Tracking weather

I generally like to know what the weather is about to get up to. As I am effectively a small scale farmer, the weather forecast, and rain forecast in particular, is valuable information. However the Brisbane forecast is for a large region, complicated by all the mountainous/hilly areas and the impacts from the coast. For the most part, I am interested in what is happening around the Maculata Grove property, not so much about what is happening in the Brisbane CBD or other locations.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has a fantastic web page which shows output from the Mt. Stapylton Radar site. This includes information about current rain and even wind. If there is rain forecast and I need to do an outside activity which is best not done in the rain, then I will visit the following web page:
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR664.loop.shtml?looping=1&reloaded=0&topography=true&locations=true&range=true&waterways=true&roads=true&rail=true

The above link is for the 64km range from the radar site and has a number of map features enabled. The 64 km range from the Mt. Stapylton Radar site gives me greater detail than the 128 or 256 km web pages. The enabled map features allows me to better see where the property is located and also allows me to see the impacts of things like the D'Aguilar Range on rain.

There is also a link for the Doppler wind data. I have not used this link much as I only recently realised it existed. However the next time we get a strong westerly I will make a point of having a look. This link is for a 128 km range from the radar site (I am not sure how I can change the range) with the same map features enabled:
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR66I.loop.shtml?looping=1&reloaded=0&topography=true&locations=true&range=true&waterways=true&roads=true&rail=true

Hopefully this information will be of value to those living in the SEQ region. For those living in other areas of Australia, you will find that the additional map feature information in the link address (i.e. ?looping=1&reloaded=0&topography=true&locations=true&range=true&waterways=true&roads=true&rail=true) will work for other radar stations. You can disable map features by changing the true to false, or removing the "&=true|false" completely from the link.

First taste of home grown bananas

After close to 8 months since the first banana bunch started to appear, I have been able to taste some ripe fruit. The winter months obviously caused such a long time from flower to ripe fruit. Since the weather has warmed up, the bananas have been filling out quite quickly. But I was not sure that I would even get any fruit after the Blue Java plant collapsed due to the weight of the bunch.

Interestingly the first banana to become ripe was one in the middle of the bunch. Normally they ripen from the top of the bunch down to the bottom. Blue Java bananas are small and plump, similar in size to Lady Finger bananas. Nicely snack sized for small children.

This is the first time I have ever tasted a Blue Java banana. It is described as the ice cream banana as it is supposed to have a slight vanilla taste. However I was not able to discern that flavour. I found it to be a very pleasant sweet and creamy banana, although the centre of the banana was a bit hard. This is where seeds would have been produced prior to bananas becoming sterile. The hardness in the centre might have been due to the bunch having to be cut from the plant sooner than it should have. I had planned to allow the bananas to ripen on the plant, before the plant fell over.

I will try various recipes with this banana, assuming that my daughter Felicity allows me to have any more (she loves bananas). Banana smoothies with cinnamon, banana sorbet, frozen banana covered in desiccated coconut, and various baked banana recipes are in store. We'll see how the Blue Java banana holds up to the relentless tasting.

Meanwhile there are four other banana bunches coming on; another Blue Java bunch and three Lady Finger bunches. Two of the plants have been propped up. The other two seem to be holding their own for now. Hopefully this is the start of self-sufficiency in bananas or, at the very least, seasonal self-sufficiency.

Google Earth/Maps Imagery Update

After about 3 years of no updates, including requests by government, Google has finally updated the imagery in the great Brisbane for Google Earth and Google Maps. So now instead of seeing shipping containers where our veggie garden is, you actually see the veggie garden.

The big white shed can still be clearly seen to south of the property. At the south eastern side of the shed, the new off-white rainwater tank is now visible. The veggie garden, banana pit, and possible makings of the chook house are also visible to the east of the shed.

To the north west of the shed, the citrus grove can just been seen bordered by other trees to the south and north. One can also see that some of the grass to the west is a bit brown. This is because it has been allowed to go wild. Although the grass in the north eastern paddock was cut by a neighbour.

The pond is not present in this photo, nor is the swale. I also think that the chook house was not completed at this stage. So I figure that the picture was taken around the mid June to July timeframe (EDIT: as it turns out it was taken on 2009-07-27).

Hopefully we will not have to wait another few years until we can see an aerial view of the pond.

