Our introduction to keeping chickens, the high's, the lows and pics of our journey.

[vehve]

What is sweet mustard?

(Had reindeer sausage this winter and enjoyed it! But I'm an adventurous eater.)

Just what the name implies. I usually buy the stuff, but if you make your own you can just start with the basic Coleman's mix and add some honey to it, maybe one part to four. Pour in a dash of cognac if you're feeling adventurous.

Now I'm really going to bed. Promise.

 

[K Spot]

By the way, do you Ozzies have bonnets and boots or hoods and trunks? And do you eat Herbs or eeerbs? Somewhere I read about the pronunciation of that one, in the States it's "eeerbs", because it suites the American accent better, while the Brits say "HHerbs". Here the explanation was "Because it's got a f***ing H in it".

Hahahaha Vehve - are you an Eddie Izzard fan too?? Because I've heard him use this line in one of his DVD's.

 

[Fancychooklady]

The country life is not for everyone! We had our ' tree change ' in our mid 30's after 15 years of living in and around Sydney. Just got fed up with the ' big smoke '. We have everything we need here , 2 supermarkets, 3 petrol stations, 2x pubs and various small business 's. We have 50 acres by the river but we are only 500 metres from the centre of town, sometimes I feel way too close to town.
We are only an hour away from the airport and the rest of the world. When I had an accident it took 6 mins to get to the city via helicopter . Whenever we fly into Sydney to visit the rellies , before we even get to the car I remember why we escaped in the first place.
Different strokes for different blokes!

 

[satay]

The country life is not for everyone! We had our ' tree change ' in our mid 30's after 15 years of living in and around Sydney. Just got fed up with the ' big smoke '. We have everything we need here , 2 supermarkets, 3 petrol stations, 2x pubs and various small business 's. We have 50 acres by the river but we are only 500 metres from the centre of town, sometimes I feel way too close to town.
We are only an hour away from the airport and the rest of the world. When I had an accident it took 6 mins to get to the city via helicopter . Whenever we fly into Sydney to visit the rellies , before we even get to the car I remember why we escaped in the first place.
Different strokes for different blokes!

Aint that the truth though you sound like you have a lot more mods near by than I do. We are 8km from the main town of Esk. Esk only has mostly cafe's and pubs as a good little town should. An un friendly grocer and 1 small servo that does not sell gas much to hubbys disgust lol. Gatton is out next biggest town 38km away . They have aldi, coles and super iga and a country target. Other than that it is Toowoomba or Ipswich for clothes shopping ets Ipswich just under ran hour away and Toowoomba just over an hour. Why do we live out here.... It's quiet

 

[Bens-Hens]

Personally I would love something in between. I like to be able to 'shop around' local business. Internet shopping is handy, but it kill's local stores. Saying that, too close to the city and you can't have chickens full stop, we are far enough out to have more than a few, but not far enough to have roosters (but we can have 747's fly over all hours of the day!)

We have some great rural suburbs in the metro area. Places where people have hobby farms, and lots are held at 5 acres minimum. If you want more you have to go further out.

Until we can afford some sort of compromise, it's a 850m2 suburban block for us in a crummy neighbourhood.

I got a pick of brekky too

 

[katbriar]

Just what the name implies. I usually buy the stuff, but if you make your own you can just start with the basic Coleman's mix and add some honey to it, maybe one part to four. Pour in a dash of cognac if you're feeling adventurous.

Now I'm really going to bed. Promise.

Ah, of course. We call that "honey mustard". My brain was too dim this evening to think of that.

 

[CB and CG]

I must say we are very happy with our patch of paradise in the Perth hills. We were in a suburban neighbourhood but that grew old quickly. Now we live in a semi rural suburb in the Perth Hills on 3 acres of land. We are allowed to keep 20 adult chickens including a rooster and everything we need is close by but not too close. The Perth CBD is only 16km away (25 minutes) but all the essentials are only 10 minutes away. This is ideal for us as we only keep a flock of a dozen adult Australorps and everything we need is close enough without being too close.

 

[vehve]

@K Spot That's where it was from, I couldn't wrap my brain around where I had heard it. First I was thinking Jamie Oliver, but he is far from a good example on pronunciation.

