The Trials and Tribulations of the Tasmanian Clothesline

I don't know about you guys, but we only have a washing machine here, so we have to hang our clothes to dry. Now, there are numerous of reasons for hanging your clothes on the line: less electricity used by dryer appliances, the fresh clean smell of air dried laundry (and no need for expensive and overly perfumed dryer sheets), no static electricity involved, and the sun acts a natural disinfectant of a sort. I'm sure everyone has other reasons for choosing to line dry their clothes. Those are certainly mine. 

However, I live in Tasmania. Normally that would be a proud statement, but they have a saying here: "If you don't like the weather, wait 20 minutes".

For the line dryer, that's a MAJOR pain in the rear. 


I am forever looking at the sky thinking "Hm, clouds... do I risk the washing, or should I wait for it to clear?"


This can go one of several ways: 

-The sky stays cloudy, and I decide not to wash, and then the weather is bad for the rest of the week/end. 
-The sky clears, I do the washing, and the moment the machine starts the final spin cycle, the clouds come back and stay in for the day, extending their drying time. 
-It'll be breezy in the moment I decide to start the machine (the ideal condition) and then go utterly still by the time I get everything hung out, and be that way for the rest of the day, regardless of whether or not it's sunny.
-It'll be brilliantly sunny outside, I hang the washing, it stays brilliantly sunny for an hour, then the clouds blow in in an instant and it pours down rain, soaking my laundry if I don't catch it in time.


My world is filled with cries of frustration over the weather! Winter is simply the worst time to have to dry laundry, especially since we're trying to have key items clean, dry, folded and packed for our trip to California, coming up in a week.

I can't wait for summer; the best drying weather is when the sun is blazing, the wind blowing, and the paving stoves under the clothesline are baking hot and radiating that heat upwards into the clothes. They will usually dry in the few hours then.


Until then though, I will just have to persevere through the funky weather. :P

Processing Poultry: Where Your Chicken Comes From

Warning: This blog contains pictures of what some would consider a "graphic" nature. If you can't handle blood, guts, the learning of new skills and experience, self sufficiency, or just want to keep your head in the sand regarding the origins of your food, move along now. There's nothing to see here.

On Friday, July 20, I killed and processed two chickens for our freezer. I had never, until that point, dispatched an animal, though I have been present and watching closely while others did. Chickens were also a new type of animal processing for me; I had watched and assisted with deer, pigs and rabbits, but not poultry.

After much time spent studying and researching, I knew that my next step was to 'do'.

This is my processing area: A melamine topped board on two portable sawhorses, a gut bucket (red) with a hefty bag in it, and a scalding bucket, filled with water that's been heated to around 75C.

As you can tell by all the feathers, I had already scalded and plucked the birds.

Now for the birds themselves. I'm rather sorry I hadn't gotten a picture of the living animals, as they were very pretty birds, but that's the way of things.

The plucking was mostly easy, except for the pinion feathers at the wing tips. Those were quite hard, and I opted to cut the wing tips off one bird, while their owner, Monique, helped to pluck them from the other bird.

You may wonder how I dispatched the birds. It was a method I'd seen and heard described by various sources. I chose to hold them by their feet until they went still (they go to sleep if held upside down) and then snapped their necks with a quick jerk of my other hand. I then wrapped them in a raggy towel, held them over the gut bucket, and cut the veins in their necks to let them bleed out, which took a couple minutes. After their throes finished, I set them on the table, ready to scald.

Other methods include using a killing cone, a hatchet and a chopping block, and simply bleeding the chicken out before snapping it's neck, but I thought that these might be a little more messy and traumatic than I was willing to handle.

Bird #1: I know, not a brilliant plucking job, but I made it better later.

Bird #2: Better plucked than the last one.

The next step is the real processing.

I cut off the heads, removed the skin, esophagus, wind pipe and other associated parts of the neck until I had just the column of bone and muscle, removed the wingtips (of this bird) and cut off the feet at the ankles (those would be saved for later).

