The new tractor

This week Mr Homespun got his new tractor delivered.

He was like a kid waiting for Santa, watching the road for any sign of the delivery truck.

It is a very fast red colour (yes, the colour is more important than what it can do for some of us!). We put it to work as soon as it was off the truck.

This is the area we will make into the vegie garden so we gave it a bit of a run.

I even had a bit of a go and I'll happily admit it was a bit fun, even if I didn't get out of first gear!

Cheers

World's Best Pizza Dough Recipe

Maybe a slight exaggeration there, but it is still the best I have ever had!

This is probably the most used recipe in the Homespun kitchen. We have pizza at least once a fortnight, sometimes once a week. The recipe I used to use was a great tasting base but frankly it was hard work, a tough dough to knead and it had to be rolled out with a rolling pin. But this one is lovely and 'soft'. I can knead it with one hand if needed (ha ha) and it is just fingered pressed onto the trays.

Ingredients
3 cups plain flour
Large pinch of caster sugar
2 tspns yeast
Small pinch of salt
1 tblspn olive oil
1 1/4 cups warm water

Method
Place flour, yeast and sugar in a large mixing bowl and give a little mix until ingredients are combined. Add salt, olive oil and 1 cup of warm water and mix, adding additional water if needed. Knead for 10 (ish) minutes or until elastic and smooth. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean, damp cloth.

Leave for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size. This part will depend on how warm your kitchen is, if it is a bit chilly it may need a little longer. Punch down and knead until it is about the same size as it was before the rise.

Your dough is now ready!

Just press out onto lightly oiled trays. This makes two large pizzas or you can use to make smaller ones.

Cover with your desired toppings and pop into an oven preheated to 230 degrees celsius for around 10 minutes.

I originally found this recipe here, but I have omitted a couple of bits to make it easier. I'll post some of our favourite toppings another day.

Cheers

Bats and foxes and water, oh my!

The mess left each morning by the bats

Living on the farm has been a huge learning curve for Mr Homespun and I. We are having to deal with many things we haven't had to in the past.

Like bats. They fly in each night and eat the fruit from our trees, a couple of months ago it was the persimmons, now it's the guavas. They smell and leave a terrible mess. I try and sneak out with a torch if I hear them but being deaf in one ear makes that a little difficult! I'm thinking of getting some solar lights to hang in the trees but if anyone has any other ideas (that work!), please let me know.

And foxes. Two of our chickens disappeared a couple of weeks ago. We suspected foxes but weren't entirely sure. Since then we have had a hen taken from the hen house which is only a few metres from the back door of the house. We had been lax with the security as we thought they were safe so close to the house. So we boarded up the hen house and they are locked up securely every night.

Then Friday morning I opened the run doors when it was light, around the same time I do every morning, when only minutes later I heard an awful ruckus. I dashed outside to find only two chickens in the yard and a fox running off. I found the other chickens still in the hen house, safe and sound. But this was again close to the house when it was almost full light. They certainly aren't very afraid of us, and we will be more vigilant.

We have also had some problems with flooding. We had a monumental amount of rain early Anzac Day morning and because of the poor set up here at the farm almost all the water from the top end of the farm all ends up in one place. The carport/flat area. An area where I unfortunately have quite a bit of the furniture stored that won't fit in the house.

So we are again considering what to do around the farm first. There are so many things that need fairly urgent attention but all require planning and, unfortunately, funds. The sooner our old house sells, the sooner we can make a start!

Cheers