Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2017 i go! Platteland

They say gardening is considerably cheaper than seeing a therapist, and besides a lighter mood, hopefully, you’ll be blessed with a harvest of sun-ripened tomatoes and fresh basil too. Gardening is also said to reduce the risk of stroke, heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, dementia and diabetes; to strengthen the immune system; and to help alleviate stress, anxiety and that every-day-is-a-Monday blues thanks to Mycobacterium vaccae, a harmless microbe found in soil that can trigger the release of serotonin in parts of the brain that control mood. The American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has gone as far as to declare that 30-45 minutes of gardening about three times a week gives you as good a workout as the one those red-in-the-face, sweaty, swearing body builders get who…

WESTERN CAPE South African Sheepdog Championship 29 September – 1 October Take along your own camping chair and watch the best sheep dogs in the country compete in the knockout rounds (Friday and Saturday) and the final (Sunday). Food and drink will be for sale. WHERE? Grootvlei farm, 3,5km from the N2 between Caledon and Riviersonderend TIME 08:30-17:00 COST R30 per person (R20 for children under 12) CONTACT ajfp@isales.co.za 083 392 1956 (Pippa Philip) GAUTENG Genealogy & Family Heritage Expo 2 September This 10th gathering of family and genealogical societies and researchers fittingly takes place during Heritage Month. WHERE? The Atrium, NG church, 269 Lancia Street, Lynnwood Ridge TIME 08:30-13:30 COST Free (books, food and drink for sale) CONTACT isabelgroesbeek.wix.com/expo Families Info SA 082 441 2325 NORTH WEST Mielie Makietie,…

Hand-woven wicker picnic basket (large) R850 with lining R200 Dial-a-Picnic picnicsouthafrica.co.za 082 789 5478 Buckets (10 litres) R42-R44 each Agrimark kaapagri.co.za Oudekloof Chardonnay 2015 R120 Oudekloof Wine Estate oudekloofwineestate.com 082 440 9459 Paper serviettes R30 per packet Checkers checkers.co.za 021 980 4000 (head office) Steak knives – set of six with storage block (not pictured) R86 Agrimark kaapagri.co.za Rogz pet igloo (41cm x 41cm x 30cm) folds out flat as a bed R555 Absolute Pets absolutepets.com 021 510 0897 Retro lunch boxes R120 each Big Blue bigblue.co.za Braeside sprout maker from R120 Bakgat Pottery bakgatpottery.co.za 028 212 1330 MetaRock Volcanic Rock Dust (2,5kg) is organic and contains 70+ minerals and trace elements that promote the development of leaves, fruit and flowers R119 Faithful to Nature faithful-to-nature.co.za Hand-painted oriental tiffin carrier…

1 Spiders of long ago The name Baardscheerdersbosch first pops up in 1660, in a report by five men who had been sent by Jan van Riebeeck to find out more about the Khoikhoi in this valley. The expedition apparently came across red romans (Solifugae), which are said to bite off human hair with which to build their nests. Rubbish, says local artist Niël Jonker. “Red romans like warm, dry, semidesert areas like where I grew up, in the Karoo, where I’ve seen many of them. In more than a decade of living here, I’ve never seen a red roman.” 2 A farm for a razor Another story goes that a local Khoikhoi chief was so impressed with a razor that he, rumour has it, exchanged a farm for one.…

DANIE VAN ROOYEN Farmer at Gonnakraal His father bought the farm Gonnakraal in 1961 and, since the Seventies, Danie has been farming here with Bonsmara cattle, sheep and vegetables (mostly potatoes, sweet potatoes, mielies, pumpkin, butternut, gem squash and cabbage). He is the last farmer left in the valley who farms for a living, he tells us, probably because the floods have washed away the fertile top soil – as well as all the properties demarcated along the river. “Since then, De Vlugt steadily became emptier and quieter… as you can see even today.” Danie farms organically. “But not because I want to be ‘grand’ or trendy… This is what I learnt growing up, and it’s the only way I know how. The only fertiliser we use in the fields…

