Meet the girls!

Sookie (yup True Blood fans)

Willow

Meet the newest members of our family! They look kinda evil in those pictures don't they haha

We are one step closer to our country, homesteading life we dream for. 

The girls came from my mum's flock and are slowly getting used to being suburban backyard chickens (as opposed to 40 acre farm chickens). 

We've had the girls for a little while and so far have only had very little eggs without any yolks (apparently called 'fart' eggs, yep really, Google it!) and we think we know why. The Doberman (!) that lives next door has apparently been jumping out of her yard, into ours and into the chicken run to 'play' with our girls! Yes I mean one of those huge, angry looking, could-eat-a-chicken-in-a-second dogs. But no harm has been done, it really appears like she has only wanted to play with them, the poor thing she is so bored during the day, but I think it might be a bit scary for our girls to have this intruder trying to play with them and I think that's why they're off the lay. We've spoken to the neighbour and we've both ramped up our fencing and so far we've had no more visits so hopefully we'll be getting some free-range, home-grown eggs soon!

My herb patch became their have hangout for a while until I discovered I was down to about half of my original herbs, just from all their scratching around, so they've been evicted from that area! Now they like to have their dust baths down the back amongst the pumpkin vines which is fine with me. 

The best part of my day is when I get home from work and they come running for me when they see me, such a welcome home! I know they're only after some tasty veggie scraps but gives me a fuzzy feeling all the same. I love watching their antics as the scuttle around the yard looking for bits and pieces to nibble on. Just the entertainment value is worth having chickens for (although eggs would be a great bonus too girls!)

Hope you're having a great week!

:) Kim

Make your own.. NAAN BREAD!

What's an indian curry without naan bread? Not as satisfying I tell ya!

So one rainy night last week when Lyndon (my personal chef!) and I decided on a curry we thought we would try our hand at making naan bread to go with it.

Why?

a) naan satisfies my carb cravings ;)
b) it goes oh-so-well with curries, and
c) IT'S SO DAMN EASY TO MAKE!

So after a quick google search on my phone (how much has our lives changed since the invention of google, and internet on your phone!) I had a recipe in hand - one that didn't include eggs (watch out for my next post on a funny story about why!)

With my phone propped up against the microwave I proceeded to make yummy, authentic-looking naan

Easy Peasy Naan Bread 

from here

Ingredients:

2 cups plain flour

1/2 cup warm milk

1/2 cup yoghurt - thank you Rhonda for the recipe to make my own!

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

pinch baking soda

chopped herbs/garlic/sultanas - anything else you want to put in your naan

butter for frying

Directions:

The directions on that website above are very particular, but here is what I did and it turned out great - 

Mix the dry ingredients together then add the wet (save the butter)

Let sit for a few minutes (until the curry is about 15 minutes off being ready)

Knead the dough for a few minutes

Cut into 8 pieces and flatten each VERY thinly - you can see in the pic above how thin the uncooked ones are

Melt the butter in a pan and fry up your naan one piece at a time

You will start to see it bubbling in sections - usually after a minute or two

Flip over and brown the other side also

Warning: these are very filling!

ENJOY!