Our planet

I was blown away by this site which was sent to me by my daughter.  It puts the beauty, uniqueness and size of this planet into complete perspective.

For an updated shot of the map click on this link:

http://www.opentopia.com/sunlightmaprect.html, or for a more traditional view, http://www.opentopia.com/sunlightmaphemi.html

When one looks at these images, and we see how we are all connected on this planet, how can we not care about the effects our modern lifestyle is having on our world?  How can we fail to consider the long-lasting effect of our eco footprint? 

And how can we not care about each other?

Enjoy :-)

My first attempt at baking bread

On 31 May 2010 I received my precious solar oven.  It was the wrong model and it arrived damaged and I am (still) trying to get that sorted out - but that I'll leave for another post.

But I am too impatient to wait for summer to try baking bread in my solar oven.  And I don't have the Dover stove yet.  So, after much research on the Internet and reading a snippet on another blog I follow ( http://thefieldlab.blogspot.com/ )  I came across this site:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx?page=2

Brilliant - I had found a bread recipe which didn't entail the strength, energy and time required to knead bread dough.  Time - not a problem - neither is energy - but strength.  I had tennis elbow a few years ago, and, due to the dreaded cortisone injections which were required to assist the healing of that elbow, I have been left with a right arm which is a mere shadow of it's former self, strength-wise.

And I had a "baking stone" - I had brought a spare unglazed clay floor tile back from the farm which I scrubbed really clean.

So, on Wednesday I proceeded to whip up a batch of dough.  I added the yeast to the warm water (I measured the temperature of the water with a normal (sterilised) medical thermometer :-) which is all I had available, to ensure it was the required 40oC) and let that stand for approximately 30 minutes whilst it "frothed" up.  After mixing in the flour and salt I let the dough stand on my kitchen counter for the next 3 - 4 hours before putting it in my fridge overnight.  Then yesterday afternoon, as I planned a rare oven-roasted chicken for supper (the oven would be put to multi-use - our electricity cost has just been increased by 25.8% so I am very conscious of saving power whenever and wherever possible) I placed the baking stone inside and turned on my oven to the required 230oC, and, removing a portion of the dough from the refrigerated batch, let it rest on the counter until the oven was hot enough.

I put the dough on the baking stone, and placed the cup of water underneath and closed the door - and waited with baited breath (and a torch so that I could monitor the progress through the glass as my oven light doesn't work).

Seriously, it turned out perfectly.  And was so easy!!!!

The verdict of my family - brilliant!  The entire loaf got wiped by my husband, son and a couple of slices for me, naturally.

Now I want to try it in our gas grill - and details on that can be found at:  http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

There is absolutely no reason why anyone has to buy bread - it couldn't be easier to make your own loaf.   

A place of healing and a celebration

Sadly, last month RMan's dad passed away.  But, thankfully, RMan got to Johannesburg in time to see him.  However, due to the emotional stress RMan has experienced in the past weeks I thought it would be good to get him to the farm - to give him some lebensraum.  He has had to be so strong for other people and his emotional needs have come second.

Also, it was RMan's birthday this weekend and, with no phone call from his dad on the day, it would be even harder.  It is never easy to lose someone near to one.

We managed to leave on Thursday lunchtime with our RSon joining us on Saturday.  After the recent rains the countryside now is green, with all the farmers crops well on their way.  Lambs abound - even our neighbour, Tom, has two new additions to his flock.

As you can see the lambs in the above photo are so new born that their tails haven't been docked yet

It constantly amazes me how the lambs are born in mid-winter - how on earth do they keep warm?  There is still snow on the mountains and we experienced temperatures of 3oC in the early morning - and we're wrapped up in warm jackets and boots - the lambs don't even have their fleece yet!  Can cuddling up to their mother's be sufficient?  I gained a new respect for farm animals this weekend.

On Friday we managed to get the builders back for the day, to finish plastering around the last four window frames, and in the corners where the roof meets the walls - we discovered that that was the spot where the birds were gaining access to the house - there were two more dead birds in the house - and bird droppigns all over the floor - take it from me, it is NOT easy to clean up dried bird droppings - it sticks and sticks...even with the assistance of a pot scraper!  But I don't like the fact that birds are dying in our house.  They obviously don't have the wherewithall to find their way out once they are inside.  Pervention is better than cure - so to block off their access was the only solution.

The photo above is from June last year - he's not looking that good at the moment.