1 FOOD Globe artichokes produce large green thistle-like flowers – a delicious, versatile treat with a unique, earthy, nutty flavour (if you harvest the buds before they open). They contain cynarin, a compound that stimulates the taste buds and has been found to make bland food more palatable. 2 HEALTH BENEFITS Artichokes are a great source of phytochemicals and fibre, and also contain vitamin C, folic acid, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, copper and manganese (in fact, when it comes to magnesium and potassium levels, no other vegetable beats them). They are packed with polyphenols and flavonoids, which are antioxidants that can reduce your risk of stroke. In addition, they may also help protect your heart by lowering cholesterol thanks to the compound cynarin, which increases the liver’s production of bile and…

Menu Mielie breakfast muffins Bean-and-sweet-potato falafel Spinach-and-feta pesto Roasted sweet-pepper pâté Green pie Lemon-and-granadilla slices Mielie breakfast muffins The scrambled egg in these muffins makes them a substantial vegetarian breakfast snack. They’re at their best warm or at room temperature; don’t keep them in the fridge. Makes 12 muffins Preparation time 20 minutes Baking time 15 minutes YOU NEED • 3 tablespoons (45ml) butter • 6 eggs • 1½ cups (375ml) mielie kernels • 2 tablespoons (30ml) honey • 1 cup (250ml) flour • ½ cup (125ml) coarse maize meal or polenta • ½ tablespoon (7,5ml) sugar • 1 teaspoon (5ml) salt • 2½ teaspoons (12,5ml) baking powder • ¼ teaspoon (1,25ml) bicarbonate of soda • a pinch of freshly ground black pepper • 2 teaspoons (10ml) chilli flakes •…

Today he is wearing orange and black: orange shirt, black trousers, a statement of a purple tie, pitch-black sunglasses. And snow-white trainers. He’s in a hurry and doesn’t look left or right. His wire car is securely on the road, though the tin wheels bounce all over the place. He navigates potholes and manoeuvres skilfully around pedestrians to cross the Tugela Bridge. Today Barbie, wearing a pink smile and a light-blue dress, sits in the car, her plastic legs open, stick-straight nylon hair blowing slightly in the wind. Behind her, Mmusi Maimane beams disarmingly from an election poster. His name is Sibusiso and he is everyone’s child. He enters the post office to check whether last week’s Lotto ticket was the winning one. Then he completes a new ticket and…

Winning letter “I’m staying right here” I offer informal English classes for foreigners here in the Bothaville district. Most of them are former child soldiers who are eager to fit in and adapt to our society, and who want to regain their dignity. In one of the classes is a farm guard from Tanzania who is able to express exceptional thoughts without formal grammar or sentence construction. He’s one of my favourite early-morning pleasures on the days when I’m able to give him a ride into town. Yesterday morning, with the rising sun just starting to rid the plains of frost, he noted: “This country, so many tsotsis. Every morning sun comes you just say thank God.” It’s a sentiment I – living on an isolated farm – share with…

MARIETJIE UYS Owner, Marietjie’s Pub & Grill Marietjie, a born and bred B’bos resident, says she was the last baby in the town who was delivered by a midwife. Her father, who spent his life either catching pilchards or anchovies on the trawlers or working on their farm, Remhoogte, became ill more than two decades ago and handed over the farm to her brothers who are still there, farming with dairy cows, sheep and broccoli. Marietjie had had no experience in the restaurant business when, after the death of her father in 2000, she took the reins at the Strandveld Pub in the bodorp for three years. Twelve years ago she bought a house on the main road and started to restore it with the goal of opening her own…

You hear them before you see them, their deep, guttural braying as iconic in the Karoo as the song of windmills turning on the wind. Donkeys. Hundreds of them. Only, here there are no carts hitched behind them, no whips whistling above their ears. There is no tarmac beneath their hooves, nor cars dodging their clip-clop gait. These donkeys are at the end of a long and painful road, their traumatic journey over. Here they’re guaranteed rest, and the love and protection of an extraordinary yet disparate group of humans fully committed to their care. Welcome to the Karoo Donkey Sanctuary, home to more than 300 donkeys, as well as horses, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, geese and ostriches, and the valiant people who care for them. Follow the sign…

