Keeping it all natural

The three rose bushes by the old laundry outlet are still going strong

Ronnie and I planted rose bushes when we first moved to our smallholding to live out our dream.  (The post about that can be found here:  https://ecofootprintsa.blogspot.com/2013/11/welcome-and-anniversary-surprise.html)

Two were planted in front of the house, and the other three at the washing machine outlet outside the old garage (which is now my cottage).

The three stages of my conifer tree seed and pod production

My conifer trees produce flowers which age / dry into small wood-like cones.

I harvest lavender flowers from my bushes when they're flowering.

Venting the excess heat from the dehydrating fruit

  

I dehydrate lemon slices (from our lemon orchard) in my solar oven - that tends to make them a bit dark coloured (as the temperature isn't so easy to control) so I'm waiting for a couple of consecutively hot-enough days and I'll use my solar dehydrator and see if the end result is more what I'm looking for.

   

Slightly darkened dehydrated lemon and gorgeous dehydrated orange slices

 

A local fruit farm has reject oranges at harvesttime and I have arranged to collect some when they are harvesting.

Add some delicious herbs and spices, and what have you got?

The potpourri comes with a small bottle of essential oil 
to freshen up the potpourri if, and when, necessary.

Three different potpourri scents...

Pity I won't be able to simmer these on the Rosie
- but I have tried on my gas hob and they're gorgeous

...and three different simmer pot "flavour" packages.

I don't like using commercial room spray fresheners but, with two (sometimes wet) dogs who sleep inside at night, one needs to be able to freshen up the space a little.  And what better way than by using what nature so willingly gives you?  Just like it was done in days of yore.

A local farmstall has placed an order for both the potpourri and the simmer pot mixtures and I will be delivering this coming week.

A girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do.

(if you'd like to buy any Foothills Potpourri or Foothills Simmer Pots for yourself, please drop me an email - perhaps I can make a plan to get it / them to you.)

The simmer pot will obviously work on a wood burner and I have searched online for local mini crockpots or mini hot plates for those who do not have wood burning stoves.  They're all too expensive as I would have to import them.  Ditto the glass "simmer pot" pots.  Would've been nice to offer a complete package to those who are eager to try my simmer pot mixtures.

Lets see how the sales go - perhaps I can offer that additional option in future.

A tithe

The two stray cats who arrived some years ago, never left.  We named them the Tractor Shed cats because that's where they stayed when they suddenly appeared.  Initially they were very shy and reclusive, but they have since become far bolder, and now, most days, can be found lounging on my patio table or even sitting on my patio chair - waiting very patiently for the one meal I provide them at the end of each day.  The other meal(s) they have to source or themselves, because that is the whole point of farm cats.

Tractor shed cats patiently waiting for their daily meal

By other meals, I generally mean rodents who enjoy feasting on my tomatoes, strawberries or baby butternut.  But occasionally, the farm cats need some variety to their diet, and this morning I found evidence of a mousebird who wasn't quite quick enough.

Evidence of a mousebird who wasn't quick
enough for the farm cats

There are plenty of mousebirds here in early spring - with the early season blackberries to devour.

There were so many a few weeks ago that I feared that I wouldn't get a berry crop this year.  Please, don't get me wrong.  I have no problem with paying a tithe, but sharing 90% and being provided with 10% isn't quite my idea of a tithe.

Partially eaten fruit

At least most of these berries were consumed

The mousebirds are also so wasteful.  If they would just eat a whole blackberry before moving onto the next tender morsel it wouldn't be so bad, but they seem to prefer sampling as many as possible.

Broken branch-lets = wasted fruit

They seem to be such an eager lot - in their rush to sample as many berries as possible they completely disregard the integrity of the bush - with many broken branch-lets being the evidence of this feeding frenzy.

A sample of the blackberries I have managed to
harvest for my freezer

I can't really complain though.  I have managed to pick sufficient blackberries for my freezer - for blackberry pie and jam in the future. 

 

Tradition

I don't celebrate Christmas like I used to when Ronnie was here.

Also, Natasha and the grandkids have moved to Scotland.

So, it is just Richard and I here.

There doesn't seem to be much point in putting up Christmas decorations, and decking a Christmas Tree for just the two of us.

