressing was a waste of my energy as once the day began, regardless of my over the top planning, things went wrong. At the end of the night, our friends had full bellies, were merry and they had all enjoyed the spectacle that is a pig on a spit.

I think, as far as the pig goes, I have imparted all of my words of wisdom.

As for the rest…..

 

it was a very merry Christmas in July. Were you there? Leave a message.

Mrs D x

 

*Dressed..Head, trotters, tail and innards removed.

Photo of me taken by Liz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ds In The City Of Love

We arrived quite late in Paris so, while being transferred from the airport to the motel, Paris looked like any other city. To be honest, we could have been in Sydney. The time we spent, which was not nearly enough, in the City of Love quickly set me straight.

On the morning of our first full day, Mr D and I went for a wander after breakfast. Don’t be afraid to stray but make sure you can find your way back. Our stroll was the beginning of our ‘magical mystery tour’. This became Mr D’s nickname for our holiday as he had not seen the itinerary.

Next on the agenda was a visit to the Eiffel Tower. It’s hard to believe that this structure, completed in 1889 and standing at 324 meters tall, was not intended to be permanent. It’s purpose was to serve as the entrance way to the 1889 World Fair and then be demolished.

Seeing the Eiffel Tower took my breath away. As a kid growing up, and as an adult, I could only imagine what it might look like in real life. After seeing it, I realised that books and movies have not done it justice. The size and grandeur can only be appreciated with your own eyes.

Having taken in the magnificence of this structure, we were then given a choice between entering the Eiffel Tower or taking a cruise on the Seine. It would have been nice to see the view from within the tower however standing in the queue, which was very long, was not appealing. The decision to cruise on the Seine was a good one, and I would highly recommend it as something to do if you’re lucky enough to get to Paris. When short on time, as we were, it was a great way to see a lot of the sights.

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The next sight on our tour was the Arc de Triomphe. This amazing structure was built to honour those who fought for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Again, best seen with your own eyes.

We had a bit of free time after this and the first challenge was to find a toilet. I will only dwell on this topic once (fingers crossed behind my back), I promise. I’m going to tell you, if you don’t already know, that finding toilets, and free ones at that, in Europe can be compared with finding a needle in a haystack. After doing laps of the block looking for one, and me refusing to go any further, we decided to go into the next restaurant we passed (which happened to be Cafe du Pont-Neuf), eat lunch, indulge in an alcoholic beverage or two and, of course, use the dunny….gratis! This was pretty much how we handled the toilet dilemma for the rest of our stay in Europe.

Last but not least, our tour group visited the Notre-Dame de Paris. Another feast for your eyes.

In the evening, Mr D and I attended the Le Lido Cabaret. We caught the metro (a funny story for another day), which was across the road from our accommodation, Hotel Median, to George V station. Unfortunately, photos were not allowed once the girls appeared on stage however, it was a spectacular show.

(Le Lido was something I booked as an extra activity outside of our tour. The cost for the two of us was $265 AUD and included a glass of bubbles).

There you have it. A very long day taking in some of the magnificence of the City of Love. Hopefully we can go back one day and take in the rest.

The next leg of our magical mystery tour involved a fast train to Marseille, a scenic bus drive and an afternoon spent in Cannes. Watch this space!

Mrs D x

P.S In the event you can’t find a free toilet, or a restaurant or cafe you like the look of so you can use theirs, please make sure you always have change in the form of €0.5 or €1. One toilet we found had a turnstile that only took €0.5. That’s all I will say about our toilet adventures, maybe…

 

The Ds in Dubai

On our trip to Paris, we elected to break in Dubai for 2 nights, and what a good idea that was! We discovered that Dubai is definitely a place Mr D and I would like to spend more time. Our two night stopover was clearly not long enough.

Our first adventure was Dubai by Night and it was organised by the driver who transferred us from the airport to our motel, Grand Millennium. The Dubai by Night tour took us to the Dubai Mall and Dubai Marina and the cost was $50 AUD each or 150 AED each (Arab Emirates Dirham).

The Dubai Mall is nothing like any mall I’ve been to in Australia. It has over 1200 shops, an aquarium, a video screen 50 meters wide and 14 meters high and a light show, just to name a few of it’s attractions. It is said to be the largest shopping centre in the world, and it was crowded!

The light show was spectacular and certainly drew quite a crowd.

Another stop on our night tour was The Dubai Marina. Despite the heat and humidity, which kept fogging up the lens on my camera, I managed to take a few photos.

