I bartered my way...

...during the time prior to DD and WGuy's wedding, as things were tight.  Very tight.


Not a nice situation to be in as the parents, and specifically, not nice as the mother of the bride, who wanted to do something special for her only daughter on her wedding day.  So I scratched my head.  And scratched it some more. And paced the house - thinking, thinking, thinking...


And I came up with one small solution.


A light bulb moment happened when I realized that over the past 34 years since we met, I had been sent quite a few bouquets of flowers by RMan, and a lot of those bouquets had arrived in vases to the extent that I had been left with a whole ruddy cupboard full of them.


Could I - would I - be able to barter these vases for a wedding bouquet?

Some of the vases thoroughly cleaned
and looking like new :)

I carefully packed the clean vases (thank you bi-carb :) ) into a box, and, with a certain amount of trepidation, I went to visit one of our local florists.


I explained that shortly we were going to be relocating to a smallholding in the country, where precious water would be reserved for edible crops only. Therefore having fancy vases for non-existent cut flowers seemed illogical. Would she be interested in bartering my vases (here, I pulled them out of the box and carefully placed them on her counter) in exchange for a wedding bouquet?  A simple wedding bouquet?  Then I showed her an image of what I was looking for.


Happily the florist agreed!


And this is what she created and carefully packed so that I could transport it on the plane with me to Johannesburg.

A wedding bouquet of orchids in
a tube of water for transport and
with a clever clip attached to
the back... 

The florists attention to the packing detail ensured that it survived the trip perfectly and DD was ecstatic - as I had planned this as a complete surprise. It even came with a special clip so that it could be attached to the cover of my late mother's Prayer Book (which had been given to her by her Godfather on her Confirmation at the age of 16) - "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed..." sorted :)



Viewing the situation from a different angle and the solution presented itself. De-cluttering, recycling and bartering simultaneously - what could be better and more satisfying?

What?!?

Governments, world-wide, seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel in order to squeeze every last drop of revenue out of us.


On Saturday the following posting from Green Flavour appeared on my dashboard :


"A New Zealand Government Bill which may be enacted in the near future turns the human right to grow food and share it, into a government authorised privilege that can b summarily revoked.  The bill would undermine the efforts of many people to become self-sufficient within their local communities."  So I followed the link Caron gave.  That took me here:


"NZ Food Bill Will Make Growing Food a Government Privilege Rather than a Human Right"
A New Zealand Government Bill, which may be enacted in the near future, turns the human right to grow food and share it, into a government-authorised privilege that can be summarily revoked.  The bill would undermine the efforts of people to become more self-sufficient within their local communities. It will also make it illegal to distribute any type of food based on the bill's language.  This includes seeds, nutrients, natural medicines and even water - without the expressed government permission."

WHAT?!!!!???!!!?


"In accordance with the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Codex Alimentarius scheme for global food control, the NZ Food Bill, if passed, will essentially transfer primary control of food from individuals to corporations under the guise of food safety. And unless massive public outcry and awakened consciences within the NZ government are able to put a stop to it, the bill could become law very soon."



Do you remember back in November when I posted about the Nationwide Census that had just be undertaken in South Africa.  


You may recall I wrote: 


"Funny enough, one of the questions asked of RMan when he answered the doorbell was: "Do you have a veggie patch?"  Bear in mind that this census took place at our 'town house', and, RMan, mindful of what I have read (and shared with him) from overseas blogs, answered, "No".  Why, I asked him? His reply to me: "Well, it's not 'my' (his) veggie patch" (so he wasn't technically lying).  But the question struck him as strange.  So he now thinks that the government may try and tax us on our potential additional "privilege" (as is happening overseas where small time growers (as opposed to full-on farmers)  have to have a permit to grow crops for their own consumption / bartering), etc...?"


RMan was obviously correct - there appears to be (amongst the powers that be) a bid to manipulate the common man, who put them in power, even more.  Big Brother certainly seems to be in the process of taking complete and utter control.


