Peaches & Rare Breeds

We picked all of our peaches on Saturday - it was us or the birds, so drastic action was necessary! We have a whole fruit box full, now ripening on the back verandah, so Peach Melba is looking like the dessert of choice for our Australia Day Party. Although, this morning started very cold & windy, & so we lit a fire in the dining room, so I still need to contemplate warm desserts too for the party.

Still waiting for my rat zapper to arrive, but we've caught 2 so far using the basic black rat traps. The predatory birds have been having a go at my chicks too, so I have strung up bird netting through the trees on their pen to reduce their pouncing zone, but they are smarter than the chicks & just bide their time until the chicks leave the safe zone. This season sure has been full of learnings about chicken breeding & raising, that's for sure. One good thing is that it has made me really focus on what I am doing & why, & I had a look at the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia website yesterday http://www.rbta.org/, & the Buff Orpingtons are listed there, so my decision to breed them is reinforced. I was sad to see that the Gloucester Old Spot pigs are not available in Australia - they have always been my pig of choice, but it looks like I won't be able to get them without importing them. Anyway, having Saddleback/Landrace crosses are also a good choice, but I can see that if I want to contribute to the genetic ark in my patch of the woods, I'll need to source purebreeds, even to raise.

We found a new cria in the paddock on Saturday - Sylvester, born to the beautiful Honey, & another unexpected birth. There was obviously a very cunning alpaca plan last Summer, involving Kluger (the stud male) jumping into the girl's paddock, & then jumping back to his own paddock, without the humans knowing. Anyway, I am starting to look at all of the other females in the paddock with a more careful eye -there could me more on the way!