Raspberry delight

We have been enjoying a steady supply of raspberries over the last few months. We planted some autumn variety raspberries around March/April of this year, and they have been spreading readily since. While they are supposed to produce the bulk of their fruit in autumn, they have shown no signs of letting up their production. There are also summer fruiting varieties which mean you can have raspberries for most of the year!

There are two things which really excites Felicity while out in the garden, either saying let's check for strawberries, or let's check for raspberries. Unfortunately one does have to keep an eye on her as she will pick raspberries which are nowhere near ripe enough when she can no longer find ripe ones. She also has a tendency to scarf them quickly, so you do need to be quick to get some yourself.

Raspberries are a must have in the garden if you have some extra space and a sunny location. They are easy to grow and produce lots of delicious fruit, more over they do not have many pest (even the dreaded QLD fruit fly has left them alone thus far). However the do run excessively, so containing them or putting when were they can be mowed over is a must. Just remember to cut the canes back which have finished producing fruit and you will have a healthy and productive raspberry patch for years to come. And you can always offer some of the raspberry runners to friends who are certain to appreciate them.

UPDATE
I took a couple of additional photos which I thought I would include in this entry. These show a couple of different multiple raspberry clusters with different stages of fruit development.

Garlic Harvest

After being in the ground for over six months, it was finally time to harvest my garlic. I planted over 150 Italian White garlic cloves back around the end of March. It was a soggy start for them due to the unseasonable heavy rains we experienced through autumn. Besides the saturated soil causing some of the cloves to rot, there was the huge number of weeds which vied for supremacy. All the while I had to remind the weedy brethren who owned this particular patch.

Of course, towards the end of the growing period, our rain situation was quite the opposite. The soil around the garlic became like powder at times, so plenty of water was required to keep them going. While dry conditions are great as the garlic comes to the end of its season, it is not so good when the season has not quite completed yet.

Growing garlic in the sub-tropics is significantly different from what I had been used to in Canada. In the old country, I would plant out the cloves at the end of autumn, just before the ground would freeze over. The cloves would lie dormant until spring, when, as soon as the ground warmed, they would be up like a crocus, even when there was still snow on the ground.

In the sub-tropics you plant garlic around March to early April after the intense heat of summer has faded a bit. Then you wait until around September to October to harvest them while they are still very much green and alive; as opposed to dying back like in Canada. The conditions in the sub-tropics at this time of year are ideal for the harvesting of garlic, as they should be allowed to dry out before harvest.

So how did the harvest turn out? Very well I thought. Even the tiniest cloves were able to produce a garlic bulb, albeit on the small size. Even with the heavy rains, I only lost a handful of garlic. While not all of the garlic are large, many are quite sizable. It will be from these biggies that I consider for my breeding stock come next year. Improvements in my planting next year will be a higher garden bed, thus having better drainage. As well, I will provide a bit more space between each plant.

In the meantime the garlic is now drying inside as we have been getting rain again. In a couple more weeks there will be even more reasons to have garlic in the dish; because there is *nothing* like organic fungicide-free garlic!

Mi cassava, es su cassava

Here at Maculata Grove it is as though mother nature has put a roof over the place, very little rain to speak of. This is typical for this time of year in the sub-tropics and tropics. The so called build up to the rainy season is the driest time of the year. The cracks in the earth are getting large enough to swallow up small children, speaking of which...

Some of our trees are really suffering, in particular some of the lillypillies. Other trees, such as the Illawarra Flame tree, which are used to this dry time of year, have shed all their leaves going into a temporary dormancy. However if you choose your plants correctly, there should be no reason for a sustainable harvest not to be in reach. While I will not be eating cassava root any time soon, the cassava cuttings I stuck in the ground before winter are doing very well. Especially considering they have received no attention or water since planting. Yet there they are with green shoots getting ready to power through the wet season.

It is plants such as cassava and sweet potato, which have adapted to a tropical environment, which gardeners in these regions really need to be embracing. They are certainly welcome in my/your house any time.

Swaleville

Welcome to swaleville, population one. Well you have got to start some where. I do have plans to continue the swale breeding program. My swale making studs, pick and shovel, are always eager to dig in. :)

If you are not up on your Permaculture jargon, you might be asking yourself - what is a swale?

A swale is a fancy word for water holding ditch. Its purpose is to capture water during high mounts of rain or run-off and temporarily store it. This allows the water to slowly seep into the sub-soil where plants with deep roots can take advantage of it. As well, if swales are built at the top of a hill, this can help deliver ground water to areas near the bottom of the hill. Whether this works will depend on your soil profile.

