Oh, what a gem!

It's an unsolved mystery. These beauties popped up and I am not sure if it was from the prior failed seed planting episodes (which I thought was baby marrows), or if it was just pot luck out of the compost heap.

My love / hate relationship with the grub

First I couldn't stand these things. They killed my potplants while in the larvae stage and wiped out my blooming roses in the adult (beetle) stage. I had to determine a way for us to live together harmoniously. After my hens arrived, I realised the value of the grub. The girls love to eat them! The grubs also speed up the process in my compost heap. So there. Two benefits. I also don't mind the hawdie-daws visiting anymore because they also eat these buggers. The larvae (at its biggest stage) go to my chickens and I only leave the babies behind to continue their job of sorting out the compost heap until they too get big and juicy for the picking.

Flowering Cactus

I just had to share the sheer beauty of this! When we first moved in, the garden was overgrown and a wreck. I found this small dying cactus plant suffocating under a lavender bush. I replanted it in an open space (first pic taken 2010), that was about four years ago. Today it stands tall and a few weeks ago started to flower.

Strawberry popcorn

Yes, you heard me right, strawberry popcorn (popcorn the colour of strawberries). I ordered these seeds at my favourite supplier, Living Seeds Heirloom Seeds. Even though I didn't necessarily have the space to grow corn, I just had to try this out. One should not plant fewer than I think 40 or so plants in a block to ensure good pollination (which is required to produce full cobs). The space I had available could only accommodate 10 or 11 plants, but thanks to the good old cape doctor (the wind!), I had a fairly successful harvest! What a magic experience! To harvest these beautiful bright red babies and then to make organic heirloom popcorn as white as snow and soooo delicious out of them! A great healthy and fun idea for little kiddies (or big kiddies, if you are like me, a child at heart!)

Kumquats - Bottled sunshine

Two winters ago was the first time I laid my eyes on little kumquats. I found these miniature orange-like citrus fruits on a tree in McGregor. I picked a whole bag full and immediately when we got home started googling a kumquat marmalade recipe. Sadly, the recipe called for only 34 (or so) of these little babies and I had a bag containing hundreds! I gave the rest away hoping they will be put to good use. Here is one of the bottles of sunshine they produced after hours of labour in removing the tiny little seeds....oooh so worth the kumquat bonding session! Yum!

The story of my adopted battery farm hens

On 22 November 2013 I adopted two ex-batt hens (rescued from a local battery farm). I named the brown hen Hope and the white hen Love. Pic 1 is of the girls on the day they arrived (they could hardly stand, were as pale as a sheet and rather overwhelmed). Pic 2 is one month later. Pic 3 (excuse the dirty beaks!), almost in their prime (about 6 months later). They adjusted so quickly and soon were fit, flourishing and loving life. In return for rescuing them, we received eggs and wonderful compost enriching manure for the garden. To think that for the full duration of their stay at the battery farm, their feet had never touched the ground, they were never able to stretch their wings to bask in the glory of sunlight and they never experienced the delight of taking a dust bath or running around chasing each other after having found a delectable bite of something to eat in the garden. Hope unfortunately passed away on 30 Sept 2014. Love has now retired from laying and is living out her last days with us. Unfortunately with the torturous ordeal which was the first year of their lives, their bodies just aren't as strong as they should be, but at least they got to spend the last months of their lives truly living. .