Thanks Sprig - Lucky me :)

I follow a local blog called "Sprig" (a South African Gardening Blog)  "Sprig" was the winner of the News 24 / Old Mutual Best Green Blog in 2010 - a well deserved award!  (and I'm thrilled that my vote helped them win LOL)


Sprig is a gardening blog which details their interest in indigenous gardening, permaculture and growing their own food.  They also deal with subjects regarding other types of gardening, nature and environmental issues.  They welcome contributions to their blog - you just have to e-mail your contribution to them (including photo's) and, after moderation, it will, invariably, be posted on their blog.  They are also more than happy to post any gardening question you may have, for their readers to answer.  Now, how helpful is that :)


A couple of weeks ago they ran a competition in conjunction with Consol Glass (the major domestic glass jar / bottle producer in South Africa).


Well, I've just been notified that I won one of the two prizes!!  A ZAR500.00 ( US$ 64.00 / €46.00) gift voucher for glass goodies of my choice from Consol. Yipeeeee!  Thanks Sprig :)


These are some of the items which are available in the Consol shop in Stellenbosch:


Jars in all sorts of shapes and sizes...

... stunning bottles - for cordials?...

... and beautiful preserving jars...

Reckon I'm going to be very busy at the end of this summer - so much (hopefully) preserving to do, and such stunning jars I'm going to be preserving in... can't wait!  CGuy, I even have new jars to keep your honey in...  Hey, if they have the right containers, maybe I can even make my first batch of mead?

Now,with the small amount hat I produce in my town garden, I seriously need to get on with sorting out my veggie patch at the farm ... and planting more crops!  I've got jars and bottles to fill LOL

Welcome

I have always welcomed new commenters on my blog.

But I have been made to feel so welcome when I became a follower of John's blog... 

and of Stephen's blog,

that I have decided to take their example and to make the time to discover who my new followers are and to welcome them to my blog when their gravitar appears on my followers list.  After all, it is a friendly way of welcoming a newcomer into your midst.


And a little bit of friendliness in this world certainly wont go amiss :)


Nothing beats posting to my blog, and getting comments in return - a meeting of like minded people, a sharing of idea's and reactions.  A place of friendship, which brings great enjoyment to my day.


Therefore John and Stephen, consider yourselves warmly welcomed :)


And to all the other followers (public or anonymous) of Eco Footprint ~ South Africa - please know that you were, and are, as warmly welcomed -  I just didn't have this method of welcoming you back then... :)

When is a lemon tree not a lemon tree ...?

Citrus Saplings in March this year

I don't know if you recall back in March this year I mentioned that I found three tiny trees growing from seeds I had planted on the farm at the end of last year.



This is what they look like now...

Saplings in September this year

Well, this time, they are much bigger, and I was thus able to pinch (and crush) of a couple of leaves, in order to smell, and identify them.


They are... naartjie (mandarin) trees :)  Happy Days!  Considering that they have not been on an irrigation system, and have only survived on early morning mist or rainwater that has fallen, and they are growing amongst grass and weeds, I'm very impressed!

And, as for those lemon trees I planted in January, this is the progress they have made...

Not too shabby, Nige :)

Just a spoon full of sugar...

I was at the nursery last week, trying to buy some Aubergine seedlings.  (for some reason I am unable to get my seeds to produce seedlings?!)


Unfortunately, they didn't have any in stock yet, but, as I was leaving, I saw this on a stand next  to the cashier...

It a bottle that you hang in the garden and which provides sugar water for birds.

Instead of adding the sugar to water and then adding food colouring, I decided to add the sugar to a cup of rooibos tea LOL  I hope the birds like the rooibos flavour?!

A cup of tea for the birds, and one for me too :)

So here it is - hanging in a tree in the garden - just waiting to be sipped :)

But, I had a thought as I took that photo - the day I finally get a couple of chickens, if I enlarge the dispensing hole, perhaps I could provide water for the chickens using this method - that should keep the chicken food out of their water...!


