One Chook...

In our nest, we're all about trying to find ways to squeeze the absolute most from our money, food and time right now. If we can do it and produce zero waste, that increases the awesomeness factor x10. Our favourite way to do all of the above begins with one chicken.

Harking back to my childhood, where we'd have a roast every weekend, we've begun to do the same. It sets up our week with full happy bellies and a bunch of meals already begun for our week ahead. There are some wonderful people all over the place talking about how they do this (Gourmet Girlfriend is one), but here's our chook rhythm and how it all works...

So we start with roasting one chicken. I look for the biggest chook I can find, always free-range, preferably organic and pasture fed. I keep some of the juices for gravy and pour off some oil for cooking tomorrow. I also roast up a whole load of veggies (more than we need) to go with it and that's our first meal. Super yum.

Later, I remove all the remaining meat from the bone and pop it in the fridge for another meal. The bones go in the slow cooker with an onion, chopped in half (skin and all), some garlic, carrot, celery, pepper corns, a bay leaf, water and a slosh of apple cider vinegar. That bubbles away for 24hrs. So there's stock/bone broth good to go for meals during the week. I get about 2L which usually makes 2 serves for our family, enough for soup and to add to a casserole or something like that.



In the morning, the left-over veggies make a lovely simple frittata*…

If I was lucky and found a big chook, I'll have managed to have enough meat left over to add to the bone broth for soup. A big chook will do this. Otherwise we'll enjoy the broth with lots of veggies. There are a multitude of other ways I can use the meat too… chicken pies, quick stir-fry, curry, risotto… And of course, cold as is, or on a sanga.



A favourite right now is what we've come to know as Crispy Chicken Salad. Lettuce and a bunch of other yum green veggies (whatever's seasonal and available), some grated carrot and some left-over chicken which has been shallow fried in left over chook fat/olive oil/coconut oil/ghee until it starts to go crispy. We throw a handful of fresh coriander from the garden on top and some homemade thai-style dressing. Sometimes we throw sesame seeds and kim-chi in the bowl too, just for yum and probiotic value.



So what to do with the left over stock bits and bones? I pick out the onions and whiz what's left in the food processor. After 24hrs, the chicken bones are so brittle they crumble in your fingers. With the veggies in the stock, they make a super easy, nutritious food for our furry owlets. Full of minerals and good things. We feed the soft, whipped up left-overs to our three cats and chihuahua. It lasts about 3-4 meals. And best of all, it uses ALL the last of the waste. And saves us a HEAP of money - pets are expensive! Especially if you want to feed them good stuff, and we KNOW this food isn't full of preservatives and other yuck stuff they don't need.

So there's our week all set up. The rest of my meal plan fits in around that. Super easy and and affordable and helping to stretch everything a bit further. And some really great, healthy meals too!

What are your tips for stretching your meals and your budget a bit further?
Any great left-overs recipes?

Have a gorgeous week! xx


*Stay tuned for our super-quick breakky fritatta recipe next week. xx

Tiny's Chickens...

About six moths ago, Tiny figured out the whole chicken and egg thing... Not which came first, but that eggs come from chickens and chickens come from eggs. We watched chickens hatching from eggs on youtube, over and over and over and over...



At around the same time, the opportunity came to adopt some beautiful Brahma hens. Company for our lonely remaining chook, Private, and a chance for eggs of our own. Tiny was excited.




Three hens for three Owlets. Big Owlet named her chicken Fawn. Little Owlet's chook is the biggest. She named her Alexandra, while Tiny named her chicken "my Lily".



Lily likes to sit on Tiny's windowsill, staring in at us.





And Tiny loves to climb into the chook pen to look for eggs, pat chickens and just hang out, an hour at a time. They're among her best friends. She never ceases to amaze me with her love for life and all living things. She never runs out of things to do and is never stuck for conversation.

I'm looking forward to the spring with Tiny. Permaculture plans, a new space for the chickens and room for Tiny to stretch her legs with them while I garden nearby. It's going to be wonderful.

Do you have any plans afoot?
Any chickens in your garden to love?

Happy weekend, peeps. xx

chaos and the kitchen sink

Life in our nest seems to have found a happy kind of jumbled chaos. The kind of chaos one would expect with three owlets home all day and a mama and papa working every spare minute on their new lovely adventure. There is seldom time to scratch and we are working every day to try and find some order, flow and rhythm to our days. I can deal with the chaos being there, I accept it, but too much and my head is jumbled. I can't think to create or hold a concise conversation, or blog... *note the long week of bloggy silence here*... There is always love and lots of fun in our nest, but somehow, these days, there is always a tiny bit of chaos... It may or may not come mostly in the form of two toddler kittens and one Tiny Owlet...