@katbriar I usually buy a mustard that just tastes sweet and isn't that hot, but that one isn't made with honey, I think they just use sugar. However when making mustard myself, I prefer to make honey mustard. Or then I just mix some honey with Dijon-mustard. Also, my names for things are sometimes just direct translations, for this I apologize.

@satay Now you're just making up names of places and businesses

Unfriendly grocers are the best! I used to frequent a gas-station where one of the guys working there said that from him you don't get service, you get handling. (This again loses a bit outside the original Finnish) Sometimes he greeted me with "You again! What the f*** do you wan't this time?", I thought that was much better than a fake smile and sucking up to customers.

@Bens-Hens I have a hard time figuring out why your allowed to have loud airplanes and screaming offspring running around, but when a little birdy sings his song everyone gets all riled up. Luckily here, so far all the comments have been "Ah, it sounds so idyllic when he crows." I should add that my better half has forbidden me from expressing my feelings on misbehaved children loudly in the vicinity of their parents. But I'll probably be just as bad once I have a little maggot crawling about myself. (And to be clear, I actually like children, I just don't understand why parents have to go shopping with the whole family after a long day and then they just ignore their screaming five-year-old who really shouldn't be subjected to being dragged around shops in his overtired state. Our German neighbors are an excellent example on disciplined parenting. I've never seen more well behaved children.)

I've been thinking of a way for people to handle rooster complaints. When a neighbor comes up complaining, you just hand them an axe and say "Sure, you can take care of the problem." I'm guessing squeamish city-folk will suddenly have no problem with a bit of a crow. Anonymous complaints to city officials might still be an issue though.

 

[vehve]

I must say we are very happy with our patch of paradise in the Perth hills. We were in a suburban neighbourhood but that grew old quickly. Now we live in a semi rural suburb in the Perth Hills on 3 acres of land. We are allowed to keep 20 adult chickens including a rooster and everything we need is close by but not too close. The Perth CBD is only 16km away (25 minutes) but all the essentials are only 10 minutes away. This is ideal for us as we only keep a flock of a dozen adult Australorps and everything we need is close enough without being too close.

That sounds like the perfect balance to me. I have secret plans on acquiring Kaivopuisto (Helsinki's version of Central Park) and putting up a 10 meter wall around the perimeter. I don't think this is a realistic plan though.

 

[satay]

@K Spot
 That's where it was from, I couldn't wrap my brain around where I had heard it. First I was thinking Jamie Oliver, but he is far from a good example on pronunciation.

@katbriar
 I usually buy a mustard that just tastes sweet and isn't that hot, but that one isn't made with honey, I think they just use sugar. However when making mustard myself, I prefer to make honey mustard. Or then I just mix some honey with Dijon-mustard. Also, my names for things are sometimes just direct translations, for this I apologize.

@satay
 Now you're just making up names of places and businesses   Unfriendly grocers are the best! I used to frequent a gas-station where one of the guys working there said that from him you don't get service, you get handling. (This again loses a bit outside the original Finnish) Sometimes he greeted me with "You again! What the f*** do you wan't this time?", I thought that was much better than a fake smile and sucking up to customers.

@Bens-Hens
 I have a hard time figuring out why your allowed to have loud airplanes and screaming offspring running around, but when a little birdy sings his song everyone gets all riled up. Luckily here, so far all the comments have been "Ah, it sounds so idyllic when he crows." I should add that my better half has forbidden me from expressing my feelings on misbehaved children loudly in the vicinity of their parents. But I'll probably be just as bad once I have a little maggot crawling about myself. (And to be clear, I actually like children, I just don't understand why parents have to go shopping with the whole family after a long day and then they just ignore their screaming five-year-old who really shouldn't be subjected to being dragged around shops in his overtired state. Our German neighbors are an excellent example on disciplined parenting. I've never seen more well behaved children.)

I've been thinking of a way for people to handle rooster complaints. When a neighbor comes up complaining, you just hand them an axe and say "Sure, you can take care of the problem." I'm guessing squeamish city-folk will suddenly have no problem with a bit of a crow. Anonymous complaints to city officials might still be an issue though.

LOL Actually I am the name of the store is friendly grocer but the whole store and service is very unfriendly.. Hence the name the locals give it.