But, in Ronnie's memory, and to honour his Christmas tradition, I always make an Advent Krantz and light a candle each Sunday before Christmas during December.

This year I chose to keep it very simple and 100% natural with fresh foliage and dried homegrown produce (chillies and dehydrated lemon slices) and fresh lavender from the garden, as well as some cinnamon and star anise from the pantry.  The candles I rolled from beeswax sheets.

As the candles aren't that tall, I've kept the conifer sprigs so that they just line the wooden board.

It's sitting on my coffee table ready to light the first candle tonight.

Ditch the chemical option

Tewshooz - it's all your fault. 😄

I posted the other day that I was not going to post on this blog anymore and got such a wonderful comment from Tewshooz that I changed my mind.

I do not have the energy - nor motivation - to create the long posts from before, but will try and keep in contact with you all via shorter, pertinent posts if I feel that I have something worthwhile to contribute.

With that said - here goes...

Every year before Christmas in preparation for festive family get togethers, my late husband, Ronnie, and I used to clean the brass and copper items that we had collected during our years together.  This "collection" included items which Ronnie had inherited from his mother.

Said cleaning involved using Brasso - a chemical rubbing compound.  And was always a mission.  It took literally hours and left us (me) with aching arms and fingers from all the rubbing.  And the process left our hands and nails filthy and imprinted with dirty Brasso residue.  As well as the surface on which we had cleaned the copper and brass items.

It was one of our "together" chores and I haven't had the will to do it since Ronnie passed away.

Until I saw a post on Facebook recently which reminded me that the brass and copper hadn't been touched in 5 years.

I was blown away.

Partially cleaned copper using toothpaste

All it took was a small squeeze of toothpaste and a plastic pot scourer.  And literally 5 minutes of my time.

I have previously successfully used cooled wood ash, but, being in short supply of wood ash at the moment, toothpaste more than adequately gets the job done.

Why has man cast aside harmless cleaning methods and adopted the use of chemicals.  All that does is benefit the corporations and their shareholders.  And harm the environment - and landfill - with waste and chemical residue.

And, unlike Brasso, this cleaning agent contains no health warnings - and no harmful chemicals are required to get the job done.  If toothpaste is good enough for my teeth (and mouth) then it is certainly OK for my hands and fingers.

Sparkling clean copper thanks to toothpaste

Can you see the difference between the clean and the "still to be cleaned copper?

You can see in the last photo that there are a number of copper items which are sorely in need of a good clean.  In honour of Ronnie I will try and sort that out before Christmas.

The copper "collection" still in need of attention

Re-usable jam tins

The mousebirds have decimated the fruit on my trees this year, so this week I had to pop into the supermarket to buy a tin of jam.

Looking at all the jars and tis of jam, I spied this...

Tin with ring pull, and re-sealable, re-usable lid

A tin of Rhodes jam with a re-usable lid.

Wonderful!

Yes, the lid is plastic, but it is really well fitting and will allow for the tin to be re-used for a myriad of times - until the lid deteriorates. 

Button, screws, beans, seeds...  And if one had to pierce that lid with tiny holes, the it could even be used for sprouting seeds.

Well done, Rhodes.  You thought outside the box.

Christmas tree alternatives

I know everyone will slowly be gearing themselves up for the Christmas Season.

For many years when we were first married and our children were young, we had a traditional live Christmas Tree - complete with real candles and lametta (German tinsel). The number of long, boring years that the poor tree stayed in the same pot - I used to feel sorry for it. When it finally caught the conifer fungus bug and died, I looked for alternative options. 

The first two pics are from Christmas 2016 - looks simple, huh?  Trust me it isn't. Getting those balls to hang in a straight line horizontally wasn't easy - and seriously tried my patience.  

The second two pics are from 2018 - my beloved late husband, Ronnie, made me a Christmas village scene from an old pallet which was then simply decorated with lights and strategically placed candles. It was absolutely stunning. The little nativity scene at the bottom is from when my children were small and was purchased as plain wood items - which I then painted.  

Apart from an Advent Kranz I can't decorate for Christmas anymore. It just isn't the same.  Plus, the grandkids don't come for Christmas - it is just too far to travel, their animals (cat and multiple dogs) are left alone whilst they are away, and the roads are hyper dangerous at that time of year.

