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Showing A hen at The Local Agricultural Show
Lansdowne Farm’s menagerie includes a number of Dark Barred Plymouth Rock chooks. We breed for our own enjoyment and pleasure and for the availability of fresh eggs for baking. However, this year I assessed three of my hens as up to show standard with the required barring in the wings, yellow feet that looked plump and contented looking. Two of the hens (Alice and Zandra) had finished malting and each was considered perfect to show off at the local show.
Show hens
The beauty preparation began with a bar of my goat’s milk soap and an old toothbrush which proved useful for scrubbing each hen’s yellow feet free of accumulated dirt. The goat soap proved a perfect solution to achieve clean feathers with the farmyard dirt washing easily from each hen’s feathers. Dirt tends however to accumulate in the tiny grooves on each foot and a toothpick was a necessary accessory in extracting the dirt from under the cuticle. Once the hens were clean of feathers and feet – out came the blow drying session
Scrub a dub dub
Good looking chook
Practicalities followed and included registering Zandra for exhibition, paying organizing payment of the entrance fee and ensuring the carrier cage was cleaned ready to transport Zandra to the Dubbo Showgrounds.
The Dubbo showgrounds are located near to the city centre, some 20 kilometers from Lansdowne Farm and all exhibits were required to be settled in by 9am on the first day of the show
Early on show morning, we settled Zandra in the carrier cage and drove with her to the showgrounds. Zandra was provided with an exhibitor’s cage in the poultry section and was supplied with an entry number. We fussed about her but eventually settled her in her cage supplying her with sufficient food and water to while away the day.
With Zandra settled, we wandered around the exhibiting pavilions admiring the many other beautiful hens in their cages and exchanging comments with other doting owners. We then moved through the arts and crafts exhibition envying the talent of the bakers and sewers who were also exhibiting their wares at the local show.
Lovely goats milk soap I wonder who made that ?!
Local Roses
1st Prize
Winter is almost finished
Thanks to my bloggy friends who have missed my writings and nudged me into comment. Yes, I’ve been slack but I do have a valid reason! The demand for Lansdowne Farms products has kept me in our humble country kitchen making batch after batch of handcrafted goat’s milk soaps and lotion. Violet, our Toggenburg doe is due to kid any day and I’m eager to start milking to continue to meet the demand for Lansdowne Farm’s handmade natural products.
Given this surge in demand we have officially established Lansdowne Farm Produce and set up an etsy store https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/LansdowneFarmProduce. See us on on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/FarmLansdowne/ or follow us on Instagram at lansdownefarm . We’ve also expanded our outlets in recent times. My home town of Tottenham, located some 150 km from Lansdowne Farm, is now displaying, in the local information centre, all of our products with great success. Tottenham lays claim to the geographic centre of New South Wales and is well worth a visit. In addition, on the recommendation of my sewing circle ladies, I’ve approached the Dubbo Christmas Craft Shop which opens annually for the last three months of each year targeting the Xmas trade. The Dubbo Tourist Information Centre has also welcomed our locally produced wares and I’ll be setting up my first ever market store at St Mary’s Primary School on the 16th September. All these happenings have occurred amongst the day to day wrangling with Miss 6 and Misses 4 & 2 and resulted in a neglected blog.
all natural lavender goat’s milk soap
The garden is also flourishing, although due to the unseasonal hot Autumn finish my broccoli and cauliflower bolted. However, I’m not alone with this misfortune, my research has located others who experienced this disappointment. I still collected the flower heads and put them in soups or bolognaise or potato bake – even sprinkled through a salad! I’m not one for waste.
water running into our dam from creek
herbal lotion
early oats crop 2016
Toggenburg Dairy Goats
Our dairy goat Violet is a Toggenburg breed of dairy goat, a swiss breed , well known for its huge milk production.
Violet is registered with the Dairy Goat Society of Australia. She is due to kid in August . The buck she is in kid to is also registered .
For a long time we have been looking to purchase a milking goat . It has been a lot of research via searching online sales and goat forums , newspaper classifieds and contacting local farmers . After spending time at our local country show this year I discovered the dairy goat show section . I was able to speak to some local breeders and get a lot more information . I liked that I was able to see each breed popular in our area and discuss the pros and cons with the farmer. I was indeed a little shocked at how big a doe in milk’s udders are! And how adorable a newborn kid is .
