Geese on Welsh farm

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat...

During December 2009 everything about Christmas could be watched on T V particularly food preparations. One such program reminded me of the World War 2 Christmas I spent in Wales on a small farm belonging to a brother & sister, John & Elizabeth Ellis.

Throughout the year they would raise a flock of geese, usually about 10 t0 15 from the hatchings of a pair that were kept from year to year to provide goslings to fatten for Christmas.

Goose meat is more moist and darker than turkey meat and certainly more tasty. They do have quite a good covering of fat but turn wonderfully crispy and brown when roasted. Much fat is run off into the pan some of which is used to make delicious gravy with the juices from the meat. The rest of the fat is stored in earthernware jars and used to waterproof John's boots and keep the leather supple. Wales has quite a high rainfall.

The down from the geese was put into pillow cases and sterilized in an oven, probably the brick oven where all the bread and baked apples from the orchard were cooked and no doubt the goose on Christmas Day. This wonderful pure white down was made into pillows or a 'carthen' a Welsh name for an overblanket.Much like duvets and sleeping bags of today if you are lucky enough to own a down one. They are light and comfortable to sleep under but a little hot for our South African summer climate.

Other than geese, ham was another home grown and preserved product from the farmyard. A young pig was slaughtered and divided into portions,salted, laid on flagstones (slate) in the pantry turned frequently and eventually hung in the 'shanty' where the brick oven was to continue curing. When needed a portion was cooked and usually eaten cold.

Although it was war time and rationing quite severe I was lucky to be able to indulge in these everyday feasts that included home grown vegetables, freshly baked bread and butter together with fresh milk, cream, new laid eggs from free range hens. Today this this would be called luxry food. I was fortunate but perhaps spoilt and now fussy about food today. I remember the tastes of those war time Christmases!

Wales & flowers

It's nearly 2 months since I added to this blog spot.I have been trying so hard not to neglect my canvas work project which has as many as 25 motives on it with every one being different. They are really a sampler of the many pin cushions I have made over the years. I have 6 more to do but will have to think up other designs to finish the main part of the picture which will be about 30 X 30 inches square.After that I have to do a border & add a braid between each motive to complete the whole thing that should measure 40 X 40 inches.

I've been wanting to write a little about my love of mainly wild flowers that I used to gather when living in Wales during World War 2. I think I mentioned previously that I was evacuated to a farm with my friend but attended boarding school during school time & spent the holidays on the farm.

It was a mini farm of only 23 acres but it had everything. A valley with a shallow stream, ploughed fields, a large hill on one border,a real farm yard & all the usual animals one would find to be self- supporting.

In the valley along side the stream were the remains of a farm house built of granite blocks. In the spring under the silver birch trees were thousands of snowdrops just like the picture shown. What a sight,even today looking at this photo I become quite emotional & realise how lucky I have been to witness such a sight. I often wonder if they are still there. Snowdrops mostly flower in the very cold sometimes snowy weather.

Later on in the spring as the weather warms up primroses appear in the hedgerows sometimes peeping through the long grass that has protected them during the winter. Foxgloves, Hearts ease,(wild pansies) and even small orchids bloom in the fields not to mention the national flower of Wales the daffodil
Moving away from flowers I am about to show you an amazing set of bridges built one upon the other called Devil's Bridge. Wales is a most beautiful country.Less rugged than Scotland and fortunately mostly untouched by the second world war. Sirens were sounded occasionally to warn us of approaching German aircraft on their way to bomb Liverpool but as far as I remember Wales was saved from being bombed.

Devil's Bridge is a village in Wales. Its main feature is the bridge of the same name which spans the river Mynach. It consists of three bridges built above each other.

The most recently built bridge was an iron bridge in 1901 which was built over a stone bridge constructed in 1753 when the original bridge was thought to be unstable,using the original bridge built in in (1075 - 1200) to support the scaffolding. I have seen it.

The Legend of Devil's Bridge.

A poor woman,Megan, who only owned a cow was devastated when she found that her cow had somehow crossed the river & was grazing on the other side. She could not imagine how to get the cow back when a stranger dressed as a monk asked her what the problem was.

The 'monk' offered to help her& said he would build a bridge for the cow to return to its home but it will take some time but in return requested that in payment he would claim the first animal to cross the bridge. Megan accepted his offer but while waiting had a plan in mind!

When the bridge was built the 'monk' told her that the bridge was ready to be used.Megan asked him if it was strong enough to hold a loaf of bread! "yes" said the 'monk' & with that Megan threw the loaf of bread over the bridge & sent her dog over to fetch it!

The 'monk' was furious. He did not want a dog & suddenly disappeared into space. From the smell of brimstone he left behind Megan knew she had outwitted the the devil.