Now, of course, comes the job of gutting the bird. It's very hard to make me squeamish, but I wasn't sure how this would have me feeling. Turns out, it doesn't smell near as bad as people might have you believe. Yes, it's a bit smelly, and I can't really describe the smell (as Monique said, it smells like dead chicken), but if you don't work with the bird directly under your nose, you'll be just fine.

The trick though is to make an opening big enough to get your hand inside, because you have to scoop around with your fingers to sever the thin transparent membranes that hold all the organs and fat in place. Remember to also loosen the trachea and esophagus from the neck hole, so you can pull the lot out when you've got it free.

I must admit I was probably very slow at this step, as I was afraid to accidentally cut the the guts, which would spill their contents and contaminate the meat and make, generally, a nasty mess. Turns out I need not have worried too much, as they proved tougher than I thought.

Once you've freed the innards, cut free the anus and remove the lot.

As you can also see, I am wearing latex gloves. This made the ick factor much, much less, and went a long way to making me feel more comfortable with this process. I used three pairs, one pair for the dispatching and bleeding, one pair for the scalding and plucking, and one pair for the gutting. I highly recommend them for first timers.

As you can see here, these are the chicken innards. I tried to respect the animals as much as possible by using as much of it as I could, so I saved the hearts, livers, gizzards and feet (seen the background).

To process chicken feet: Pour scalding water (I used freshly boiled) over the feet, and let sit a moment or two. When you can peel the yellow outer skin off, they're ready. Peel off the skin, give the toenails a twist (they come right off) and rinse well in cold water. Use to make chicken stock (I'm told it makes a great stock that, when cold, can actually be sliced; that's how much gelatin the feet impart to the stock).

Also note that these animals were very healthy indeed. Just look at those livers! Not a scrap of fat on them. Monique told me they were free range, grass fed (you could tell by the contents in their crops), and were given the occasional handful of wheat, as well as some oats they've eaten out of her guinea pig feed, and perhaps a few seeds from here and there.

In contrast, corn fed chickens (as many often are) usually have grossly swollen and anemic looking livers coated with fat, as well as a huge amount of body fat. Ew. :/

Because these chickens are male (roosters) these are their testicles. We remarked on them, because we hadn't realized they were so far up in the body cavity. We had both heard of capons, which are neutered roosters, and we figured that you had to come in from the side to remove the testicles.

I've heard it said that done right, you'd have a capon, done wrong, you'd have dinner.

You can see the vas deferens tubes there by my fingers (the thin white lines).

We are still puzzling over why we couldn't find the kidneys or lungs. After further study, i realized that what I was previously thinking of chest wall was really the backs of the lungs. It's a simple matter to scoop them out with your fingers. They are light, fluffy, pink organs, and are deeply grooved to fit the ribs. The kidneys are also located tight to the back as well, on either side of the back bone. left in, they become that yummy dark, rich meat you get in the store bought roast chickens. I chose to leave them in, because I love those.

This is the gizzard. It's basically a large muscle, and great for use in stocks. The chicken will swallow small hard objects (I say objects, because it could be anything it thinks suitable, including pebbles, pieces of plastic, and even bits of safety glass!) and stores those objects in it's gizzard. When they eat, the food enters the gizzard, the organ contracts, and uses those items to grind and crush their food. It's a good way to see what the birds have been eating: in this case, there was some well ground grass and perhaps a sunflower seed or two.

The gizzard has a yellow lining. If you want to use the gizzard for cooking, once you've sliced it open, all you have to do is peel the thin membrane away from the muscled part, and discard it. Then rinse the organ well and use immediately, or freeze it. As you can see here: the peeled gizzard, and the yellow lining (and a couple testicles too).

The processed carcasses. They aren't the prettiest looking jobs, but I cleaned them up a bit, and they look good. One of my books said that poultry should be chilled in the fridge for at least 12 hours to ensure maximum tenderness, so these (this was taken last night) are going straight into the fridge.

When I had finished gutting them and everything, I had taken them in and rinsed them well with cold water, and removed the last stubborn feathers, the thin hairs, and any remaining congealed blood.

One thing you will notice about these birds that's different from the pictures of the store bought chicken I cut up later in the album, is these birds are very yellow. They have yellow skin, they have rich yellow fat, and, in my opinion, this is how chickens should look. It's perfectly natural and normal.