I had for some time been very interested in buying a Toggenburg Doe and had been crushing on White Cedars Goat Stud near Gulgong. I was stoked when the owners , Martin and Robyn Slade , contacted us with a pregnant doe for sale. I said yes straight away -their goats have a wonderful reputation for quality healthy animals and I’ve only heard good things . Four days later my father in law Mick and I hooked up our horse float and cruised to a little farm near Gulgong to bring our little doe home.
lucerne hay is the favourite
one pregnant little doeling
gentle and loving pet
Violet has settled in remarkably well and is very much a creature of routine . If we haven’t come to collect her from her day paddock to be put in her stable by dusk we found she will put herself there ! We spend a lot of time working outside and have formed a strong bond with Violet . She loves to play and run , be chased , chase you , head butt the chooks , run up trees , fall out of trees , dance the happy to see you dance , dance when she sees food, dance when she sees the children , dance when she sees the dog . She hates rain , wind and cold and is wary of the peacocks ( aren’t we all) . She loves Lucerne hay and really doesn’t care for oats much at all ( spoilt) . But most of all I’m surprised how much she really likes me. It’s nice to be so adored ! Probably a good thing too considering very soon I will be playing with her undercarriage trying to figure out how to milk her!
Violet at play . Hilarious – an absolute joy !
Rosella Jam
This week Lansdowne Farm had a visitor . Fellow blogger and photographer from Earthly Images https://earthlyimagesblog.wordpress.com/ o.k.a my best friend Shannon, visited from Newcastle where she lives with her family and works as a freelance photographer . Shannon and I have many similar interests and she is as passionate about sustainable living as I am. I am fascinated of the making of pickled foods and jams from our own garden , however I’m yet to get enough fruit or vegetables to make any as yet so I was very excited when I found out about Shannon’s latest project. Recently she amazed me with some awesome home made Rosella Jam. Check it out:
Rosella, or Wild Hibiscus, is so full of Vitamin C that the flower sheath has 9 times the amount of oranges!
Its a pretty little shrub, easy to grow and offers cute little flowers before offering you up the delicious fruits.
The first time I encountered “Rosella” as a plant was at an engagement party – in a tall glass a syrupy, processed but pretty little blob of red opened up when the champagne was poured inside my bubbly like a lotus, it felt like drinking magic!
A few years on, and deeper in love with all things plant, I came across them in the nursery. We have now been growing them for a few years – mainly to eat the young leaves shoots in salad, and to make a tea from the flower buds – but this year i decided to finally make the famous “rosella jam”.
About 3 – 4 weeks after the beautiful rosella bloom has closed and withered away – you pick the buds.
I picked one whole bushels worth to make the trial Jam –
I peeled off the juicy red calyx to make the jam.
The seed pods in the center went in the compost. ( i always leave a few seed pods on the bush to save from) 
I use a Thermomix to make jam but this could easily be done using a pot too. Just boil them a little longer and stir stir stir.
I ended up with 100gms of Rosella Calyx, so this is the measurements i used.
100 gms Rosella Calyx
45 gms of Brown Sugar
the juice of one large lemon (for pectin)
I put all ingredients in the jug, 10 mins at 100 degrees speed 3.
Then speed 9 for 3 seconds or to desired consistency.
Tasty view into the jug view after pulverizing – the licking of the spoon after this one was delicious!
The jar of Jam, and the happy little hibiscus bush it came from.
And for breakfast the next day… (on our homemade bread..)
It was absolutely delicious and my entire family said it was the best jam they had ever eaten – My four year old daughter made me PROMISE that i would teach her how to make Rosella Jam when she grows up and has babies – I die.
It has a sweet taste but not overwhelming like strawberry – much akin to rhubarb.
Loved it… and next year there will be MANY more Rosella bushes in my yard as this jam only lasted but a week.
Whats your fave jam?