If you google Devil's Bridge Wales and click onto the Site of Canopus Archives (Rob) you'll see a wonderful picture of the depth of the gorge over which the bridges were built.

That's all for now

This is a new post!

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The Kruger National Park May 2009

I seem to have lost a posting. This should come before 'More of Kruger Park'.Christine, Charles & I flew to Nelspruit,hired a car and spent the first night at Pretorious Kop, three nights at Satara & one at Skukusa.

Every morning we got up at 5 am to be out of the gates that opened at 6 am. This beautiful sunrise was one of many. Being a little cloudy, the sun reflecting on them made a wonderful picture.

On our last day we were so lucky to see this pride of lions. These six youngsters were following their 2 mothers. They seem to have no fear of cars. They all looked healthy with full stomachs. They could have been at a kill.

In the time we were in the park we saw 22 lions altogether. Eleven were at a kill by the side of the road but had almost devoured everything, and then the vultures came!

We also witnessed three blackmane lions. Two in one spot & the other following these cubs.

I hope I haven't repeated myself. I'm still learning!

More of Kruger Park

All of these photos were taken by Charles Saunders,my son, who with Christine my daughter very kindly cared for me on this wonderful holiday. We plan to go again!

This big boy followed on after the cubs but was more interested in the roaring of another lion in the distance. I have never seen a close up of 'black mane' lion before.

These elephants were part of a fairly large herd of about 20.They were on their way to the river for their evening bath and drink. They were a mixture of all ages. A young bull, always cheeky, chased us along the road for a while, I suppose, until his mother told him to behave himself. The youngsters are disciplined by the matriarch.



Kruger Park is really beautiful in places especially by the rivers. This is a tranquil scene taken from a bridge over a river where hippos were lazing about enjoying the sun & plentiful water.

Comparing The Kruger National Park with Etosha in Namibia I would always choose KNP. There are more rivers and trees than Etosha because more rain falls.But one advantage of Etosha is being able to sit around a waterhole at night that is floodlit in some of the camps in the reserve to watch the many animals that come to drink in spite of the artificial light. It is quite an experience to sit there with many visitors without a word being spoken!

I love South Africa and its wild life.

Tapestry cover brick doorstops

These are 4 of my best doorstops embroidered on 14 count mono canvas with Paterna or Appleton wool.You can actually use any wool or a mixture of cottons,crotchet,perle and even as in the doorstop with the flower garden effect I used unspun white wool,silk ribbon or any old stuff that can be pulled through the canvas. The patterns are my own designs. The worst job is adding the finished canvas (which has to be exactly the same size) to the covered brick.It needs strong fingers.My husband Edward used to do it for me before he passed away.

Another way to make the doorstop is to only make an embroidered top & surround it with some strong material to match and cover the brick.

The Pondoki Worm Bin

A friend wanted to know what the Pondoki Worm Bin looks like.Here it is and I hope get a pic of my other carer/helper Gale on with the bin as well.

At Nelspruit airport May 09

There are many ways of alighting from an aircraft. This is one way. I will write more later

My 2 feral cats. Kitty (mum) & Kat (son)

ONLY FOR CAT LOVERS!

These cats were homeless after their 'owner' passed away.There was no one to feed them. I noticed that the refuse bags that had been put out for collection were being torn open. I gathered it was the 2 hungry feral cats. One day I noticed one of them standing on its hind legs drinking water out of my bird bath. I love cats & knew that these 2 cats had been 'doctored'. I decided to feed them. At first I asked for fish scraps from the restaurant kitchen but most of the time little care was taken. The scraps were mostly covered in sea food sauce. The cats did not enjoy that.

A big blow came when I was told that the cats were to be sent to the SPCA because 2 more tame cats were coming with their owner to live behind me & that, because it was my cats territory, they would fight the newcomers. The management ordered a trap from the SPCA that was to remain here for a week& that I was not to feed them.

As the days passed the cats sat and spied the chicken leg hanging in the cage but would not enter,so they started on the garbage bags again. At last the week was over.The trap was removed & that was two & a half years ago. Now they are fed on cat pellets once a day at 5pm when they arrive. They are very wild especially Kitty who has the most beautiful emerald eyes. Both are tabbies.Kat will now allow me to stroke him but only at the door although they both come quite a long way into the house when waiting for their evening meal which I have to give them just inside the door because the guinea fowls frighten them & gobble up the pellets.

Kitty is always the last to arrive & even begs for her food. Kat is given less than enough for the two of them.He's greedy. He loves his mum & often sits looking in her direction from where usually she comes & is so excited when she arrives when I give the extra food.They will not look at fresh water preferring to drink from the bird bath as does the new Manx cat who moved in with her owners behind me.(I think the chlorine dissipates after a few hours)

For two nights Kitty didn't come for her pellets. Kat was most distressed& was off his food spending much time waiting for her. Late on the third night Kitty arrived late after Kat had left. She was so chatty & even followed me into my office & sat staring at me & making cat noises like they do if they've caught a rat. I wish I understood cat language, I'm sure she was trying to tell me something. Perhaps she was missing Kat.