Swales also have the added bonus of capturing organic material, which quickly breaks down when the swales are damp or wet. This in turn provides nutrients to plants.

Swales are built along contour lines, or as close as possible to. This allows the full height of the swale to be filled with water along its entire length. In my case, the swale was purposely built just off the contour line. However I did mound the soil more on the northern end so that, as the soil settles and becomes more of a barrier, it will fill up evenly across its length.

My swale starts to the south near our grass driveway and continues towards the rose garden. It has been designed so that the overflow will go towards the rose garden and then down to some future swales. This should help reduce the amount of water flow down the driveway during high rainfall events.

The swale has been planted with two small leafed Jaboticabas and one Ceylon Hill Cherry (aka Hill Goosebrry, aka Downy Myrtle, aka Rose Myrtle, etc - latin name Rhodomyrtus tometosa). I will also put in some Rosellas to fill in the gaps for the next few seasons. I still need to finalise what I will do at the southern end of the swale. My current plan is to plant another Ceylon Hill Cherry as well as a native lillypilly. With the exception of the temporary plantings, this will mean that all the plants are from the Myrtaceae family. Moreover, they are all extremely attractive food producing plants.

Anyway I have heaps of other things to plant in the area so that my food forest can start taking shape, so I had better get busy ensuring another round of courtship proceeds smoothly (or on the level).

Pumped

I have been fairly excited in recent days. I feel liberated from one of the great worries of farmers. And that worry is, when will it rain? While there is no replacing natural rain, having a water source which can be used for irrigation is absolutely fantastic.

The primary purpose of the new pond was for irrigation of the property. We are extremely fortunate that this is a spring-fed pond. So it just keeps filling and overflowing.

I was also very fortunate that the previous owners happened to put the waste treatment plant a short distance away from where I wanted to locate the pump. To me, electric was the only choice to power the pump. While solar might have been a distant second option as well, it is simply more efficient to put larger scale solar panels on the roof, than it is to have a small solar panel only driving a pump. So I have been able to run a temporary extension cord from the power point at the waste treatment plant to the pump.

After extensive research and comparison of Davey, Onga, and Grundfos pumps, I decided that the Grundfos JPB 4 PC15 was the best option. I was only looking for about 30 L/min and it can deliver up to 60 L/min. Moreover it takes much less power to do so than its Australian counter parts. Not to mention it was significantly cheaper even with a recent price rise. So while I would have like to support the Australian pump manufacturers, the simple fact was their engineering did not match my requirements without additional cost and, most importantly, additional power consumption. Power was my foremost consideration due to the existing power requirements of the waste treatment system.

For the piping, I chose 1-1/4 inch rural piping. This is also known as green line. It is an economical pipe with reasonably priced fittings. While it obviously has greater resistance than 1-1/2 inch and 2 inch pipe, the pump is able to still provide the required flow rate through this diameter of pipe. The longest run will be about 100+ meters with about an 8-meter delivery line static head and a 2-meter supply line static head. We have not fixed the pipe in place at this stage, as I wanted to see how well it worked at various locations on the property. So there is still some work to be done for the final fixed set up.

In the meantime, I have been able to lug the pipe around and get water back into the subsoil. How to I know that? Well, I put in 5 Jakfruit Blackgold seedlings into the chook free range area. I intensively watered the ground before I planted and the soil sucked it all up, including the clay subsoil (the green in the grass is thanks to the irrigation). However I did find that for the final planting hole, I had not watered the ground sufficiently. The soil which a shovel was able to shift in the other holes, required a mattock. Even then it was hard going. When I reached the clay layer, I had to stop. I filled the hole with water and let it soak in over night. The next day I was able to resume the planting which included working gypsum and organic matter into the clay layer.

So I look forward to being able to continue with an aggressive planting schedule as are in the driest time of the year for the SEQ area. Next stop, swale-ville.

Oh yes, I should also mention that the pump enclosure was made almost entirely out of recycled materials, with the exception of the roofing screws.

BOGI Fair and Competition

Today was the grand 2009 BOGI fair. It is a great event which has many varied stalls with a strong sustainability theme, most with a gardening or food focus. There were solar cooking demonstrations, worm farm making demonstrations, Mark Tully and his rare breeds, seeds, plants, food, and the competition.

