A remarkable recovery

You  might remember how sad Joan and Joyce looked when we rescued them - beaks clipped, frightened and missing most of their feathers.

Joyce started feather-up almost immediately.  Joan, well, didn't.  She improved, but still had bald patches and didn't seem to be as healthy as Joyce.

Then, rather suddenly, and for no discernable reason

they are indistinguishable.  Both luxuriantly feathered and rather gorgeous.  We now have no idea who's who.

Upgrade

After a year of mostly managing with the free-off-Gumtree stove, the reinventors decided it was high time we got a decent one.

For $1000 off its original price and with very good reviews, we have this:

A full 900mm of Belling range.  Getting it installed involved some quite intense conversations about what should go where in the kitchen.  Gas fitting regulations mean that each burner has to be at least 20cm from any ignition point.  In our case, it was the 100-year-old jarrah window sill. 

So we moved a bench and free-standing shelves to the other side of the kitchen, took some shelves off one wall and put them up on another wall, had some new power points installed, shifted the kitchen dresser and rethought the whole barista bench.

And had this put in:

It casts very interesting shadows.

In case you were wondering,

it bakes a magnificent banana cake.  We've yet to have a disaster.  Although there are a lot of other oven settings we've not yet explored...

Spring is springing

Waaaaaaaaaay back in the beginning, when the romance was very new, the creative reinventor mentioned that he loved the smell of jonquils.

Since then the practical reinventor has planted him jonquils in every garden they've had.  About 10 of them.

This is the latest lot.  

There will need to be a Decision

The reinventors are members of Transition Town Guildford, the practical reinventor working with another two members on an off-shoot group, the TTG Kitchen Gardeners' Society.

Last weekend we hosted a chook workshop in our backyard.  We sent the neurotic kelpie on a play date with the golden retriever two doors away and let the chooks loose.  They were remarkably unperturbed by the 40-odd people who invaded their backyard.

As well as discussing the ways of chooks, hen house construction, general chook health, the joys of rescuing battery hens and eating scones, cakes and biccies, we asked lovely vet B about Florence.

Florence is a bit more aggressive than Shirley and has a more distinct comb.  We suspect her name should be Horace.

B looked critically at Florence.  Commented on the angle of her bum feathers, and agreed.  Florence is most likely Horace.

Once he starts crowing, something will have to be done.  Neither of us is looking forward to it.

Chook update

A first!  Florence and Shirley's first experience free ranging.

They picked it up very quickly.

Jam of 10 food metres

Rosella is bush tucker, also known as native hibiscus.  They're very occasionally available in markets, but mostly you have to grow your own.

Ours went in a bit late this year, but we still managed a small harvest.

However, most of the fruit is seed. Once you remove the inedible bit, this made up a whole 155g.

Which translated to

Not quite a jar of jam.  But it'll be spectacular!

We've left some fruit on the shrubs to self seed.  We hope to see lots more rosellas next year.

Our own coffee

The Creative Reinventor, it has to be said (and he wouldn't deny it) is a coffee nerd. 

He's worked in the coffee industry for years, owns two espresso machines, takes huge offence at over-roasted blends and don't even mention instant in his presence.

One thing he'd never done was roast his own beans.

But with a bread maker and a heat gun

he discovered he can roast quite a respectable batch.

Sadly we're in the wrong climate zone to grow our own coffee.  Pity, that'd be really cool.

Signature cake

The reinventors are usually not into exclusivity, but in this case, we may make an exception.

If you poach some oranges (preferably those grown by D and P) in sugar syrup, line a cake tin in foil and arrange the slices on the bottom.

Then make up a butter cake with lots of vanilla extract and a handful of coconut for texture.
Once it's baked, pour the poaching syrup over the top.  Flip it over.

And you have Marmalade Cottage Marmalade Cake.

Seasonal planting.

The winter vegie garden is just about planted.  Despite the delightful autumn weather Perth has put on, we're having thoughts of soups, heavy with potatoes and leek, and fragrant with thyme and garlic.

It's been so sunny, we had to water the garden today before we could start digging.  There is rain forecast for this week, which, frankly, will make a nice change from the relentless sunshine.

We planted some more garlic and two varieties of potato: sapphire and kipfler.  The sapphires are purple outside and in, they taste fabulous, but make very odd-looking mash.

The broad beans that went in a month ago haven't come up, either old seeds or not enough sun, so we put some more into a less protected spot.

Lovely friends D and P gave us some artichoke seedlings, which was an act of optimism, as the ones they donated last year didn't survive the summer.  But the garden is much more organised this year, and the seeds and seedlings are going into the ground much earlier, so they should be better established by the time the hot weather hits.

Meanwhile in the flower garden at the front of the house, the weeds run rampant.  The bulbs are starting to sprout and the roses are still blooming - must be all the sun.

Fruit

Aren't these magnificent?  They're bush tucker: rosella or native hibiscus.  Best known in a small square jar in sickly syrup to be added to cheap bubbly.

They're the seed pod, and they make a wonderfully tart jam, rather like cranberries.  We should have enough from our four plants for about two jars.

Chook update

On the left, we have Florence, on the right Shirley.  At least we hope that's who they are.

There's every possibility they're Horace and Arthur.
They're about six weeks old now, just starting to grow combs and rather smart adult feathers.  When they start laying eggs or upsetting the neighbours at an ungodly hour, we'll know whether they're male or female.  Our expert advice is that Florence might be a Plymouth Rock, Shirley is a mystery.

Puppy love

The neurotic kelpie, we discover after six months of getting to know her, loves fluffy toys.

We had no idea.

(sorry about the weird green eyes)

Subbing in

Coffee features heavily in Marmalade Cottage life.  So it was something of a tragedy when both of the espresso machines went on the blink.

The Creative Reinventor loaded them into the ute, muttering unsavoury things under his breath.  Lack of caffeine will do that to a boy.

Because he knows people, he got us a loaner. 

Pretty, isn't it?

In case you're wondering our machines are a Gaggia Classic and an ECM Botticelli, this one's a Nuova Simonelli Musica.

Green

The rains have started which means two things.

The bulbs we planted (80 and counting) start to sprout - this one's a ranunculus.

And so do the weeds.  Oxalis among other things we can't name.  The adage goes: one year's seeding equals seven years' weeding.  At this rate, we're looking at 70 years weeding!

And then there were two

This morning, the practical reinventor took the scraps from last night's dinner out to the chooks.

And found the sick little chick cold and stiff in a corner.

We do, very much, hope the last two chicks survive.