Another chicken saga.

You may remember that last year one of our hens hatched out 11 eggs. 10 reached maturity.  What a successful "mum"!   And also we think there was a great deal of luck as well.

2012 has NOT been as successful re chicken development.

Our first clucky hen started sitting in October.
She hatched 4 eggs, out of 7.
The chickens were,as usual, very cute.
The mother and her chicks were in the main chook pen....a large cage behind the barn. 

The mother is a White Sussex, and here she is with her 4 new chicks.

By day 3 of their lives we were minus one chicken.
By day 4 we were minus another.
And by day 6 they were all gone.
We have no idea what happened.
A predator of some ilk, definitely, but what?
A snake? Plenty of those on the farm.
A fox?  Plenty of those about. A feral cat? We have seen one.  A bird of prey? heaps of those.  A goanna? Yes, a large one has been sighted.

But something had chicken entree on four occasions.


Our 2nd clucky hen sat on her eggs in November.
Two chickens hatched.  Again, in the main chook pen.
I think you know what happens next? Yes. By day two of their existence they too were no more. Both eaten on the same day.

All our hens are White Sussex. So here is mother hen number two, with her 2 chickens.

Our 3rd clucky hen started sitting on her eggs in late November.
We had to decide where to move the hen because leaving her, and her resulting brood in the main chook pen would surely result in whatever predator had enjoyed the previous 6 chickens, having more tender chicken for a meal.

And here is clucky hen numer three, sitting on her eggs in the main chook pen.

A neighbour had a mobile, predator proof chook pen. I asked if we could borrow it. The answer was "yes"...as you'd expect from country folk.
It is a large rectangular cage, with fine mesh for walls and roof, and a larger mesh floor.
Nothing would be able to get in from above, or from the side, nor even burrow into it.
(You can see it, and get an idea of its size and structure from the photos below.)

So the neighbour, Cal, his wife, Elaine, and I manhandled the aforesaid cage onto our ute., and we moved the cage from his property to ours.

We waited until late one afternoon to move the hen, sitting on her eggs in a laying box.  We covered the box with cardboard so that the hen would not be stressed during the transfer. 

The transfer in progress....hen and nesting box are covered by cardboard.

Now to get in, and push the box plus hen right down to the back of this safe cage.

The mesh floor is hard on the knees, but we are nearly there!

And it was just in time.
The next morning there was the hen, and THREE chicks in the cage. Very cute.

Day one of their lives. Two chicks under her beak, the other at her side. But safe!

It is now day 4 of their lives, and they are still alive.

Four days old.

Wonderful.
Whatever ate the others has no chance of eating these.

When they are large enough to not be eaten by whatever, we will put them back into the large chook pen.....from which ALL the hens and rooster are released every afternoon. They all have the afternoon to "free range" about the farm.....putting themselves back into the main cage at dusk.

Please keep your fingers crossed for our chickens.
With grandchildren arriving at the farm over the Xmas break it will be lovely to have some chickens for them to see.

An example of Shanghai Street Food.

Away from my last Blog on the Ballandean Dump, and back to Shanghai, for a moment or two.
My son and daughter-in-law in Shanghai introduced me to street food, and 99% of the time, it is delicious.

Looking from the laneway out onto Nanchang Lu.

Walking along Nanchang Lu...which I do many many times each visit....I would pass a long queue of locals in the street.
My Shanghai-based daughter-in-law told me that the queue was always long because the people were waiting to buy scallion oil pancakes (or cong you bing ) from, reputedly, the best maker of them in Shanghai.

The address of the pancake maker.

One March day this year, when I walked past, the queue was almost non-existent. 
I had never seen such a short queue before.
There were only 5 people lined up at the doorway to the small room where the pancakes were cooked.
This was an opportunity not to be missed, so I queued as well.
I felt very lucky. Three years after first seeing the queues here, I looked as if I would be able to taste the pancakes at last.

Yes, there are 5 people in this queue.

I was optimistic...mistakenly so. Each of the people above had HUGE orders, so it was 45 minutes before I could order my lowly TWO pancakes.

But in that time I could watch the Chinese cook at work. And work he did. Never stopped.
My DIL (Daughter-in-law) told me that he starts work early  every morning, and works practically non-stop until late afternoon. Talk about a work ethic!

The cooking takes place on a steel plate which is placed over a 44 gallon drum. This is at the front of the alcove where he works.
Behind that is a small bench where he shapes the pancakes. Here he has a roll of unleavened dough, a bowl of sliced scallions/shallots, and a small bowl of oil.

This is the workbench.  Unleavened dough, bowls of oil, pancakes ready for next batch of cooking. (Cooked ones at front of photo) The shallots are in the green bowl....you can see just a bit of it in the background.

He takes a dollop of dough, glazes it with oil, adds the scallions, rolls it up ready for cooking.

A batch just placed on the hot plate.

...and flattened with hands.

and then with a metal hand-held press. (and another customer's shoulder is in the corner of this photo...oops!)

The pancakes have been flattened, and now brushed with oil.