Dr Aron Treatment and maintenance in 2016- Eczema Journey Part 4
Part 4 – Dr. Aron – Medicine Man
The follow up from The Children’s Hospital at Westmead was excellent and for the next few years as Miss M approached four years of age we managed her eczema outbreaks by applying creams daily and wet wrapping her with bandages in times of “flare ups” . One consistent issue was the eczema surrounding her mouth. Miss M at the age of 4 had never experienced any prolonged time without her mouth being surrounded by an itchy, red, scaly rash!
Visits to Dr X our pediatrician had become routine. It was not cost effective to drive to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, a 10 hour round trip each time we experienced management difficulties. Our consistency had at last raised Dr X’s interest and communication became easier. Dr. X agreed to follow up with the skin prick tests on an annual basis to check whether Miss M had outgrown any of the allergies identified by Westmead Hospital. He also checked the severity of Miss M’s reaction to particular foods with “food challenges”. These “challenges” involved hospitalization of Miss M where she was fed boiled egg ( for example) until vomiting was induced. While a heartbreaking experience at least through these test we were able to establish those foods that did not produce an anaphylactic response. Milk had been inadvertently eliminated as a potential anaphylactic inducement earlier in Miss M’s life when I accidentally mixed Miss M’s milk with her sister’s milk resulting in a domestic milk challenge which demonstrated that milk caused Miss M’s lips to swell and successfully induced vomiting but did not induce an anaphylactic episode.
My research continued and I was intrigued by an article about a Dr. Aron (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/children/11142266/Eczema-expert-defended-by-parents.html ). Dr. Aron ( http://www.draron.com/ was located in England and required a $A293 fee prior to any discussion. This could be of course be a scam but I was encouraged by a face book page dedicated to users of Dr. Aron’s eczema creams. Over the next few months I followed this face book page fascinated by the postings of parents who claimed their children had positive results from Dr. Aron’s cream.
Dr. Aron dictated his rules of engagement. First he required a $A293 fee to be paid. He further advised that an Australian based doctor must be involved in the treatment process given that as an English based medico, he himself could not provide a prescription within Australia. The local GP responded with “No way – I don’t want to get sued” . Despondently I decided there was nothing left to do but once again enter battle with Dr. X . Surprisingly, Dr. X agreed to write out the script, subject to the qualification that the cream would not be too strong for Miss M’s skin. I was grudgingly becoming a fan of Dr. X ! Now we could part with the $A293 and try this new treatment.
Following payment of the $A293 and a tough week on cheap eats what followed was a a request from Dr Aron of a detailed timeline of Miss M’s eczema. This included photographs,treatment, allergies etc. Then the script came through and off we ventured to the compound chemist .
We followed Dr Aron’s instructions with constant email communication support from him through those early days. Photographs and instructions emailed back and forth and gradually over the following 5 months Miss M was weaned from 5 applications a day to one application each evening.
It has been 18 months since we began Dr. Aron’s miracle cure. Miss M has never looked so good. The eczema ring around her mouth has disappeared , it does reappear occasionally but is managed and Miss M started school ( and ballet lessons) this year looking like the other children. The cream remains close to hand in case of “flare ups”
We have received the help of dedicated people in our eczema journey and will be always grateful that such people exist and are willing to hold out a hand to help. Thanks to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and thanks Dr. Aron .
Now what has all this to do with sustainable farming?? Miss M’s stubborn eczema has resulted in myself trying some very alternative methods- including making soap and lotions from scratch- watch this space for a coming link !!
Just prior to Dr Aron’s treatment for eczema. Note ring around mouth still at 4 years old
Six weeks after starting Dr Aron’s treatment
Miss M today- eczema free!
Travelling to the city -Immunology Unit – Eczema Journey Part 3
Part 3 –A visit to the Big Smoke
How I love Goggle ! The internet connection might be slow in rural Australia but how the net reduces the tyranny of distance. I located an Australian mother’s forum online and read of a mother’s visit to the Children’s Hospital at Westmead Immunology unit In Sydney. She wrote of the fantastic support she received and told of immediate results inclusive of a follow up treatment plan and someone who rang weekly to check progress and offer advice. WOW! That’s where I needed to be.
I needed a referral – immediately! Miss M was nearing 7 months old and preparing for her looming pediatrician appointment with Dr X, I developed a list of questions. Miss M was still very pale, petite to the point of fragility. I had read of Neocate, an allergy free formula . Would this be the cure?
