New things- chicks and the veg garden

This the veg garden as we began around November/December. And the pic that follows was taken today. I was very pleased that my father-in-law was happy with my soil progress. He does soil testing by mail and did mine for me. Great that he can see the change already.

Here are the girls! Our future egg layers- albeit only in spring! Their names are Hope, Mimi, Pearl, Annie & April. Don't ask me, ask Max!

Planting Day

Today is Planting Day but it is so hot here (32 in the shade at 11am) so we started early and are already done. I planted sage seeds & seedlings, pineapple tops, broccoli seed, carob tree seeds and ginger rhizomes.
That's an odd combination but it's just what needed doing now.

Ginger and horseradish.

 Not sure if this is helping but Max says it is.







Good luck with your planting. I hope you do it in a mindful way that makes your heart sing.

 We raced to get ready for the arrival of our chicks. Jan is taking out barbed wire strands and putting in mesh fencing in this pic. It means 2 gates for Granny to walk through before she can come for dinner!

They are finally in. I doubt we'll get many eggs before winter but at least we have the right creatures for summer.

 We went walking around an area we had not previously explored and found the most wonderful section of river. Max HAD to get naked and have a swim. Little elf in the water! We will need to clear the fallen wattles from this area but it should not take long and it will be such a great picnic area.

 Slavery alive and in practice on the farm! Max and Jan chopped wood and Max's wagon came in useful getting it up the hill.

Below is our first haul of honey from an old hive just left to the wild bees. It was a mission to squeeze it out by hand but we got about 2kgs and a huge ball of wax which is still dripping honey. Apparently this honey is good for a yeast of sort- for mead or bread. Will give that a bash.

It's a very sticky job but at least I did not get stung. And Max had his first piece of really fresh honey in the comb. Delish! He was so chuffed.

Survivor Tea

Max has been watching Ultimate Survivor on DSTV and loves all the stuff Bear does. This is his and Jan's new thing to go and do- Survivor tea. With Jan's army water bottle. a teabag and sugar, they walk to some nice place on the farm and light a fire and make tea. I was invited and it was fun to see how he has learnt to do so much since we have been on the farm. Next he'll be driving the tractor- he's got the gear thanks to Wim!

This was taken at the Riversdale Show. I was so excited to go to an agricultural show in a farming area. The last one I had been to was the Royal Show in Pmb when I was about 10. I thought we'd see so much- you know- animals and machinery etc. Eish! What a poor excuse for a show. There were a few horsey events, a small dark room of poultry, a few fun fair rides and what the people here call Nigerian shops- cheap junky plastic trinkets. The food available was old SA revolting Ricoffy and vetkoek. Not a fresh thing to be seen anywhere.

Max enjoyed this ride but was also not impressed with the show. Even a 4 year-old could see this was not up to scratch. He definitely did not like where the chickens were kept!

Today we were in town to register to vote and that took the 3 of us 10 minutes. What a pleasure! So with the crap comes the good too. We went to the old jail ( a bunch of little shops in old jail cells- very quaint) because we have heard they have fresh farm veggies every Saturday. The owner says she battles to get produce from the area because the farmers are no longer planting veggies. How sad is that? Soon they will have to as peak oil becomes a reality.
 Have you planted anything yet? Just a tomato bush in a pot or how about a herb garden? Go on click on the icon at the top of hte page and get started!

A clean start

Today was the last day we had staff. If we thought we were busy before, I think we will feel it now! I am sad for them as I feel we could have helped them to do more for themselves but in the end it was their choice to resign and I hope they find what they are looking for.

 The poor stallion had his gelding done yesterday. He certainly is a handful and I won't be sad to see him go.  The invader horse went home too. Perhaps we won't need ot fix so many fences now.
We may keep 2 of the girls. The mom we have named Diana and the horse guy says she is lame. Rude because it's only a slight limp. And seeing as they won't get lotsa money for her, she can stay and help to mow our grass. Her yearling daughter, Silvia, will stay too. She would be lonely otherwise. She eats from us and will come up to me in the fields so perhaps with time we can be good friends. I so hope the horses who are leaving will be cared for and loved. Now it's just for me to learn how to do just that. Any tips on looking after a horse naturally?

All in a day's work

My best friend in Durban asked what I do in a day. "How does your day look?" she asked.
Well this morning was beautiful. We had to be up early for Jan to go to Cape Town. He left at 5.30 and the sun only rises around 6.20 these days but the light was already changing the sky.
I could see there would be clouds and by day break the wind had begun to blow.

This day may be a little different. On Friday, we had a "serious talk" with the staff. They did not arrive for 2 days last week because - in their words- their car wasn't idling.  I'm not sure any employer would be happy with that excuse. Especially when you call them half way through the day and they have done nothing to sort it out. Perhaps we will be lucky and they won't come back. He did say say he wasn't coming to work in his car today.

Probably sunds silly not to want staff here but Jan & I have never lliked having people working around  our space. We have always had a sense of relief when staff don't pitch up. This is another story though.

So today while Max was still asleep I was able to clean the kitchen, get washing started and eat breakfast. Next I picked up the dry mown grass (more than I used to have for my whole back yard!) and took it to the orchard to help keep the soil moist around the trees. I mixed a bucket of seeds to put around the fruit trees. The chickens will be living in the orchard and it will be good to have lots of herbs and veggies growing for them to eat when they get here. I found a HUGE toad in my box of seeds. Lesson here- don't leave your boxes on the floor.

I have started the flood watering in the veggie garden, collected support poles for the beans at the house, fed all the animals, doctored the sick ones (boy do cats hate bulbinella on their skin!),  planned the work to be done this week and the dinners too. All this and it's only 7.27am. I think I need another cup of coffee!

I think the old saying still applies today: Early to bed, early to rise, makes one healthy, wealthy & wise.  A little more on the wealthy and wise please!

Trouble with being an employer...

...is that no-one wants to work! It doesn't matter where you employ people, you will always have problems that go with it. And until you have been an employer, you will never appreciate all the crap that is envolved.
I don't think most people who sign an employment contract for their jobs, realise that it is a 2 way contract. You do the work as agreed, when agreed and you get paid as agreed. If no work then no pay. Very simple.
I could do without the bullshit. Life is difficult enough. Can we all not just keep our word and help each other?