You'll also notice that these birds have very little breast meat, and very large legs. They were free range animals, not barn raised or factory farmed, and not pumped full of hormones and antibiotics. Suits me fine anyway; I'll always choose the leg over the breast.

So, overall, that experience wasn't nearly as bad as I might have thought it would be. I'm glad that I got to learn something new. And now, tonight? Chicken is on the menu.

Have a great evening folks!

A Little Update

Went to the beekeeping meeting last night. We're getting pretty close to crunch time I think. The beekeeping thing may not work out this year. We'd only have the rest of June and all of July to get our gear and hives together before ordering our bees in September or so, and because I'll be gone most of August, that cuts into our prep time severely. Things will start to speed up too once the solstice passes us by. Apparently the bees know when the days are getting longer, and the queen will start laying eggs. I don't think we have enough time to manage this for this year.
 

As disappointing as that is, I think I've got Z interested in going to the meetings. The next one is July 16, so we've marked our calenders, I've put my name down to get some info on those who may be selling gear, bees or both, and I hope that maybe we can go on some of the field days with the more expert beekeepers. I've also sent Z on a mission: she's going to ask her Dad about his beekeeping days, and what he knows may help us even more, though she suspects he's sold off all his own equipment years ago. Still, any help is good help.

It gives us time to save up as well, especially if we end up paying for Langstroth type hives. Or any hives really I guess. We'd still have to get the plans and build from scratch the top bar hives, and I personally would like to try out the Warre hives too (somewhere down the line; I think different hives for caparison would be good). Especially as it seems like everybody here pretty much sticks to a form of the Langstroth hive, which as you may already know, I don't necessarily like the idea of (it's more work!)

I'm going to go start a money jar now.

Home Preserving with Fowlers-Vacola

I've been living here for almost two years now, and have had two excellent go-'rounds with the garden. The best thing that ever happened to me was those allotments, I think. 

Well, as I did last year, I had managed to grow and obscene amount of tomatoes. Unfortunately, our summer was a little strange, and a many of the last ones did get to ripen, so I had a ton of green tomatoes. Well, I still had green tomato chutney from LAST year, so I wasn't too crazy to make more of it. I had enough red fruit left, however, to make spaghetti sauce (mm, sauce). 

So I just threw all the tomatoes (red, green, the whole lot) into the stock pot, and cooked them down. They were sieved, and the pulpy juice was strained again for extra smoothness, and I cooked up some onions, garlic, and home grown herbs, and added the sauce back in. It bubbled away, infusing happily, and when I finally got around to bottling it, I used those stainless steel lids the MIL had gifted me with at Christmas.

Delicious red sauce. Mm, so fragrant.

There's the pot! And I raise thee six jars, lids, rings and clips to store it all in:

The stainless stock pot, six rubber rings, six preserving clips, six stainless steel lids, and six washed No. 14 Fowlers jars, being kept hot with boiling water.

Last year I only had enough sauce to fill four of the small jars, so I washed sure how many I'd fill this time. I had extras ready just in case. Turns out, I'd guessed perfectly. I almost thought I wouldn't have the room, but I squeaked by with the bare minimum of head space for each jar, as you'll observe in the next picture:

Filled jars with seals in place

 
Now, I grew up knowing the Ball canning method, but instead of a flat metal lid with sealant and a metal ring, you have a rubber seal ring, a metal lid, and a clip the hold the lot together when you go to process them.

After you understand the process is pretty much the same as far as sealing goes, it's a breeze, as you can see in the following photos:
  

Stainless steel lids, because you need them for very acidic things like tomato sauce.

Lids have been firmly secured with the clips.

Close up of the lid and clip. It just snaps right onto the lip of the jar, no hassles.

To process the jars you just place them in a pan (I use a metal roasting pan, and place a folded paper towel in the bottom), place the jars in the tray, fill with hot water, and place in an oven about 170C. Let it run for an hour, shut the lot down and let it cool. Then remove and label. 

Jars placed in the pan, waiting for hot water and the oven.

