March 2016 – Gallifrey Forest Farm

The local farm shop

2016/03/30 Danielle 0

Local may be overstating it slightly, but still. We recently visited our closest and most convenient farm shop. Like real grown-up farmers. For those who may not know, a farm shop is a retailer which specialises in equipment and supplies for farms and farmers. It’s a little like the love-child of a Bunnings style hardware store and the rural bakery/deli that inevitably exists in every small town. They carry everything from reticulation pipes & connectors to worming medications for animals to pasture seed. Which is what we were there for. This winter is not the time for goats, […]

plant profile: honey locust

2016/03/23 Danielle 0

I’ve just ordered another selection of wattle seeds, to germinate and plant out. These are all varieties with edible seeds, so they’re a pretty good multi-purpose plant. The idea is to plant about half of them in our Zone 5, along with holm oaks, cork oaks, stone pines, and a variety of other semi-wild food plants and bee forage plant species – the other half will go in the pasture/woodland area as shade trees. This pasture area is going to include a series of paddocks through which our poultry and the hypothetical future goats (and maybe cow!) will be rotated. There will […]

#catlife

2016/03/19 Danielle 0

Our darling Cloud-kitty has returned from her trip to Adelaide, and she does indeed look pregnant. She seems to remember us, and is super affectionate, hungry all the time, and starting to look a bit barrel shaped. However. She’s been away for long enough that she’s forgotten George and Prism, and they’ve forgotten her. Prism wasn’t too much trouble – she’s not the dominant cat in the house, and never has been, so she just backed off and gave Cloud space until they were friends again. George.. not so much. First he growled at her because she smelled of other […]

Black Rice, Mango & Purslane Salad

2016/03/11 Danielle 0

I’ve mentioned before about the little supper club that I’ve formed with some friends. This is an idea that combines some of my favourite things – good food, spending time with my friends (and indulging in interesting discussions), and cooking. As Gallifrey starts producing more edibles, I expect that out contributions to these dinners will include more of our own produce. We had our second dinner party last weekend, and K and I volunteered to make an entrée. I happened to have some black glutinous rice in the cupboard, and a couple’ve mangos in the fridge, and I was feeling […]

Animal Profile: Guinea Fowl

2016/03/08 Danielle 0

This is the first animal profile I’ve written, to complement the plant profiles (of which I will post more, soon). Guinea fowl, specifically the common helmeted guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) are native to Africa, but have been widely introduced to other areas with similar climates. They’re not an uncommon sight on farms and rural properties in WA. As far as I can tell, the main reason is that they’re very, very good at controlling insect populations – including ticks and the various crop-destroying grasshoppers, locusts, and beetles. They also eat flies and maggots, so they help control the fly plagues […]