But, I do love to see Christmas decorations. Has anyone recycled anything into Christmas decor?

Repurposing glass jars

I confess - I can be OCD.

For instance, there are very few seeds which pass through my kitchen without me having to "grow them on" - that has resulted in approx. 70 lemon trees in our lemon orchard, numerous apples trees, and most of my summer veg are all grown from something that originally passed through my kitchen and whose seeds were saved from last summer for re-using this summer.

I have another (annoying" habit to confess. I cannot chuck out a glass bottle or glass jar. Any size, small, large, fat or thin. I do drive myself crazy...

 

My kitchen windowsill is my plant ICU nursery. And that nursery prevented me from opening the window. I had to move all the sprouting veg before I could open the fly screen in order to open the window.

So, this morning I sat down and Googled. And found just what I needed to get that ICU nursery more conveniently situated without having to move it out of my kitchen.

The first pic is of my cluttered window ledge - you can see there is no way to open the fly screen without having to move the plants that are growing there.

 The second pic is of the hanging plants - and an empty window ledge. 

And the third pic is of the plain "strung up" jar.  

I think these will make excellent Christmas gifts too - add a bead or two, or some ribbon, or whatever takes your fancy in order to "tart it up" a bit.

The tutorial to make these jar hangers can be found here: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZOVquCsU1s

Easy peeling fresh hard boiled chicken eggs

Has anyone else fund that trying to peel a freshly laid chicken egg which you have hard boiled results in the shell sticking to the egg white and ripping the egg white off as you try to peel it. I saw this hint somewhere and have just tried it - and as you can see, it works

The hint?

Steam the egg instead of boiling it.

I placed a sieve which was suspended just touching boiling water in a pot. Place the egg in the sieve, and then put the (pot) lid in the sieve on top of the egg. Steam for 10 - 12 minutes. Plonk the now cooked egg in cold water for 3 minutes and then peel. The shell comes off beautifully.

The added benefit - you could do this whilst you're using the pot for something else - for example potatoes for a potato salad - thereby saving on electricity / gas consumption because you don't have to switch on the stove for a second time.

Learning something new at my age

I read somewhere recently that one can clear the glass of a wood burning stove with wood ash from the fire.  So naturally, after one of our winter fires left the glass all "smoked" up recently, I had to try it.

Dirty, smoked filled glass

I took a small wad of loo paper (I don't buy or use paper towel in my home) dampened it and dipped it gently in the cold ash of the fire and then carefully wiped the glass.

Just a dab of wood ash on some tissue (loo) paper

Wow - it works!! 😀  It works beautifully.

Previously, as it doesn't easily "rub" off, I had taken a blade to the gunk in order to carefully remove it without scratching the glass.  But this is now a breeze.

Just be careful to use the fine wood ash - not the tiny (or  bigger) chunks of charcoal which may remain in your ash tray.

Leave the "chunks" of wood ash behind and just take a bit of the finer ash

If only I'd know this since 2012 when we first had the Rosie installed and keeping us warm during winter...

The glass in front of the fire pit
is clean again.  Nothing nicer than
seeing the flames of the fire that
 is keeping you warm - it
somehow adds to the warming effect.

P.S.  The "ashed" bit of loo paper went straight onto my compost heap.

Thank you

This is just to reach out to all of those who have contacted me since my last post - whether through comments on previous blog posts, or through personal e-mails.

Firstly, thank you to you all - too many names to mention, but you know who you are.  I was so very touched that you took the time and trouble to contact me.  Bless you - you will never know what strength you sent my way - even through the tears.

It has not been an easy time since 17 August 2019 - and has been one of great loss, angst, misery, guilt, loneliness and adjustment.  I think I am finally coming out the other side with some semblance of sanity - I hope I am.  I still have too many "bad days" but at least there are longer periods of better days in between.

Covid-19 also hasn't helped anyone I guess - with life taking on an even more abnormal and surreal slant - if that is possible?  I hope you have all managed to weather the various lockdowns, and have successfully managed the virus if you were unfortunate enough to catch it.

