Easter lemons

The seasons are changing quickly. The temperature is dropping and the poplar trees are turning golden. We had some welcome rain this week – not as much as forecast, but at least it was something to replenish the soil. The air was fresh and distinctly autumnal on my drive into town this morning. A sure sign of Easter is the splash of colourful cosmos alongside the road. I’ve been getting the house ready for our visitors this weekend. We are going to have a very grown-up Easter with no kids in the house. Somehow Easter doesn’t feel the same without a Sunday morning egg hunt, but I’m sure we will be very happy reading, cooking, walking, chatting and just relaxing. If it’s chilly we might even light a fire and the lamb shanks are all ready for Sunday lunch. I am not making my own hot cross buns. Fully aware of my baking limitations I have decided not to subject my guests to the inevitable flop! Instead my mother has been sent a long shopping list of goodies to bring with for the weekend, including store-bought hot cross buns!

View towards the Vastrap valley from the road into town.

Cosmos starting to bloom.

Pretty in pink.

Poplar trees starting to turn.

I have stocked the fridge with some fresh lemon syrup for the weekend. Our garden has the most amazing lemon tree, which was probably planted by Quentin’s mother. Thankfully it produces abundantly throughout the year as I use lemons all the time in cooking and in drinks. I planted a lime tree last year, but it hasn’t produced any fruit yet. At least it survived last winter so hopefully it is here to stay. Lemon syrup is a very summery drink, served with ice, water and some fresh mint. I am sharing the recipe with you now as a tribute to the wonderful summer just past.

Lemon Cordial (makes about 2 liters)

1-1.5 liters of water

1-1.5 kg sugar (adjust to taste)

About 500ml of fresh lemon juice (about 6-10 lemons depending on size)

2 tablespoons of lemon rind

2 tablespoons citric acid (enhances the lemon flavour)

2 tablespoons tartric acid (helps to preserve)

2 x 1 liter glass bottles (the Consol shop has a fantastic collection of glass jars and bottles)

Dissolve the sugar in the water and bring to the boil. Add citric and tartric acid and dissolve completely (these are not essential ingredients). Turn off the heat and allow syrup to cool. Sterilise glass bottles in the oven at 100 degrees Celsius. Add the lemon juice and rind to the syrup and stir. Pour into glass bottles and store in the fridge. Dilute with still or sparking water for a refreshing drink. Add mint and ice for an extra summery touch!

Our gorgeous lemon tree.

Abundant harvest.

Preparing the lemons and rind.

The finished product ready for the fridge!

Wishing you all a very happy and blessed Easter!

A lifetime of love

In the early 1940s, just over seventy years ago, there was a beautiful young art student named Hannatjie Schabort. She left the farm where she grew up to explore the wider world and develop her talent as an artist. Not long after starting her studies, she befriended a group of first and second year medical students from Wits University. They were a spirited young lot, known as the “Sparrows”, who could often be heard serenading young girls in the early hours of the morning with their violins and guitars. Hannatjie was not taken in by their crooning, but she enjoy playing along and teasing them. One day she shouted from her window: “The next time you come I will throw you a red carnation. The one who catches it I will marry!” In due course she did exactly that, but having done it all in jest she never bothered to find out who caught it.

After graduating she went back to the farm for a gap year leaving behind a trail of disappointed suitors. Half way through 1947 she received a surprise letter from one of the “Sparrows”, Koos van der Wat, asking if he could visit her. Thus started a courtship during which he travelled to the farm every weekend to see her while he was studying for his final medical exams. He was charming, handsome and intelligent, graduating as the top gynaecology student in his year. It did not take long for Hannatjie to fall in love!

Koos and Hannatjie on their wedding day, 20 March 1948

One day when they were travelling back to Pretoria to register for his medical internship, he asked: “So when are we getting married?” She was confused by this indirect proposal, but nothing more came of it. When he did eventually propose and put a ring on her finger, he confessed that he was the one who caught the carnation. He had kept it in his bible for 6 years before proposing and didn’t tell her because he knew she would simply laugh him off! They were married on 20 March 1948.

This is the story of how my grandparents, Oupa Koos and Ouma Hannatjie, met and fell in love. Last week they celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary – a lifetime of love and dedication to each other. My grandmother always revels in telling the story of the carnation and how my grandfather, in his quiet and steadfast way, tricked her into keeping her promise! Written in the stars or not, their union has been a true inspiration to their three children, eleven grandchildren and three great grandchildren. We were extremely fortunate to celebrate another milestone with them last week and look forward to their 90th birthdays later this year. What an amazing example of happiness, faith, grace, style and health they have set for us through their lives.

To top off this momentous year, my grandmother’s career as an artist is coming full circle with a retrospective exhibition of her work from 9 May – 22 June 2013 at the SMAC Art Gallery in Stellenbosch. I can’t wait to be there at the opening! (click here for her past exhibits at the SMAC gallery)

It all started with a red carnation!