And so I am going to be forced (LOL) to drink a bottle of wine, in order to get the bottle, and RMan is going to drill out the hole for me - the rest of the design I should be able to manage myself LOL  (I hope the chickens don't mind a bit of wine flavour when I re-use the cork?!)


And it's yet another way of recycling a glass bottle.

Straw (Hay) bale gardening part 1

This was my covered 'town' vegetable patch at the beginning of this season. The bed on the left is over run with roots - our neighbours have walled and treed their boundary, and I have evidence that those roots have very happily sauntered over our way where the watering is frequent.

Because of the roots, I have decided to try an alternative method of growing this year.  I am going to grow some of my vegetables in straw / hay bales.


I started by covering the bed with shredded paper (from our office) and on top of that I placed newspaper.  That should prevent the weeds from taking advantage of the beautifully moist, fertile growing environment that I am about to create.


Three bales should be enough for that bed...

Then, it's time to begin the composting process.  (If you're squeamish, please ignore the following two paragraphs)


For this I am going the natural way - one of the simplest methods to provide nitrogen to the bales is to use urine.


You apply it as follows:


Day 1: Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the "nitrogen fertilizer" evenly over each bale and water until it gets worked in - roughly 10 ltrs (2 gallons) / bale.
Day 2: water the bales
Day 3: 1/2 cup of the fertilizer evenly per bale + water
Day 4: water
Day 5: 1/2 cup fertilizer evenly per bale + water (this is when it may begin to smell, but won’t last too long. You will also see black specks beginning – that is a good thing for it indicates that the soil is developing)
Day 6: water
Day 7 - 9: 1/4 cup (or half of what you were using before) fertilizer per bale + water – your soil temperature will be around 125 degrees
Day 10:  Add 1 cup of garden fertilizer per bale + water – use a nitrate, phosphorus, and potassium organic fertilizer (such as Talborne Organics in South Africa).
After 10 days check the temperature of the bales.  If it is too hot to touch don't plant anything yet - allow it to cool down to at least 35oC (100oF) (just below human blood temperature).

A bottle of "natural nitrogen" :)

I am going to be planting the bales up as an experiment - at the back (the northern / sunny side) I will definitely be planting two tomato plants / bale, and in the front I am going to be planting companion plants such as: carrots, chives, lettuce, parsley, basil and borage.  Apparently, borage assists in detering tomato hornworm - and having read so much about it in the recent northern hemisphere season, personally I'd prefer to avoid it, if possible :)  Oh, and I wont forget some marigolds too.

Finally, following the "forest" permaculture principle, I'm going to try and plant them up from highest to lowest plants - with the lettuce right in the front.  I want the other plants to provide some shade for my lettuces - they tend to bolt so easily in the heat of our summers.

If this experiment works, then I will be having a very large straw bale vegetable patch on the farm.  It will certainly overcome the hard, compacted clay ground issue.  Whilst also providing compost material at the end of the season :)

Bee-eautiful, best and always so very busy

CGuy, our 'townie' friend who has purchased the plot next to ours on the farm, came round for dinner the other night.


Now CGuy and I - we're on a mission.  The worldwide recession has caused us all to be a tad jittery, and the ongoing financial woes of the world, coupled with dire forecasts being released almost on a daily basis from many of the worlds' financial bigwigs, could also be adding to my nervousness.


With that in mind I am squirreling away dry goods every time they appear on sale.  Lentils, rice, beans, split peas, pasta - shapes / spaghetti, etc - they're all piling up in my pantry.  Well, they won't deteriorate over time, especially using a sprig of bay leaves from my tree in each bulk container to prevent weevils, so why not?