Our son, RSon, or Richard as he is called, decided to relocated himself and his business to our smallholding so that I could continue to live here.  That would not be possible if I was on my own, so I am very grateful for that.  The thought of having to leave Ronnie's and my dream, and move back to a town and trying to live squashed between neigbouring houses (or even in a block of flats / apartments) seriously didn't appeal - especially after having spent 3 months in Cape Town with Ronnie when he was ill so that he could have instant and easy access to treatment.  But, I fear smallholding life is very isolated for a relative young'un and his chances of meeting with, and interacting with people of his age is now limited to clients that he may visit / work for.  That worries me.  But, he, for now, seems happy enough.

My enthusiasm for being self-sufficient and living an eco-friendlier life was completely drowned out by my loss, but I hope to get stuck into the garden and preserving, recycling and repurposing things once again this coming summer.  I am finally trying to keep busy once again - albeit in a much more muted fashion.

Without trying to lecture anyone, please can I ask you - go to your partners - hug them, tell them they are loved and show them your love in each and every small way you can.  Most of all, give and get hugs.  You have no idea how much strength, energy and warmth a hug gives until they are no more.

I will try and write a post when the urge is strong enough and I have something I think you would enjoy my sharing with you.  In the meantime, thank you all again.

Stay safe everyone.

Dani

Ronald Peter Nieckau

Ronald Peter Nieckau

18/07/1953 -  17/08/2019

Rest in peace, my very, very dear Ronnie.  

The horrific, last cruel four and a half months should not have to be endured by anyone - least of all you - the bravest, gentlest and kindest person I know.

Your bravery, compassion for others, sense of absolute fairness, enjoyment of life, humour and oh, so gentle spirit lives on in our memories.  Your achievements and fulfillment of dreams are recorded on this blog. 

Forever now I am a rudderless ship - adrift at sea.  The gaping hole left by your loss is unbearable, and my only consolation is that the cruel, short illness - so very, very bravely born - will not, and cannot, harm you anymore.

“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,

That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”

Rest in peace, my Ronnie Bunt.  I love you.  Always.

Wiedersehen - until we meet again…

LOA

I will be taking a leave of absense from this blog.  I have started another blog to help the residents of Cape Town who are about to hit Day Zero.  

Day Zero is when the 5 dams which supply Cape Town hit a collective total of 13.5%.

It is the day when level 7 water restrictions take effect and when everyone within the Cape Town metropole is limited to 25 ltrs (+/- 6 gallons) of water / person / day.  That 25 lts must include what they need for drinking (hydration), food prep, hygiene, cleaning, laundry, pets, etc and also covers what they use at the gym school and workplace...

It is no mean feat.

Day Zero is currently expected to hit on 12 April 2018.  Should weather conditions remain hot and windy, evapouration will bring that date forward.

All the hints and tips I'm sharing on this new blog are from the members of the Water Shedding Western Cape facebook page.

Having them all in one place, makes them easier to access - and removes the negative, complaining posts that tend to abound in public forums / facebook groups.

Necessity is certainly the mother of invention!!  I'm blown away with the amazingly innovative ways that people have come up with to reduce their water usage.

You're welcome to join in - you never know, one day you too may need some assistance, or idea's on how to live with 25 ltrs / person / day...

https://wswchintstips.blogspot.co.za/

Let there be light

We have tried various solar power lights for our front entrance steps and finally I have found something that actually works.

The builders left us a problem - an
 uneven top step designed to confuse
 anyone decending the stairs in the
 darkness

The tread of first step isn't equal to the rest, and this sometime throws off your "mindset" as you decend the steps.  Add nighttime to the equation and it's even worse.

So, when I saw an ad on TV for a solar powered light that not only looked bright enough for my purpose, but also shone in a wide arc, I had to have one last attempt at solving our problem.

Allowing the lights a day to charge up, RMan installed the lights either side of the staircase.

At nightfall we rushed out to see if they would fit the bill.

The view from the garden

They were perfect 😀

What a welcoming smiley face 😀

 They are even attractive and welcoming during the daylight hours... 

Each tread is perfectly illuminated - so no more tripping - ever.
That image just about sums up my contentment with these solar lights 

What is the view from the top of the flight of stairs?  

