We've been struggling to stay up with the water demands here in an unusually hot season of consecutive days of 30 degrees. It's slowed down the egg laying, but not the hatching. It is Spring, after all. The sheep and lambs spend their day sitting under a 100 year old Macrocarpa tree in the shade. Bennie and I braved the cool of the morning and went for a walk up the lane. We walk past the creek and watch out for anything slithering in our path, and then walk up to the old hay shed around the bend. It's a country lane walk with little finches darting in and out of the prickly hedges and a few horses look up but only briefly. We saw rabbits this morning. I'm still yet to know the difference between rabbit and hare, so we'll just refer to these as Super Bunnies. They were big, and didn't so much hop along away from us as thump off slowly in another direction. I, personally wouldn't mess with them. Bennie wasn't that keen either. We've lost our appetites for slow cook roasts in these warm nights so I've been scouring the freezer for inspiration. Someone recently gave us about 12 wild ducks (for eating). I was all keen, getting excited about an opportunity to cook with real, foraged (er., shot) produce that's come off the land. I searched for wild duck recipes and was all good to go until someone mentioned 'beware of the pellets'. Having not cooked with food containing bullets before I suddenly lost interest with the thought of running a metal detector over my food. Am I being a bit precious knowing that my meal wouldn't get through airport security? My husband laughed at me and asked me if I even knew what these pellets looked like. I replied "Yes, I've seen James Bond and I've seen bullets. They are about this big...and gold". Might just cook an omelette instead, less likely to require forensic examination before eating.
