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

A magnificent edifice. That is a stationary version of the old chook tractor is it not?
Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

A magnificent edifice. That is a stationary version of the old chook tractor is it not? Grandpamac.

Pretty much. But the chooks live a more natural life than squeezed into a chook tractor. It hasn't cost a fortune to do though. The iron are all the 1.8m end of roll pieces at about $15 each. I bought the posts on special for $17 each. But I'm sick of half arsed and it'll pay for itself very fast in dollar terms and hopefully the labour savings.

looking at how you have planted...around perimeter so assumably can walk up centre.....consider raising your edge garden and digging out your walkway to fill it....so you dont need to bend so far to attend to plants.
we allowed our chooks free access to garden all winter,soon to be booted back out. they wont eat the cooch roots unfortunately.

@Micky Duck There's no point really as the chooks will just rip it all up when they go back in there. It's mostly going to be leafy greens in there so it'll be easy to harvest. I'm considering selling any surplus (if any) veges. As there is only me here, it'll be easy to satisfy my needs. But if I decide not to sell anything I'll just plant chicken greens in the pens and still rotate them around it.

I'm trying to make it as easy and labour free as possible. I don't want to be spending hours weeding and tending gardens for a few bucks, when I can simply chase down more writing work. But I'm also trying to diversify the income a bit with things I love doing. I've just turned 60 and want to spend my time doing things I enjoy

I've also considered doing possums. But it isn't really compatible with owning animals and a lifestyle block, unless I'm shooting or trapping handy properties...

The puha that I transplanted into the vege garden is looking wonderfully lush. It certainly likes garden soil!

One of the nicest parts about growing your food is to give it away. A bag of puha fresh from the garden for someone who loves puha, but isn't able to gather her own anymore
And in return she told me how to "mukumuku" it to prepare it properly

I've made jelly from them and it was primo. I've also slow roasted them in an oven bag with goat legs and shoulders. The quince was lovely and cut through the richness of the meat. I reckon it would be good for roast pork too

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

I've made jelly from them and it was primo. I've also slow roasted them in an oven bag with goat legs and shoulders. The quince was lovely and cut through the richness of the meat. I reckon it would be good for roast pork too

What I was told is 'chinese Quince' is quite different to both the standard type and the Smirna Turkish quince I have here and would not cook and soften

Went for a walk yesterday and took a young billy. I didn't want to shoot any nannies as most still have small kids with them. I always put three 1.5 litre frozen water bottles in the body cavity and prop it open with a stick. The frozen water bottles have done a great cooling job (along with a cool night), and they're still half filled with ice nearly 24 hours later.
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When it's warm I try to go hunting in the afternoon as there's less time in the heat for the carcass. I can get it chilled quickly to make sure the meat quality stays optimal. I usually get back around 6-7pm so the temperture is cooling. I usually wrap them up with a duvet cover and hod it tight with clothes pegs. The duvet cover has less entrances for the flies, and I can usually wrap it around a couple of times to make it even harder for the flies!

I always admire how clean your carcasses look post skinning and always seem in great nick.

@Sidetrack Thank you. Being a butcher I'm pretty anal about carcass cleanliness! I always have 2 buckets beside me when I'm skinning; 1 big bucket full of warm soapy water, and a smaller one to rinse my soapy hands and knife. I make the opening cuts on the ground (on the sheet/duvet cover it's wrapped in) and get all the cuts started by releasing the back legs. front legs and brisket. Then I hang it up and punch it all off. But I'm always washing my left hand that is holding the skin and never put it on the meat unless it's clean.

If you punch the skin off from the tail, down the back, and then towards the belly you get behind the belly skin and leave it on the carcass rather than on the skin. I used to tan a lot of skins once upon a time and the less meat on the skin the better! Once you' ve scraped a few skins you quickly learn to punch the skin off!

".... I hang it up and punch it all off. But I'm always washing my left hand that is holding the skin and never put it on the meat unless it's clean.

If you punch the skin off from the tail, down the back, and then towards the belly you get behind the belly skin and leave it on the carcass rather than on the skin. I used to tan a lot of skins once upon a time and the less meat on the skin the better! Once you' ve scraped a few skins you quickly learn to punch the skin off![/QUOTE]

That sounds interesting, but I'm not sure if I fully understand your method Mr B. To get 'behind' the belly skin, how do you get enough slack in the skin to get your fist in there without opening the skin down the back? Thanks in advance.... Coote.

It is a false quince; not the European species. But like I said above it does soften when cooked......

I do my cuts on the ground, same as bumblefoot, but then hang them by the head and skin head down. The membrane stays on the carcass. Because i dont normally keep the skin, I now split a deer skin down the spine and pull it off in two halves. I have done pigs like this for 30 + years. I leave the heads on and skin them for the dog as a reward, doesnt add much weight to the carry and keeps the chops clean.

The frozen bottle of water is a very good idea - note to self, remember this

I split pig skins down the spine sometimes myself. A whole skin can really be quite stiff and hard to manipulate, especially further toward the shield area. I haven't hung carcasses by the head for skinning. I should try it. My carcasses generally don't have a head on them when I bring them home however. I try to lighten the load.

My current procedure is to remove the hocks and hang carcasses (with their skin on) from the pelvic bone (aitch bone) using a big stainless 'S' hook. This enables me to loosely wrap a sheet around it to keep the flies off. I close the sheet up with clothes pegs and hold it up from the rear end with a peg that grabs the sheet against the shaft of the S-hook. I'll often hang the carcass under my shed lean-to roof as long as I dare in the hope that the meat will be tender.

I'm not inclined to give the dogs in my life a head or even a bone. Our current 'grand-dog' which we look after sometimes likes a bone or a bit of skin, but he'll chew it for a while and then get the urge to bury it. And often the first spot isn't right. So he'll dig another hole in the garden and move it... and so on. Plus he is an entitled 'inside' dog, so the mud can come indoors. Sometimes he'll even bury things under the sofa cushions.

We used to give our previous Huntaway/Lab nearly empty pottles of sour cream etc to clean out. She'd pick them up and take them outside to work on. After she passed away, I was digging a hole in the vegetable patch and found a sour cream pottle she'd saved for later.