Three weeks at Kruistementvlei

We worked as volunteers on Kruistementvlei Farm on top of Piketberg Mountain (called Piket-Bo-Berg) for three weeks this March, and it was wonderful. We did all sorts of different jobs on the farm, from improving a hiking trail to picking almonds to website designing, and with our trusty project manager mom to keep it all together (and 'oom' Jeremy to shake up her plans now and then), our stay was satisfactory and fun. Thank you 'oom' Jeremy and 'tannie' Riette Bryant for your hospitality!

Our first task was to help with the Farmers Market held at Kruistementvlei Farm every month. With a live local band in the background, the setting is very relaxed and more about the 'kuier' than anything else. Mom had a stall for her books, I helped at tannie Riette's stall, and the boys very enthusiastically sold their own 'organic firelighters', made from 'slangbos' and kindling the previous day.

Happy girls are pretty girls.

The 'slangbos' contains a lot of oil, thus it makes a good fire starter. 

We improved a short hiking trail around their farm, designed a new map and made signposts for the different cottages and features around the farm.

Newly painted. 

Dad learned to rout (here he's making a sign for the 'Hog House', a quaint open plan cottage where we stayed most of the time).  

Varnishing the signboards. 

Some of the boards also had to be painted. 

I designed a new logo for the farm, which had to replace the current one on some boards. Here Maarten is putting the new logo up with the stapler gun.

We learned a lot from the Bryants, especially from oom Jeremy about soil and soil improvement. They not only walk their talk, but also involve visitors to the farm in the process. By using dry compost toilets, they make compost and return it to the soil instead of polluting their groundwater (which basically every other kind of toilet does, according to The Humanure Handbook, a very interesting read if you ever have time).

Words like 'permaculture', 'hugelkultur' and 'swales' feature here, and during our stay we even worked on artificial swales. We were made aware of movements like The Urban Farming Guys, and watched some very interesting documentaries such as The Man Who Stopped the Desert.

Oom Jeremy is also a big fan of mulching, and have multiple chippers (mulching machines) on the farm. The boys enjoyed it immensely.

Working on the swales. Swales are basically low tracts of land and are designed to manage water runoff, filter pollutants, and increase rainwater infiltration. We layered it with cardboard (to soak up water), and then filled it up with wood and organic material. 

First time mulching with the small chipper. 

The big chipper in action. It's literally chewing up the whole branch. 

Being Volunteers on St. Ancothesa

Our December was packed with happenings, hard work, hard play, and an amazing farm experience. We did everything from meat processing and garden designing to cleaning and welding (my dad did, at least). This is going to be a long post about the farm activities, and what kept us busy most of the month. I hope you enjoy it!

The daily farm routine for 'oom' Jan, the workers, and my dad were mostly separate from what me, mom and the boys did, simply because we can’t physically help with the work they do. We were kept busy with a list of other projects and chores (which me and mom loved because we could “tick off” the items and feel very satisfied.)

Every morning at 6am, the men’s team have a prep talk and discuss the day’s work. The sheep and cattle are moved to whatever camps they have to go to, they are fed, alfalfa bales are loaded (this was a regular job which “ate” clothing, as my dad’s jeans have massive holes, despite him trying to fix it), and everyone is busy till lunch break. The boys only went with 2 or 3 times and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Checking onions. 

Sheep.

Watch how 700 sheep are moved from camp to camp:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7APLYqTn3tMSWNZNmFxeDJEZmc/edit

Charles, the head supervisor ('voorman'), and the boys. Notice Maarten has his pajamas T-shirt on; he forgot to put proper clothes on.

Our First Week at St. Ancothesa

Last Saturday we left Stormsriver and drove on through Plettenberg Bay, Knysna and George to our next volunteering farm, St. Ancothesa. On the way, we drove over a few magnificent bridges including the highest bungee jumping bridge in the world, the Bloukrans river bridge. 

Bloukrans river bridge.

We stopped at Knysna and took pictures from a lookout point over the Two Heads.

Wilderness’ long white beach was briefly sighted....