This was the first year I entered the competition. In fact, this was the first time I have ever entered a gardening competition. The cost was $2 for up to 6 entries and I entered five items:  silverbeet, potatoes, snow peas, onions, and tomatoes. I did have other produce as well, but I did not feel that it was quite up to competition standards. When the judging was complete, I was able to secure second prize for the desiree potatoes, and first prize for the snow peas and onion. I must admit that for the onion category, that there was only my entry. However I do feel that even with multiple entries I still would have achieved the top prize as my onion was a whopper.

Of particular interest, the BOGI competition focuses on the taste and brix reading of the produce. So the look of the entry has nothing to do with one's ability to win a prize. And really this is what food should be about, the taste and nutritional density of the food, not how it looks or whether it is a standard size. Variability in one's produce is normal for an organic gardener, and there is nothing like variety to add that extra flavour to a meal.

A Hazy Shade of Sepia

The weather forecast for today was dry and windy with a haze developing. Well the dust from central Australia certainly did envelope, most of the Australian east coast for that matter. We lost site of Clear Mountain (how ironic) and Mount Samson, as the first two pictures show. The landscape was visually surreal, as the colour was stripped from the background but present in the foreground. It was almost as if some Photoshop whiz was exercising their artistic flair on a grand scale.

The wind and heat over the weeks has been sucking the soil dry. This has required more water from our household water tanks to keep the main food gardens alive. We still have a good supply of water for the house, probably around 19000 L. This is mainly due to sound water conservation practices which attempts to utilise our water multiple times. For instance, we bucket the water from our daughter's bath into the cistern of the toilet. And after we flush, the underground treated effluent irrigation from the waste treatment plant waters our citrus grove.

Tomorrow I hope to get a new pump up and running, so with that in operation we will be able to start irrigating more of the food gardens using the water from the pond. This will hopefully keep plants such as the asparagus and passionfruit quite contented until the rainy season.

Pondorama

Here is a panorama of the pond shortly after the earthworks were completed. On the left hand side you can see me working on the earth which was put where the water exits the pond. This has helped raise the water level about 30 cm since I did the depth check. The water level is now at the height of the southern end high water flow prior to its construction.

On the south-eastern edge of the pond you can see the concrete 375 mm pipe which allows the water to flow into the pond. This provides a constant pleasant waterfall from the stream coming into the pond. Over time, the lomandra hystrix planted around the piping should cover up the look of the urban pipe-work.

On the final day of earthworks, I also had a new plant shelf on the north-eastern side of the pond put in. This has increased the surface area of the water considerably, and provided a large shelf on which water filter plants like grey rush will be planted.

The final dimensions of the pond are about 40 m long south-to-north and about 15 m wide east-to-west (at its widest point).

You might have noted the use of the word pond instead of dam to describe this new waterway. As there is no real dam wall, it really is more appropriate to call it a pond.

Occupation chook

As I have mentioned in recent posts, the chook house is now being occupied. We put the chooks in their new home over a week ago and kept them inside the coop entirely for the first few days. As we did not have the chook run constructed at this time, we figured that this would be for the best plus they could get used to this being their new home. It was lots of "fun" capturing the chooks to put them in. Particularly Rusty, as he does not like being caught and is very good at evading capture these days (fox attacks probably have this kind of impact on chooks).

We changed the colour of the paint on the outside of the nest boxes. Although I preferred the original colour, it absorbed too much heat. The new sandy desert colour is significantly cooler. Since we want the chooks to lay as opposed to bake, I figured that colour co-ordination was much less important. In case anyone is wondering why we even considered the darker colour in the first place, it was mistinted paint at half price. We thought it might be too dark and it was. Thankfully the new colour was free, compliments of Mr HHH.










The person door (820 mm wide) was acquired from our local transfer station. As the chook door frame width is only 600 mm, the door had to be cut down to size along the bottom and on one side. It is a hollow door, so I used a very old can of expanding foam to fill in the two cut sides. So while it looks like there should be more door, it works just fine.

The two chook doors were constructed in a similar fashion to the nest box lids, with fibre cement on the outside and ply on the inside. The doors have gate latches on them so that they lock securely when closed. Actually the nice thing about them is that they are large enough for even me to fit through. This has already been handy when we put up a temporary divider within the coop as I did not want the chickens to "own the place". I was stuck on the other side of the divider and exited through the chook door (ever so gracefully of course).

