I just dropped Melissa and David off on the N2, they are hiking their way through to Coffee Bay. It has actually been quite a blessing having them here with the bore hole pump on strike. David studied Civil Engineering, so this was “engineering” 101 for him, but a big blessing for us. One of the problems was the fact that there was no converter on the connection from the solar to the pump, big problem because you get fluctuating currencies, which can cause major headaches and broken pumps. Well, problem solved, thank you David. We also had a very American dish last night, called Chilli's and corn bread, good stuff, we all ate to much.
Melissa and David cooking up a storm
Melissa seem to have a big interest on all sort of herbal teas and the remedies associated with them, we have had Oregano, Lemongrass, Geranium, Stinging Nettle, and a whole list of other teas being brewed, tested and tried. Luckily there is a book here about the subject, so we managed not to poison ourselves.
I am busy developing a serious passion for gardening, maybe my nurturing instincts are finally kicking in, bit late. The fact is I love planting and caring for plants and it is quite special to see how they grow from a little seed into something totally different and something you can eat and all you really have to do is to stick it in the ground and give it a blanket of mulch and lots of love. We need a bird bath or a pond in the garden, but I not sure where yet, I am sure the birds will tell me soon.
Work in progress in the garden
I am all alone here today, Riaan went off with Tim to go and meet Tim’s cousin, regarding the walking trail. All the sudden quiet is quite strange, but at least I have some time to write again, but my head is not really here, it is in the garden, where there is 101 things I still want to do.
The cooking experiments are also in full swing, Riaan used to do most of the cooking, now I insist on having my fun. Fennel root, quite nice stuff, I made a Fennel and Bean Stew, which came out great. You actually use the bulb (just above the ground) of the fennel plant. It is great fun to go into the garden, see what you have and go find a recipe for it or just create a new dish.
Although I have been vegetarian for about 12 years, you could still buy a lot of convenience products, like the Fry’s range (that has just become very pricey by the way, gram to gram, more expensive than meat). Now we make our own burger patties. Riaan is the patty King, we call them Riaans Nut Burgers. I will share some recipes later.
Also very interesting to note that it is just past the middle of winter and not a single soul that has been here, since we arrived, including ourselves, where sick (colds, flu, etc.), maybe that is because we are not reminded by TV ads that we are suppose to get sick and run off and buy medicine, or it could just be our diet or a combination of the two.
We went to Kei Mouth last weekend, we have been here for three months now and this was our first opportunity the get away for a day. The only pond (ferrie) left in the country is at Kei Mouth, it used to link the old Transkei to South Africa, still does, but now it is all South Africa, although you can still see the difference, Kei Mouth looks like a typical small coastal resort town, but on the other side it is wild, even the sea that side seems to be wilder. Got myself all muddies up trying to take some good photo, ended up in mud up to my knees.
The pond at Kei Mouth
Old stuck in the mud
No comments:
Post a Comment