This week, we've managed to get things done by making use of the kitchen sink. The realisation came the day after it took me five hours to clean our small art supply cupboard and Huz arrived home to an explosion of art materials in the dining room, crayon all over the couch and texta all over the baby. Some days, in order to get things done, I need an extra set of hands, or a delightful distraction for Tiny. Water is always my go-to when chaos takes hold.

I remember when my sister bathed in the kitchen sink. I remember when Big Owlet bathed in the kitchen sink and the joy that came from splashing in the room that is heart of our home... I'm super glad that our new kitchen sink is huge enough that Tiny can bathe in there for a while to come. Because gosh it's great to have a moment to pause the Tiny whirlwind, but delight in her delight at the same time!

This month I'm about making lists.
I'm about clearing my head.
I'm about sorting a gentle family rhythm that works for us.
I'm about spring cleaning... the house, and myself.
I'm about setting aside some more time to dream... I haven't read a book in about two years.
I'm about finishing some projects that aren't business related.
I'm about making time for friends again.
I'm about remembering to send gifts.
I'm about remembering...

I'm incredibly ambitious. I may need to hire an au pair, or give up sleep... I've moved on from lamenting the absence of nearby family, or a village in my neighbourhood. I've given up wishing that society was designed in such a way that we were more supported in our choices. I've stopped wishing for a slower pace of life and I'm at the realisation that it's just time to roll up my sleeves and work hard.

But I'm also realising that I'm not super human, so just making a chip at the lists will be enough. My reality involves children at home all day, and they require me to be with them, connected, working alongside them. And that's a full-time job in itself. One thing each day will be ok. And if I can find simple ways to get things sorted, while delighting in the gorgeous, simple stuff like baths in the kitchen, I reckon I'll be half way there...

How do you cope with chaos in your home? Do you embrace it? 
Do you have support, or do you have to just get on with things?
How do you keep a clear head amongst the day to day lovely jumble of life?

wordless wednesday :: pals

more here

sunday snippets

{sunday snippets} A collection of photos from your week.  No need for words.  Let the picture tell your story. Joining in with {tinniegirl} 

sunday snippets

{sunday snippets} A collection of photos from your week.  No need for words.  Let the picture tell your story. Joining in with {tinniegirl} 


*All photos taken by our weekend photographer, Huz. Find him on instagram @berondi.

oh! kittens!

Big Owlet has been wishing and hoping for a kitten for a number of years now. It's been her number three wish, next to flying or meeting a real live faerie. We've mostly been against the idea. We have an old cat who is lovely and gentle, but very independent. She hunts and brings home gifts for us, and although she seems to have an inbuilt sense of what's ok to bring home and what isn't, another cat may not be similarly inclined... The idea was wisely ruled out in favour of local wildlife... But then there is a bit of a rat and mouse problem in our neighbourhood... A cat is always going to be useful, even if I do have a mild allergy...

But a visit to the local cat shelter with her Grandmother, and a subsequent play with kittens there, was all Big Owlet needed to rekindle the flame. She worked on proving how responsible whe was around the house. Set to assisting Tiny Owlet with toilet learning, wiped up spills, remembered to feed the dog. She set about finding out everything she could about kittens and how to look after them. It was pretty cute... We were pretty much powerless in the events that followed...



Well we couldn't very well get one and leave his tiny sister there! She was the runt of the litter and Little Owlet fell in love with her at first sight. And we are making memories here, peeps!



So mini! No wonder she's smitten...



She's not the only one...



Named Storm and Petal, the kittens have settled in comfortably, despite all the colour and movement and noise in the nest. They are played with all day and cradled and carted around like rag dolls or precious babies. They are so loved.



And one very patient, determined and responsible owlet has found contentment. It's going to be a lovely, snuggly, memorable winter for this owlet. I look forward to watching those memories unfold.

unschool monday :: praise

This may shock you. Then again, maybe it won't... The owlets are not good girls. They are just children. Awesome, fantastic, lovely, friendly, grumpy, messy, ordinary children. They are not naughty. Occasionally they do things that exasperate me. Say things or do things I'd rather they didn't. But naughty isn't a word we use to describe them or their actions. And they are never good girls.

