Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2022 i go! Platteland

With accommodation for the night booked in Williston, we left Bloemfontein around lunchtime on 23 June. We were keen to try a different route for a change, and the GPS presented us with three options. Naturally, we did not choose the longest route via Kimberley. The sensible choice, seeing as we had 650 km to cover before dark, was the fastest route: the R48 to Luckhoff and Koffiefontein, with a turn-off onto the R705 to Jacobsdal, then joining the N12 to Hopetown. This turned out to be one of the most nerve-racking “road” trips we’ve ever experienced. The oncoming traffic, mostly trucks, seemed like deadly missiles aimed straight at us as they drove in our lane up until the last possible moment before impact before swerving into their lane… to…

It’s hard work, planting, pruning, fertilising, watering and weeding in your garden throughout the year. So, on National Garden Day, take time off to enjoy the fruits of your labour or to share the beauty of it with others. It doesn’t matter whether yours consists of a few potted geraniums on your balcony or it’s the neighbourhood’s prize-winning garden – celebrate it on 9 October. The organisers of this movement suggest enjoying an early-morning cup of rooibos tea and rusks in your garden, hosting a picnic where you exchange plants and cuttings with friends, or organising an evening get-together under a tree decorated with lights. Contact gardenday.co.za…

Hand-painted ceramic plates by Eve Art (28 cm in diameter) R395 each Lucky Fitsch lucky_fitsch 083 775 7344 Eve Art eveartstudio.co.za LMC Lemon, Chamomile and Lavender Rooibos and LMC Pure Rooibos (20 teabags each) R47 each Carmien Citrus Chai Rooibos Gin with 43% alcohol (500ml) R390 Lize Mouton Collection lizemoutoncollection.com Original Baard Blend 100% Arabica coffee beans (250g–1kg) R110–R350 Ceramic cups by Therle Chaston R290 each Baard&Co. baardandco.com baardandco Darling Sweet gift box with 10 x 30 g toffee bars in different flavours R169 Darling Sweet evitaseperron.com/shop Jug with floral motif R595 Lucky Fitsch lucky_fitsch 083 775 7344 Ancho metal watering can R390 Holt holt.co.za Bread Emporium Sourdough Bread Making Kit with a sourdough starter, a proving basket, a scoring tool, a dough scraper, a dough divider, a basket brush and a recipeR1…

Louise de Klerk Artist “We’ve lived in Vanderkloof for five years,” Louise says, referring to herself and her son, Guillaume. They moved here to the Northern Cape from Parys after an armed robbery prompted them to look for a safer place to live. “It’s very peaceful here. Visitors often wonder whether we have any dogs in town because you almost never hear dogs bark. We do, it’s just that there are so few strangers to bark at.” Louise is a fine artist who works primarily in oil. Her paintings have been exhibited at and sold through several art galleries in South Africa for the past 30 years. She also undertakes commissions and couriers her paintings to buyers. There aren’t many job opportunities in Vanderkloof, she says. So if you want…

Thirty years ago, Robert Redford directed a film adaptation of asemi autobiographical novel by author Norman Maclean about ariver, fly fishing and complicated family dynamics. Audiences around the world were captivated by the characters, mesmerised by the river’s everchanging moods and moved to tears by the narrator’s final words: “Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.” We humans are fascinated by oceans, rivers, lakes and other bodies of water. You might think it’s because our very distant ancestors emerged from the…

Menu – STARTER – Ash bread and sheep’s tails –or– Skinless sausage – MAIN DISH – Smoked brisket, served on angel buns – or/and – Lamb steaks with three sauces Braai salad Pearled wheat salad – DESERT – Pastel de nata Ash bread and sheep’s tails The humble sheep’s tail eaten with ash bread is food fit for a king. While filming a documentary about this Khoekhoen baking method, I watched wide-eyed as my hostess placed dough directly on sand on which a fire had been made, and then covered it with river sand and placed more coals on top. Half an hour later she dug out a pair of beautiful loaves and used a stone to scrape off the sand. The deep flavour was unique and the whole ritual…

I’d flirt with a blue gum any day… As I edged towards the till in a hurry and glanced at the magazine shelves out of habit, the words “Blue gums” caught my eye. And that brought me to a standstill because, you see, I have a love affair with trees, especially the red flowering gum (Corymbia ficifolia), but I shamelessly flirt with all kinds of trees. This was the first time I bought your magazine. As I read Dave Pepler’s article about eucalyptus trees, I could hear his calm voice in my mind. He highlighted all the features of these trees that I’ve always championed. And it gave me such satisfaction, because here someone was laying out the facts. Now, word might spread that blue gums are not in fact…

As you approach the Vanderkloof Dam from the north – from Bloemfontein via Koffiefontein and Luckhoff – the road forks about 1,6km before the dam wall. Keep right and you will cross the Orange River via a bridge that offers a view of the dam wall downstream. Bear left and you will travel over the highest dam wall in the country and cross the provincial border between the Free State and the Northern Cape. The Vanderkloof Dam overflowed from early summer last year until late autumn this year – the sight of such a large mass of water in this dry landscape catches you completely by surprise. It’s an oasis in the Upper Karoo landscape characterised by mountains that shield you from the outside world. There’s a large circle at…

Two years ago, nine small-scale flower farmers across the country found one other on Instagram and created a support network called Hort Couture Flower Collective. Who would have thought a flourishing new venture would sprout and bloom from the hardship of the hard lockdown? Flower farmers seem to agree that what we see on their polished social media feeds are a far cry from what goes on while they have their hands in the soil. “I’m only wearing a nice dress for you and the photographs,” Teneale Coetzee from Femme Pétale Flower Farm says. “A white dress isn’t practical. I usually look like I’ve been driven over about five times!” Flower farming isn’t all moonlight and roses. It takes hard work and patience – as well as loads of research…