The Grand Millennium, our accommodation for the duration of our stay in Dubai, was stunning. Our room was as big as a small house, the breakfast buffet, which was included in the price, was outstanding and everything was so clean.

Day two included a trip to The Mall of Emirates in the morning, followed by lunch and a swim in the pool at the motel, and then a 4×4 safari in the afternoon/ evening. The motel provided a free shuttle bus so, to kill some time before the safari, we decided to investigate The Mall of Emirates which boasted it’s own ski park. Yes, that’s right, in 45 degree (celsius) heat you could don your ski gear and hit the slopes and, afterwards, enjoy a hot chocolate by the fire.

When in Dubai, you must do a four wheel drive safari. Dubai was built in the middle of the desert however, in the more heavily populated areas, you wouldn’t know. It’s certainly a place of contrast. The city areas screamed opulence, however, as we drove further into the desert, it became clear that not everyone enjoys that enviable lifestyle.

The adventure began with our driver, John, picking us up from our motel. John didn’t have much to say at first but it wasn’t long before his wicked sense of humour emerged. John had a song that, when it started to play, you knew that the driving was about to get extreme. The whole experience was rough however it was thoroughly enjoyable.

There were stops before and after our desert bashing experience. Dinner and a show was provided afterwards in one of the many camps that are dotted around the desert. The experience would not have been complete without taking a camel ride. At a cost of $50 AUD each, the four wheel drive safari was definitely great value.

 

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So that was what we managed to squeeze into our brief stopover in Dubai. It’s definitely a place worth visiting if you ever have the chance. We flew with Emirates and the flight took fourteen hours from Sydney. The next leg of our trip was the flight to Paris. Watch this space!

Mrs D x

Paddock+Garden = Today’s Late Lunch

Our plan, for a long time, has been to be as close to a self-sustainable lifestyle as possible while still having a practical mindset….you can’t do everything! We still have a long way to go, however, today marks a milestone at RaFG headquarters.

Today, when I looked at our roast lunch, there were only two things on the plate that had not come out of the garden or the paddock (condiments excluded), the potatoes and the broccoli. It’s too early for potatoes (here anyway) and I never have any luck growing anything in the Brassica family.

I started to write this post while lunch was cooking. I could smell the leg of lamb (from one of our lambs) roasting away in it’s marinade of garlic and rosemary (both out of the garden) infused in olive oil.

In the saucepan, ready to cook, were the beans and squash picked fresh out of the garden.

And soon to go into the roasting pan, with the lamb, was the golden nugget pumpkin that I picked yesterday.

All we need now is a crop of hops and some grape vines…

What’s growing in your garden?

Mrs D x

 

 

2016: Done And Dusted

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I know…I’m 10 days late. I started writing this post last year. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to actually finish some blog posts. I have about 14 drafts on the go at the moment. See how we go.

Anyway, I’m never blinking again! Where did 2016 go?

This is what 2016 looked like for Mr D and me. A lot of people have said to me that 2016 was a bad year. It certainly had some challenges for us and we lost our dear Nanna, however, for the most part, I decided to highlight what was good about this year.

Enjoy! You’ll need a cuppa for this post.

January

It was either a really quiet month or a really busy one judging by the lack of photos. I can guarantee that we were weed spraying, whipper snipping and drenching sheep at some point.

We did celebrate our young friend Anitra’s 18th birthday.

February

We celebrated our friend Jane’s 50th birthday in fine ‘Once Upon A Time’ style.

Spent a couple of days in Merimbula.

The garden was in full swing.

Our piggies were growing like wild fire.

Mr D built the Turkeys their new accommodation.

Towards the end of Feb, we headed off on an 11 day cruise to the Pacific Islands.

March

Mr D constructed new accommodation for our growing piggies and the three boys were castrated.

Lambs were born.

I turned another year younger.

We moved our son to his new house.

Lots of veg was harvested from the garden.

April

Mr D went back to work part-time after being made redundant in June 2015.

Our nephew, Matthew, married Gabby.

Mr D built the first piggy feeder….it’s come a long way since then.

The vegetable garden kept giving and giving.

The fire was started for the first time in 2016….we almost made it to Anzac Day.

May

Our daughter turned 22.

We drove to Tatong, which is past Benalla in Victoria, to pick up Stumpy the Boar. He is quite a bit bigger in this photo than when we first got him.

Mr D and I took a day off (Mother’s Day) and drove to Mt Selwyn. We walked the Heritage Trail at Kiandra (no photos due to corrupt SD card) and then on the way home, stopped at the Snowy Scheme Museum in Adaminaby.