The Bill is even talking about having armed "Food Safety Officers" who will be able to raid a property without a warrant.  ARMED?!?!?!


"What all this means, of course, is that the NZ Government may soon be able to arbitrarily decide, at any time, to restrict individual freedom to plant vegetable gardens and share the produce with their neighbours, for instance.  Even "cottage industries", which include at-home food artisans, could be restricted under he new law."


WHAT?!!!??!?!  We can't even barter in future?

I just can't get my head round it - with the predicted future, and current - food shortages due to the over-population of the world, one would think that governments would be only too happy to have small-scale / subsistence farmers relieving them of that burden and taking care of themselves.


Between the predicted revenue (licences) being collected by the Government with this Bill, and with major seed distributor's ever increasing monopoly (does Monsanto want to take over the world?) it seems as if a giant seed distributing companies can influence governments.  They seem to be wielding too much power - to the detriment of every one of us.


What happened to free enterprise?  As far as I can tell Money, Greed, Back-hand payments and Monopoly seem to have taken over.


And if we are only able to purchase GM seeds provided by giant agribusiness companies - oh boy - I really fear for this planet we live on.


I reckon that the time to start saving seeds from your plantings is now!


Otherwise, it may be a case of: "Someone - stop the world.  I want to get off."  And even that may be too late...

Green power

As you can see I have a new photo header at the top of my blog - what a stunning sunrise it was last Thursday morning!  Cold (3oC / 37.4oF), frosty and misty, and with the sun trying to worm it's way through that flimsy curtain in order to warm up the day...  And my favourite valleys showing off their curves with the mist draping it's way along and through them.  I love the rays of sun that are breaking through the trees - reminding me that there is a higher power / someone watching over me... :)


We've just had four wonderful, and productive, days on the farm!  We finally left on Saturday lunchtime.  Given the 3-odd hours travelling time we arrived late afternoon - about an hour before sunset.


That  gave us just enough time to take a wander round and check that everything is OK.  Thankfully, the house was as we left it...  And the plants are all doing well - everything is so green after all the rain we had!  That in itself is a perfect rest for the eyes, if nothing else.


I even found a ripe lemon on one of our trees :)

1st lemon - 1st of many...?

The dam was still 3/4 full - but I reckon that we really are going to have to add some bentonite to the walls and floor - well, it is three years since we dug it, and they say that it takes three years for a dam to hold water, and ours is still leaking away.  Ducks wont like waddling in a muddy bit of ground, and RMan wants ducks!  (Personally, we're not going to eat the eggs (too high in cholesterol), and I know RMan won't be slaughtering anything in order to eat it - he's such a softie LOL - so in my book - ducks - don't need them!)


Sunday morning I woke up with a tummy bug - I had just enough time to make RMan his (day early) birthday brekkies, before I had to dash to the bathroom.  Early brekkies, I hear you wonder?  Well, Monday we were expecting the builder to arrive at 7.30 a.m. to start on the ceiling panels, so birthday brekkies would be out of the question then.  Whatever affected me had passed by lunchtime, and we got busy on the strong room door - the Green Power Room :)

The 4mm steel plate was cut and measured, the handle opening cut away and it was then fixed it to the second-hand / recycled door with one way screws, overlapping the frame to prevent the possibility of anyone "levering" it off, as well as protecting the lock area.

We had been invited to neighbours, Mad Dog and Teach, for a barebecue on Sunday evening - and a thoroughly enjoyable evening was had by all.  Not too late (given the hectic day ahead of us) gemütlich, with delicious food all round :)  Conversation turned to living on the farm (which is all we think about) and it was very gratifying to hear everyone agree that bartering is the way forward.  That way everyone isn't growing the same crops / rearing the same animals - whatever is needed will be bartered for something someone else has grown / reared :)  That should provide a balanced meal LOL


During the conversation I had mentioned that we needed to get more wood in - to give it time to dry before putting it in our Dover stove (damp wood causes the chimney to be coated with resin, which in turn can cause a fire in the chimney at some future date).  Blow me down if Teach doesn't phone me the next morning and offer Mad Dog and his "bakkie" (single cab) - it seems the guy who cuts the alien vegetation took that moment to visit them, and she remembered that I wanted to get wood in to dry.  Neighbours!  What happens in a town?  Everyone is so involved in their own lives, that neighbourliness doesn't even seem to come in a window, never mind fly out of it...