Max, (we've named him that) the cat that adopted us last year, actually came running when he saw us arrive.  He managed to wipe out all the cat food I had bought him - shame, he's pretty thin.  He was so hungry that he was even eating the bread crusts I threw outside for the birds, and a slice of avocado I acidentally dropped on the floor!  There wasn't even enough food to leave him a bowl full when we leave as I always do. (I'll have to get a bigger bag for him next time.)

I have been asking RMan for ages if we can get a supply of wood in - the locals cut the alien trees and sell the wood - part of the Working for Water campaign in this country( http://www.dwaf.gov.za/wfw/Control .  They sell 1000 pieces for R200.00 - we pay R29.00 for 10 - 12 pieces in town!

But, we had borrowed the work van to transport some stuff to the farm and we could only load 500 pieces - 1000 pieces would've been too heavy - and most of the 500 pieces are still too green to burn.  But, I'm not grumbling - at last we have some wood now.  The balance of the wood will have to be collected next time we're up there.  Negosiegat, the shop in Barrydale which sells Dover Stoves, is out of stock at the moment - new stock should arrive in 2 - 3 weeks.  But at least I now have wood for the dover stove when it's finally installed.  We used a bit of the dry wood for our braai (barbecue) on RMan's birthday - we had our neighbours, Neels and Petro, round for dinner.  A really lovely evening was had by all!  And our first social gathering on the farm.

Even our son enjoyed his break away from Cape Town - he took this beautiful photo of one of our aloes in flower.  And what a pleasure, and a priviledge, to share the farm experience with him - his only visit was last year when he was so incredibly helpful in erecting and installing our roof.  Now at least he has shared the benefit of all his hard work, and he has experienced the comfort of our little farm house.  He loved it :-)

When we left on Monday, we went via another farmer, in Bonnievale, who had recently had an article in the Farmers Weekly.  He has 14ha of his farm planted with pomegranates!  What a lovely helpful, pleasant person Willem Van Der Merwe is.  We must have spent a good hour-and-a-half with him and the advice he gave us was brilliant - I hate to thinking what bumbling idiots we must have appeared to Willem, but, there again, I guess everyone has to start somewhere!

All in all a brilliant long weekend - and just what the doctor ordered.

Rest in peace, Peter.

Winter scene

Winter hit the Cape early this year...

Neighbours of ours were up at their farm this past weekend when the two large cold fronts hit.  They live about 3 kms from us and are also in the process of building their future.  The one cold front dropped 30mm of rain on Saturday night and Sunday brought the snow...

They took photo's for us of the snow that fell on the Langeberg / Tradouw Pass mountains.  Apparently it was so cold that they had to go to Swellendam to buy a coat for their dog - the only coat they could get was a kiddie's jersey which was adapted to fit Star.

Wish we could've been there, but we do need to get the air vent we placed on the one gable modified so as to not let in so much air - can get quite drafty at night as we haven't got the ceiling in yet.

Think I would also like to have my Dover stove in, and working, too - insurance against such cold weather.

Burglar and weather proofing

We managed to slip away to the farm again last weekend - heavenly!  Perfect weather, little wind and enough time to get some all important jobs done.

Firstly, due to the increase in petty break-ins we installed some burglar proofing on the windows.  Very simple system - and I was so busy assisting the main worker that I forgot to take photo's.  Perhaps it was also the fact that I'd forgotten to charge my camera batteries and they ran dry... or that I was so busy cleaning up the dust from the drilling.  I did use the vacuum cleaner hose, strategically positioned, to catch the bulk of the dust whilst RMan was drilling, but some always manages to escape and settle everywhere.

But, the empty batteries forced me to try something that I had been contemplating, and that was to try and charge my camera batteries in my solar light - they both take the same size.  It worked!  So perhaps I don't need to purchase a special solar battery charger for our AA size batteries after all!

But, we also noticed that the kitchen door, which faces south and subsequently never gets the sun, was sticking at the bottom due to damp, so that prompted us to install the back porch roof.  Again I say we, but the main worker did 99% of the work.  And what a good job he did too.  We had extra Resin roof tiles left over from the main roof, and, together with a couple of wooden supports, the job got done.

We still have to get the side walls where the roof meets the walls built up to enclose it totally, but I reckon it's brilliant.  It completely changes the appearance of the back of the house. 

RMan constantly surprises me, even after almost 30 years of marriage, I never knew that he was capable of such handyman feats.

We also made some progress on the raised veggie patch - installing the main support beams.

