Berry and Chickens!

G'day!

Visited a nearby tourist town, Berry, for an hour while my host had a meeting.  Sydneysiders like to spend the weekend in this quaint little town complete with a historical museum and lots of restaurants and shops. The business area is about 2 blocks long and 2 -3 blocks deep  and backed by the town square.  Business was booming.  Lots of people in the shops and walking around.  There happened to be a large farmers market and festival in the town square.  I'm not sure how often the market runs but there was a cyclone fence around the square and each stall was very neat and tidy.  More like antique shop than garage sale for the vintage items.

Another plant stall- not the guy I spoke with

Quite a few stalls offered plants.  At least 2 stalls specialized in herbs, 1 large bromeliad display, several sold cactus and succulents, and 3-4 nursery plant stores.  I was impressed with one of the larger plant purveyors, a retired guy whose hobby is outgrowing his space.  He likes to propagate and care for plants that sell well. He had a wide range of easy to grow, evergreen perennials in what looked to me like 2 liter (5") to 20 liter (squat 5 gal) cans.  Healthly looking Camellias, star jasmine, Nandinas, Oleander, several types of Grevilleas, and more. He transports his plants in a pick up truck and covered trailer that he equipped with racks.

Shaved ice cream!

Saw something new.  They had this Big Rondo foot peddled shaved ice cream thing where they have a frozen block of ice cream ... never mind, just look at the picture.  A large serving for $5 with fresh strawberries and chocolate sauce on top.

I stopped into a opal shop.  A wide variety of gorgeous opals. Ooooh!  Aaaah!  Sparkly!   But expensive!   I wasn't aware that opals came in so many colors.  I'm sure to see lots more since opals are the national gemstone of Australia.  A pair of rose quartz bookends was offered for $160.  Either that shop has an enormous mark-up, rose quartz isn't found in Australia, or both. That's 2-3 times the price in the U.S.

BTW, I never really thought about it, but what do you call home?  Since I arrived, I've called it the United States, the States, the U.S., the USA, and America.  I keep calling it different names and even if it's not confusing the people with whom I'm speaking, it's confusing me.  I finally asked my 12 year old host who said, "We call it America."  So from now on, I'm from America.




We also stopped in to order more chooks for my host's hen houses.  This suburban couple started two years ago with a few layers and now have about 200.  They raise several different species and keep 1-2 roosters and a clutch? flock? of brooders of each.  Some species, like silkies, are really pretty but aren't good layers.  Leghorns are the standard white chickens and are good layers.  From a 12 egg incubator, they can now incubate up to 300 eggs at any given time.  Chicks hatch in 21 days and go to a chick house with heating lamps and smaller food pellets.  It takes about 10 weeks before you can tell whether a chick is male or female.  They sell pullets (young females) when they are about 20 weeks old.  Males are sent to nearby Nowra Animal Park where they are used (not alive) to feed the animals. Very efficient.  And not as stinky as I thought it would be.

All in all, a very enjoyable day.  Bye!
Cyn