Nanna passed away. A sad day indeed.

Lambs and three of our pigs were prepared for the freezer. Another hard day.

The fencing for paddock three was completed and repairs to the fencing at the back of the property were carried out.

June

Winter had definitely arrived. Mr D and I headed off to Bermagui to have lunch with friends. It was -5 degrees celsius in Bunyan however in Bermagui (a couple of hours East of us) it was a balmy 20 degrees.

I made my first ever batch of Cumquat Marmalade with Cumquats off a friend’s tree.

I enrolled to study Bachelor of Arts at Charles Sturt…..because I don’t really have enough to do already (cough).

We prepared for Christmas in July.

July

Christmas in July arrived. It was a lot of work however totally worth all of the effort.

Our son turned 20.

I accidentally left the house paddock gate open and the cows found their way in causing quite a bit of damage and leaving sizeable momentos in their wake.

In the same week, strong winds sent my green house flying along with all of the seedlings in it, we received quite a lot of rain and a tree fell on the paddock one fencing.

More lambs. Three lambs were lost to a neighbour’s dog and one to the Eagle.

The two Sows adjusted to life without the boys.

August

Lemons.

Shanks attempted to boss the cows. What was he thinking?

September

Seedlings.

Moving day for Stumpy to his new accommodation.

We borrowed the bull from our neighbour. Hopefully we will have calves in Spring 2017.

The neighbours started their annual burning of paddocks.

Our nephew, Joshua, turned 21 and we travelled to Sydney to help him celebrate.

October

We took a day off and headed to Floriade in Canberra.

Meerkat

Jake

Mr D and I celebrated 25 years of marriage and spent a night at Jamala Wildlife Lodge within the National Zoo and Aquarium, Canberra.

It was my first attempt at making and decorating ginger bread cookies in preparation for Christmas hampers.

The veggie garden started giving again.

Uni came to an end for the year.

Addy came to live with us.

We prepared five lambs for the freezer.

November

 

We had a bumper crop of Strawberries.

The Lavender flowered and looked glorious.

We put the first lot of eggs into the incubator only to get one chick due to temperature issues. I shipped it off to our neighbours over the back, Ian and Narelle, as chicks don’t so well on their own and they had chicks of a similar age.

Lemon Butter was made using our lemons and eggs.

I spent the best part of a week on the Central Coast catching up with family and friends.

Our Little Girl (Sow) became limp while I was away and didn’t recover. Mr D quickly organised the Butcher as there was nothing that could be done.

Mr D sprayed weeds. It’s never ending.

The Christmas hampers were started…the non-perishable items, that is.

As a result of Little Girl’s sudden demise, we were left with a lot of pork. Some of this was minced and we spent the best part of two days making pork sausages with our friends, Georg and Al.

December

The Christmas tree went up.

 

Our borrowed Bull decided that he wanted to spend time with the neighbour’s cow who was in season. As a result, fence repairs became necessary.

Mr D and I spent a day in Canberra to celebrate his Birthday. We started off with Yum Cha at Ginseng in the Hellenic Club. We then tripped off to Old Parliament House followed by a boat ride around Lake Burley Griffin.

We had our annual Christmas get together with the locals.

Christmas hampers were finished.

Mr D and I celebrated Christmas with family in Sydney.

My brother, Adrian, got married to the lovely Anela in the gardens of Burnham Grove Estate, Camden.

We drove to Tumut to celebrate Christmas Day with B1 and B2.

A bit of rain and warmth and the veggie garden took off.

To finish off 2016, we saw the New Year in with our friends Georg and Al.

Well that’s all of the interesting stuff for 2016. It was a big year and 2017 is shaping up to be the same. Wears me out just thinking about it.

2017. Have a good one!

Mrs D x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home Made Pork Sausages

The harsh reality living on the land is that not everything goes to plan, even despite your best efforts.

If you are reading this post, it is important to remind you that our animals have a very good life and when it comes time to prepare them for the freezer, it is done humanely and they are treated with respect.

iA couple of months ago I noticed that our intended breeding sow, Little Girl, seemed to be favouring her back left leg. It caused some concern at the time, however, after a few days it appeared that she had recovered. Two weeks ago, however, the limp was back and within a few days, she was unable to get up. Mr D kept her comfortable until the end.

The decision to prepare her for the freezer was not an easy one, I can assure you of that, and many tears were shed. She really was a gentle giant. Mr D made a phone call to the vet who confirmed there was nothing we could do for her. At first it was thought she had a condition called OCD (Osteochondrosis) however the butcher discovered that she had a broken hip. The two conditions may have been related.