So we scored 1000 pieces for ZAR200.00 (US$29.50 / €20.50)  In town we get roughly 20 pieces for ZAR35.00!


On Monday, whilst the builders were busy with their preparation for installing the ceiling, RMan and I had enough time to adjust the Green Power Room lock (with a dash of verbally expressed irritation from the birthday boy) but it finally got sorted.  Then I took some green coloured metal paint and slathered that all over the door - even though the steel is galvanized, hopefully the paint will help prevent it rusting.  Now it really is a Green Power Room in all senses of the word :)


Then, with the security in place, it was time to move all the solar power equipment from the roof area into the Green Power Room.  S'funny how even with a "fish tape" / wire puller, cables can still give you all sorts of hassle when you try and thread them through conduit!  Nothing that a brute bit of force couldn't sort out though LOL  By the end of the day I had 220 volts in the house.  So RMan celebrated by using his drill and angle grinder on the front porch supports using the power from the house instead of starting up the generator.


And I now have 4 strips of 6 (24 bulbs) 12 volt LED lights installed over my sink.

Although it's very romantic to use parrafin (kerosene) lamps at night, it's been a hassle to wash up in that lamp light at night - it just wasn't bright enough to see all the food in the pots, which then entailed cleaning them a second time the next day.

Photo source: articles.dashzracing.com

But, thanks to a combined birthday gift, to RMan and I, from CGuy, our (farm) neighbour, I now have better lights than an Audi in my kitchen...

Kitchen LED lights

Next posting I'll tell you about the ceiling... :)

Backwards or forwards?

As you all know I am an advocate of simple things - manual kitchen implements, home grown / homemade anything, and I love craft work that encourages my soul to soar.

Mezzaluna - the wonderful smell of chopping herbs
by hand and the promise of the meal to come

I have been told that I have a flair for interior design - not the high end modern stuff, but the honest to goodness comfy and welcoming appearance of a loved home.  I also know that, given the use of what is between my two ears, I can read almost anything and that enables me to produce that which I wasn't aware I could manage.

I love all things simple - though I confess that I am struggling to put my blogging into a comfortable slot - yes, it makes me feel very good to share that which I know / have discovered / feel is important and will hopefully benefit someone else.  My raison d'être has always been that of offering assistance - to be honest, even when it's not always been asked for.  So, some may call me pushy / or controlling, but, hopefully, never overbearing LOL

I have also struggled to explain exactly what it is that is motivating RMan and I with our latest venture - namely moving out of our urban comfort zone and heading off into the unknown in order to live a simple life.  A simpler life.

We have seen that both our children are both also adopting and adapting some of the things they do as a result of changes we have already made in our day-to-day lives.  Yeeha!

Living simply does not mean that we won't have some mod cons on our farm - I have already got the chest freezer,  and I will have to have some type of laptop, in order to keep in contact with loved ones far away / my blog / food for my grey matter.  We will also have a small television - RMan and rugby / cricket / grand prix are inseparable.

And apart from that the old caravan LP gas stove, the dover stove and my solar oven, the Kexin gas water heater and the generator for use with power tools, will also be for our comfort.  The rest of our requirements will be simple.

As long as we have water.  Water is the most important aspect for anyone, and at the moment everything is unbelievably dry.  As I mentioned yesterday, major water storage is on the cards - precious surplus rain water cannot be allowed to flow away unhindered on already sodden ground.

