Compost Making

Started first by collecting a few ingredients. Fresh cow pats from the nearby paddock and some mulch hay from the Hayshed.

Bags of manure

Very fresh

A few bales

Our kitchen compost was full of product from the recent weeding of the vegetable beds. The material was sorted and only the softer green material was selected for immediate use. The coarser woody material was set aside to be run through the Chipper/Mulcher to thoroughly bruise before using.

Another source of green material was some pruned branches run through the Chipper/Mulcher. Jean had just pruned the Elderflower which suppled a few barrow loads. About one barrow load constituted a layer.

Pruning time is the ideal moment to make a big compost or two. By combining the tasks fresh, moist green, material is readily available. When all this is used, grass clippings will be substituted. It was a good excuse not to mow the lawn for a few weeks.

The layers were as follows:

Layer 1 Mulch hay. About 3-4 biscuits gave a good covering i.e. about a quarter of the bale.
Layer 2 Green material. 50 or so MM felt about right.
Layer 3 Sprinkling of Bio Char. Just a 2-3 cups.
Layer 4 Sprinkling of Dolomite. 1-2 cups.
Layer 5 Watered in well.
Layer 6 Mulch hay
Layer 7 Green material
Layer 8 Sprinkling of Bio Char
Layer 9 Sprinkling of Dolomite
Layer 10 Some Cow manure or light sprinkling of Blood & Bone - a cup or two. After spreading manure use the Jet setting on the hose nozzle to break up and liquefy the manure.
Layer 11 A thin sprinkling of soil. Just a few millimetres. We always keep aside planter pots that are finished with and use the soil from them. Another source was a garden bed that needed removing. The task was left until the compost was being made and the tasks combined.

Now start all over again and keep going until the bin is full. We use a 90 mm plastic pipe in the centre to make an air hole. The pipe is held upright with a star picket and both are removed when the pile is finished giving a neat hole. The alternative is to ram a star picket or steel bar into the centre after the compost is finished and make a hole about 2/3 rds. of the way through.

Because it takes 2-3 days to fill, the pile compacts and settles overnight providing more space.

Mulch hay

Elderflower chipped and mulched

Bio Char

Dolomite

Fresh Manure well watered

Soil

Rather than spend all day working on this we just allow a couple of hours every afternoon to work on the compost bin assembly. That way the other farm chores can be done and material collected. It finishes the day with a positive feeling.

Our Cattle

The two steers (Warren and Hector) must have been feeling good today. Something came upon them and they raced up and down the paddock in high spirits stopping occasionally for a bit of playful head butting before kicking their heels in the air and running off again. Who says dairy steers are valueless?

At first Martinique showed her maturity and just stared but then she let loose and had a canter.

The photographs are just before they started playing.

Hector (Sweetie Boy)

Martinique

Warren (Whinging) in the background

Bunya Nut

On the way back from the Hay come Tractor shed the path leads past the  Bunya Nut which was planted a decade or so ago. It's doing well and to prevent loneliness a mate was planted about 20 or 30 metres away. Eventually these Jurassic fossils will reach 40-50 metres. The first one was a gift from someone as was its mate. There is something primitive about its leaf profile and it emanates a special feeling as you pass by.

The good thing is its fruit which we are anticipating. We made sure they are planted well away from anything the 5KG fruit will damage as it descends to earth.

NZ Compost Bin - Final Setup

At last the dual bay compost bin is finished. Fully erected and ready to be filled.

It's obvious why everyone loves an oiled timber finish. Eucalypts have an incredible diversity of colour and patina when oiled. Unfortunately these beautiful colours will not last outside. They will all turn to the common dull grey in a short time.

That is the issue with natural wood when it is used outside. Any finish applied needs to re-applied every year or two to maintain the colour. The Sun and rain are incredibly damaging to exposed clear timber finishes. I'm sure there is a fortune to be made by anyone able to come up with a simple clear external use paint that will last a decade without further maintenance.

The 3 way sliding panel block

Bio Char

This week we had our first fire of Winter. A bit later than usual, but then the days have been warm and the nights mild. We benefitted from the excellent insulation of our house and made sure we closed up and drew curtains early in the afternoon to retain the warmth. Then finally some rain came and everything cooled just that extra few degrees.

The by-product of having a wood heater is that there is plenty of ash during the cold months. Which is handy spreading around the garden. Pure wood ash consists of calcium, potassium and magnesium. Because it contains calcium it will raise the pH of the soil, and can be used on acid soils instead of lime. Here and here is some further information.

But there is another by-product. Just before we go to bed we dampen the fire by turning down the air slide which slows the burning. The next morning there is always a reasonable amount of charcoal remaining on and in the white ash.

The morning after

Bio Char is charcoal that has been burnt in a low oxygen atmosphere. Therefore every morning the  firebox is cleaned out and the material stored in a metal container. Sometimes the charcoal is still smouldering hence the metal container. This process also causes whatever remaining charcoal to be buried in ash which limits its Oxygen.