When you’ve driven across the narrow Carinus Bridge spanning the Berg River, that’s when you know you’ve arrived in Velddrif. And you’ll soon understand why: the confusing stop-street-slashfaux-circle situation where nobody really knows what they’re supposed to do or which way to go aptly reflects the contrasting nature of this West Coast town. This is a place where you’ll still find kids participating in volkspele at a popular hotel on a Saturday afternoon, but it’s also where a local dentist has orange dreadlocks and looks like he’d be more at home at AfrikaBurn than with a dentist’s drill in his hand. And it is home to Rob and Maria Kirsten, who, at first glance, are the antithesis of what you’d expect a couple living in a small West Coast town…

Understanding the basics Moon phases As the moon’s gravitational pull causes tides to rise and fall, it also affects moisture in the soil. Therefore it is said that seeds will absorb more water during the full moon and the new moon, when more moisture is pulled to the surface. This causes seeds to swell, resulting in improved germination and better-established plants. The moon also impacts plant growth through geotropism, which is how plants grow in response to gravity. Roots grow downward in the direction of the gravitational pull, and stems grow in the opposite direction. • New moon to first quarter (waxing) – semi-fertile This is the ideal time to plant crops that produce their seeds outside the fruit. It is most suited to sowing or transplanting leafy annuals of…

You don’t easily forget the place where you first tasted condensed milk from the tin. I recently rode a fat bike around the Southern Cape town where I’d grown up, and I was pleasantly surprised by how lovely everything still was. The infrastructure is being well maintained. I’m proud of where I come from. Santie wrote in my matric autograph book: “May all your problems be small ones.” IT’S EASY TO GET TRIPPED UP when you retrace the steps of your youth. “Name, surname, animal, town” may thus be altered to protect some parties from embarrassment, unhappiness or feelings of hurt. Also to protect the man himself, who keeps looking over his shoulder as he rides his bike. Nostalgia and memory games are like a large jigsaw puzzle full of…

History of the soil We guess most of our readers are familiar with the brand Livingseeds. This impressive heirloom vegetable seed farm outdoes itself every season. The 2022–’23 seed catalogue, introduced in June, showcases the largest variety of seeds yet: more than 1200 unique varieties, of which more than 200 are brand-new. “We cultivate more than a thousand varieties on the farm,” says Sean Freeman, who owns and runs the business with his wife, Nicola. “We’re unique in the world because our closest seed competitor cultivates only about 400 varieties.” When Livingseeds opened the first online shop for heirloom seeds in South Africa in 2009, it offered about 34 varieties. This year, it sells 214 kinds of tomatoes alone. Sean singles out the bicolour and striped tomatoes, like the Berkeley…

Imagine going backpacking and eating flavourful, wholesome dishes such as mushroom barley risotto, Moroccan butternut tagine and Central African peanut stew instead of instant noodles or tuna out of a tin. Pack your choice of dehydrated single-portion meals from Mama Alles and enjoy these dishes in the middle of nowhere. They are healthful and full of flavour, not to mention lightweight – just the thing for your next outdoor adventure. Here’s more from Mama Alles founder Catherine Cartwright: How did Mama Alles come about? I started in late 2021 in my kitchen in Cape Town. I enjoy overnight hikes, but the thought of processed food such as instant noodles and long-life cheese spread on biscuits was just so off-putting. Before we went on a week-long hike in the Fish River…

Frikkievan Zyl, Minnie van Zyl and Marnus Bredenkamp Stoney Rapids Lodge “I’ve always said I couldn’t live in a place that’s flat; I need water and mountains,” says Marnus Bredenkamp. In 2016, he took over the Stoney Rapids Lodge on the Bredenkamp family farm after completing his training as a chef in the Western Cape. His aunt, Liza Bredenkamp, owns Sandgat, the caravan park next to the hunting lodge. Apart from the game in two hunting camps, they also farm with maize, lucerne and wheat. Marnus and Frikkie have been friends since they were young boys. Frikkie rents accommodation on the farm and his mother, Minnie, helps with the catering at the lodge. Stoney Rapids has a large variety of exotic game, including mountain sheep and lechwe, as well as…

Where does the Tankwa begin and end? This question elicits a wide variety of responses, depending on whom you ask. Sure, there are geographical boundaries on maps, as well as different plant biomes and geological features. But my personal feeling is that the Tankwa starts as soon as you pass the longest avenue of fig trees that I know of, and the sky and the plains open up in front of you as you drive through Karoopoort. That’s where the Tankwa starts. The gigantic basin is bordered in the west by the Cederberg and in the east by the Roggeveld Mountains. The Swartruggens hills lie to the south, and the Hantam Mountains to the north. The Tankwa Karoo is part of the Great Karoo, but its enclosure by these mountains…

WESTERN CAPE Elgin Valley | 7 September | Spring Gardening Workshop Fresh hacks for green fingers Have you ever walked through a blossoming apple orchard, the scent of honey heavy in the air? “Every season is special here,” says Catherine Boome, whose husband Selborne is the third generation of Boome men to farm with deciduous fruit on Cheverells Farm in the Elgin Valley. “In spring, everything awakens – the trees are in bloom and we bring in 60 beehives for pollination. “Here and there, the flowering plants in the garden also start to show some colour; it’s a welcome reward for winter’s hard gardening tasks. The slightly warmer weather also brings hope for a bountiful harvest in summer.” Catherine, who’s a registered dietician, has transformed a former packing shed on the…