what every peasant needs

I had already written all of this out, when the slipstream lost its internet connection (I therefore lost everything I had written) and as I was not in the mood to write it in the first place, I had an absolute fit.So, here we go again... I bought our Merry Tiller for R1000 and as it's name states, it tills the ground and loosens everything up. Apart from loosening the soil, it also shakes one's lymph glands into action and the rest of one's body... who needs a spa! Above, you can see the effect it has, (believe me, the ground was hard and compacted!)... great hey.

A job well done, thank you Merry Tiller. I will let you know what I plant when the time comes, but first, the compost.

horsing around in the kouga

One day while changing my tyre I had ghwo ghwo, my daughter's horse, come to check out what I was doing, apparently on recomendation from my mare, Lush, in the background. She's always worried about my DIY work and also likes to make sure that what ever I'm doing has nothing to do with food. She has a HUUuuuge appetite and wouldn't like to miss out on a snack!

I then had to explain to him exactly what I was doing, but he still felt that he should butt his nosy nose in and tell me exactly what to do step for step even though he was repeating what I had just told him! I think he was just trying to keep his clever status in front of Lush, obviously trying to impress her.

He then told me that, as I had the wheel off, I may as well check to see if anything else needed attention under the bakkie. What a nerve coming from a horse! I had to admit though, that he did have a point.

He then whispered into my ear that, once I was finished could I please, if I dont mind, thank him loud and audibly so, Lush could hear. I then understood for sure that all his hanging around and commenting was definately to impress young Lush.

Once I had thanked him as he had asked, he looked at me and said, "thanx bro" and walked off with Lush into the veld.

I must say it was nice to have Gwho Gwho's company while changing the tyre, as well as helping the guy out to impress his girl.

catch a bee

It all started yesterday when I decided that I would plant out my strawberry plants, accompanied by the buzz of my usual lady friends, when Rae came rushing out to tell me that a swarm was gathering on a branch in the Jacaranda tree next to our house. Well, later for the strawberries I thought, as I ran closer to see if I could possibly get to them and without to much effort, get them into a box. As I was considering all the options, the branch snapped under their weight and they landed on the ground. Great! Time to switch to plan 'Bee', considering that I had not quite hatched plan 'A', in my excitement of gaining another swarm of bees.


Plan "Bee" hatched quickly and I went and got an empty hive with some wax sheets in. By this time, the swarm had started to re-swarm again, in the branches of the tree above. My only hope was that the queen was still in the bunch on the ground and thus could be lured into the hivebox or broodbox as it is correctly called. In the picture, you can see the part of the swarm still on the ground and it looks as if they are starting to migrate up the ramp into the hive.

Well here they are definitely on their way. I hope the qeen is happy and they will stay.

Here is the main queen and she is the one that we all have to keep happy! Rae is just making sure that all goes well.

Yup, there was definite rush for the entrance, as the girls were all amped to resume their various duties. The swarm that was regrouping in the branches above, was by now getting noticably smaller as they too were now entering the hive. It is actually quite amazing how they seem to keep a bunch of girls in the air, flying around constantly, so that one is never quite sure of how many bees, are in fact, going into the hive. I suppose also to deter any potential predator's attention from the main body of the swarm as they are also (I imagine), in their most vulnerable state at this stage.

Here it almost looks as if they are been sucked into the entrance, in their rush to get in.

Well the girls were in and when I went to go and check on them this morning, they had cleaned out the interiorof the hive, this was evident by the bits of debri they had thrown out and it looked as if their path of flight was heading straight for the flowering heather on the hillside ahead. For a similar story on my bee adventures, check out "Shared Earth Magazine" issue 2. Well... back to planting strawberry plants, yummy.

Evening of Entertainment - by Rain (13)

The June-July holidays were great!! I arrived back from a friend of mine who lives in PE and was happy to hear that our long time family friends were coming to stay for a couple of days. We had not seen them in a long time, so everyone had changed and grown up, but in another sense it seemed just the other day we were visiting them at their house in Cape Town, which had actually been 2yrs ago.