So it was with excitement that I watched a programme on BBC Knowledge the other night.  (I have subsequently discovered that there are only three episodes, which is very disappointing).  The programme is called "How to live a simple life" with the main character being a part-time (how can anyone be a "part-time") vicar, called Peter Owen Jones.  A scruffy, beer drinking, occasionally mild swearing, part-time vicar.  He summed up the simple life in a way that I completely identify with: "It is not so much a going back in time, but a way of moving forward into the future - a better future, a kinder future".  Now I couldn't have put it better than that.

We had an enforced power outage last week - for 8 hours, whilst the switch gear in the substation on our road was being changed.  RMan commented on how quiet it was, which emphasized again how white noise is constantly surrounding us.  On the farm all we have is the noise of the wind (which is more or less constant LOL), Baaarba in the fields near by, or the cows calling their calves which have been purposely separated from them.  We can even, on a rare occasion when the wind isn't blowing too ferociously, hear the birds wings flapping as they fly overhead.  Any vehicle driving down our road can be heard from 3 or 4 kms away - whereas here, in Cape Town, we invariably awaken to the sound of a house or car alarm or a police siren, as the police car rushes to the next emergency / crime scene.

We also watched a programme called "Pickers" wherein two guys travel round the US of A scratching through people's barns to find hidden, forgotten treasures.  That could not happen here - any building, never mind a barn, left uninhabited for too long would result in being broken into, just because it may contain something someone else may want (and therefore feels entitled to take), or because that would make a good building to squat in.

So sad, the disrespect that is paid to other people's possessions.  Or is that a sign of the times? 

Today's younger generation seems to be a throw-away generation.  And angry, judging by the breaking news on most news broadcasts.  Angry at the increasing greed of those in positions of power, at the expense of their electorate?  How many more countries are going to plumb to the brink of collapse, because their leaders are too busy padding their own futures (and those of their family members) with scant regard for the people they were put into power to serve?

Is the distress in the world today, a result of the restlessness which seems to engulf most people - in different ways and for different reasons?

We recently sold an old CCTV screen with two camera's that RMan had in his factory, 20-odd years ago.  It was still in perfect working order, but we were unable to use it.  So it sat in a cupboard until it was agreed that the time had come to pass it on to someone else.  It is certainly the most eco-friendly way of disposing of something for which one has no further use.  The guy who purchased it from us said that he worked for a film company and they were on the look out for things for props - from the 80's and 90's.  The 50's and 60's - there is no problem finding stuff, but after that - nada. Why?  Well, it seems to be because, recently (since the mid-70's), if an item goes 'out of fashion' then it is simply thrown away, and something new is purchased to replace it and bring the owner "up to date".

Have we become a society of "more"?  Is "more" better?  Is "more" making us happier?  Or is more actually causing dissatisfaction and making us unappreciative of what we have, because it can always be replaced - even to the extent of replacing supposed "I do" life-long partners seemingly on a whim.  I find that so incredibly sad.  And again, those in positions of power (leaders of countries, movie and pop stars) are making this option "acceptable" through their very public choices / whims. 

Simpler, to me, is attractive, because there is a consistency to it. There is an authenticity and a pride attached to simple - more than can be obtained from purchasing more and more goods, whether they are required or not.

Surplus goods - for preserviong or bartering

Bartering has a place in this world, more so than one would suspect.  And I think that bartering is the way forward, even though bartering is from way back in time.  For one is not going to barter something grown, or made, with one's own hands, unless that which is replacing it, is absolutely necessary.  I am horrified to read about the new laws in the US of A which effectively makes it a crime for someone to simply give of their time, and effort, to grow produce, organically, and which they then wish to sell their surplus of.

What is happening on this planet of ours?

I crave the simpler way.  Honest, authentic and genuine.  Plenty of honest-to-goodness hard work...

A simpler life awaits us - I can't wait...

... and to feel pride at the end of the day at what I have accomplished, without, hopefully, negatively impacting this planet we inhabit so briefly.

We're off to the farm for a l-o-n-g weekend - enjoy yours and catch you next week :-)