Wow. That was the day Dr X and I had a massive clash. I was told to book another appointment if I wanted him to answer the questions on my list. I continued with my questions and demanded a Neocate baby formula script and a referral for the Children’s Hospital at Westmead. Eventually Dr X(as he herded me out the door) clarified what Neocate does and suggested perhaps it would assist in Miss M’s situation I was furious.I know that eczema isn’t life threatening but I need a doctor’s bloody advice…. what the hell ? I vowed never to see him again. ( he is still our pediatrician I’ve worn him down over time).
Neocate formula that Miss M survived on
I immediately contacted the Children’s Hospital at Westmead and was provided with a future appointment by which time Miss M would be 8 months old. Rural people need to arrange accommodation in Sydney for the testing, analysis,treatment and management plan period.. I asked my father to drive Miss M and i to Sydney. I needed the support of someone who was logical, had the ability to absorb information and who understood the seriousness of Miss M’s situation.
By this stage we had slathered Miss M from head to toe with her steroid cream and seemingly every salve and ointment available in Australia. She often woke with her face stuck to her pillow. Her clothes and mine were stained from the creams and the Neocate formula wasn’t the success anticipated. It smelt like potato peelings and Miss M drank it only under protest. Miss M arrived at Westmead with the worse outbreak of eczema she had as yet experienced in her young life.
Oh Westmead how I loved you.We had an allergy testing on the first day. Miss M didn’t even cry. The immunologist held onto her arm and wrote numbers that corresponded with the allergens tested.. The Dr, the assistants, everybody was kind and reassuring. I felt so relieved. So so so so so so so so so so VERY RELIEVED.
I could only wet wrap the weeping eczema on her face when she was awake
The results arrived that afternoon. Miss M was officially allergic –in fact very allergic to eggs, dairy , peanuts and wheat. The Dr explained the link between the allergies and the eczema and the following day worked out a treatment plan. It included everything from managing flare ups, bathing Miss M, to wet wrapping her in bandages when the eczema flared. Find out more about wet wrapping here :Wet Dressing .
Supplements we have tried for eczema. It didnt help.
Various eczema products we have tried . They may have helped lock in moisture however the eczema didnt change with use of these products
The wet wrapping kit, Depending on severity at the time on what steroid/ cream was used. Tubifast was used for wet wrapping
Various steroid creams – nothing worked
Autumn Vegetable Garden
I love home grown vegetables and fruit. We all have a childhood memory of eating fresh produce from someone’s backyard or farm. My favorite is our mulberry tree at my parents farm- it bears so much fruit most of it just falls wasted on the ground. My younger sister and I would go straight out to the tree after school , staining our school uniform , whilst munching on delicious mulberries straight from the tree.
Last year at a patch right next to our house I grew the vegetables from seedlings I had planted and it actually worked. I grew beans, lettuce , pumpkin and broccoli,cauliflower, zucchini and strawberries.
Last year (2015) broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce.
We had originally established a vegetable patch and orchard complete with a water dripping system set up about 200m from the house on an acre block that was originally set up for free range chooks when we first bought our farm . It was early days for us with parenting and life got busier when our family grew from one baby to three!! I attempted a few times to make it out to the vegetable patch only to have toddler meltdowns about “burrs” every three steps. Now our youngest is upright and able I really have no more excuses!
Abandoned Vegetable beds after three years no maintenance
My first job was to remove all the thick weeds and get the garden beds turned over with a hoe. I put the sprinkler on each bed and the next day hoed it all up again . I try and get the dirt turned over to a depth of 30cm . I also paid the children 50 c for an hours worth of rock picking ! I think Miss 2 added more than she did remove, however , we got an entire bin full of little and big rocks out of the beds.
We often watch ABC TV show gardening Australia and I have found their tips for getting a garden bed ready for planting very helpful. Here is the link : Top soil Gardening Australia.
Top Soil Mix :
1/2 barrow of compost
1 bucket of manure (link :Chook poo tea bag )
2 handfuls of blood and bone
3 handfuls of pelleted manure
1 handful of sulphate of potash
This mix I used for each bed we have here on our farm .