We also made a perch and a perch-type access to their nest boxes. The two perches were made from a feral Jacaranda tree; while it is not as good as a camphor laurel timber, one less feral tree is still a good thing. Now the sad thing is that they are not using their nest boxes, nor their perch. They are big birds and I guess it does take them time to adjust to new things, but they could appreciate the handy work a bit more now couldn't they?! We got three eggs on the second day, so even though they are laying on the floor, this has not impacted their output. Thanks girls.

The remaining coop to-do items are weather strips over the two chook doors, installation of the guttering and down piping, attaching siding along the western roof edge for greater stormy weather protection, and a permanent divider between the two parts of the chook shed.

It is worth noting that in the construction of the chook shed, a significant portion of the materials were recycled. Some of the recycled material used was the roofing iron, roofing channels, ply wood, doors, sisalation, metal strapping, guttering, 6 mm fibre cement, nails, wood piers, tension rod, and some of the roofing screws. The new materials used were screws, hinges, door latch, cement, compressed fibre sheeting for the floor, most of the framing wood, some of the paint, and silicone sealant. So I am pleased that this project has helped to reduce some of the waste which could have ended up in landfill.

By the way, if anyone has any suggestions on a name for the chook coop, please post it in the comments.

Hitting Bottom

I took the kayak out on the dam to test out the water depth. Sadly, it is the first time this kayak has touched Australian waters. Given the length of time I have been living in this great country, it has been far too long. However it was still up to the task and, despite there not being much in the way of white water, it performed quite well.

During the portage from the shed to the dam, I thought about a great Canadian super hero called Mr Canoehead (Canada's greatest aluminum crime fighter). If you have never heard of this mighty Canuk, then it is worth checking out the link to some old video clips.

After launching into the dam, I could not resist "opening her up" (i.e. paddling quickly from one end to the other). It is always relaxing paddling and I look forward to doing this regularly in the future.

After a bit of fun, I used a depth checker to see where the bottom was. Unfortunately, the depth is not quite as deep as I would have liked. It is only about 1.5 m at either end, with the northern end being just slightly deeper. Throughout the rest of the deeper parts of the dam it varies from about 1 m to 1.25 m. So I would say that the average depth of the water is around 1.2 m. Still, given the challenges with all the water while it was being dug out, it is still a good result. But I will see if we can excavate a bit more tomorrow.

I also took the opportunity to plant some of the reeds back around the shallower areas. Hopefully they will take and start filtering the water. I will also need to speak with the folks at the Kumbartcho Sanctuary nursery and purchase some native water and margin plants to put around the dam.

No thanks, I'm full

The water level in the new dam has been rising at an impressive rate. So much water has been pouring in, that the dam is already filled to capacity. Pretty much all of the shallow areas on the western side have been covered with water. This has occurred less than 48 hours after the temporary earthen bung wall was removed. Part of the reason for the rapid filling is that there is no dam wall at the end of the dam. Thus the lowest part of the dam is the highest level of the water. But it is still impressive considering that there has been very little rain in over two months.

The first picture is of the water level before the water behind the bung wall was released shortly after 3 PM on Friday afternoon. The second picture is less than a minute after the water was released. You can see the water rushing into the dam on the right hand side of the photo. The third picture is the following morning (Saturday). The fourth picture is from Sunday morning (the day this blog entry was published).

The pictures above are taken from the southern end looking north. Below are some additional pictures from around the dam. The first picture is a view of the water entering the dam from the south-eastern end with the the western side in the background. The second picture is from the northern end looking south. The final picture is again from the northern end, this time looking south-west (with the shed in the background).

The height of the dam edges are quite appropriate, I believe, as they will allow for an increased capacity during heavy rains without the banks being compromised. We'll see if Mrs Nature has anything to add about this thought.

BOGI Day Out

Not only are we in the process of building a dam and putting the finishing touches on the chook coop (yes, I need to do another post on this), we also had an open garden for Brisbane Organic Growers Inc (BOGI).

Today turned out to be a nice sunny day. I was not sure if the weather would hold as we had just under 10 mm of rain overnight and early in the morning. However the sun came out well before the event.

The tour started at the rose garden with its pineapple border and edible hibiscus. The edible hibiscus was a hit, with many people requesting a cutting. We continued on to the citrus grove which is located over the sub-surface irrigation for the treated effluent coming from our Aqua Nova system. Just below the irrigated area are bananas, sweet potatoes, raspberries, pumpkins, Jerusalem artichoke, and a persimmon tree.