On the day they were to arrive, we waited in anticipation for their white kombi to come driving down the road to our little farm house. When they arrived, we went out to meet them and help them carry their bits and pieces inside, after a fluster of hugs and greetings. It was that night, in the middle of a delicious supper, that the idea for a show came about, everyone was to participate, including the adults! Everyone thought it was a great idea and immediately began plotting what they were going to do…

The next to two days was just practice, practice… When the night finally came, we first ate supper and then wrote down everyone’s names on a piece of paper and put them in a hat, for as usual, no one wanted to go first. First act was me and my sister doing a dance, which was followed by skits, poems, dances and the much anticipated act that the fathers were to do. No one had ever seen them practicing so it was a mystery as to what they were going to do…. And guess what they sang , “Doe ray me” it had everyone in laughter! When the show was finally over everyone was tired and beds were calling. IT WAS a GOOD night!!!

Spring is a coming

Although arrival of spring is still a month away, we are seeing some tell tale signs in the buds on our fruit trees, that look like they are building up with energy for a colourful explosion. So, with this big hint from our fruit trees and the days getting noticably longer, we are rushing around making bigger beds around our trees to hold "cow poo". We get the manure from a kraal in town that we drive past on our way to the local post office, where we post off all our soap orders. So, to make the trip even more worthwhile, my two daughters who always insist on coming along, don their gumboots and take along a shovel of their choice, so that we can bring back a load of what makes me very excited... "black gold "

I call it this because to build the soil up with manure, is the best thing a person could possiblyo.This sets all the little organisms back in motion that comercial fertilizers have totally destroyed, also, adding this as a mulch each time helps keep the soil cool in summer thus retaining soil moisture and providing a happy enviroment for all the good bugs. Commercial fertilizers (n.p.k) tend to force feed plants via the means of soluble salts, that bypass all organic means of the plant obtaining its nutrients. The plant therefore zooms into growth but with serious weaknesses in its cell walls and nutrient deficiencies that opens up the plant to attacks from fungi and bugs. Then one has to start using pesticides, fungicides, more fertilizers and all this to the detriment of our bodies, our planet and our fellow creatures.

This I've put as simply as I could and I suggest that if you want to grow food, then educate yourself in the following; mulching, manuring, earthworm farms, crop rotation, companion planting and plant by the seasons only, as God knows best what we need to keep us healthy throughout the year, after all it is all His creation and by observing nature, we can learn a lot.

YAY.... A new soap for spring!

At long last.... we've been discussing "a new soap" for some time now and have just launched our new addition to the range! After a long drought in our area, the rains finally came and the smell of the flowering geraniums filled the air. If you have experienced this, you will agree that this is a very heady and uplifting fragrance, that evokes an incredible sense of wellbeing.... and so came the inspiration for our new soap, a Geranium Poppyseed Scrub. This is a great soap to start the day with, or to wind down with in a lovely warm bath or an invigorating shower! We also decided to throw in some poppyseeds to give an extra scrub, perfect to get rid of all that winter dry skin. This is fast becoming the family favourite and Caitlin, our graphic designer, once again did a wonderful job with the label.

yummy sunday

Okay..... so we got our stash of wood on Saterday and were planning on doing the same mission on Sunday, but during the night, the rain started to fall in a light soaking drizzle that just kept on going till Monday morning. So Sunday we decided to all sit tight in the kitchen/diningroom near the little black woodstove (which was keeping us all very cosy) and enjoy what the rainy day would conjure up.

As usual, whenever at a loss at what to do and especially when we are all stuck indoors, our minds all seem to turn to...... our stomachs! What is it with rainy weather and eating! Our youngest daughter Rain and I decided to check out a blog we came across by mistake the other day called, "Big Black Dog" blog. This has some amazing recipes and interesting stuff on food. Not sure if the name for her blog comes from her two Rottweilers, or from her incredible looking big black stove.... but her family must certainly eat very well.

We found a recipe for sweet dough "butterflies" which Rain and I had fun making in our cosy kitchen and needless to say everyone enjoyed eating! If you're into food, take a look at her blog.