Ready for processing!

Now, this processing method is okay when you have no other choice. The jars seal, I've experienced no incidents with failure or breakage (yet), and my own real cautionary statement is beware: the stainless steel lids I have are quite sharp around the edges, and I managed to slice my finger on it. Other than that, they're fine. However, the Fowlers-Vacola system has an expensive start up cost, unless you can find a lot of cast off jars, lids and other supplies in the city missions, as I have managed (for some, at least). I also cannot vouch for them when it comes to pressure canning, when you are wanting to bottle low acid foods. Other than that, it seems to work well enough for the time being. And I now have sauce!

Fall/Winter Gardening: Making Progress

Well, today I was at the garden and I planted a row each of wild rocket, watermelon radishes, and all seasons carrots. I sowed thickly, to ensure at least something comes up.

At the house, I harvested and removed all but one of the tomato plants planted out front. The exception has at least five very large green tomatoes on it, and since the plant still looks relatively fresh and lively, I'll leave it to attempt to ripen the fruit. All the remains now is for me to harvest and remove the tomatoes that are living in the containers right now.

Those containers I have plans for.

I have cut back the herbs for winter as well. The common culinary sage has been allowed to go hog wild for nearly two years, so I've cut it back and down. Hopefully it'll be encouraged to put up fresh growth next year. The purple sage has done similar, despite being the younger plant; I gave it the same treatment. Now though, I have a huge wad of sage that I don't know what to do with. I gave some to the neighbors (along with rosemary and thyme), and I have a full container of it dried on the kitchen shelf, and a airing cupboard with tons of it hanging inside as well. Oh well.

The thyme plant has actually taken root in the little pot of soil my MIL set out with it, so I now have a baby thyme plant growing in a pot. It'll live in my mini greenhouse until spring.

The marjoram and oregano both have been cut back to their "mother" plant; they apparently set out long shoots to flower with.

The only thing I haven't removed yet is the spent purple coneflower. I need to research what it's seeds look like, so I can save some for next year.

Tomorrow I will attempt to scrape back and relocate the wood chips in that space, peel back the weed cloth, and start turning the dirt over. I plan on seeding a section of chives to the herb garden, and a small border of German chamomile, and a number of other things, which I'm still trying to work out in my head.

It's also probably a good idea to give the compost a turn as well.

So, I'm making progress at least. That's encouraging. :)

It's Not Summer Anymore

WHY? Why have you left her? She WORSHIPED you! She is rarely happy without you! Time passes so slowly and meaninglessly without you!  Neko-Chan is a  very SAD PANDA!

*let the wailing ensue*


In case you are wondering, summer is over. I have thus taken up the chaise lounge of the drama queen, and bemoan the loss of the sun. As well as referring to myself in the third person. Because I am weird like that.


It's autumn now. For one who loves summer gardening, that's just slightly depressing. Granted, not all days are gray, gloomy and rainy. The last couple have been quite nice. But today well... today sucks. Rain. Cloud. Grayness. Cold. 


Blah.


But wait! When one is house bound in bad weather, one likes to surf the net! And what should one find? Oh.... oh, the wonderful recipes that exist in the cloud.


*evil laugh*


Tonight I am "inflicting" upon us a recipe from this lady.


Specifically, Honey Ginger Apple Shredded Pork.

Mops and drool buckets are located in the corner closet. Help yourselves.

I am off to make gravy now. And enjoy the awesome smelling FOOD in the crock pot.

Tata. 

Survival Gardening

First off, I'd like to congratulate my friend and her husband, who grew the winning giant pumpkin for a local contest. It weighed in at 276.5kg (something like 607.something lbs). Good job!

Now, I'd like to discuss something I've been studying up on lately: survival gardening. Before you look at me askance and ask how many guns I have, I'll tell you this: I'm not crazy (and I don't own any guns). In fact, you'd have to be pretty foolish to NOT consider survival gardening. I'll lay out my reasons:

1. Food prices are approaching the realms of outer space. Seriously, some things are not worth buying anymore, they're just so expensive.

