Thread: Getting back to living off the land.....

@Coote, yes the pigs will spend time in bracken for sure, it’s a dominant plant species in areas of abandoned farmland adjacent to the native blocks, and I frequently see pigs in there. But do they eat bracken? Haven’t a clue. I guess that might affect their flavour.

Of concern to me is the amount of dead animal they get to eat - pig hunters’ livestock dumps which get a steady resupply of sheep, cattle and horses, all the goats we flatten from long range, the deer we cull to waste as well. It’s a veritable smorgasbord of dead ungulates, and they sure don’t last long, a day or two tops for a yearling Angus steer when the pigs are around, for example... It is quite something to watch them demolish a red deer in 6-7 hours. And they like it rotten as...

Kinda puts me off wild pork to be honest.

Whereas the pigs I used to shoot off North Waikato farmland came straight out of the native and onto pasture, they were excellent eating.

I have heard that bracken will affect pork quality. The roots can be starchy and I've certainly seen pig rooting in bracken patches. The content of some of the stomachs of pigs I've gutted looked like it could have included bracken roots/rhizomes whatever they are called.

I seldom eat pig's liver nowadays. I believe that is where any toxins are likely to be in their highest concentration. And I figure that some pigs may have eaten poisoned possums... or even directly consumed a sub-lethal dose of poisoned bait. I don't eat possum livers for the same reason.

Greetings All,
In line with my low input block maintenance regime grass maintenance in the open and treed areas has been delegated to an itinerant landscape specialists. They operate from late winter to early summer and have provided excellent service to date. Early last summer, after negotiations, I extended their contract to include some of the areas closer to the house. Below is a photo of the team enjoying their smoko break. A more permanent arrangement will be organised before they return in a few months.
Regards Grandpamac.

Salad is what food eats..

Good post Gonetropo. I'm interested in the comment re feral pork. Ive had some amazing "gifted" wild pork and like you some that the dogs had to be persuaded to even nose. I'm thinking that diet is everything. I love my goat currys - they only eat green stuff. Pigs will scavenge anything so I'm guessing there will be times of the year when the meat will be great perhaps when greens and roots are bountiful and times when it reflects whatever else they get into, like carrion maybe. More research required...

Last night was my first night at home since busting my ankle. Today I felt like baking so went into full Nigella mode. Flicked my hair around, puffed out my chest and tried to look seductive. That was an epic failure so just baked a loaf of sultana bread and my first bacon and egg pie in about 25-years. I bought the pastry; turns out I wasn't in 100% Nigella mode after all......





Oh; and the reason why I won't be doing some hunting for another few months.....

Nice looking texture in that loaf. Do you include any sort of oil in your dough mix? Any lecithin or any other additive?

Greetings Bumblefoot,
That looks like a pretty sturdy repair. Take the time needed for your recovery,
Regards Grandpamac.

Nope. It's a no knead loaf. You just 3 cups of high grade flour, 1 tsp dried yeast, 1 tsp salt, 1/3-1/2 cup sultanas 1 3/4 cups water (1 1/2 if no sultanas because they absorb some water). Folded over itself a few times every 20-30mins (3 separate foldings). Left overnight in a bowl with a damp towel overnight. Next morning turn out onto a floured board. fold it half a dozen times, shape it and put it on some baking paper for half an hour or so. Pre-heat the oven at around 220C with a lidded casserole dish/Dutch or camp oven. when hot, take the oven out and put the dough in on the paper. Put the lid on the cooking vessel and bake for 30-mins. Then take the vessel out, remove the lid, take out the paper and put the loaf in for another 10-20mins (no lid) to finish. It's practically fullproof! Having the lid on emulates a bakers steam oven and makes a primo crust

Thanks for that Bumblefoot. I think I'd better try it. Maybe when the grandkids are over for a meal. Much appreciated.

@grandpamac Thank you; I am. It is healing very well though. But I'm being careful; even though it is damn frustrating! Was in a cast for 6 weeks and then a moon boot for just under 2. They thought it may take 6-weeks but it's making good progress.

Greetings All,
I was walking through Mitre 10 the other day. I had gone in to get a few odds and ends including some climbing sugar snap pea seeds, a favourite in this house. I walked past the table full of seed potatoes and decided I should grow some this year so a bag was added to the cart. This morning I was planting them where could shoehorn them in to my garden. I was looking for something to put the sprouted spuds in and remembered that we used to use a dipper for this. I also realised that I had followed my late father's planting system. So for the three of you that may be interested here it is.
First the seed potatoes were placed in a seed tray, rose end up, to sprout and put in a dim part of the shed. The rose end of the spud is the end where the eyes are and where the sprouts will develop. It takes a couple of weeks for this to happen so this gives you time to finish preparing the ground for them. The sprouted spuds are easy to damage so enough for each row were transferred from the seed tray into the dipper for their trip to the garden. What is a dipper you ask? A dipper was an implement like a wok but about half the size. They were used for emptying the copper. What is a copper? A copper was used for heating water for washing clothes up until about 1950. It was a copper bowl with a fire box below heated with wood or if you were flash gas. Most had no outlet so they had to be emptied with the dipper. By the mid to late 1950's when I was "helping" my father planting the spuds most of the coppers had been replaced with agitator washing machines but you still saw the from time to time. The dippers survived. I found an ice cream container almost as good.
Well we got a bit of track there but hopefully there are a few old fudd's that have their memory jogged.
Regards Grandpamac.

Heh. Well I certainly know what a 'copper' is, but I have never been aware of a 'dipper'. Thanks for that.

Coppers were a common thing when I was a kid. I seem to recall one in the family home... and I saw them at other people's places. The copper bowl, removed from the refractory body, was a very handy thing. Before plastic containers we used to use one as a water reservoir when mixing concrete, and another was used for stock to drink out of. I have an idea that my elders used to boil freshly caught crayfish in a copper. The outer refractory housing was useful as an outdoor incinerator when the copper bowl was removed. We aren't allowed incinerators now.

I don't ever remember my parents using a copper for cleaning laundry. I guess by the time I was aware of 'doing the washing' they had a washing machine.

Here is an early colour photo showing my young sister cooling off in the copper bowl we had in the paddock for the horse to drink from.

i built the mrs 3 vege gardens and a greenhouse. got 1/2 of one garden full of spuds and the rest is for what she wants to plant and eat as i believe vege is evil !!