Margaret Roberts was seven years old when she wrote down her first observations on herbs in a notebook. This curiosity evolved into an allconsuming passion and a breakthrough career as one of South Africa’s first truly organic farmers, whose best-selling books made herbs accessible to all. At the time of her death, shortly before her 80th birthday, she had been working on three more books, and her latest book, Indigenous Healing Plants, co-authored by her youngest daughter, Sandy, had just been published (read more on page 87 and enter for a chance to win a copy). Sandy says she caught this enthusiasm at a young age, and she worked with her mom for 32 years. She also helped to build the Herbal Centre at De Wildt in North West from…

BOOKS Commercialising Medicinal Plants: A Southern African Guide by Nicci Diederichs (Sun Press, 2006) • Herbal Teas for Healthy Living by Margaret Roberts (Struik Nature, 2008) • Jane’s Delicious Garden by Jane Griffiths (Sunbird SA, 1999) • Medicinal Plants of South Africa by Ben-Erik van Wyk, Bosch van Oudtshoorn and Nigel Gericke (Briza, 2009) • My Life and Work with Alfred Vogel by Jan de Vries (Mainstream Publishing, 2005) • Nature’s Pharmacopeia – A World of Medicinal Plants by Dan Choffnes (Columbia University Press, 2016) • Volksgeneeskuns in Suid-Afrika – ’n Uitgebreide Versameling Boererate compiled by the South African Academy for Arts and Sciences (Protea-boekhuis, Pretoria, 2000) • The Herbal Apothecary: 100 Medicinal Herbs and How to Use Them by JJ Pursell (Timber Press, 2015) WEBSITES numenfilm.com/blog/ sustainable-herbs plantzafrica.com sutherlandia.org/…

LOVELY FOR LATER Artichoke pesto Serve this versatile pesto as a dip, stir it through your favourite cooked pasta or try it with boiled baby potatoes for a new take on potato salad. The pesto freezes well. Makes 2 jars of 250ml each Preparation time 10 minutes Cooking time 30 minutes YOU NEED • 4 large garlic cloves, skins on • ½ cup (125ml) almond flakes • a handful of rocket leaves • juice and zest of 2 lemons • 1½ cups (375ml) cooked fresh,tinned or preserved artichoke hearts, drained • 1 cup (250ml) finely grated Parmesan • ½ cup (125ml) olive oil, plus extra to taste THIS IS HOW Heat the oven to 180ºC. Wrap the garlic in foil and roast it in the oven for about 20 minutes…

EASY SALAD Strawberry salad Serves 4-6 Preparation time 5 minutes YOU NEED • 1 punnet (400g) strawberries • 1 punnet mixed salad leaves • 1 red onion, sliced into half-rings • Ina Paarman’s Lemon & Black Pepper Seasoning • ½ cup (125ml) Ina Paarman’s Reduced Oil Balsamic Dressing THIS IS HOW It is important to rinse the strawberries before hulling them to prevent water from running into the hollows. Next, cut the strawberries into quarters. Line a salad platter with greens, and scatter over the onion half-rings and strawberries. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate if you’re preparing it for later. Season with Lemon & Black Pepper Seasoning and dress with Reduced Oil Balsamic Dressing just before serving. Add these Ina Paarman’s products to your shopping list For free recipes, visit…

JG Strijdom tunnel: the view We left Johannesburg this morning before five. To take Oom Daantjie’s latest purchase, a cheeky red jeep, to the farm. At the northern mouth of the JG Strijdom tunnel, the grownups gesture that we will stop for a break. The tyres crunch over the gravel; come to a stop. Suddenly, it’s so quiet that your ears ring. On the left, a line slopes down the mountainside, straight as an architect’s ruler, between the sugarbushes and cabbage trees of the Highveld, and the knob thorn and umbrella thorns, marulas and jackalberries of the Lowveld. On the right, red and ochre cliffs rise from the dense thickets of Suurberg cushion bush at the foot of the Drakensberg, the slopes covered in aloes all the way to the…