We continued over to the forest of asparagus, past the passionfruit, and on to the main event, the vegie garden. I showed them how the grass paths broke down over time creating a lovely rich soil and explained how the majority of the garden beds is basically compost. I also touched on some learning experiences relating to a bit too much deco in the garden beds (which seems to cause the beds to dry out faster).

I also explained how the banana pit was made, including the amount of on-the-spot composting it required. The new chook shed was also presented including its inhabitants.

Finally we finished off with an afternoon tea. There is nothing like spending an afternoon chatting about gardening with a great bunch of people and enjoying some tasty treats!

There's a Hole in the Gully

Dear Liza, dear Liza. Or something to that effect.

The time had finally come to put in our dam. Or as it turned out, a big hole in the ground. Unfortunately we did not have the right material in the gully to make a proper dam wall. Damn dam a wholly holey mess! So instead we dug in deep (keeping within council regs of course).

There was an existing hole in the ground, however it was fairly shallow. The main purpose of this new water collection area is for irrigation of the property, primarily focusing on the generation of edible goodies. However there were some important secondary reasons as well.

We wanted the resultant body of water to look good. We also want it to be deep enough so that we could swim in it without touching bottom. As well, we want our future ducks and geese to be able to use it.

We'll see how everything pans out once the water level fills up. However I am feeling rather good about it so far.

While I would have liked the western side to have been deeper, it will probably be for the best that it's not as reeds and other filtration type plants should establish well there. This should help maintain the water quality, which has always been extremely good. Obviously it looks a bit murky now, but with a bit of time all the particles should settle out.

I will post a video of the water surging into the dam after the temporary upstream bung wall was broken. The last two pictures were taken before the water was released into the dam.

Hot, hot, hot

Well today was a scorcher with temperatures in the mid-30s. The sun was intense and the winds were hot and dry; nothing like a nice winter's day. And, of course, I had a trailer load of manure to spread around the banana pit. As I needed some grass, or dust as it would be, to help the manure break down, I also had to do some mowing.

So there I was outside throughout the day guzzling down litres of water. As this should be the last bulking up of the banana pit soil, it was definitely worth it. Soon I will also have Yacon, ginger, and galangal growing amongst the bananas as well.

I have now pulled out all the invasive sweet potato as it was not forming tubers in that area. I do plan to leave some slower running sweet potato around the enlarged front edge of the banana pit as it has produced some good food without smothering all the other plants.

Put a lid on it

And so I did. The nest boxes now have lids attached utilising four strap hinges per box. Due to the slope on the nest box, the strap hinges had to go on top of the bracing, as opposed to below. This caused some issues once the metal sheeting was placed above the nest boxes. But this was fixed by cutting about 25 mm off of the bottom of the sheeting. So now the nest box lids can be opened fully. The black flashing will prevent any water from getting inside.

I have to say that I preferred the look of the coop before the sheeting above the nest boxes was put in. But the sheeting will reduce the solar penetration. We'll see if I need to make any adjustments to improve the air flow. It would be cool to have openings which could lift up and hook onto the underside of the roof. However I will not go down that road for now.

I was slightly paranoid after the random planter made a comment about the nest boxes getting hot. So I put a thermometer inside the boxes. The good news is that the temperature does not seem to be any different from a shaded side of the coop. But the true test will be during the heat and humidity of summer.

Still a few more items to complete (such as some paint) before the move in date, but we are getting close. :)

We now have two hens which have gone broody, so it will be good for them to have a proper place to sit.

The Coop Case - Progression Beyond Framing

There has been further progression with the coop case. Material evidence has been presented for all to see. So impressed was the jury, that the material has been left in place. Although the case development took a turn for the worse when a key piece of evidence did not fit the crime scene. This almost resulted in the case coming unhinged. Although this was a setback to the case, other supporting material is still to be presented. With any luck, Rusty and the egg laying gang will be ready for lock up in another week or so.

TRANSLATION: I sourced the wrong darn hinges for the nest box lids. So after trying to figure out how the impossible would fit on, I consulted with the builder of the Hen House Hilton and asked what he used. Apparently I need to get some long narrow strap hinges as opposed to the non-mortise hinges which I tried to use.

Chickens Framed

Shocking allegations have come forth that local Maculata Grove chicken residents have been framed. Photographic evidence has been presented which clearly shows the group's mastermind, Rusty, at the centre of the controversy. When requested for a comment all Rusty's lawyer would say was "It's a coop".

It is hoped that further progress of this case can be made for all involved.