18. FOOD AND THE FERRIE

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

  

17. FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE

Fire fighting

We have been so busy in the garden and then we had some fire fighting to do. I am exhausted.

We have been having periods of almost drowning and then lately it has been very dry and this dry weather, combined with all the wind, (which seems to be normal for this area), makes it all to easy for things to go up in flames. I must admit we have also been very lucky, one of the neighbors just phoned to say one of his fire breaks got out of hand, so sorry! Lucky for us the wind direction changed and it was possible to get the fire under control before it got near the houses. 

There are very many theories about why and how these fires start. One of the reasons are neighbors burning fire breaks and then these fires gets out of hand. The other reason is that the grass is burned down on purpose, to kill the old dry grass, so that new fresh ones can grow, this seem to be the work of cattle owners, wanting new fresh grass for their cows. This is all good, until the wind changes direction and then it becomes a problem. 

Then apparently people collecting honey from wild hives use smoke from burning sticks to get the bees out and then just throw the burning sticks down. 

We have had to fight 3 fires now, but these fires are also necessary, they kill off the old plant materials, which gives new fresh plants a change to come up. Some seeds also need the heat to germinate, so without the occasional fire, some plants will actually not be able to grow.

Burning bushes

The best way to control these fires are to burn a piece of field in the way of the fire, this (already burned) field stops the fire from going further. It is exhausting work! and mostly guess work, because the wind can change direction any second and the fire can go into a whole new direction. 

16. FEEDING THE FEAR

 I know all about the Illuminati and greed and reptilians and 911 and so the list goes on....all thanks to Facebook and other Social Media.
I also know that the conspiracy theory can very well be the conspiracy.  There are just so many contradictions and theories, some of them downright silly (you have to wonder what they are tripping on), while others are very scary and others are well researched and informative.

Does illuminate exist?  More than likely yes, but greed is the real problem, so I think there are a lot of  "Illuminati's", like  Nestle, Coke, Federal Reserve, Royals etc. Any group or company where it is all about profit for the few at the cost of everybody and everything else is just plain wrong, but we cannot really blame anybody but ourselves.  As long as you keep on supporting (by buying/using) their product you are feeding the greed and you are as much to blame as the greedy corporate families. Put your money where your mouth is, there is seriously no point in shouting and screaming, yet you keep on supporting this system, that is nuts.

The fact is that this system we currently have is bound to fail, it is based on an endless supply of natural resources, which we do not have and this capitalistic system needs for you to buy buy buy, through away and buy buy buy some more, they need your money to exist, stop giving it to them.

I do not, however, think we need to worry too much about mother earth, she is quite capable of looking after herself. She is being patient.

Bottom line, I don't worry too much about the evil Illuminati and their little plans, by doing that you only feed the fear.  Worry more about what is going on in your own head, what are you creating, for yourself and for the collective?

Then there is all the end of time/end of the world theories going around, and we see all the "signs" and again we fear. Very wrong thing to do, you attract what you fear.

One question -  are there really more disasters and wars or are we just more aware of them? The Japan earthquake is only the  8th biggest on record, there was a much bigger one in the late 1960s in Chile, for example, and the Black Plague killed Millions, in the 1800s etc. etc., but we did not have Internet and 24-hour news channels to feed the fear. Fact is we mostly had no idea what was happening in a neighboring country, much less the other side of the world.

But that being said, I am convinced there are bigger forces at work, like a shift in our axis toward a different kind of energy and you will either be able to adapt to this new energy, or you will perish. 

All you need is love. Not the false face version, but genuine unconditional love and hating and blaming the Illuminati for everything is not going to get you there.......... you will only end up perishing with them and their dark energies.

We must also remember that we are co-creating all the time and yes change is very necessary, but does it have to happen the hard way? Only if that is what we as a collective want. I am creating a peaceful, loving and easy transition, what are you creating for us?