Grazyna is seen here eating her greens.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Early morning greens
What a relief....! First thing in the morning when the girls are released from their "chook mahal" they devour everything green. I watch for a while and then retreat to my pottery studio with happy images.
Grazyna is seen here eating her greens.
Grazyna is seen here eating her greens.
Saturday, 26 March 2011
The Girls arrive
Introducing Blanche, Grazyna, Deborah, Minne, Julia and Margo. Thanks for the name suggestions from Dayle and Bob and Mum and Dad. Their names ended up evolving as we identified the differences between each chook and each has a story behind their names. (details to come later) They all looked the same when they arrived!!!!! .. but after careful observation, they displayed their own character and appearance.
So.....after a five year wait, our girls arrive. We built the fox proof chook shed five years ago. and finally got around to getting some chooks last Saturday. (19th March 2011). It all seems a bit weird. We haven't eaten an egg or any product with egg in it for five years. You see.... we have been vegetarian for.. as long as I remember... and vegan for the last five years.... hence not getting chooks for our "chook mahal". No great problem with eggs from happy backyard chooks that live out their natural lives (even when they stop laying eggs), but more of a problem with the husbandry of chooks and the inevitable end use of their eggs in so many everyday products. We still have an embargo on commercial egg products, but I can't tell you how much we enjoyed our first eggy dish from our very happy and loved chooks.....I am also the worlds worst cook, but eggs are sooooo easy to cook. What a winner!!.
And then.....shock. horror....they are eating all of our carefully nurtured frogs and lizards, not to mention every other creepy crawly. What a dilemma. Do we eat the eggs that will no doubt contain frog and lizard protein? O.K. a bit of balance here. Why should I preference frogs and lizards over slaters, spiders, worms, bugs of all types etc. etc. It is all horrific for us, but totally natural for a chook.... We'll just have to give the eggs away to others if we see them eating frogs and we will do our best to keep the chooks away from our frog pond in our domestic garden. That is the plan anyway... reality might have to be more pragmatic. They also like the Scottish Kale and parsley.... the rest of the vegetable garden (or weed patch, and one of the reasons for geting the girls to tidy things up) is not so palatable to our feathered royalty.
Well, it has been the most pleasurable, entertaining and fulfilling thing we have done in many years. . Lots more observations to share with anyone who chooses to tune in to see what happens next.
So.....after a five year wait, our girls arrive. We built the fox proof chook shed five years ago. and finally got around to getting some chooks last Saturday. (19th March 2011). It all seems a bit weird. We haven't eaten an egg or any product with egg in it for five years. You see.... we have been vegetarian for.. as long as I remember... and vegan for the last five years.... hence not getting chooks for our "chook mahal". No great problem with eggs from happy backyard chooks that live out their natural lives (even when they stop laying eggs), but more of a problem with the husbandry of chooks and the inevitable end use of their eggs in so many everyday products. We still have an embargo on commercial egg products, but I can't tell you how much we enjoyed our first eggy dish from our very happy and loved chooks.....I am also the worlds worst cook, but eggs are sooooo easy to cook. What a winner!!.
And then.....shock. horror....they are eating all of our carefully nurtured frogs and lizards, not to mention every other creepy crawly. What a dilemma. Do we eat the eggs that will no doubt contain frog and lizard protein? O.K. a bit of balance here. Why should I preference frogs and lizards over slaters, spiders, worms, bugs of all types etc. etc. It is all horrific for us, but totally natural for a chook.... We'll just have to give the eggs away to others if we see them eating frogs and we will do our best to keep the chooks away from our frog pond in our domestic garden. That is the plan anyway... reality might have to be more pragmatic. They also like the Scottish Kale and parsley.... the rest of the vegetable garden (or weed patch, and one of the reasons for geting the girls to tidy things up) is not so palatable to our feathered royalty.
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