A heart 😀

Emergency action

This is probably a boring subject to most of you, but the reality is that the drought in the Western Cape, and specifically Cape Town, may cause Cape Town to be the first ever metropolitan to run out of water.  Ever.

https://www.enca.com/south-africa/cape-town-day-zero-moved-forward-by-a-week

There are 5 dams which feed Cape Town:

• Theewaterskloof Dam.
• Wemmershoek Dam.
• Steenbras Dams (Upper and lower)
• Voëlvlei Dam.
• Berg River Dam

The Theewaterskloof Dam is the largest, and it is currently sitting at 16.05% - 10% of which is unusable, so basically that dam has 6.05% water left to give Cape Town.  The combined total of all five dams is 29.1%  When that total hits 13.7% Day Zero has arrived and the only water supplied to the entire city will be by water tanker.  This is predicted to happen on 22 April 2018.  If we have any heatwaves before then, then obviously that date will be brought forward.

So, I have been researching how to "create" water, and this site gave me a few idea's: http://all-about-water-filters.com/awesome-diy-emergency-ways-to-filter-water-in-the-wild/

I tried out # 5, and this was the result.

Empty jar inside muddy water filled glass salad bowl

I took a clear glass salad bowl and added some muddy water to it.  

View from the side

An empty jam jar was placed inside the salad bowl.  

Rock / weight placed in the centre of the plastic wrap

The salad bowl was then covered in cling wrap, with a stone in the centre. This is so that any condensation which gathers on the cling wrap will fall into the empty jam jar and not back into the muddy water.

A drop of water in the making

Placing the salad bowl in the sun I left it for the day.

Small rock / weight placed in the centre of the plastic wrap

Condensation is clearly visible on the inside of the plastic wrap.

Water collected in the jam jar via condensation

At the end of the day, this is how much water was collected.

Roughly 25mls of water

Placing it in a measuring jug, roughly 25mm was collected.

Considering I used a clear glass salad bowl (in order to demonstrate the principle / take photo's), that's not bad.  Had I used a black container instead of the glass, I'm sure that more condensation would've taken place and the yield would've been greater.  To produce enough water to drink / stay hydrated would probably require a number of containers, but I am chuffed at the success of the experiment.

A word of caution though.  This does not produce "clean" water.  It produces clear water, which will still contain germs / bacteria.  Therefore, I would recommend that anyone who tries this method, boils the clear water prior to drinking.

Home made Olla pots

Happy New Year everyone.  Yup - I have been MIA but, unfortunately, family visiting and their requirements takes precedence.

Notwithstanding the extreme weather being experienced in the northern hemisphere, the Western Cape drought continues.

I defy anyone ot tell me that climate change is a figment of some scientists imagination...😈

The people of Cape Town are on level 6 water restrictions, which means they are only permitted 87 ltrs (19 gallons) of water / person / day or 350ltrs / household / day (77 gallons).  That 87ltrs is for personal hygiene, to drink, to flush toilets, to do laundry, etc.  An almost impossible task.  A good percentage of Cape Tonians are catching as much water as possible (standing in buckets in their maximum 2 minute  shower, catching that water and using it as the first wash laundry water.  They then catch that dirty laundry water in order to flush their toilets - but they are employing "if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down".  Ditto with their kitchen washing up water - that, too, is either used - by 8 - 10 lt (kg) bucket load - to flush toilets, or to try and keep alive whatever plants in their garden they can.  Lawns - they are a thing of the past.  Those who are fortunate (or should that be unfortunate) enough to have a swimming pool - most have covered their pools however they can, and are also directing grey water from the house to the pool to try and keep them as topped up as they can.  Whatever little rain that falls is also either directed to a rain water storage tank (for those that can afford one) or directly to their pools.

Some people are coping.  Some aren't.

It's heartbreaking. 

The area's main supply dam (Theewaterskloof) is down to 16.56% - or which only 6.56% is usable.  The last 10% is not recoupable.  They anticipate that the available water will be used up by Valentines Day, but, due to the summer heat which is only now letting itself be felt, I think it is more likely to dry up at the end of January 2018.  Thereafter, 4.5 million people will receive their potable water via water tanker - 25 ltrs at a time...

