Death by Rain Conterio (Age 13)

Suddenly, I heard the screech of brakes, I turned around to see a car spinning out of control, only a couple of meters from a small boy, who was frozen in shock. Next thing I knew, I was running, running like I'd never done before, right into the middle of the road. I slammed into the boy, knocking him out the way. Then the car hit me, I saw the look of terror in the drivers face. I was flying through the air. I hit something hard, but I felt nothing and my eyes only saw black. I was all of a sudden floating and I couldn't move my body, my own body felt foreign. I felt small and vulnerable but I wasn't scared, all my worries of life had vanished. Was I dead? Could death really be so quick, quiet, still and painless, it was more simple than life. Maybe I would float around in this black void forever. This was why life was so difficult, so that someday, you could appreciate the prize at the end, quietness, simpleness and stillness. I smiled to myself.... this was easy!

gwho- gwho the movie star

Its funny... a person moves to a farm and the closest place is a dorp called Joubertina, next to Joubertina is another little dorp called Twee Riviere, or as some of the Afrikaans folk say, it should now be called Two Rivers because of all the english speaking people that have moved there in the last two years. My daughters thought they would not make any friends out here but they have actually made quite a few! My middle daughter, Alexa, has got herself involved twice a week learning about the movie busines, learning how to be a director, how to use a camera, story boarding, production manager, wardrobe, acting in front of the camera, editing, etc.

The reason for this wonderful opportunity, is that a couple who have recently moved here, Lex and Michelle Faure, have decided to make a movie about self-sufficiency based on one of the local families. This family has 7 kids and are seriously self-sufficient! They have a lot of tricks up their sleeves that we could learn from, as they have been at it for the last 12 years. The Faure's have asked all the children of family and friends who are 15 years old and up, to participate in the making of the movie from start to finish.

Hence the pictures of Gwho Gwho..... he is my daughters horse and he is starring in the movie! Here he is, nice and clean after being washed and groomed for the shoot.

8 days after planting the mielies

Suddenly, the potatoe plants are bursting forth with much vigour and a definite predisposed understanding that it's time to grow like mad!

...and so is it with the mielies. It is truly amazing how these little seeds have the blue print in them to grow into these long stalks, that end up extruding these cobs, with many more seeds that we then eat and can even save till the next season to plant and start the whole miraculous cycle all over again. All this locked into a round hard mielie pip and all it needs is a bit of dirt, water and light.

Here is a Globe artichoke that I planted in February from seed. It is truly an amazing time of the year because suddenly, things that have been dormant and looked pretty much the same all year, are reminding me of the reason why I planted them in the first place and I am deeply humbled by God's resourcefulness in the way that He provides.

Coriander seeds collected and dried, to be used in a grinder to flavour our food. It has the weirdest flavour that you dont really take to immediately, but once you do, it becomes highly addictive. Generally you will probably first be introduced to it in Mexican dishes. Finally, it is also used as a detoxifier that rids the body of all heavy metals.

Above, our apple tree begins to blossom...beautifully!

God rules

Today, a funny thing happened... I dropped my daughter off at film school in Twee Riviere and then proceeded to my prayer group that gets together every Wednesday. All went as usual and the meeting ended well. Just before I went shopping, I had a person come up to me who said that God had put it in their hearts to give our family a blessing in the form of cash, I was most taken back. I immedietly turned it down, confident that clients had paid cash into our account and that I would not need it.They insisted... saying that God had put it in their hearts, so I humbly accepted and thanked God for his kindness. Still unsure of what to do with this cash/gift, I went off to the autobank anyway, to draw cash for horsefood, dog food, people food, petrol, etc... only to discover that we did not have sufficient funds to complete our grocery shopping... Amazing hey?
I ended my day with a swim in the Kouga River with dogs and family.

rainbow in the kouga

On Sunday we were invited to our next door neighbours 80th birthday party. "Oom Willy", as he is known to everyone, has made the transition from Plettenberg Bay to the the Kouga wilderness, that much easier for our daughters, as he has become their adoptive oupa (grandpa), as all our family is in Cape Town, or scattered as far as London, New Zealand and Canada. Just to mention a few of the things that he has done;  pitching up at our kitchen door at 7am on my youngest daughter Rains birthday, brandishing a freshly baked chocolate cake, adorned with pepperment pieces and smarties! Another day, he arrived with his newly purchased flapjack maker and batter mixture and proceeded to test it in our kitchen (much to our girls delight!) and we all ended up having a "flappies" feast .                                                                                                 

When we walked home from Tienie Krizingers home (where the party was held) we were treated to the beautiful sight of a rainbow, Gods version of the "Sword in the Stone".

                                                                                                                                                                                   

aartappels en mielies by Boer Dino.

Remember in my last post I mentioned that I would first have to add the compost and then I would decide what to plant, well... today, myself and my daughter Jess, planted plenty of mielies, lots... as we are expecting lots of guests over December and mielies will be the order of the day, but if we get fed-up of them (gatvol!) we can always grind them and use it to make mielie bread and polenta, an Italian dish that one can have in many variations.

Ten days ago, in the same area as the mielies, we planted two rows of the humble and wonderful potato, originating all the way from South America and now grown world wide, as a staple diet for many cultures. If you enlarge this pic you will see the the seed potatoes (as they are called) have begun to sprout and are looking very healthy. Once my mielies have popped up, I am going to plant beans alongside the mielie stems, as this will aid the climbing nature of the bean and as the bean is a nitrogen fixer, it will in turn aid the growth of the mielie. In the rows between the mielies, we will plant butternuts. This is also great, because the leaves of the butternut are plate-shaped, they keep the ground between the mielie rows nice and shaded, thus keeping the ground from drying out. Right... thats all for today, time to get warm as the weather is turning to bbbbrrrrr freezing.