Duck eggs by taliesin @ morgueFile free photos. With thanks
Duck eggs and Memories.
Duck eggs are fantastic for Gluten free baking according to a friend because the eggs are so rich!
Google “duck eggs” and you will find that there is an abundance of information from how to keep and raise ducks to cooking with duck eggs and Gluten free cooking.
Jamie Oliver the down to earth very popular cook gives a lot of cooking information. My mother too used them and a favourite of mine was her tray of Streusel cake which was a layer of plain cake topped with a thick layer of lumpy delectable streusel. Mother used the duck eggs for general baking because they were so large and given to us for free. I don’t think we ever ate them as scrambled or such, yet some people do like them.
A glance at a photograph of Duck Eggs sent to me some time ago on Facebook set off an avalanche of MEMORIES from my primary school years during the 60′s.
Photo by phaewilk@morgueFile free photos. With thanks
Living at “Bradley House” in Stirling in the beautiful Adelaide Hills.
Our old landlord Mr Voden. A Scotsman with a rumbling burr, his accent hard to understand at times.
He lived next door on a long property with the house near the top of the hill. There was a very narrow twin track drive way of white crushed limestone going from Mt. Barker Road all the way up to their house. Then a small narrow bridge linked the two properties near the main road. This is where my father would enter to park his motor bike (brought with us from Germany when we migrated). That narrow plank bridge went over a tiny creek which was an overflow from a spring.
In winter dad would have to be careful pushing his bike across as the wood became slick with frost….starting that bike six mornings a week was the local alarm clock for 7am 
. It was also our family’s mode of transport when dad put the sidecar on.
These were the days before town water was connected for the house and garden. We depended on rain water tanks which in summer sometimes needed to be filled by the fire Brigade with water from elsewhere. Also two wells, one of which ran dry in summer. All watering was done by hand with a watering can. Mr Voden I seem to recall had a small dam with some sort of small generator pump.
Thinking back now and wishing that I could wander along with Mr Voden because he had the most amazing array of fruit and vegetables. Also bees, chicken, Bantams, ducks and geese, and possibly pigeons. It was like a huge market garden and he was always out there with his battered hat on his head…I suppose like a Highland Crofter in his home country….and he always brought us something. In retrospect, none of the above I really appreciated as a child.
Red currants, black currants, goose berries, blackberries, apples, quince, rhubarb, spinach,salads. We even ate the darker green leaves of the lettuce; good for iron our mother said as we dutifully swallowed it
Photo courtesy morgueFile free photo by Marcin-Modestowicz
But the most memorable were the RASPBERRIES. Fresh, plump, sweet and soft. Bejewelled Red fruit in a glazed bowl. A bowl that us three girls shared oh so carefully.
The red currants were nice with sugar, but black currants…none of us girls really liked them! Though now I know they are very healthy and I suppose we got our dose of Vitamins. The motto was waste not, and when, as now, families have a lean purse all good foods are used thankfully.
So, back to the present again and an observation.
Homesteading, growing Organic Foods, Sustainable Living, back to basics. These are the modern names given. But for us as children it was a way of life and we knew no different. It was a great way to raise children. There was that sense of adventure, fresh air, open space, simple rural living…then we grew up, moved to the city and life carried on. Nevertheless the love of gardening was entrenched….and I have my tiny patch of herbs and such to give me joy.
Now over to you dear readers. What memories have you recently been taken back to.
Till next time, and to be continued…
Alexa
Joining in with Essentially Jess for IBOT
Thanks to Self Sufficient Home Acre for this link providing some interesting reading about duck eggs and much more…happy reading
http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/10/how-to-use-duck-eggs.html