After it has cooled it is emptied into a feed bag for storage. By the end of Winter there is usually half a dozen bags of this material. The charcoal pieces can be quite large and to break them down they would be sieved through some bird wire which has holes about 12mm diameter and then the larger bits placed in a metal drum and pulverise with the end of a large piece of wood (3 x 2).

This was time consuming and time was in shortfall. The solution was the Chipper/Mulcher. Extremely quick but messy as a dust cloud spreads for about 5 metres around the work area. Not something to do next to the laden clothesline. And a good face mask compulsory.

The end result was that with minimal effort there was 120-150 litres of Bio Char and wood ash.

Whenever compost is being made this mix of Bio Char and ash is sprinkled lightly every few layers.

Feeding Chickens

Rocky the rooster and some of his girls

1. We feed our chickens Barley, Oats, Sorghum (Milo), Wheat, Corn and Black Sunflower seeds. Black Sunflowers are the husk as well as the kernel still intact. All these grains are fed whole, never cracked. Cracked grains will oxidise quickly and go rancid. They should be used immediately. Wherever possible we soak the grain overnight in Whey from our cheese making and allow it to sprout just a little. This increase the bio availability of nutrients.

2. The mix is different every day so that they get variety, also there is an overall difference in the mix between seasons i.e. in cool weather, they eat more grain and particularly like warming grains like Corn. In Winter they receive more Corn and Black Sunflower seeds. In warm seasons, they eat less grain overall and we feed out less of the warming and oil rich grains.

Grain Mix

3. Whatever the season, and at each feeding, we emphasise grains that are lower in Omega 6 oils e.g. Corn and Black Sunflower are high in Omega 6 oils.

4. By mixing the other grains which are low in Omega 6 oils, they get a variety of nutrients and less Omega 6. The problem with too many Omega 6's is that they are pro inflammatory in the body. This is a good and natural process, but the traditional Western diet includes too many of these polyunsaturated oils/fats already. We tend to have the ratio of Omega 6 and Omega 3 out of balance.

Grains stored separately

5. The majority of their food is green grass and all that is above, in and below the grass e.g. insects, gravel and other seeds and plants.

6. This provides an array of vitamins, protein, carbohydrates and minerals plus is an excellent source of the very important Omega 3 oils/fats.

7. The chickens are not fed until very late in the afternoon so their crops are full and they can digest this overnight.

8. Oyster shell grit is available at all times to help provide some Calcium and other minerals.

Oyster Shell Grit

9. We keep heritage breeds as opposed to the new hybrids. Hybrids, such as ISA Browns, HyLines and so on, may be the elite athletes of the egg laying world, but to do so they require a high protein diet which really necessitates processed layer pellets. In addition, as a consequence of this breeding for lots of large eggs, they burn out earlier. They are purely designed for egg production and are small with little flesh covering making them difficult to use as a dual purpose bird.

Dedicated (recycled) Feed Shed

10. The older purebreds may not lay as many eggs per year, though they come pretty close, but they continue to lay for more years and if kept active and healthy, tend to have less problems with laying.

11. A lot of these pure breeds can be dual purpose and so, if inclined, you can eat the roosters or even the older hens. We allow all our hens to retire and stay on as a reward for their many years of egg laying and entertainment. 

Small Wine Press, NZ Compost Bins, Dogs at Work

In February while making some Tannat wine from our meagre harvest the screw thread on the baby press was stripped because of the significant pressure that was placed on it during winding.

After some research the only solution seemed to be a low torque Acme screw thread. Acme threads were easily available in 12 foot lengths. Getting a 300 mm piece of this with a nut seemed to be a real challenge until it was discovered that the scissor jacks used on most small cars use an Acme thread.

Finally, at the Dump Shop last week one was available. It was broken down to its component parts with the nut being welded to the top of the press and the thread had the handle attached. After welding, everything received a fresh coat of paint. The real test will be when we next use the device. This may not be until February next year.

Wine Press Base with Acme nut welded

Acme Screw Thread with handles attached

 

Further progress on the newly built NZ Compost Bins. With both of us working steadily all the timber was coated with used sump oil in a location close to where it will be finally assembled.

Loose planks coated with oil

The assembled sections painted. The sheets of iron protect the grass from the oil and allow any excess to flow to beneath the wall of the shed. This shed has experienced some Termite activity and any dripped oil will add a small future deterrent

Jean went across the river to work this morning and now that we have the dual cab work vehicle back with us she was able to take all the dogs with her as farm assistants. Nikki, the male had a serious neck problem a year ago and we only allow him to travel with a full body harness inside the vehicle. He loves being in the car and will sit there for hours without complaining.

The girls love being on the back and sticking their heads out from the sides to take in the smells as they travel back and forth.

Nikki isn't big on farm work and prefers to stay in the car and guard the farmhouse while the girls ride in the RTV while the cattle are moved and the paddocks harrowed.

The kids back from work. The girls on the back (Lisa the splotchy Cattle Dog Cross and Bill the Kelpie Cross) and the Alpha male inside