Now 6 days old the little ducklings are doing well. They had a sibling born 2 days later but it was very sick and died that evening.
I looked in to the nest on Sunday when mum and babies were out for a walk and cleaned out 5 unhatched eggs. With great hesitation and holding my breath I smashed them open. 4 were unfertilised and the 5th contained a dead duckling. The smell of rotten egg is quite frankly nauseating and not something I think I want to repeat anytime soon.
This duck had built her nest in the duck house, where we had covered the ground in hay. Her nest was huge and the eggs were all hidden between layers of straw. I suspect they didn’t stand a chance. I hope we have a better success rate with the next duck, who we have left to get on with it naturally under a fern. She is due to hatch hers this coming weekend.
Watching the little ducklings has been an absolute delight. Their mother has them walking all over the paddock and with their tiny little feet I wonder how they don’t collapse with exhaustion. Their swimming abilities are awesome. They sail across the pond at such speed it’s quite remarkable. They eat virtually non-stop and we just keep throwing them baby chook crumble. Unfortunately the local sparrows eat half of it but there’s not much we can do about that. It is fortunate that most of the adult duck food gets submersed in water.
We also have another duck just gone broody. That one was quite accidental. I had showed our HelpXer Sam all the different nesting spots but he had forgotten one and within a few days one of the ducks had got herself a clutch of eggs and sat herself down on a semi-permanent basis. I decided to leave her to it.
I’d really like a dozen more ducks to add to the 10 we currently have and so if we have 3 ducks hatching ducklings we might just come close. Of course more ducks means more food but with a good supply of eggs we can set up a roadside stall and sell eggs at the gate. The sale of 4 dozen eggs a week would easily cover the cost of keeping 24 ducks.
And What Of The Chickens?
Well, both hens ended up going broody and insisted on sharing the one nesting box. This caused some aggression and they subsequently broke open one egg. Unbelievably, despite the nauseating stench they both sat on the putrefied contents of the egg until I forced them off it. I cleaned up the mess, retching until my stomach ached. There were 4 eggs left and after cleaning up the nesting boxes and house I put the eggs back. This weekend I’d had enough. The eggs hadn’t hatched and 2 more had been broken with equally nauseating results. The other 2 were emitting a bad smell as well and so I removed them and the nesting boxes.
I expected the girls to stop their broody behaviour, but no, they are now sitting on the floor of their house with no eggs underneath them. They continue to eat but will not leave the house and have not laid any eggs for 4 weeks. Apart from blocking them from entering their house for a day I’m not quite sure how to snap them out of it.
Lifestyle Changes
I have managed to source a pirated copy of Food Inc until I can purchase my own copy. We watched the movie again with our HelpXer and CouchSurfer. They were equally horrified by the contents and both vowed to make some changes to the way they now shop.
For us it has literally been life changing. Aaron and I can no longer assume ignorance of the food we eat. After several weeks of shopping smartly I can now get around the supermarket with relative ease. Unbelievably Countdown Whangarei (where I shop) has at least doubled its organic range in the last fortnight and not only that but put many of the items in line of sight.
My food choices are now much more limited, but surprisingly in a good way. My product choices have suddenly become a lot healthier. I’m having to increase my use of fruit and vegetables (locally grown of course) as well as beans, pulses, grains, seeds, etc. While the items are all more expensive than budget brands, I’m buying less, eating better and spending roughly the same amount of money. I hadn’t thought we were eating unhealthily before but apparently we could do better.
Now when I get to the supermarket counter and place my purchases on the conveyor belt (and pull out my reusable bags), I find myself wanting to leap up and down and shout “Look, I’m doing my bit to save the world, what about you lot?!” I don’t of course. Instead I pull out my supermarket loyalty card and swipe it, knowing that someone, somewhere is taking note that the purchase of organic goods is on the increase at Countdown Whangarei. I’ve logged onto the Internet and altered the purchase preference of my loyalty card to Organic. Just as it says in the movie, I am the consumer, I have the ability to effect a change. It’s strangely empowering to know I can actually make a difference.
The Food Inc movie will now become, along with all our River Cottage DVDs, standard watching for most of our guests. It’s part of the deal really; if you stay with us then you must learn the importance of eating well and knowing where your food comes from. We expect each guest to change at least one food purchasing perspective during their time with us. We know we cannot save the world but if we can change the world one guest at a time then we will have achieved something.
Perhaps we can save one pig or chicken from a life of misery, one local vegetable grower or orchardist from quitting the land or maybe one block of land from being poisoned with man-made chemicals.
We are lucky really that we don’t have children as that gives us the opportunity to invite many global strangers into our home, where we can impart the knowledge we are gaining from our own experiences.
So many of these tourists are young and pre-family, full of enthusiasm for life and for learning about the positive things that they themselves can do to effect change.
As we become more passionate about our lifestyle choices it becomes easy to teach without preaching. We do not tell our guests what to do. Instead we tell them and show them what we do and why we do it. In return many of them ask questions and respond positively to our ideas.
I had no real plans to become a hippie, a greenie or an eccentric Northlander but it seems my life is now heading in that direction.
