Bantams, Auctions, Broody hens and teasing rain

The baby grasshoppers have hatched and are sitting on and eating all my exposed veggies. Being organic I cannot go out and murder them with some horrendous chemical, so I am having to think up another cunning plan to deal with them before they mutate into larger versions of their species. My new idea is to buy bantam chickens that don’t damage your veggie garden but enjoy the added protein in their diets. So I think I will be off to the local De Deur auction on Saturday morning to get some. Speaking of which the De Deur auction is really a site to behold. It never ceases to amaze me how many people turn up on a Saturday to buy anything from a mattress to a chicken, from a pig to spare car parts and electronics – you can literally find anything laid out on a concrete slab at the De Deur auction on a Saturday morning.
I will never forget our first experience actually bidding on something at the auction. Lorenzo and I went to buy some peacocks all of 2 months ago – not knowing anything about them at the time. So we spotted what we wanted and then decided on what we were willing to pay for them. When they started the bidding on the birds I was petrified and told Lorenzo he had to do it. We didn’t know if you needed to nod or raise your hand or what. Anyway, hearts racing and palms sweating we tried to understand what the auctioneer was saying in his racing speed commentary. I don’t know exactly what happened, but the other bidder bailed out before we did and so we got the birds. Exhilarated and exhausted we then had to think of a plan on how to get these 2 big beauties home. (Having not thought to bring a box or crate with us – as I said we didn’t have a clue)
So this week me and my box will be off to bid on some bantams to eat the baby grasshoppers ... unless I come up with another idea before then.
In other news our mother hen is at it again and has escaped from the chicken run and layed a clutch of eggs in the heap of dry grass we use for the sheep’s bedding. She has become broody and started sitting on the eggs today. I was in 2 minds as to whether to let her hatch them as I still have her other nine 4-month old pullets growing up in the farm yard and my daughters incubator experiment in my kitchen which could see a further 4 chicks hatch - if it works (I will know by Sunday if you can incubate eggs in a biltong box). But the thought of little fuzzy soft and cute baby chicks got the better of me and so we will have a new brood in just under 3 weeks time.
The rain has been teasing my for 3 days now. As I write this wind is howling and the clouds are overhead but no rain is coming from them. Today I had to water my garden with a black sky above me as it blew into the distance without releasing any water near us. I think I was trying to taunt the rain into falling by watering my garden. Anyway, the farmer next door (Eon, the dairy farmer) has informed me that we should only plant our mielies when we have 50ml of rain within 3 days – so it would seem we are a far way off from planting.