I don't know where they go all day or at night. They have a box with a bed in it but won't use it.

They are both sitting at the door tonight waiting for their food.

They have aklways been feral. In the photo Kitty is looking at Kat eating.

The street where I Live

Woodside is a retirement village where about 280 people reside. This is a picture of my road, the first phase to be opened 13 years ago when Edward & I came to live here.

There are still about 20 people is this phase. We have just celebrated our 13 years of residence. Each year we have a brunch party in the Club House dining room in May.I am asked to design the invitation cards. This is for 2009.

The 2 fgures at the top are for friendship. The 2 lower ones represent some of us

One of my carers

Christina not only cares for me but feeds my worms & also has 2 Pondokis herself that she keeps here. She works week on week off & takes home about 250 mls of vermitea to water her vegetable garden. She grew a large pumpkin in her little garden.It was stolen one night but she has a tomatoe plant at her back door that's been quite productive.Spinach seedlings are trying hard to grow It's a bit cold now but will be ready to grow in the spring.

My other carer Gale works when Christina is off. She loves the worms & even talks to them. I haven't a photo of her yet.

On my recent visit to the Kruger National Park with my 2 grown up children we had some wonderful sightings that I will post later. If I can get this Purple Breasted Roller pic on to my blog I'll be delighted as I was given a lesson on how to do it by one of my Grandsons. Things are rather inclined to go into one ear & out of the other at my age. I will give it a go !

Well i'm blowed its there!!

Ryan

This is my Great Great Nephew. Isn't he gorgeous?

Although we are approaching winter we have one of the Capes "SecretDays". Bright blue skies & hot sunshine.Those living in Gauteng always think its rains non stop in the Cape.It doesn't.

One of my worm bins became rather soggy, probably from peelings that had been frozen which always produce rather wet food when defrosted. Gale & I decided we had to do something about it. Because of the gorgeous weather we took it out side & lifted the whole lot out with the orange pocket that lined the bin above the strainers & placed it all on a plastic bag in the sun. We found the drainage holes partly blocked preventing the vermitea from draining.

Being in the sun the worms quickly bury themselves lower down in the heap. They hate sun. We added quite a lot of wood shavings from non-treated wood to absorb the damp castings above them & transferred this compost to another bucket for the time being. Some of these castings we inspected for worms & their eggs.There being none we diluted the compost in a bucket of water to throw on the garden as fertilizer.

A lot of worms had migrated onto the orange pocket lining.Gale picked them off & added them to the bucket where the majority of worms were. Not wanting to lose any eggs or the minute baby worms attached to the orange pocket she re-lined the bin with it & finished off the operation by placing the bucket of well mixed compost & worms back into the bin & placed a good covering of shredded newspaper on top.The result is a compost of pleasant friable soil.I will not give any food for a week as the event has been rather disturbing for the worms. They need to settle down & get back to work & do what they are supposed to do. That's laying eggs to increase the population.

This exercise is really for bins without several layers. I do not own that sort, partly because they are very expensive unless one can make ones own. As far as I am concerned I don't think worms mind what their homes are like as long as they get food & a little water.

I hope potential worm farmers will not be put off by the above procedure. If they are really keen they should not be. It's interesting. Plastic gloves can be worn & it's a wonderful way to ge rid of food waste that would have gone to the landfill. By the way these worms do not eat growing plants. Pumpking seeds & such like will sprout if put in the bin & should be removed before or once they have sprouted in the bin.

Happy worming

Beryl

Perhaps I should explain why I called my worm farm Pondoki Worms. I'm not sure of the correct spelling but some say 'pondoki' should have two K's others say only one but whatever it is the word sounds the same however it's spelt.

When I first came to South Africa my mother-in-law always refered to the small African huts dotted around the country-side as 'Pondoks'. I don't even know if it's an African word or Afrikaans. As my worms live in small 25ltr containers I thought that Pondoki Worms was an apt name.

Beryl

A bit more about myself.I am approaching the big 80 in a month. I wish I wasn't! My days are full & interesting.Since 1957 when I contracted polio and my 2 children Christine then 5 & her brother Charles almost 3, I have had to cope with a lot of disability. My right side was the worst affected unfortunately giving me almost no use of my right hand & a bad limp.