Anyway, as a result of her condition and having to euthanise her, we ended up with a lot of pork as Little Girl weighed in excess of 200 kgs.

Apart from the usual cuts of meat, a friend suggested we have a go at making sausages. With this in mind, we made sure that the butcher boned out several large pieces to put through the meat mincer.

If you are considering making sausages, it would be fair to let you know that it is not a five minute job, unless you’re a butcher of course. The whole process took the best part of two days, with two of us preparing the meat and it’s seasonings on the first day, and then four of us making the actual sausages on the second day; bearing in mind that we were using a domestic grade meat mincer.

Let’s start at the beginning…

By way of preparing the meat for mincing, my friend Ally and I trimmed any excess fat and then put it through the grinder. With 16 kgs of pork mince, our plan was to have plain mince as well as flavoured however, in our excitement, we ended up seasoning the whole lot. Whoops! The mince was then split into four batches and the flavours created were Hmong, Sweet Italian, Polish Kielbasa and Herbed. All of the recipes can be found at honest-food.net under the Charcuterie label.

On the day…

The first order of the day was to taste our pork mince and it’s seasonings just to make sure we didn’t need to add anything. Unfortunately, the saltiness was obvious however, once it’s added, there’s no taking it back (we know for next time). The salt didn’t detract from the flavour however it was prominent.

When setting up your work space, some things that are handy when you are making sausages include scissors (for cutting the casings), jugs of water (to keep the casing on the nozzle moist), gloves and plenty of fridge space.

We began by threading the casing onto the nozzle. The process worked much better if we didn’t do large quantities at once although it meant threading more often. The reason for this is that we found that the casings dried out on the nozzle fairly quickly making it more difficult to feed off as the pork mixture filled the casing.

The mixture needed to be pushed into the machine at a consistent and, what I would call, urgent rate. It was discovered that less mince on the feeding tray worked better as it gave more room to manipulate it. We certainly got a work out pushing the mixture down the chute.

When the mixture started to fill the casing (we were using thick sausage casings), it was important to allow the casing to fill without letting it overfill. This is the part that is hard to describe as it’s a case (no pun intended) of ‘you had to be there’, however we all know what a thick sausage looks like. It also helped to have someone taking the weight of the sausage as the casing filled and became longer. This reduced the chance of blow outs (where the casing splits and mince starts pouring out) and I think, in the end, we only had three blow outs.

Tying the knots in the sausage was much easier with dry hands. To start, only one end was tied. This allowed us to pinch and twist for each sausage and push the mixture along (if required) in the casing to produce a more even product. By the 10th kilo of sausage making, we probably had this down pat. The second person assisting in this part of the process helped to stop the sausage twisting around itself which hindered the pinching and twisting process.

After we’d finished making the sausages, the only other important thing left to do, apart from cleaning up our mess, was to barbecue some for lunch. So, with Barry the Jack Russell supervising, we enjoyed delicious home made pork sausages.

Thank you to Georg and Ally for your help.

Happy sausage making!

Mrs D x

 

Some things to note:

Most of the recipes researched had, roughly, a 4:1 ratio of meat to fat, the above recipes included. We actually reduced the amount of fat and were happy with the result.

Having now made the sausages, I would halve the salt in the recipes next time.

A lot of the research suggested semi-freezing the meat to make it easier to put through the grinder. I imagine that the fat content, if following the recipes to the letter, would have complicated the grinding process as the mixture warmed up, however, the meat with less fat, at fridge temperature, moved through the mincer with relative ease. I also had a problem with semi-freezing, defrosting (as would naturally happen) and then re-freezing.

The sausage casings were purchased from the local butcher. They had already been pre-soaked in water.

Most of the herbs were fresh out of the garden. Unfortunately, our garlic was not quite ready to pick and we used a lot of garlic.

On sausage making day, we were grateful for four sets of hands. Two and even three sets were not quite enough. Obviously you are dealing with a raw and perishable product, so you want to move fairly quickly. With the help of our good friends Georg and Ally, once we got the hang of what we were doing, we were a lean mean sausage making machine.

Allow the mince and it’s seasonings to sit in the fridge for two to three days. Oh the smell….just glorious. This is okay with very fresh pork mince which we were using.

We have since invested in a gas powered smoker to try smoking the sausages. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.

Lastly, be prepared to laugh a lot. Once you start threading those sausage casings onto the nozzle (I hear snickering already), the conversation goes downhill really quickly.