Chickens, Shower Paddles and Moonshine.

My husband and I enjoy a fine beverage or two and recently discovered that our favourite tipple *ahem - Bundy* rated poorly in the Ethical Shopping Guide. This was one of those situations where a little bit of information proved to be just the tip of the iceberg, and the more research we did, the more questions we ended up with.
A friend's husband stills his own spirits, and they kindly allowed us to 'sample' a (1.5litre) bottle of 30% alcohol (no names here, given the questionable ethics/legalities of this arrangement. I believe the long arm of the law may refer to this as 'bootlegging', and apparently this is frowned upon.) It looks like vodka, and the idea is that you add an essence of your choice to flavour it. It had such a clean, crisp taste, and was lovely with a bit of coconut essence mixed through it (like Malibu). We sampled that small amount over the weekend, and, having not quite decided whether to pursue stilling our own alcohol, came away from their place today with an 8 litre bucket full. I can now say I am quite convinced that buying a still will prove worthwhile. Dear Santa.......

Last night we were faced with the unpleasant task of killing one of our chickens. It had been looking unwell for a couple of days, and yesterday began hobbling unsteadily, and its rear end was caked in poo. We stunned it and killed it quickly, buried it and sprayed the yard and coop with vinegar. Today, one of the other chooks has been a bit wobbly and subdued, and didn't lay today, so I think this will be a task revisited sooner than we had hoped. This brings us from three layers down to one, and I am praying that whatever it is doesn't infect the Silky Bantams and ducks. I am now on the hunt for some more layers, as it has been so handy having our own supply of fresh eggs.

Yesterday we received our shower paddle in the mail, and Nath installed it easily last night. The idea is that once you have reached the right temperature, while you are 'soaping up', you hit the paddle and it cuts the water off to the faucet, and when you hit it again, it flows again at the same temperature as you had set it. This will save money and water, especially when the girls are showering, as it can require a gymnast with eight arms to get them both washed and shampooed. Not that they don't take water conservation seriously... Eden particularly can be obsessive about making sure EVERY drop of water makes it into the bucket....