I have tried to learn to be as self-sufficient as I possibly can (with grateful thanks to fellow bloggers and Google) and have learnt whatever skills I can, in order to allow us to continue with our basic lifestyle in any situation.  Things such as growing as many of the crops we consume as possible, how to make my own soap, how to preserve, using the sun to cook our meals, make compost, use different farming methods (and which would be / could be applicable to our little farm), to name but a few...  I even have plans, and the wherewithall, to make a solar still in order to produce clean drinking water from contaminated / brak water.


... loo paper - hmmm - guess we might have to learn to use handfuls of grass (I know, I know - that's too much information LOL)


And, being off grid, has relieved me of the headache of fearing a power cut too!  Any appliances which I use on the farm will either be solar powered, or will be run using the petrol generator (and the only appliance that I can think of is the washing machine :)  )


So, with most of the bases covered, I'm now concentrating on the little, niggly things - like for instance we want to try and find a hand operated (preferably stone?) grinding mill for wheat which we hope to purchase from the local farmers.  And, of course - what am I going to do about sugar?


I am NOT prepared to grow sugar cane, even if I could.  Apart from everything else, rodents abound in sugar cane - and with the locusts, snakes and scorpions, I have enough to think about without adding rodents to the mix. Never mind how on earth would I process the sugar cane?  So - how to provide our sweetening agent?

Why, CGuy is just the person to help out there.  He has a couple of bee hives that he is going to install over the fence from us - and as we have both agreed that bartering is the way forward, CGuy is prepared to trade us honey for whatever we have that he needs, even if that translates to a meal a few times a week - well, CGuy isn't married, and can't cook... LOL


So, that's tea and coffee sorted - plus any sweetening that I many require for basic cooking.  But - and this was a big BUT before I googled it - what am I going to do about preserving?


I'm going to use HONEY of course :)

Those are busy little wings LOL

I found information here, here and this delicious sounding recipe here.


STRAWBERRY JAM


4 1/2 cups prepared (washed and hulled) fruit (about 2 quarts ripe strawberries)
1 box (1 3/4 ounces) powdered pectin (I'm going to try and see if homemade apple pectin will work too)

7 cups mild-flavored honey

Completely crush the fully ripened strawberries, one layer at a time, and measure 4-1/2 cups of the prepared fruit into a 8 lt (7 - 8 quart) saucepan. Add the powdered pectin and blend it in well. Place the pan over high heat, bring the contents to a full rolling boil and immediately mix in the honey. Continue to boil the jam for 2 minutes, while you stir it constantly. Then remove the pan from the stove and remove any foam that forms with a metal spoon. Alternately skim and stir the hot confection for 5 minutes to cool it slightly and distribute the fruit throughout. Ladle the product into hot sterilized jars—about six 230 gm (8 ounces) jars - label and seal them.


Making jam with honey - brilliant!  So that's another things I can cross of my list :)

But for a couple of honey facts that you may, or may not, have known:


1 Honey assists in the healing of bee stings :)  Gently apply a little honey to the area of the sting. 


2 Completely viable honey has been found in the pyramids - admittedly in a crystallized form, but nothing that a dunk in hot water couldn't sort out :)


3 Due to the antibacterial / antiseptic qualities of honey, it may be used in place of a medicinal ointment for general cuts and burns.  This is especially useful for those living in remote area's.  It is a very effective means of quickly rendering heavily infected wounds sterile, without the side effects of antibiotics, and has also proved effective against antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria.


4 Honey has a low pH which hinders and prevents the growth of many species of bacteria.  It also has a tendency to absorb water from a wound, which effectively deprives bacteria of the moisture they need to multiply. This absorption dilutes the honey and activates an enzyme which produces hydrogen peroxide - which surely must be in everyone's medicine cupboard ;)


4 Honey, when used on wounds, will not cause the dressings to stick to the (healing) wound.

5 Add honey to a glass of warm milk to ease a sore throat.  Or have a glass of home-made ginger beer using honey in place of sugar LOL


6 Honey is more easily digested than sugar, resulting in it entering the bloodstream quickly and giving an instant energy pick-me-up.