And we have discovered that apparently a local resident, who is squatting on the land he occupies, has no water connection, so he is helping himself to everyone else's!  Share and share alike - but 13 Kl in a month?!  That is going a little too far - we never used that even whilst we were building.  So we'll have to make a plan.

When we returned to Cape Town I immediately went to check my special lemon tree cuttings - mother hen syndrome I guess.  I had, after all, been away from them for 4 days.  They were doing well - I can even see some tiny leaf shoots growing!  But I thought perhaps I should share my mini-greenhouse system - a perfect way to recycle empty plastic bottles and propagate cuttings simultaneously!

I love it when a plan works.

Kitchen progress

It is amazing how basic a kitchen one can actually work in.
 This last weekend we managed to get up to the farm for 4 days.  We schlepped along the security gates and kitchen counters that I got through Freecycle in Cape Town.  Naturally, being female I wanted the kitchen counters in before my other half got to grips with installing the security gates, so with a bit of reasoning and a fresh cup of coffee (for himself) we got down to it on Saturday afternoon after we had unpacked the car - actually my other half got down to it although he did taken some female assistance from me - and design advice.  I reckon that my kitchen area is now 90% finished. All that is left to furnish it with is a 12volt solar freezer and a Dover stove.  And paint the walls....

To walk you round the photo's below - firstly there is a photo of the one kitchen counter prior to being installed. 

The 2nd and 3rd photo's show the view of the kitchen and dining area - and lo, and behold! my old solar cooker fits perfectly where the Dover stove has to go.  Thank goodness I talked RMan out of the underfloor heating he wanted to install prior to the floor tiles being laid - they would be totally unnecessary!  The house is so warm and toasty inside - is it beause of the double glazed windows or because of the lime plaster making the walls more damp proof...?  We haven't got a clue.  And don't care.  Just love it!  In fact it is so warm inside (22oC - even when outside is 6oC) that we are in no rush to buy the Dover stove for the warmth it will provide.

My groceries are stored in basket drawers below the central builders workbench (on wheels), and my plates under the counter on the right hand side of the old caravan gas cooker – we still need to put in another shelf below the one holding the plates for casserole dishes and suchlike, and two shelves on the nook on the left hand side of the gas cooker, to house my pots and baking trays.

But apart from that there is nothing left to do in the kitchen.

The beauty of this kitchen is that it has cost all of ZAR5500.00 – the main expense being the kitchen sink (R2000.00 and the central island on wheels (R1200.00, wheels +/- R400.00 and baskets R1080.00). As I mentioned in a previous post the kitchen counters I got from Freecycle in Cape Town – my husband amazed me with his previously unknown woodworking skills. He dismantled the lot and then mixed and matched the straight and curved bits until he got them to fit perfectly!  The basic solar oven is sitting on the shelf which is reserved for my future Dover (wood burning) stove. Even the two shelves above the oven / basin area were made by RMan from left over laminated wood which we’re using for our upstairs landing - the chain supports were my idea and they work well!

As a newlywed I believed that I had to have the latest gadgets in order to produce the meals and baking that was required of me. Now I know that the simlper one keeps one’s life, the easier it all is. Admittedly I won’t be baking many cakes, so I don’t need my Kenwood Chef anymore, and my slow cooker has been replaced with my Hot Box and Solar Oven. And filter coffee machines – I don’t drink coffee anymore (don’t need, nor want the caffeine - prefer my rooibos or honeybush tea) and, thankfully, my husband prefers instant coffee on a day-to-day basis, retaining the filter coffee consumption for those special outings - be they a weekend lunch sitting in a restaurants' garden in the sunshine or a candlelit dinner with yours truly :-)

Then, first thing Sunday morning it was the time to install the security gates - they were almost made to fit, and with just a small amount of shimming on either side they work perfectly.  Not easy to hang doors / gates - one definitely needs two pairs of hands - one to do the work and the other to act as supports - guess where I came in :-)  And we were very grateful for the generator and power tools.

Finally, on Monday, with the grateful arrival, and assistance, of a young male relative of our neighbour's we were able to install the support posts for our grape vines and we made a start on the raised veggie patch construction.  The first veggie patch will be 4 mtrs long X 1 mtr wide - just perfect for our initial needs - and with plenty of space to expand when necessary.

 

All in all, a very constructive weekend and one in which we managed to complete enough tasks to make us very chuffed with ourselves - there's nothing nicer than that feeling of accomplishment - it lifts one's spirits and gives one added impetus to complete  the remaining ones. 