Sticking To One's Principles Is Not Always Easy
There are some things I am no longer prepared to do.
I cannot and will not eat pork or chicken products that are not free-range. I tell people this and for the most part it is met with a positive response from seemingly like-minded people.It would seem there are many people who feel the same way. And yet…
It seems people are only too happy to commit to purchasing only free-range from the supermarket but when it comes to ready-made food purchases / choices (e.g. café or restaurant food, staff function, weddings, etc) then many people’s commitment slips.
It is not until you make that total commitment that you realise that the world is addicted to caged pork and chicken products. Even the vegetarian options aren’t safe. Let us consider – Ham sandwiches, egg sandwiches, bacon and eggs, scrambled egg, eggs Benedict, Hollandaise sauce, mayonnaise, quiche, custard, meringue, pavlova, salad sandwiches (invariably with egg and mayonnaise), etc
I have lost count of the times I have walked out of cafes empty-handed after being faced with virtually no options.
I wanted to attend the staff Christmas party this year but after crossing the non-ethical items off the menu I am left with beef & lettuce followed by fruit salad. How wonderfully festive! And so I’ve saved myself $25 and left my name off the list of attendees. I do however note that several of the party goers are supposedly also advocates of ethical farming. Perhaps I shouldn’t judge; maybe they like beef and lettuce.
My brother is getting married in March. I told him that we only eat ethical food and if it was a problem we would bring our own. I was certainly prepared to bring my own but he was kind enough to ensure we could eat with everyone else.
It’s not easy. We don’t wish to offend yet at the same time we don’t wish to compromise our principles.
We have been to other people’s places to eat and insisted on reading the ingredients labels on packaging. Yes I acknowledge we probably offend, and no we don’t always get it right but we certainly try.
Coppa Sit!
And so here we are several weeks down the track after implementing a more disciplined approach towards our dogs and my goodness what a change.
The daily reinforcement of having to sit before scratches, before meals and before going through gates has turned an unruly, unhappy Coppa into a very happy dog. The constant dog fights have almost ceased and when they do start they are quickly over.
Even with our HelpXer Sam around we are still managing to maintain a calm environment.
Coppa tests us constantly though. Although he has no hesitation about sitting when I bring him his bowl, when he gets to the gate 80% of the time he pretends not to hear or notice where we are. He will stand in front of the closed gate and gaze off up the hill as though searching for bunnies. He very deliberately tries to look as though he is completely lost in the moment, unaware of our presence. We did initially wait and wait and wait until we were forced to reiterate the command through a stomp, a tap on the bottom or a very loud command but then Aaron came up with the solution.
As soon as we get to the gate Whisky sits and we let him through. Coppa cannot stand the thought of being left behind and so he inevitably sits within a very short space of time. Occasionally impatience will get the better of him though and he will make to run under the gate, at which point a very strong “Sit!” sees him flatten his body to the ground, where he stays until we utter the magic words “Okay then”
It’s strange, he hates the discipline and yet he is much happier for it. All he wants is to know is who the boss is and where he fits into the hierarchy and it makes him feel calm and secure.
The other great discovery that has come from the regular use of the “Sit” command, is that when Coppa has one of his moments – and by moments I mean when he growls at Whisky for doing something he dislikes; which could be absolutely anything and usually is – if I command that he sits, which he does, and then demand he “Play nicely” it quickly diffuses the situation. Coppa will instantly walk over to Whisky and lick his face as a sign of submission and we’re back on track again.
The word “Sit” has quite frankly transformed our lives. If only it worked on humans as well…
Does ‘Sustainable’ Apply To Everything?
I’ll admit it, sustainable living isn’t high on my list of priorities. I don’t mean to be so callous but it’s a subject I find it hard to get my head around.
Sustainable fishing I understand; the earths waterways are being brutalised and much sea life is being driven to extinction. I believe in and intend to do my part in that area of sustainability. For instance, now I only buy tinned tuna and salmon from Sealord as they advised me by email that they are strongly into sustainable fishing and minimising environmental impact.
But what of other areas? When does sustainable apply and when doesn’t it?
What about the snails? Now that I'm on this ethical, organic, sustainable kick I have a dilemma.
Each morning at 4am, when I feed the pigs and walk the dogs, I also collect snails for the ducks. Most mornings I collect about a litre of them. On dry, warm mornings I may only get 30 or 40 but on wetmornings it can easily be 2 litres or more. Now here's the thing, for the most part I collect every snail I see, except for the tiny ones.
In a way it’s genocide, although to be fair I don't actually kill the snails, I just throw them (release them?) into the duck paddock and well the ducks make the choice whether to eat them or not (which invariably they do). So am I actually really killing them? I mean they could in theory get away if they could run fast enough.
So, here's the thing, should I be sustainably farming them? I mean, here I am filling the bucket every morning in order to save on duck feed. At some point they’re going to run out and I’ll be spending more on duck feed. But the thing is, these snails are an introduced pest. They're eating plant material our livestock should be eating. Our ducks love them and it's free feed.
Is there such a thing as sustainable snail harvesting/farming?