7 Finally, honey is good for the skin and apparently, when applied as a face mask, reduces the appearance of wrinkles.  (Reckon I could do with a couple of litres of the stuff LOL)

Nutritional information: Honey contains potassium, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and ascorbic acid, as well as calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese and phosphorus.


Sugar contains very little nutrients - therefore, in my book, honey is Queen :)


A word of warning to those with little ones under a year in age:
Honey may contain spores which can cause infant botulism in children aged one year and younger.  In immature infants’ digestive tracts, however, the spores are able to germinate and release a toxin. Symptoms of infant botulism include constipation, lethargy, poor feeding, weak cry, droopy eyelids and, occasionally, respiratory arrest. By the age of 12 months, infants develop a digestive tract mature enough to handle the toxin

Reckon it works :)

You gotta love this!?  On our way to the strawberry farm, I spotted this windmill, in the middle of a field.  Off the cuff - I reckon this works perfectly LOL

A perfect example of how an old reliable system, which, if used / sited correctly, is more than sufficient for use today.

Who needs a power / petrol guzzling modern electric pump?


Now, where can I find a cheap windmill like this for the borehole we hope to install shortly...

A case of... "Strawberry fields Forever" :)

Patiently waiting...

MKid is visiting us for the week, so last weekend we (RMan, myself, MKid, NGirl and WGuy) toddled off to Polkadraai Strawberry Farm in Somerset West.  It is a farm where you can pick your own strawberries - as much, or as little as you want.  In MKids case, he had a field day (with or without the pun) LOL

RMan was aghast - MKid grinned as broad as a
Cheshire cat, he obviously loved every minute of it...
2kgs in his bowl alone

They have scarecrows dotted all over the fields - very cute.  I wonder if they help?  Which reminds us, we will need to get some up on the farm also - well, I have been saving all our torn and scruffy clothing for a while...

Strawberry picking action

So, what to do with 6 - 7 kgs of strawberries.  Well, first off we all had an enormous a bowl of strawberries and cream each for dessert that evening.  Actually, I think we all OD on them LOL

MKid had the biggest bowl full - 2 kgs...

Okay, So now there are 5 - 6 kgs left.  I was going to make strawberry preserves, strawberry jam and strawberry cordial from Lynda Browns' The Preserving Book (my bible for preserving all things). But, MKid was in residence, and he had just been given a pair of roller blades.  Roller blades / grandchildren and hot sugary pots full of danger do not encourage excessive hours in the kitchen.  So, strawberry jam it was...

However, MKid did help me hull and halve the strawberries.

Hubble bubble, toil and trouble...

Into the pot, with plenty of sugar, home made apple pectin and lemon juice - I felt like a little like a witch with my pot boiling and bubbling - toiling and troubling...


But the end result was worth every minute of the three hours it took...

Some of the jars strawberry jam...

... 7 kgs of homemade strawberry jam - 1 1/2 kgs for MKid to take home, 1/2 kg each for the workers in our company, 1/2 kg for CGuy, who came for dinner last night, and the balance is in the dark, cool(ish) pantry...

Strawbverries, rooibos, dried strawberry roll,
crystallized strawberries...
some of the goodies we came home with

Oh, and I found some loose leaf rooibos (redbush) tea at the Strawberry farmstall - brilliant!  Now there's 1 1/2 kgs in stock - that should last me awhile :)


But, and this was delicious, RMan loved harvesting the strawberries from the field - and says he can't wait to harvest our farm produce. :)  Nothing more satisfying than growing your own, and picking it fresh from the garden before sitting down to munch it - with all it's nutrition and goodness still stored within...!


If you live in a town and don't grow your own fruit and vegetables, or don't / aren't able to grow things like strawberries, then click on this link and you may find a place near to you where you can do "Pick Your Own".  It saves all the packaging used in supermarkets, you are picking super fresh produce, and it is a wonderful days outing :)  Support the farmers, not the supermarkets!