Each task completed is one less on the list...

Biding time

Our grandson came to visit us for the Easter holidays - how lekker (nice is the normal translation, but obviously you all know that I mean much more than nice :-) ) that was.  Very special!  All he wanted to do was swim - but late March / early April in Cape Town is not really swimming weather - and the water has already cooled down quite substantially, although he did get in twice - very briefly - the water was 21oC.  Much to cold for me!

BUT, whilst he was here I took delivery of my Stack-A-Tub - the name says it all.  I have placed it on our back patio - the only place which gets sun in winter, and, co-incidentally, it is right outside our grandsons' bedroom window - so when he's here he can peep out of his window to see how "his" vegetables are growing.  We planted baby spinach and a (centre) garlic clove in the top section and peas in the middle section - aiming for them to grow down the tubs as opposed to needing support.  Trial and error - if they don't do that well hanging down then I'll give them support to climb up.  My other half loves peas in the pod, which I can't find anywhere in Cape Town, so, providing we get enough from the nine plants, I know who I'll call if I need some shelled for dinner.  In lower section I planted some basil, but I think I'm going to replace them with lettuces - basil will grow perfectly in a stand alone pot.  The beauty of the stack a tub is that as all three tiers are detachable, it's obviously mobile, so when we go to the farm I can take it with us.  I'm thinking of using it as a herb garden on the farm - close to the kitchen door.

I have also ordered some very special lemon tree cuttings from overseas.  But I'm not going to say anymore until I have some fruit photo's to share with you - sorry, that'll take two or three years.  But I'm very excited and can't wait for them to arrive.  If they arrive alive, and I manage to root them successfully, then I will be ordering more.  I can't see why I shouldn't be successful as I have managed to root two pomegranate cuttings in the past four weeks.

We are still unable to get away to the farm - perhaps later this month...  We  need to install the newly painted security gates, and, of course, my freecycle kitchen counters.  But we have a neighbour who is also building his house there and he tells us that our plants / trees are all doing well with our irrigation system, and we've had a bit of rain, so we don't have to worry about them.

Would be nice to get away to the peace and serenity again though...

Our "Owl" is watching us...

I mentioned in an earlier post that I initially bought the Owl electricity monitor for the farm, to monitor how much power we have used and thus enable us to work out how much power we have left in our future deep cycle batteries.  Admittedly, we will not be using a huge amount of power - mainly for our lights and our future TV (in the evenings). Our water (bathroom and kitchen) is heated by our 10lt Kexin gas heater and I have found a solar powered 12vlt freezer, which, once we purchase it, will freeze our food (chicken, preserves, hubby's beer which is just not cold enough and needs a quick chill, etc) as well as 5tl bottles of water, which will be replaced on a daily basis, in order to keep our large cooler box at fridge temperature. Through our frequent trips to the farm we know this system works!

But, until we have our wind turbine and deep cycle batteries, we are using the Owl at home.  It has been tremendous.  On a daily basis we can see, at any given time, how much power we are consuming, what it's costing us, and how much green house gas our electricity consumption is causing.  Each of us, in passing the machine, which is located on our kitchen counter, has said - "wow, we're using that much - what can we switch off?"

The Owl monitor showing (top) energy consumption (the dishwasher was on and (bottom) green house gas emissions

I have kept a spreadsheet of our electricity consumption for the past 3 years - below is a summary of the average electricity consumtion for the month of March in those years:

March 2007 36.414 kWh / day @ 30.05 cents / kWh
March 2008 29.464 kWh / day @ 32.21 cents / kWh
March 2009 22.042 kWh / day @ 47.38 cents / kWh
March 2010 20.862 kWh / day @ 64.44 cents / kWh

Scary to see the price increases - and we have a minimum of 24.8% increase ahead of us - effective in July.  But it has been very rewarding to see our consumption coming down.  It wasn't that difficult :


- I cleaned out and switched off our chest freezer "(out of date' food tends to collect at the bottom anyway and we have two fridges which both have freezers)
- the number of lights we have on in the evenings have been reduced and all our lights globes have been replaced with CFL's
- our geyser is turned down to 50oC (I still have to get a geyser blanket)
- we stopped leaving sundry equipment on standby
- the pool motor now only runs for an hour in the morning and another in the evening - and the pool is sparkling!


This is all good practice for our future farm living - being more aware of everything can only benefit us in the long term.


And it is educating our son, who still lives at home, about his own future place and the real costs of living.