Probably my favourite photo of the day...why?

What do you think about that? No WPHS rules here. Cigarette in hand, mind on job. And I did not notice any ash falling on the pancakes.
You can see that the two middle rows of pancakes are almost done, the outer rows waiting their turn.

Yes, after 45 minutes I left with two pancakes. I felt a little embarrassed ordering two only, especially after the large orders requested by my fellow buyers, but the cook didn't turn a hair. Just collected two pancakes, and placed them in a brown paper bag, and charged me my 6 yuan (about $1 Aust)  

So I was a happy person, strolling along Nanchang Lu, munching on my food. Crisp. A little salty. Fresh scallion/shallot taste.  Great street food, made all the more tasty because of my 3 year wait! (and my mouth is watering just writing about them.)
If ever you are in Shanghai, go to the Former French Concession, and stroll down Nanchang Lu, and queue. But have a heap of time to do it! It's worth it.

The Ballandean Dump Beautification Project...Part Two.

A long time ago, yes, sometime last year, I wrote about the Ballandean Dump Beautification Project.
It started for us, well, for my husband actually, at a dinner. After a hearty meal and a few good red wines, the idea was born.
One of our neighbours, a long-standing local, Sam Costanzo, a grape grower and wine maker, suggested to my husband, also a grape grower and wine maker, that they meet at the dump early next morning to plant some trees.....to make the dump look better.
Well, after more than a few wines, what do you do but agree?
So they did. They met at the dump. They planted tress.

That was 12 months or more ago, and over that time some of the trees planted did not make it. Some died.
What to do?
Recently Sam spoke to Ade again about the problem, and a second day was planned, to replace the dead trees, and add more plants.

Ready for work.

Here is Sam's truck, with a 44 gallon drum of water, a hay bale for mulch, and plants. All ready to go.

Sam, with one of the Golden Robina trees.

Ade with buckets of soil.

Last year they planted some Chinese Pistachios, which have beautiful red Autumn foliage.
This year they replaced the few dead Pistachios with Golden Robina, which also has colourful Autumn leaves.
As an extra they planted some Virgina Creepers, which look like grape vines, and have magnificent red leaves in Autumn.
Sam is hoping that they will grow up and along the walls of the dump.
(Apparently, this creeper which originates from China, is an excellent climber. The Chinese have called it Mountain-climbing tiger because of its vigorous growth. Don't you love the descriptive Chinese names?)

Sam telling Ade what to do!

The tree is planted, so now the support stake must be placed.

"Just add water"

...and then cover with mulch.

 

And the Virginia Creeper is in.

 The Golden Robina (Robinia pseudocacia) has clear yellow leaves in Spring, which turn bright yellow in Autumn.

The Virginia Creeper (Perthenocissus tricuspidata) has magnificent scarlet, yellow or purple Autumn colours. Then the dump walls will truly be beautiful!

It really should be the prettiest dump in Queensland by the time all the plants mature!

The Stanthorpe Camp Draft...Day 2.

Sunday was day 2 for the Stanthorpe Camp Draft followers.

The morning was for tutoring participants who wished to refine their techniques.
The afternoon was for the actual camp drafting.
But, and here's a confession, I could not stay for the afternoon.
Please bear with me, and enjoy the photos from the morning's activities.

Here are people, and their horses, waiting for their tutorial.

Here is the tutor. On his horse. Microphone in hand, so that everyone in the area, and the pupil, can easily hear the constructive comments.

Here is a pupil, with her back turned to the steer....I would NOT be in that position!

This is better!

Now to tackle the steer from a different angle.

Another "pupil" enters the arena.

and does her best to corral the beast.

After the instruction in the small paddock, each rider then went into to large show-ring, to be given further hints by another old hand.

The pupil is in the checked shirt.

Another pupil (on the left) tries his hand at the required skills.

I was sorry to have missed the actual camp drafting, which ran that afternoon, but I enjoyed watching the horsemanship of all the riders. So many of them ride so fluidly, and appear to be at one with their horse.
(The only time I was on a horse was when I was 18, and I was terrified! Never been on one since, but do enjoy watching people ride)

But next time there is a camp drafting competition in my area, I SHALL watch it.

Stanthorpe Camp Drafting Weekend.....day 1.

 

Since coming to live in this area, I have heard people talking about camp drafting.
How?  One of my acquaintances has a son who is mad about camp drafting...he loves the sport. But he has broken his collar bone TWICE while participating.
Another acquaintance nursed her husband after he broke his leg camp drafting. But he too "loves" the sport.

I still knew nothing about it, except that it had some elements of danger, and involved horses.

So what is it all about? After hearing such tales, and seeing that there was a weekend devoted to it, being held at Stanthorpe, which is only a 20 minute drive away, I decided to go and see.

Not much information after today because today's activities were given over to team sport...."Team Penning"
But I found it interesting.   Camp drafting tomorrow.

Basically, in Team Penning, there are teams of 3 riders. Plus a mob of cattle at one end of the arena. And pens at the other end.

