Privacy issues

"If thy eye offend thee..." Matthew 18:9

No, we're not going pluck it out, but we are going to block out what offends us...

So much for escaping to the country.  Enjoying the quiet and lebensraum (definition: space required for life, growth or activity) away from the invasion of privacy and hustle and bustle of city life.

Hmmmmmmm...?
We have also tried, unsuccessfully, to ask
our neighbour to remove the dead bushes
along the fence as the field mice have taken
up residence in them big time.  Why exacerbate
a mouse problem and encourage snakes
closer?
(He placed the bushes there originally
to prevent his free range chickens from 
visiting us - and our dogs)

Our neighbour, who has a smallholding which is one and a half times the size of ours, has, for some arbitrary reason, chosen to build his haphazard "house" almost on the border of our two properties.  Not only did he build his "dwelling" with absolutely no plans, foundation nor building inspections, but without any aesthetic consideration - for anyone, it would appear.

The position of the two houses on their
respective smallholdings

Added to which his place is becoming more and more cluttered with "spares".  which is all well and good if he was a tidy and organised person, but he's not.

We have tried, unsuccessfully, in a number of ways, to express our feelings in the politest and most "gentlemanly" ways possible via a friendly conversation or two (over the fence LOL)...

...so to 'block out' the "dwelling" and mess...

...we have planted a double row of Eugenia trees (which are taking far too long to grow to a decent height) and...

Eugenia trees

 ... a small grove of yellowwoods.

Yellowwoods planted to give some future privacy

They will all be our long term solution.

But... RMan has been busy again...

To finally resolve the problem in the short term, we ordered, and purchased, 1000 thin Black Wattle tree poles - 3.0 mtrs high.  By the time the wattle poles have degraded, the trees / bushes should be well enough established to take over the privacy solution.

No, it is not a cheap exercise, but it was the more cost effective of all those that we contemplated.

The poles were cleaned of side branches and stripped of bark...

Black wattle saplings stripped of side branches
and bark

... and they are proving ideal as a screen in that corner of our property.

There will be 23 sections in all - two more will
be added to the right hand side

The screen is not completely solid - there are enough spaces between the poles to allow strong winds through...

The screen after the first day of work

... and it is certainly effective as a visual / privacy barrier.

Hopefully, they, and the future trees, will also help mute the clatter of the noisy blades of old windmill he has just erected and the noise of both the 5.5Kw petrol and the 30KvA diesel generators that he has decided he cannot do without.  So much for going of grid...?!?!?!

A pity that our neighbourly relationship has had to sour to this extent.  But it is not pleasant to have the watchful eyes of our neighbour, his (new) wife and his two current live-in workers (he arbitrarily changes them for complete strangers every 2 - 3 months) apparently constantly trained our way - we are  aware of this because when we go outside we are inevitably called to the barbed wire fence for some reason or the other.  I also have a penchant for, and thoroughly enjoy, wandering outside in my gown (a flimsy one in summer LOL) to drink my first cup of rooibos tea in the early morning to hand water those plants which need it.  Not so pleasant with an audience.

Almost finished...
Thank goodness for the trailer that RMan
purchased a couple of years ago - it's been
put to more uses than we conceived of at the
time :)

On the plus side, we now have a bit more privacy - hopefully, a bit of a sound barrier, an effective wind break, and, lastly, we have also provided employment to the locals who cut down the alien Black Wattles, and who earned some well deserved income in the process.

Stocking up for winter

Stocking up for winter?

Winter only hits here at the end of June / beginning of July and lasts until round about September.

But, even though I prefer winter, I have unfond memories of the cold last year.  Was it due to the house build being incomplete,?  Was it due to the exposed, rural setting we are now living in?  Was it due to the wonderful snow on the mountains?  I can't honestly tell you - yet.  This winter will be the deciding one.


But with those memories, I am still trying to convince RMan that a Nordica stove, specifically a Nordica Sovrana or Nordica Mamy, will solve all our smoky  heating / cooking problems this coming winter.

Nordica Sovrana

Judging from the specs, the Sovrana should be able to heat our +/- 200mtr3 double volume kitchen / lounge / dining / mezzanine area's.

Nordica Sovrana specs

I have spent hours, and hours on the Net trying to source affordable wood-burning kitchen stoves, and the cheapest I have found is the Nordica range, which is imported by Fire and Gas in Somerset West.  Stoves from the USA, Australia, the UK, Sweden, Norway - they are all hectically priced given our pathetic exchange rate(which, today, is ZAR9.03857 to US$1.00) and that is without factoring in the transport to South Africa.  And - I would have to go through all the import hassles again...!