It seems that from birth we are keen to create 'good' children. Good adults. As babies, we are expected to sleep all night, feed four hourly and play happily on the floor in between times. "Is she a good baby?" My neighbour asks me that often. We reward children by telling them how good they are and so they learn that we are happiest when they do what we want them to. They may even learn to feel happiest when we show them our approval too. To expect that love comes from doing what others want. Things do not operate in this way in our nest, as you probably already know if you've been following this blog for a while, or you know us in real life. Our babies do not sleep all night, feed four hourly or play happily between times. They feed on cue, sleep in snippets or in arms and play when they are in the mood. A fact the lateness of this post is testament to. But they are happy and loved and they know it.

It wasn't always this way in our nest. When Big Owlet was about two years old, I was at the doctors, in the loo, trying to produce a urine sample. I produced said sample and Big Owlet exclaimed "Good girl Mama! You did a wee! That's good weeing!" Oh. Dear. The whole waiting room heard, I'm sure of it... I felt embarrassed. A little silly. Ok, a lot silly. I've been called a good girl at other times in my adult life (by a dentist, doctor, midwife...),  and felt similarly silly. But this was different, because I'd taught her that. I'd taught her that by doing what was expected of me I should receive the approval and praise of those around me. And that wasn't my motivation for the initial action, obviously, so to receive praise felt unnecessary.



So we started to think about it. We read a little and changed tack. We no longer lavish praise upon our owlets. We most certainly celebrate their victories and achievements with them. But it comes from a place of being pleased for them that they've achieved what they wanted to, rather than pleased with them because they achieved what we wanted them to. We're not owning their experience. It didn't take long for Big Owlet to shift from "Was I good, Mama?" to "I'm did it!!" when she was so small. And it was so good to celebrate with her. As it continues to be with her sisters. We grin and laugh and clap alongside them and let them know how we're feeling, while honouring their feelings first. Just as we do for each other and other adults around us.

Also part of this is that we offer no rewards. There is no reward chart for jobs done well, dinners eaten or teeth brushed. Pocket money is not given based on contribution to family chores. It cannot be taken away if jobs are not done, but is shared among family members in an age appropriate way, after all bills are paid. Surprisingly, little resistance occurs when the owlets are asked to contribute. They do it, like everything else, because they can see the benefit for themselves and their family. They are not motivated by our approval, although our happiness and wellbeing may be a consideration.

So how does this relate to unschooling? Well, our choice to unschool initially centered around the fact that all the schools available to us are heavily focussed on praise and rewards. Program Achieve! Gold stars, rewards charts, certificates... Perhaps it's one of the reasons we seek praise in the workplace or elsewhere in our lives. Or why we find ourselves doing a university degree we didn't want, or working in a job we hate, with no idea how we got there. Our inherent need to do the right thing and be good girls and boys steers the way. It can lead us down a path that doesn't necessarily suit our own needs so much as meet the expectations of others...

Anyhow, we opted out because we didn't want that for our owlets. They've encountered friends who are so praised up they believe the hype and it's become damaging to friendships (and gosh it's hard work responding to that need for praise when they're around!). They've felt uninspired by stickers and rewards systems and competitive coaxing in various activities and we've breathed easy, knowing we made the right choice for them. We also know that for unschooling to work, the child needs a large amount of self motivation and if they're doing everything for me, they're not learning what they need to for their particular learning journey. So that question "how do you get them to do what you want them to?" doesn't apply. They need to do what they want to and find their own place.

Nowadays, if someone calls Big Owlet a good girl, she'll look at me sideways and say "why did they talk to me like I'm a dog, Mama?" And I'm glad she can see the difference. We do talk to our dog in a conditional, rewards and praise based way. Because we don't want her to be a free thinking individual, able to make her own decisions, motivated by her own passions. We need her to be obedient. To fit in with the group and to feel comfortable within her role and know her place, as defined by us. As family pet. Furry owlet. Not Big, Little or Tiny Owlet, who are growing and learning in their own ways, doing what makes them happy, and who we love no matter what.

unschool monday :: mother nature strewing

I'm always amazed at how, whenever I'm stuck for ideas to strew for the owlets, mother nature steps in... This week I'd been thinking about Big Owlet. Wondering what new thing might spark an idea for her. I watched with interest as she took a sudden revived interest in the guinea pigs. She'd just recently discovered that she was capable and comfortable catching them and picking them up without our help. She was especially enjoying giving Martha Wainwright (the guinea pig) cuddles. She read books on guinea pigs at night and rounded up treats for them by day. We invented a wordy mystery for her, involving guinea pigs, at her request... Then one day she noticed blood in the cage.