Hectic!!

Those who pray - please pray for the Western Cape.  Those who rain dance - dance like no one is watching...

And we are not untouched by this disaster.  Although we are not on water restrictions - yet - as our supply dam is pretty full, the 37 - 39oC heat we had in December, and which we are still currently experiencing, we should only have in mid-to-late February.  I fear that our potable water supply dam, small as it is, will be requisitioned in order to assist in keeping the people of Cape Town supplied with potable water via those water tankers.

So, for the sake of my veggie garden lateral thinking had to be employed.

8.  Ollas: Are unglazed, porous clay pots that are planted underground near plants and deter water evaporation or run off.  Water is poured directly unto the olla and it releases the water to the root system of the plant as needed.

https://permaculturenews.org/2013/08/08/water-retention-landscape-techniques-for-farm-and-garden/

When I was 11 years old I fell off of a swing shaped like a banana (or boat) which was big enough to seat 10 - 12 kids. Falling from +/- 3 mtrs high onto the ground, and then the heavy swing swung down and hit me as well, breaking my right arm and right hip (in the ball joint). A op sorted that out and the injury didn't give me much trouble in my younger years. 

However, the years are ticking by, and 10 years ago it was discovered that not only did the accident break my arm and hip, it also damaged my spine so that the disc between L3 & L4 vertebrae has moved sideways with no hindrance in it's path away from where it should be. Short of a spinal fusion op (which I would rather not have) nothing can be done about it. So, bending down to ground level is not an easy task - it's OK getting down, but getting up again is almost impossible without clinging onto something for support.

Pallets for transporting large floor tiles

Thus our local tile shop came to my rescue when I needed to plant and grow veggies on our smallholding. 1 X 1 mtr tiles come in these enormous pallet like crates, which, once they're lined with gunplas (builders plastic) and filled with soil, they make the most amazing raised beds. But, there are all sorts of cracks and crevices for pests to live in. I counteract that by sowing the vegetable seed, and then covering them with a half a milk bottle - sort of like a mini greenhouse until the plant is big enough not to be that dramatically affected by snails or slugs. 

Being a raised bed means that the water, via gravity, slides downwards more easily than sideways - as would happen in a veggie bed in the ground. And my lettuce and cabbage plants kept "bolting" (going to seed too quickly) - even though the raised beds are inside a 60% shade cloth structure, but I reckon the gravity draining water didn't help either. 

My new Olla pot

A few weeks ago I finally found what I had literally been looking for for a couple of years - some "raw" clay flowerpots (as opposed to pots with a type of "seal" / glaze on the clay) which I found at our local co-op and which I intended to sink into the ground and use as below ground watering containers - to enable the water to reach the roots.

A sideways pic to illustrate the "raw" clay look

A gentleman did a post on the Drought Gardening SA Facebook group recently regarding the beautiful Olla pots he makes and that reminded me that I hadn't put my pots to their intended use yet - the house has been full of family for the last few weeks and their needs came first.

I used pritt multi tack to seal the hole at the bottom in order for the
pot to hold water

But, having been prompted by his posting, I set about experimenting.

I took the 21cm / 3.0 lt pot, sealed the drainage hole with pritt multi tack, filled the pot, and left it for 3.5 hours whilst we went through to Swellies for our weekly shopping. 

A piece of our wood mulch to make opening the lid to check the
 water level easier

Upon my return from town the success of the experiment is visible - as can be clearly seen water has "leaked" through the clay into the bucket.

Water seepage out of the pot after 3.5 hours

Having cleaned our local co-op out of this sized pot I have asked them to order 6 more. This is a definite winner. I believe that using grey water in these posts will also help to filter out a fair amount of "debris" (and maybe to a point some contaminants) in the water too.

The drop in water level is due to:
 1 absorption by the dry clay
 2 seepage through the clay pot - JUST what I was hoping for 😀

To say I am thrilled and excited is putting it mildly. I am sure that the problems I've experienced with the veg "bolting" is now a thing of the past.

My new olla pots in situ

The best thing of all - the pots weren't expensive - roughly R72.08 / pot (US$5.86 or £4.14) with drip tray lid.  Perfect 😀