Easter etc..

The weekend before Easter, our good friend Mark Eckert came to visit us from Brisbane. We love having Mark come to stay. He's the perfect house guest. He cooks (wonderful German specialities like Rouladen & Red Cabbage, Herring Salad, Potato Salad the German way... etc), vacuumes (all the crumbs from the kitchen floor after a cup cake morning tea with a few little ones) and fixes our technology issues. Our computers always get a once over and a good clean up when Mark comes to stay. We've sorted out our pathetic satelite internet connection and will shortly be cruising at a mean speed on the internet highway. Thanks Mark! 

Frans and Mark spent quite some time playing with their cameras. This particular evening they were photographing the rising moon. It takes many practise shots to get a good one!

Mark wins! 

 I'm not sure about Frans' fashionable sandles and socks statement!

Frans is always updating his 'to do' list. Many chores never get to the top of the list as there are always unexpected 'happenings'. One such event was a fierce rain and wind storm on Good Friday. The night was pitch dark and the wind lashed the trees. We heard many cracks and thumps. The worst of which sounded as if the entire lid on top of one of our cement water tanks had blown away. It took a lot of sweet talk to get Frans to stay inside and not go out to check the damage! The daylight allowed him to see what had happened. Fortunately the roof had only shifted off the top of the tank. However, in doing so, it left the water exposed and leaves and debris from the night's wild weather had blown into our prestine drinking water. Frans says it's ok. We won't die from contamination! In the mean time, the men (Frans, Mark and Stephen) had to manoeuvre the lid back into position and secure it once again.

Over Easter I also cleared up the long garden bed that had given us a bumper crop of zucchini and potatoes. I dug the bed over twice, making sure I didn't miss any tubers. Then I spread 5 bags of chook poo over the area. I still have a bit of corn at the far end and a small tomato bush in the foreground. This bed will be planted up in a few days with the following: Parnisps, Turnips, Broad Beans, Broccoli & Brussels Sprouts. The grassy looking stalks at the bottom of the picture are garlic stalks. I left some garlic in the ground after harvesting the bulbs at Christmas time. These have self seeded and have started growing again. 
 

I have ordered some new garlic varieties to plant this year and they should be arriving shortly. I'll be planting those up too.

Our neighbour's lovely horses. We don't have to have our own. We can enjoy the view over the fence!

It's calving time next door. Here are two baby calves that are a couple of days old. They've just been tagged. The Mums are very protective over them and didn't like being separated while the babies had their ID's clipped to their ears.

Our chooks are happy chooks. Frans mows a patch of grass for them most days and gives it to them in their coop. They also dine on rainbow chard and silverbeet from the veggie garden. After lunch we usually let them out of the coop enclosure into the garden so they can scratch away for a few hours. We are always mindful of foxes. This past week we went to put the girls away around 6.30pm and counted one short. It was getting dark and we had to use torches to search the house paddock. We looked under trees and behind bushes but couldn't find the chook. We came to the grim conclusion that she had probably been taken by a fox. The next morning however, when Frans went to sort out the chooks and ducks, he found the stray girl sitting in front of the gate. She survived her night out! And so we still have 18 chickens.

Another record breaker! Our friend Peter Walton says the chook that laid this egg is a real show off! The egg weighs 93g. The average egg weighs around 60g. It's so big the box lid won't close. It's a genuine 'bum buster'! 

 

Rabbit pie. Paddock to plate! An alternative to Easter eggs!

 

A fuzzy pic, but it tells a wonderful story.....

Frans and I are very happy to announce the engagement of Sara to her long time boyfriend Stephen Gianguilio. He romantically proposed to her on bended knee in the paddock on Easter Sunday. Of course she said 'yes'!

Now the fun starts with wedding preparations. Watch this space....