The next day, it was clear Martha was not well. I took some vegies out of the fridge to chop up and instead of Martha's friendly, insistent meeping, there was silence. I reached down to pat her and she was cold. Alive, just, but cold. The owlets and I dashed off to the vet with her tucked in a box the owlets had decorated for her...

Big Owlet walked in holding Martha in the box and the vet introduced herself. She directed all conversation to the owlets, occasionally referring to me if they couldn't answer. She understood the importance of the situation for them and spoke to them as people. Something we don't often strike. Big Owlet was impressed. Before we left, she said "I want to be a vet when I grow up". "When did you decide that?" The vet asked. "Just now", Big Owlet replied. "Well you'll need to work very hard at school, but of course you can be a vet!" Said the vet. "Oh I don't go to school, I unschool" (cue crickets and quick mama explanation)... "Oh I was homeschooled  for a while too. It's pretty cool." Yup Big Owlet was impressed. Little Owlet was too, but she decided to be a doctor instead.



So, on Saturday we woke up and Martha had slipped away in the night. Big Owlet was very sad. Little Owlet was matter of fact about it and reflective, as she often is in these situations. Huz and I were sad too... she was most certainly a favourite. A real character, who'd come out for a chat or to sniff your finger, she'd happily feed from your hand and seemed to have a cheeky smile...



We wrapped her in a piece of pink silk Little Owlet chose for the occasion from her small stash of favourite scrap fabrics. Then we placed her in a paper bag and in a small grave under the apple tree. The one in full blossom right now so we can think of Martha when it blossoms. Big Owlet payed her respects and Little Owlet offered only a simple "I miss her", which had Huz and I welling up... Then we cancelled all weekend plans and just hung out together.



Today, talk turned to learning what's needed to persue careers as vets and doctors. Lots of maths and science happening. Lots of role play. And so another pet and the circle of life and mother nature step in again to help us reprogram and keep on learning... Always learning...

unschool monday :: Betty

Once upon a time there was a little girl who wanted a dog more than anything else in the whole world. The family had a dog in the past and things turned out very badly. The dog wasn't right for the family at that time and the family was all wrong for that dog, so they found the right home for her and swore never to own a dog again. But oh, how the little girl longed for a companion. Someone to tell all her secrets to and someone sit near her feet. Someone to go for walks with and someone to love her always...



Enter Betty. I saw her photo on a website* one day, with a little description about a quiet, gentle little dog who loves people. Her disposition sounded quite different to what her breed would suggest. She seemed all wrong for us and the timing seemed all wrong, with a baby not even crawling yet. But big owlet really wanted a dog. An animal loving owlet like her needs a dog. Betty needed a home and a family to love her. She was certainly small enough so as not to overwhelm the owlets. Much discussion ensued and before long we were off to the farm to see about the dog. Big owlet loved her immediately. Little owlet screamed with fear. About the dog and all the other dogs. And the pigs, the chooks, the ducks, the sheep, the cows, the guinea pigs... anything that moved. We got back in the car, sad, disappointed, worried about little owlet and her phobias. Then we visited a friend and their dog didn't even register on little owlet's radar. We slept on it.



And when we woke in the morning and little owlet begged for a dog, we decided to bring Betty home. Immediately when we arrived home, she hopped in her new bed in the lounge room and slept. As if she'd always lived here... While little owlet hid behind a cushion...



Two hours later, little owlet felt brave enough to pat Betty and by bedtime, they were firm friends. The owlets stayed up late, watching dog movies while snuggling the newest furry owlet. They even read her a bedtime story.



On Sunday we took her for a wander around the neighborhood. Big owlet beaming with pride and trying to get the hang of walking a dog for the first time. Betty knows all about leads and walks, so it shouldn't be long before they both have the hang of it and trust in each other. We're pretty sure Betty should continue to fit right in.



It's quite amazing the journey unschooling takes you on. Following your child's lead, you tend to open your heart to new adventures... The "no" becomes a "yes", somehow. You find yourselves learning about all sorts of things... And of course, animals are such great teachers. Then, before you know it, the right dog chooses you.



*Special thankyou to Emma and Julie at Brightisde Farm Sanctuary. Not only for talking with us on the phone, at length, and setting aside time for us to meet her. Twice. But also for the amazing work they do providing such a beautiful, happy home for all the animals they rescue. A happier menagerie you will never see.