A Glorious Mess

Yesterday,my neighbor across the road, phoned and asked me if he could buy back two of the geese he gave me last year.  It seems his dogs are not good guard dogs and he wanted a couple of noisy geese back in his yard...I said sure,take two, I am not selling you back the geese...!! We are always buying animals,boats and such, back and forth, but really, he could have the geese.. So, the nice gentleman brought me two big boxes of oranges from the farm where he works! SO cool. I got the jug out and started squeezing fresh orange juice..so much better than the sugared up stuff you buy in the shops!! It got quite messy,but I was very happy making the mess..... My girls are going to love the fresh juice!

Winter Scenes Around The Farm

Midwinter in all it's glorious bounty....Export quality oranges and naartjies(from the farms next door), papayas,granadellas etc. Baby chick lets,wild guinea fowl and duiker (deer) on the lawn,blossoming peaches and mango's starting to show blossoms. The hens are laying eggs like there is no tomorrow again,after being frightfully overwhelmed with eggs last year after Cules bought me ten point of lay pullets, I decided not to buy any this year as  my  yard hens( a lot of them off spring of last years Rhode Island Red hens!) are laying eggs a-plenty..!

 Cold inside the house and "too hot to wear a jersey outside" kinda days..This is the month when I can sow almost any type of vegetable seed on the farm to harvest early in October before the weather starts getting hot.

 We are planting:

 Sweet corn,different types of tomatoes,bell peppers,chillies,capsicums,cucumbers,lettuce, peas,carrots,Chinese cabbage,broccoli,spinach, green beans,onions and spring onions this week.

OH, and lets NOT forget about those sweet melons and the watermelons...!I am drying about a kilo of naartjie and orange peel for baking and cooking which should last me about a year. My dill are just kicking into gear and already I have also dried enough of that for a year!

Lots of these entertaining little ones around presently...

A glimpse of the wild guinea fowl in the distance...there are around 40 of them doing the rounds in the mornings now...

The four tame guinea fowl are all still surviving and hanging with The Man...

This sight STILL disturbs me deeply every time I see them.......

Peach tree blossoms...

An abandoned bird nest in a peach tree...

Winter "veldt" on the farm..

One of my favourite trees.....

Checking for bushpigs.....

"Hardekool" tree....

Very,very hard wood...

Getting the first corn seeds into the veggie garden.....

We severely trimmed this mango tree instead of cutting it down so I can smell those blossoms in September when I start to harvest my crop...

The End

The Bowhunter

Cules went away to Nelspruit for the whole week to do a course in tractor spares.....He also tried to wheelie his host's golf cart.....My husband is NOT the golfing kind and sought  his entertainment  elsewhere...enough said....He came back with a bow,target,arrows,different types of arrowheads, bow scopes,laser lights and the solemn promise that a bow specially custom made for me is on its way! Now Tarien also wants a bow,Jessica is away doing her game capturing thing but I assume she will want one too!!! I know my girls....Now, Tarien and I would like to look the part while target shooting and be very happy to be able to draw 40 pound strings....Cules  has started on 60 pounds and is working towards 80 pounds. Me, myself and Tarien...,would be sooo happy to just be able to draw that darned string ALL the way back...I have never touched a hunting bow before...I have been told we are a going a hunting on the farm tonight,in the dark, in the middle of winter...It is COLD at night now...

Oh no...NOT a good idea Connie!!

If you knew that today is the first time in 20 years he is shooting with a bow...,you would save your oranges and RUN!

Not too shabby for a try at 70 pounds...

Hmmm...,I like!!!

I like even more!!

He should have worn his denims and chaps though...

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Oh, and happy Fathers Day to all the Daddy's out there!!

xoxo

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Hallelujah,It's Raining Men!

At approximately 7 o clock this Saturday morning,my husband fired up his chainsaw...at approximately 7:03 am he fell out of the tree together with the huge branch he was trying to kill.., the husband almost wiped out my Love Palm...he fell straight into it...Then,it was time for morning coffee.... Should I read some kind of message into this whole escapade?? The sad news is, Cules is suffering from a bad case of hurt pride, the good news is,the Love Palm has survived!

Getting back at the "Branch-With-An-Attitude...."

Note the kind of dress you wear here in the middle of Winter at 7am!

I kind of liked how this pic turned out....

See,the Angels are watching over you Cules!!!

 On the to-do list today is:

a) Capturing another lot of wild boars for a customer
b) Plowing two hectares for Winter veggies
c) Keeping my husband safe from wild boar attacks and heavy machinery with an attitude...!

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Virtually Fail Safe Rustic Sourdough Bread!

I found the easiest sourdough bread recipe EVER on the Internet the other day, you can see the recipe and the video on how to make this sourdough bread here

Today my sourdough bread came out of the oven at eight o' clock this morning!

I feel like I can now move mountains....

Wrestle an elephant....

Kiss a catfish.....

Grab a lion by the tail....

What can I say.....

I am profoundly happy!!!

I got rather carried away with sprinkling the flour on top of the loaf,I make that mistake EVERY TIME as the dough is so wet and sloppy when you have to put it on the kitchen towel...!!.

I also dabbed a bit of "Tiger bread" paste on top before popping the loaf into the oven and it tasted heavenly..! 

Happy sourdough bread baking !!!

The End