But, whether we stick with the Dover stove or go for a larnier model, we have to get our firewood in, and allow it to dry before we use it.  So RMan and I went to the local woodcutters a couple of weeks ago to collect next year's wood.

The WFW (Working for Water) guys do a
wonderful job of  cutting down the alien
invasive Australian Black Wattles.  I
wouldn't say they making any headway in eradicating
them because when they chop them down, they
don't kill off the stump so it just grows from the bottom
again. If they kill off the stump they will eventually
have no wattles to fell = no work.  They're clever LOL

These guys are amazing.  They harvest the alien Australian Black Wattle, chop it up into usable sizes and load it for you.

Thank goodness for our trailer.
I feel warmer just knowing that we have
next year's firewood on hand

1000 pieces for ZAR250.00 - and yet they sell 10 - 12 bagged pieces in town for ZAR30.00 - that's quite a mark-up!

The wood we will use this year is on the left of
the pile.  The new wood, on the right, needs
to dry for a year so that it doesn't
layer our chimney with resin - potentially
causing a fire in the future.

So, now we have our wood, all I need is my Nordica, RMan... ;)

Local suppliers

Our priorities with our plot were the development of the house and garden, but our last visit was different.  I told RMan that I wanted to explore the area a little, so that's just what we did :)

I had heard of Eureka Mills, but had not had the time to seek them out. 

I had been told that they were somewhere between Buffeljags and Heidelberg - but where?  That's a stretch of roughly 40 odd kms...

So RMan and I took a drive.  Thanks to the directions given by some guys on the side of the road, we finally ended up at Eureka Mills - where they stone grind wheat into flour, which contains no additives, preservatives nor chemicals.

At Eureka Mills they are very proud of the fact that they use wheat which has been grown according to a no-till system.  The soil it is grown in is used as a biological system in order to produce healthy crops which contain high density nutrients which are essential for man and livestock.  Healthy crops also reduce the spraying of pesticides, herbicide and fungicides.

To quote Eureka Mills, "In the Southern Cape, farmers include legume pastures in their rotation of wheat, canola, oats and barley.  These pastures contribute to higher organic matter which is the energy source for the micro-fauna in the soil.  Complementary to the pastures, good tillage practices like no-tilling complies with the healthy nutrition of people".

Stone ground flour grinding wheels

Damnation - the mills were closed - we visited on a Monday, and the Tuesday was a public holiday - guess the millers wanted a long weekend.  Never mind, at least I know where they are now, and on our next trip to the farm, I am definitely going to pay them a (probably expensive LOL) visit.  I can't wait to make bread with their wheat and rye flour.


Monday was obviously our day for discovering new useful contacts.  As we were leaving the sand road to find Eureka Mills, I noticed that a building which had stood empty for ages, seemed to be a bustle of activity.  Intrigued (a.k.a. being nosy LOL), I asked RMan if we could stop there on our way back from Eureka Mills.

What did we find?  A saw mill / lumber yard had sprung up in our midst.


This is a yard where the owners purchase local trees (pine, bluegum and black wattle mainly) which they cut up into various lengths and thicknesses to order.  They even make roof trusses on the premises - they were busy making some for a new barn which is being erected down the road.  And they supply the off-cuts as fire wood - and a second supplier is always a good thing to have...:)


I'm not sure that I would purchase roof trusses from them, as their timber is still very wet.  But, with that said, I held a piece of newly sawn wood and, in place of splinters, I felt this wonderfully, malleable  silky substance.  Obviously the splinters occur as the wood dries - but, boy, I cannot describe what the virgin wood felt like - too amazing for words.


I said to RMan that I would like to make a headboard for our bed with thin strips of the wood - for it is so malleable that it could easily be woven into a stunning headboard - strengthening and stiffening as the wood dries.


But, I will purchase their wood for plant stakes, and wood shavings and sawdust...!  Now that I can use :)  (When I add the sawdust / shavings to the soil or compost I will add bone meal to replace the nitrogen which the wood shavings / sawdust will draw out of the soil.)


And, I will also be able to make mulch pathways - there are so many possibilities - I am so excited :)


I could even use their wood to make raised veggie beds - I can be 100% confident that their wood is chemical free :)  And, finally, I am sure that they will be able to supply me with the poles I am going to require to make my shade cloth enclosure for my veggie patch.

This is my small shade cloth veggie patch in town,
the farm one will be much, much bigger... LOL

I have even sourced a farm close by which will supply me with manure - and compost - until my compost heap is up and running...


How fortuitous - to find local suppliers who have just what you need...!