2. Surely you've all seen the poo-flinging going on about pesticides, herbicides, and GMOs. Though I hate to go into the politics of Monsanto and all, there's no doubt that it's all bad news. Not only do pesticides kill off the pests, but they also kill off the beneficial insects: the predator wasps, the humble honeybees. You also end up with things like Round-up resistant canola oil crops, and GMO corn that kills off everything that takes a bite out of it...and is then processed into just about EVERYTHING.

3. Organic vs Non-organic. Yeah okay, so the actual organic label is starting to mean nothing fast. Right now though organic is super expensive; why buy organic when, for hardly any cost to you, you can have your own organic produce growing with relatively few issues?

4. Big Farma (haha, yeah...) has been buying up the little seed companies, and Monsanto for instance, is putting patents on whole crops. HUH? Yeah, if they think you've got their strain of seed growing, they can sue you to a pile of dust. You're thinking "Holy Crap" about now, but there's more: Most hybrids don't have viable seeds that you can save, and if they sprout at all, won't breed true to type. I'm not a plant scientist, but I think the second generation will grow, and the third generation will be sterile, or something like that. When buying seed, always go heirloom or open pollinated.

I'm sure there are other reasons, but those are some big ones to consider. So, if you're a beginner gardener, like I was when I first moved to Tasmania, I'll give you some ideas as to how to start your "survival garden".


Herbs 
A good place to start is with culinary herbs.They smell great, make great borders in urban and rural environments, can be grown in pots, and can be planted at vacation homes and bug out locations alike.  Woody shrubs like rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, and marjoram are hardy and need little water, except to get them established. You can grow them from seed, but I prefer to buy the started plants. I have planted them as a border in front of our house.

Rosemary and lavender, two highly aromatic herbs, that put on growth fast. I chose a rosemary that didn't need a lot of watering to survive, and the lavender proved to need just as little.

Another great herb to grow is chives; they germinate well from seed, and grow in large clumps which can be divided and planted again as the plant grows bigger. Basil is another plant that grows wells from seed, and although it's a tender annual, you can collect seeds from it, and I have seen it reseed.

Other herbs you might consider are medicinal herbs. Try varieties like German chamomile, purple coneflower, and lavender. I've had success with all of them.

Vegetables 
I'll suggest some easy to grow veggies here.

You can't go wrong with green beans and swiss chard.

Green Beans: This includes bush beans and pole beans, although I've had better luck with the pole beans so far. You can't go wrong with green beans. Stick the seeds in the ground, give them something to climb, and depending on long your rows are, you'll have them coming out of your ears in almost no time at all.


Zucchini/Summer Squash: Most summer squashes will grow prolifically, and you can do just about anything with them. You do have to make sure they are watered well, placed in a sunny location, and they can grow to be large plants. Some of you may also have to be on the lookout for squash beetles as well. Otherwise, get em in the ground, and you will be rewarded.


Spinach/Swiss Chard: Perfect dark leafy greens. I had a variety of spinach called "perpetual", and I've got more than I can eat growing (indeed, more than four adults can eat!) And my Swiss chard is completely voluntary. I swear, it's like outer space chard, because the plants are enormous. Large, paddle shaped green leaves, thick white stalks. Either way, you can't beat it as a leafy green veg.


Fruits 
Fruits are a little harder to manage, as many don't have room for the majority of tree fruits (apples, pears, peaches, etc). There are dwarf varieties of tree fruits, and you're welcome to investigate them, but I'm going to take you a slightly easier route, and suggest bush and low growing fruits.


Strawberries: You really can't beat a fresh strawberry. Good soil, water, but not to much, and sunshine is about all you need. They grow very well in pots.


Bush berries: Some of you may have room for blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and currants, and if you do, I say grow them. Brambles can be planted just about anywhere and will grow with little attention. Blueberries, though needing acidic soil and a few years to get established, are prolific bearers of fruit. Currants are also heavy fruiting.

Grapes; once you have them, you almost can't get rid of them.

Grapes: Last but not least. If you can get some grape vines, you'll have yourself a good source of fruit, juice, and even wine. They also take a few years to establish, but some varieties bear heavily, and everyone is sure to enjoy them.