Brands for top soil mix I found available at our local gardening center
Top Soil mix
Here is what I have planted so far:
Red onion , celery and turnip seedlings. Existing Rosemary on the edging . Miss 5 and I laboured over this bed for an hour only to go inside for lunch and come out an hour later to find a chook had scratched out every single seedling! We were horrified. It has never happened before to us . Hence the chicken wire until the seedling get established.
Here is cauliflower, broccoli and brussel sprouts . Again with the chicken wire I Hastily erected a makeshift fence for protection .
Peas, beans and a NEW concept of lettuce seed tape ( purchased by accident !) . As you can see it is a paper tape with lettuce seed placed in the correct distance apart for ease of planting . Hmm not sure about this .
My last bed . It will be turned over again before planting .So this bed is still undecided.I am thinking I may want to try potatoes.
My Itchy Newborn Daughter – Our Eczema Journey Part 1
Our Eczema Journey
Part 1 – A babe is born
Miss M was born just over 5 years ago – our beautiful, first born child; but before we left the hospital Miss M’s face was covered in a “milk rash.” however, we were comforted by the midwife’s advice that this milk rash would disappear in one or two months.
Infected eczema on face Miss M at 7 months
ECZEMA! Oh how I hate that word. Since becoming a mother I’ve discovered there are different perceptions on exactly what eczema is in the mummy world. It can be nothing more than a “patch” behind a toddlers knee that disappears with a bit of attention or it can be a child’s body covered with weeping, smelling, disfiguring, infected patches. Eczema in our household is a child sticking to bloody sheets, crying in agony and it is the shared concern of parents consistently anxious and wondering “Will she be scarred for life ?” “Did I remember to slather her in cream prior to bedtime?”
On our return from hospital, I followed the usual pattern and attended the new mother’s group organised by the local hospital. I couldn’t believe how different my baby looked and felt compared to the other babies. Miss M’s cheeks would stick to my skin. She had a funny smell. M’s little face was cracked and bleeding. Her body was covered in a rash. Maybe it was me.. perhaps the other new mothers knew something I didn’t? They were all very competitive. Which mother’s baby did what first ? All I wanted was that my baby didn’t feel so itchy !
The local pediatrician ( Dr. X) was the next port of call .“Yes, Miss M is breastfed. No, there are no known food allergies in either side of the family.” Dr X’s advice ? “Keep breastfeeding” I also received a prescription for a steroid cream but my baby still scratched and scratched –her little hands tied tightly into mittens in my attempt to defer infection.
Desperate, I began to stalk the net. I read avidly the posts of other desperate mothers. “It’s easy” I told my husband. “It’s linked to a food allergy. We just have to figure out which food Miss M is allergic to “ A process of elimination began with careful monitoring and recording of results. Nothing worked although a diet of no eggs, no dairy, gluten free etc. did help in retrieving my pre baby body Once again we were prescribed steroid creams and antibiotics for infected eczema. The smell and the weird blood etched cracks disappeared but the rash continued.
Eczema on face
6 months old
Eczema on face
Weeping Eczema on face
continue this story ?
heres the link:https://lansdownefarm.wordpress.com/2016/05/02/allergic-reaction-and-a-trip-to-er-our-eczema-journey-part-2/
Awesome Autumn
We are finally in the month of April – heading toward the halfway mark of autumn. I can’t tell you how much this excites me. I am NOT a fan of the Australian summer. Where we are in Central N.S.W. Australia, the temperature can get up to 43′ or more in the summer. Farm work is difficult to get through on days like that! This is what has happened this year. January started out great for Lansdowne Farm. It was a wet month with 129mm of rainfall recorded. Happy days. Green grass grew and flourished. The rainfall drove the lamb prices up and we sold our ewe lambs at an excellent price ; however, by the end of March- only 8 weeks later we had hardly any rain recorded (6.2mm for Feb and 21mm for March) .Grass hayed off.
feeding sheep
front paddock
Dark Barred Plymouth Rock hot girls
sheep trials
dam getting low
This week we started feeding our sheep again -looking to top them up as they head into the breeding season .
We are hoping to plant oats and pasture and anytime from around now is ideal.
We just need rain!
Hmmm, as I look out on my brown paradise right now it just seems too much of a fantasy.
Back Paddock
lansdowne farm 