I was born in England,the middle child of three. My sister died when she was 3 and my brother when he was19. I lived mostly on the outskirts of London. That was until the outbreak of World War 2. My brother & I were sent to live with my grandmother in Sussex by the sea.That didn't last long as France became occupied by the Germans only a few miles across the sea from us which meant we had to move again. My brothers school was evacuated to Wales & as my parents wanted us to be near each other, I was billeted on a farm near to the school. That was such a lucky experience for me as I am so fond of animals. What could be better than farm life & of course an ample supply of farm food in spite of food rationing.

I learnt to milk the cows, herd & dip the sheep,feed the pigs & even sow the seed by hand for the coming season & many other farm tasks. Horse riding was my greatest love. There was a cart horse on the farm but being near to my brothers school I was allowed to ride their horses.

Of course I had to go to school! I started off in the village school that was only one room divided by a curtain. I was later sent to a convent about 10 miles away as a weekly boarder. I never liked school except for sport, gym & art.My father gave me opportunity to take craft lessons at the school on Saturday mornings. I loved those mornings doing pewter,poker and leather work.My art lessons were great too. I spent a lot of time drawing & painting. I was not taught how to sew as one would expect in a convent. We all had to knit for the armed forces making balaclavas, scarves & socks. The scarves were easy,and had to be a certain length.We cheated by pulling them to the right length when the nuns were not looking.

I started nursing back home just before the end of the war.I was just 16. I was put on night duty which didn't please my parents. I was too young they said. I then started to work on a local farm but did not have much to do with the animals. My father decided to buy a farm in Buckinghamshire where I could keep my horse. He wanted pigs & I had to look after them. There's a long story about that. The care of the pigs was short lived.At 17 and a half I took up nursing again, training for the next 3 years.The happiest years of my life.

At 22 I had met & married my South African husband who was employed by South African Airways. I arrived in S A with my six week old daughter during a wet November to a lot of red mud every where. Where was this beautiful country I had longed to come to?!

At nearly 28 & with the 2 children I contracted the dreaded polio bug. The children had had their vaccines but there was nothing for the grown- ups until 3 months later. Too late for me. After four months in hospital having very intensive physio I was allowed home. I simply had to do something with my hands but had to learn to be left handed first. Then I had to use them.My school years of arts & crafts were re- kindled. I took art lessons & tried canvas work mostly doing Florentine embroidery because of the long stitches. We had Labrador dogs, rabbits budgies, and Guinea pigs to satisfy my love of animals. I kept a beautiful garden helped by a one handed gardener.Together we tied up the tomato plants, each with our one hand.He was a wizard compost maker strapping his hand to the fork with a length of inner tubing.

Retirement and a move to Cape Town came about. My daughter was married and living there as was my son. We joined the local church and it was there that I met the dearest lady who taught me a great deal about canvas work. She was so kind and patient with me. Always encouraging and praising my feeble efforts until I do what I do today.Some examples on Skinnylaminx web site. Another kind teacher taught me even more of a modern type of canvas embroidery. She has written a book called The Liberated Canvas.

Another move to a lovely retirement complex with a bigish house and a large garage where my husband built model gliders. I bought a computer and nearly threw it out of the window! My 5 grand children came to the rescue and gave me lots of advice. Now I can't live without the darn thing! Sadly my husband Edward passed away nearly five years ago. I still miss him so much. We were able to fly overseas for free and had long holidays in South Africa motoring all over the country and beyond.He cared for me for 47 years of polio and 54 years of marriage.He was a wonderfully kind man.

As a conerned ecologist and recycler I bought a bucket of worms,fixed up a black box to put them into it and so started my worm farming escapade in the garage. They consume all of my fresh kitchen waste and other peoples too. Supply me with the best liquid fertilizer in the world and occasionally a bucket of their wonderful compost. I have five bins of my own. My one helper/carer Christina has two on the go.She works alternate weeks and fertilizes her veg garden in the township with the vermitea she takes home every week.The other helper/carer Gale has one bin,has no garden but just wanted to have her own farm. Gale even talks to the worms!
We share the profits from the sale of worms taking it in turns to have the sale. I keep one of my bins in a drawer in my offce to prove that there is no odour from the worms! I even have a crop of maggots in a buckt that will multiply in a few months. When I have more than enough I will feed the wild birds with them. My other animals are two speyed/neutered cats abandoned when their other carer died. They are wild,live outside but come for their pellets every evening and are a picture of health.

That's all from me for now.

Beryl

pondoki worms

I'm quite elderly & enjoy writing especially about my hobbies & most of all my compost worms.I have been growing them for more than a year now & keep most of them in small 25ltr converted black plasic containers. They are fed on kitchen vegetable & fruit waste that I store weekly in the fridge as I only feed them once a week. In return they produce vermitea that is a wonderful fertilizer when diluted. I eventually harvest after quite a few months, their castings that is an even beter fertilizer. If I have a response to this blog with questions asked I will gladly give more details. At the moment I have many worms for sale.