Riders waiting for their turn at the  "Team Penning" competition.

..and spurs are mandatory for all competitors.

They riders face a mob of cattle, and have 2 minutes....yes, only TWO minutes, to separate, and pen, 3 individual cows (or were they steers?) Whatever....they were cattle!

The mob of cattle, with coloured neck bands, driven into position in the arena.

One rider is the designated "cattle separator" and rides to the mob, disrupts them, and aims to isolate one. This chosen one is then herded, by all three riders, up to the pens.....which are at the other end of the ring ( read "paddock")

Two of the 3 member team....checking the cattle, at the far end of the arena.  You can see the fencing of the pens behind the riders.

Starting to separate a steer.

Why won't the beasts cooperate?

You can just discern the 3 team members (in blue shirts) in the arena, with some cattle visible.

One member tries to separate a steer, while the other is ready to help.

All over.....leaving the ring.

Naturally the steers have no wish to cooperate...they are social animals after all, and keep trying to evade the riders, and return to the mob.
The riders have to be quick, and ride very well. And know their mounts.

The process is repeated until there are three penned beasts, and then the  riders shoot their hands straight up into the air for the judges to see, and time.
In TWO minutes, or less.
Only a few teams succeeded in herding 3 steers.
Some managed two.
Some only one.
Many did not get any cattle into the pens.

Can you see that this team managed to get TWO animals into the pen?

Speaking to a participant after her event, she told me that there are 3 requirements for the sport.
The rider must have knowledge of cattle behaviour (or 'cattle sense"); a good horse; and "a lotta luck"

The horses are stock horses.....a special breed, bred just for stock work.
My informant's horse was 9 years old, and just reaching his prime.  By then, she told me, they are over most of their quirky ways, and respond to the rider well.   But, she added, they can still have their off days. They can then work until they're about 25 years old.

This competitor gave me all the above information!

A few times today I noticed an "off day" when the horse in the ring bucked instead of obeying the rider. It was if the horse was indicating that it did not want to herd cattle, thanks very much, and wanted the rider off its back.

Tomorrow I shall drive to Stanthorpe again, and watch the Camp Drafting. More details in the next Blog.

Walk among the Wildflowers.

Stanthorpe is very lucky to have a group of wildflower enthusiasts, the Stanthorpe Rare Wildflower Consortium.
Each Spring this group conducts a series of wildflower walks in various parts of the Granite Belt.
Today was my first walk with them, and it was in Girraween National Park, along the Mt. Norman section.

Getting to the starting point for the walk was an unknown for many of us, but the group is well organised, and signs were found at every road junction from Wallangarra into the Mt. Norman track.

And along the way, the last section of which was an unsealed road, there were gates to open, and close!

No mistaking this.

Before starting the walk, where to park?
I was almost last to arrive so space along the track was at a premium.    Car parking was an exercise in manoeuvring and tight turns.....the track was narrow, and there were lots of vehicles about.

A bike would have been good idea, from the parking point of view.

After parking (wish there were such things as fold-up cars!), I joined the rest on the walking track.

They were an enthusiastic bunch of Nature and Wildflower lovers, all checking plants and checking classification with one another.
And at various sections one of the group leaders would stop, and point out an interesting plant for us to admire....and attempt to classify!
There were a couple of participants who could rattle off nearly every plant's Latin name.
Very impressive stuff.

We may look a motley crew, but we aren't!

We're really quite a pleasant group, all interested in plants.

One of the group leaders explaining about a plant for us.

...and another leader explains about another wildflower.

Like many other National Parks, Girraween is a wild and beautiful place.
Its colours are predominantly grey, due to the huge granite boulders.

This photo gives you an idea about Girraween...mainly grey, with granite boulders.

But with Spring here, there are splashes of colour amongst the grey.

In this section of the park neither the Flannel Flowers, nor the Wattles were out....but the plants had plenty of buds, just ready to burst.  It was a pity, because the Flannel Flowers, in bloom are glorious, as are the trees of golden Wattle. 

But here are a few of the other plants I saw today. And when I photographed these I was wishing for a you-beaut, technically-up-to-date camera....my shots are not too good, but you will get the general idea (I hope)

I think that this is a Guinea Flower. (Hibbertia)

New England Tea tree (Leptospermum)

The above photograph does not do justice to the Leptospermum, which was a delicate shade of pale pale pink, merging into white.

One of the Boronias (F. Myrtaceae)

And a blue-flowered something...never found out the name of this, but it was a pretty splash of colour.

One of the many heaths in this section of the park (F. Ericaceae)

A Banksia.....Family Proteacae

Beware...a nest of "itchy grubs"

Can you see the small caterpillars crawling over the surface of the nest? If they crawl on your skin you do get very itchy, because their surface hairs are brittle, and pierce your skin, which results in the itch and/or a rash......very very unpleasant.
So such a nest should always be admired  from a safe distance...as you can see in the next photo.

A wise viewing distance!

 (No plant, animal, or person was harmed during the Wildflower Walk...I feel sure that this puts your minds at rest!)