food exchange/giveaway fresh duck eggs, vegetable scraps wanted.
Howdy neighbours
I have a whole lot of pet and rescued ducks who are laying lots of yummy eggs. Unfortunately I am too busy with work and with general duck care to have the time right now to collect, grade, check, market and sell these eggs, so they are piling up until I get time to cook them and feed back to the ducks or they go to waste.
Duck eggs can be used the same way you would use chicken eggs and are considered richer and more gourmet than chicken eggs. They are usually preferred by chefs for baking. And most people who are allergic to chicken eggs can eat duck eggs. They are larger than chicken eggs and due to a thicker shell usually keep longer. They are also used by a lot of people to create salted eggs (which apparently keep for a long time) or cultural delicacies such as century eggs.
This feels wasteful to me as they are a good nutritious form of food and we are in a situation right now where food is expensive.
I also have another problem which is that my ducks could so with some fresh vegetables or vegetable scraps, and since moving out to Oxford, I cannot find any vegetable markets nearby which offer scraps that I can feed to my ducks.
So I am hoping I can solve both these problems at once, by offering free nutritious duck eggs to anyone out there who has excess vegetables from their garden, or excess vegetable scraps to offer my ducks (and make their day) in return.
The ducks are laying around 2 dozen eggs a day, and they would love to swap them for the following types of vegetables and vegetable scraps:
Cauliflower and broccoli leaves (they will eat the cauli and broccoli too but they actually prefer the leaves)
Carrot tops and carrots (again I think they prefer the tops lol)
Cabbage in small amounts, lettuce in large amounts
Green peas in any amounts
Beetroot
Corn/sweet corn
Kale
Tomatoes
Strawberries grapes. Raspberries
Silverbeet
Pumpkin and pumpkin seeds
Cucumber, courgettes
Duck weed if anyone has any on their pond etc
Celery
Any of the above that has gone to seed is also fine
Probably other things that are not coming to mind right now, feel free to text and ask.
They can’t eat the following or any other vegetables which have been contaminated with any significant amount of these vegetables as they are toxic to ducks.
Beans (toxic to ducks unless cooked which I just don’t have time to be doing right now)
Onions (toxic)
Egg plant (toxic)
Avocados
Alternatively if any food banks are willing to collect from View Hill, Oxford please get in touch.
Please text me on 020 406 41485 if interested. Pickup from view hill Oxford, or can maybe meet you in Oxford or Rangiora when I am going to either if you are happy to meet up at short notice.
If there is anyone else who has an excess of some type of food they wish to exchange, even if it is not what I need or you don’t need duck eggs, pls post a comment on this post, maybe we can do a three way exchange or someone else might have something useful or a need. It would be good to have a forum to exchange excess food with summer coming up. I know a lot of people will end up with more of certain vegetables in the vegetable garden than they need, and it seems silly for food to be wasted when we can maybe all help each other out.
Also if there is anyone out there who is just genuinely struggling at the moment with the constantly skyrocketing food costs who would find some eggs helpful for their own fridge, get in touch with me as I have plenty.
Admin: I put this under free stuff as it was closer to that than buy or sell and there is no exchange option, I hope that is not breaching any terms.
What's your favourite recipe for courgettes?
Kia ora neighbours. If you've got a family recipe for courgettes, we'd love to see it and maybe publish it in our magazine. Send your recipe to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, and if we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of our January 2025 issue.
Poll: When should the tree go up? 🎄
From what we've heard, some Christmas trees are already being assembled and decorated.
What are your thoughts on the best time to get your Christmas tree up?
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4.7% Second half of November
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43.9% 1st December
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17.7% A week before Christmas
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32.6% Whenever you wish
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1.1% Other - I'll share below
Toxic algae
We've had early reports of toxic algae in some of our awa/rivers. Unfortunately, dogs like to seek out the algae and eat it, causing serious harm.
We monitor water quality at recreation sites over summer for toxic algae, however, site assessments are based on the risk to human health. It is not always possible to observe small amounts of toxic algae that could still be dangerous for dogs.
If you’re ever in doubt about the water quality, then keep your dog on a leash and away from the water’s edge.
It's vital to know what to look for to keep your dogs safe 👉 www.ecan.govt.nz...