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. 

A Weekend in McGregor

What better place to go to for a chilled weekend away than McGregor, the small and picturesque village in the Riviersonderend Mountains? McGregor has recently gained publicity and fame for its beautifully preserved 19th century architecture and relaxed atmosphere among the vineyards (and olive groves). This is where family of ours live, and so we had a nice 'naweek kuier' at the van der Colffs.

In between activities like 'kuier', swimming and braaiing-on-the-cob (and braaiing and braaiing....thanks oom Corrie), we went 'housewatching' on bicycles, drank milkshakes, watched the (absolutely ancient) 1973 classic Jonathan Livingston Seagull movie (I think an older generation will appreciate this), and had a Valentines Day lunch at Rhebokskraal Olive Estate.

The fabulous house at Rhebokskraal. 

Typical McGregor houses. 

The Old Post Office. 

A 'stoep' (porch) is a very South African thing. 

Some people have vineyards in their backyards....

...others have cows. 

Milkshakes! 

Farewell to the Kammanassie and 2015!

It is not only the end of one of the most amazing and unexpected seasons ever in our lives, but also the end of 2015!! Tomorrow we are leaving St. Ancothesa farm and the stunning Kammanassie valley behind, with sadness but also peace of heart, knowing it is time to move on and that there is much still to come.

We love this place, and we love the people too - thanks and thoughts to all the neighbors; the Burgers, the Keysers, Hannes and his mom, the Esterhuizens, and the Minnies, de Jagers and Van Roon-Giffords in George as well as Apools and co.

Places in the valley...

Driving to Uniondale. 

Sunrise on our 'stoep'....

....and the view. 

The swimming spring dam. 

We took so many pictures when going on walks...

Uniondale's unique liquor store. 

Goodbye Kammanassie, and happy New Year!!

Friends and Explorations

We've had a lovely time recently as we had visitors - old friends from Potchefstroom stayed with us on the farm for a few days, and we showed them the Garden Route, with relaxed days on the farm in between.

The day after they arrived, we went to Victoria Bay - me and my friend got fried while swimming and were bonded by mutual redness the remainder of their stay. It was a proper hot beach day though, ice cream included. On the way back via Montagu Pass, we stopped for a relieving cold swim in the spring dam and a group photo. 

The Outeniqua Mountains. 

Cool off. 

A background doesn't get better. 

We showed them the little town of Uniondale, and visited people living on a very isolated farm near Haarlem. We also drove Prince Alfred Pass in the mist, and through the stunning Knysna Forest (we did this once before). 

Uniondale's church. 

Prince Alfred Pass in the mist.

Excellent marketing through curiosity. 

Pit stop. 

Symmetry.

We stopped at the 'Dal van Varings' (Valley of Ferns) and two big yellowwood trees. Cool, wet, misty and mysterious, the Peterse loved the forest.

Ferns. 

Potchefstroom and Back - An Exciting Two Weeks

As we are nearing the end of 2015, things we had to do in Potchefstroom has 'piled up' quite a lot since we've last been there (14 whole months ago), and so the inevitable trip has been made at the end of our school year. Departing November 21st, we stayed over at friends near Hertzogville in the Freestate. We visited the Owl House as said in the previous post, witnessing snow in Nieu-Bethesda and a giant dust storm in the drought-stricken Freestate on the same day.

Through the Big Karoo...

Into the desert-like Freestate. Instead of huge 'mielie lande' (cornfields), we were greeted by a desert...

...and sandstorms. 

The friends we visited have exotic game on their farm. Besides having a baby Springbok and hedgehog in their house, they have 'Gemsbok', white 'Blesbok', and golden wildebeest. They also have horses, which the boys enjoyed enormously. Video of Maarten's horse riding skills (and a crazy Springbok). 

In Potchefstroom, mom and dad had a lot of work to do and thus weren't seen too often. TG Krüger Real Estate Agency, a 70 year old family business run by my grandpa, dad and uncle was closed down, and it's been quite emotional. The business building was sold, and a lot of stuff stored there had to be driven away and sorted out.

We also had to (literally) fish out our 2016 schoolbooks from the storeroom in our own house, which was quite a mission since it was not planned to turn out this way...

Mom stood outside shouting instructions and titles.... 

....while we wriggled/climbed to where the bookshelves stood and searched for the books. 

We stayed at both of our grandparents, visited friends, helped 'ouma' Elna (who recently had a neck operation) in and around the house, spent a night in Pretoria, had family dinners, a family dentist appointment, got new swimsuits, delivered one of Nassie's kittens to his new owner, and a host of other little things. Mom also had a homeschool talk on home education in Pretoria.

A lovely breakfast with a work associate of my mom's to celebrate the finish of one of their projects - an Afrikaans learning program.  

Temporarily named Borris the Animal, this kitten was safely delivered to his new owner. 

We love you ouma and oupa Venter. 

On the way back, we put on our tourist hats in Bloemfontein. We drove to the top of Naval Hill, saw the Christiaan Rudolph De Wet statue at the Council Buildings, and visited the National Women's Memorial ('Vroue Monument') and Anglo-Boer War Museum.

View from Naval Hill. I could almost feel the ghosts of English and Boer soldiers there. 

Christiaan De Wet with the Raadsaal behind the bushes. 

The Women's Memorial, dedicated to the thousands of women, children and elderly people who died in British concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer War (1899 - 1902).