On through George, we arrived at the farm and was warmly greeted by our hosts, Jan and Anel Burger, as well as their 3 year old son Jandiesel; a very nice and busy family. After introductions and a braai, we spent our first night in a house with lots of space ! The rest of the week, me, mom and the boys helped at the small local school with all sorts of administrative tasks as well as putting up posters and keeping the children busy. We also cleaned our house, worked in the garden, and sorted out our own school books.

The Kammanassie mountains. 

Farewell and Reflection; OverThere Farm

Friday was our last day at OverThere Farm. Our first volunteering farm and first month of this adventure, it's been an experience we won't forget quickly. Here follows some of the things we hadn't mentioned in previous posts.

Our accommodation had a lot of space and we appreciated that, despite the rats that had parties on the ceiling. Thankfully one of their cats (Smuglin) decided she likes us a lot and often hunted in the room. She also liked snoozing on our bed when we weren't there...

Our rat hunter.

Happenings

While at OverThere Farm, we had quite a lot of happenings going on, from visiting 'tannie' Pam's lovely tea garden to separating cream. Here are a few.

We went to art class once or twice with Mirte and Femke at Pam's, as well as visiting her tea garden as a family. Every time we went it rained though, so we sat on the veranda, not in the beautiful, flowering garden.

Dear old tannie Pam and her dog, Puff.

Now where did all the cookies go....

Projects

Usually after milking and teatime every morning, the project of the day is tackled. Here are a few projects we've done in our time here....

New Life

On OverThere Farm, there are quite a lot of animals who are looked after daily and provide food as well as amusement. Since our arrival, there's been a few new faces and we've experienced the wonder of seeing new life.

Solitaire gave birth to a calf, Uno, who at first got kicked when he tried to drink. But after getting the baby to a dry warm place and giving the mother time, she calmed down. Jerry milked the new mom and we bottle-fed Uno. After some time together, he managed to drink and is well and energetic now. 

Newborn calf.

Daily Chores

On a farm, there are certain things that have to be done every day. Most of us has one of these chores, in the morning and the afternoon.
Every morning the cows has to be fetched from the fields and milked. In the afternoons, the calves and cows are separated so that there is more milk the next day.

Herding.

OverThere Farm

Our host farm for October has been one really interesting experience so far.
OverThere Farm (as it is called) is a post-organic, self-sufficient farm, which means that most of what they eat is grown (or slaughtered...) here. We have been welcomed by the Graaf family; Jerry, Marcella, Mirte (15 yrs) and Femke (10 yrs) who are also homeschooled. Mirte also maintains a blog on their own farm's activities, have a look here: http://growingupafarmergirl.wordpress.com/.

We shared our first week with another volunteer from Germany, Marina Liebhart. We've been settling into the daily farm life routine, and have been busy with lots of chores and projects (which I will post about in the near future).

A view of the fields and house.

Plowing in preparation for potato planting.

The massive vegetable garden.

The path leading to the volunteers' sleeping quarters.

Byrne Valley

We've arrived at our destination for the month of October... Byrne Valley (near Richmond, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa). We had no idea the place even existed, but we've been pleasantly surprised by the environment. The hilly surroundings are green and colorful with azaleas (flowers) growing in the streets of the local village, and forest plantations creating a peaceful atmosphere. 
At first, it rained for 2 days and it was very cold (especially for spring in South Africa). Luckily the sun came out after that and because of the rain everything is fresh green. 

Driving into Byrne Valley.

Taking a walk with Marina, another volunteer from Germany.

The main road of Byrne Village. 

Beautiful spring flowers everywhere.

Volunteering

As we began our research in preparation for our year of travelling SA, my mom stumbled on something called "volunteering" or "Workaway".  All around the world there are hosts of places willing to accomodate volunteer workers in exchange for accommodation and food. We decided to create a profile on a specific site we found: http://www.workaway.info/

My mom sent out messages to a list of hosts we were interested in, and very soon we got replies!
There are a few opportunities available; we hope something works out!!