WESTERN CAPE Say Cheese Artisanal Cheese Fair 30 September & 1 October This fair, now in its second year, is a veritable playground for small-scale cheese makers and large-scale cheese lovers, bakers and cooks. One of the organisers, Kiki Ciman-Frauenknecht, is taking over the reins from her mother, renowned food expert Miki Ciman, who passed away earlier this year. Kiki describes the fair as “a cheese lover’s paradise” where you can taste and buy the most interesting and unusual cheeses in South Africa, and meet the passionate people who make them. The programme also features foodand- wine-pairing sessions and cheesemaking demonstrations. See you there! WHERE? The Italian Club, Donegal Street, Milnerton, Cape Town TIME 10:00-18:00 (Saturday), 10:00-16:00 (Sunday) COST R90 per person (R55 for pensioners and learners aged 12-18 years;…

The latest victim of a farm murder whom I knew personally was the selfless bachelor Ruben Gouws, 65-year-old headmaster of the tiny Ida High School in the remote north of the Eastern Cape. Here, in the Drakensberg foothills, he touched the lives of hundreds of children over the 40-odd years of his career, just down the road from where he’d lived almost his entire life on the family farm with his 88-year-old mother, Tant Hermien. Here, he lovingly raised show chickens, collected antique furniture, and every Sunday evening listened to the classical music programme on RSG with a glass of red wine. Ruben’s other great contribution to this isolated community was his small trading store, which provided a cheerful essential service. Known affectionately by locals as Tshutsu, he was someone…

Do, dawdle, buy Baardskeerdersbos Art Route Explore the Art Route from 10:00 to 17:00 on the weekend of 23-24 September. At least 10 local artists open their studios to the public on the Saturday and Sunday. Browse, buy art, enjoy a glass of wine and chat to the artists. Visit the website for a map and more information. Where? Several studios in and around the village Contact baardskeerdersbosartroute.co.za info@baarskeerdersbosartroute.co.za Smiley Festival On 4 November from 10:00 to late afternoon, the NG Church of B’bos offers a Smiley Festival with a limited number of sheep’s heads that need to be ordered in advance at R130 each (at Protea Flora in the Spar Centre in Gansbaai), a beer tent, boeremusiek by the Rummikub Boereorkes, the Sharimbas marimba band of the Academia School…

Did you know that almost 60% of the global population still relies on old-fashioned “traditional remedies” and medicinal plants to relieve or heal anything from everyday aches and pains to serious illnesses? This figure, released by the World Health Organization, along with the astounding growth of industry and the agricultural sector, are the chief reasons why the natural habitat of medicinal plants is under pressure worldwide, and why it is critically important that these plants are grown and used sustainably. A dedicated medicinal area in your garden is a great start, but unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately? – Mother Nature can’t always be dictated to when it comes to planting medicinal plants. Nevertheless, knowledge of the various factors that influence the strength of the active ingredients (as well as which…

It’s a spring tradition in France and Italy to cook the first artichokes of the season whole. Everyone around the table would pick off the leaves one by one, dip them in a lemonbutter sauce and scrape the flesh between their teeth until they reach the soft hearts. To cook artichokes whole, first remove the thorny tips of the outer leaves. Place the artichokes in a saucepan, cover with cold water and heat to boiling point. Then reduce the temperature and let the flower heads simmer for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the artichokes and turn them upside down to drain. SAUCES They taste delicious with a basic lemon-butter sauce, aïoli containing handfuls of grated Parmesan, Hollandaise sauce or vinaigrette. How to trim an artichoke 1 Use a serrated knife,…

Are you one of those people who like to say your home is so clean that you can eat off the floor? “Hopefully you also know that the chemicals are so concentrated in almost all commercial cleaning products that they are classified as ‘dangerous’… That means handling, using, storing and discarding such products leave toxic tracks wherever they go,” says Robyn Smith, owner of Faithful to Nature, South Africa’s largest green online store, where detergents are by far the most popular category – proving the point that most consumers who want to live in a more environmentally friendly way start with their detergents. “Isn’t it ironic that it’s this cupboard that’s the most dangerous place for kids in most homes?” asks Robyn. She says people forget the skin is the…