Oupa Koos in his signature bow tie with the ever-stylish Ouma Hannatjie 65 years later!

Home Sweet Home

I’m back! After almost a month away from the farm I arrived home in time to enjoy a lovely weekend with my love, the dogs and Poepsie cat. I received a very warm welcome from everyone so it’s nice to know that one is missed! Having not blogged about the farm in ages I am completely unable to decide what to show you first, so I’ve decided to just do everything… not that there is terribly much to show. It is very dry and hot. There have only been splatterings of rain since January, not nearly enough to counter the extreme heat. It’s as if winter has arrived prematurely with the veld already turning brown and brittle. We are praying that we’ll get some showers soon to replenish the dams and rejuvenate the veld before the growing season ends.

Sheep, cattle egrets, sacred ibis, brown grass and wilting sunflowers.

Sheep hanging out with cattle egret on the dam wall.

I spent the weekend reacquainting myself with the garden and getting organised in the kitchen. The garden is holding up okay, but we’ve had water-supply issues so Tsidiso has had a terrible time keeping things well watered. The borehole that supplies Vastrap is situated about 2 kilometers away from the house and the electricity supply to the pump is broken. It’s a very big and expensive job to replace the cable so in the meantime we’ve been relying on a diesel engine to pump water to the house. The diesel has to be refilled often and the pump sometimes does not start, which is not ideal. The old windmill has been newly renovated so life will be a lot easier once it’s up and running.

Quentin refilling the engine and exerting a lot of energy trying to get it started!

Renovated windmill.

On the fruit front, the quinces in our backyard are all gone so I’ll have to wait until next year to learn how to cook them. The pomegranates are just about ready though which is super exciting! The gooseberries are delicious and there are a few raspberries, but only enough to eat straight off the bushes. The farm horses, Sonny and Beauty are hanging out in the camp behind our house and they came to say hello when I went to inspect the trees. I treated them with carrots from the garden and some old apples. The chickens are breeding like crazy, but they are also digging up everything in the garden so I’m going to have to work on a strategy to cope with the population explosion and make better use of them. There are limits to the benefits of free range, especially since we don’t ever eat the chickens and their egg supply is very unreliable. I’m definitely doing something wrong, somebody please help!

Gooseberry harvest.

Ripening pomegranates.

Curious Sonny and Beauty.

Colourful Zinnias.

Flowering clematis in the courtyard on a dead-looking bush – a gift from my sister.

Clucking hen with eight chicks – look at that dead grass!

More chicks!

Keep Calm and be Patient

I’ve been everywhere but the farm over the past few weeks, hence my blogging silence. I have no idea what’s happening in the veggie garden, my roses and dahlias are probably in dire need of dead-heading and the dogs and Poepsie cat are feeling sorely neglected. Not to mention my poor husband who is alone at home. After last writing about the beautiful sunflowers (see Mellow Yellow), I spent a week in Joburg for work and then we spent a lovely weekend in the Drakensberg for Ashley’s half-term, which coincided with her birthday. Having taken hundreds of photos of the beautiful mountains there was no time to blog about it, because I dashed back to the farm for a day before flying to Cape Town. A day at home was all I needed to see my garden wilting in the hot and dry weather and my slightly worse-for-wear veggie garden invaded by crawling insects! I tasted a handful of ripe gooseberries and raspberries and packed some green mealies to take to Stellenbosch so that all the effort of planting them would not go to waste. The mealies were gratefully received by my father whose nostalgia for green mealies dates back to when he still lived up north in Gauteng where they are found in abundance, but strangely not in the Cape!

The majestic Simonsberg mountain in Stellenbosch.

By now I can hear you thinking, “This girl is permanently on holiday!” And you would be partially right, but there is more to the story than meets the eye. I am sitting here far from home with a purpose. Patiently waiting and trying to keep calm. Waiting to see if our long journey with fertility treatment is going anywhere. I have spent many hours wondering if I should share such a personal matter on my blog, but I decided it would be untruthful not to. It is such a defining feature of my life at the moment and many people already know what we are going through. After unsuccessful treatment in Johannesburg last year the doctor sent us home with no hope. It was a huge shock to discover that age had caught up with me prematurely. It has been an emotional rollercoaster of note, but Quentin has been my pillar of strength and family and friends have supported us every step of the way. I now find myself in Cape Town with a new doctor who has taken a refreshing problem-solving approach to my issues. We are in good hands and for the first time in a long while there is a small glimmer of hope. The journey is still far from over, but I am at peace. By hook or by crook the pitter-patter of little feet will be heard at Vastrap one day! I just need to take a big breath, keep calm and be patient. Miracles do happen.

Mountain walk with Beatrice and the dogs.

In the meantime, I am enjoying spending unexpected time with my dad and his family – Barbara, Beatrice and Johnny. I can totally understand why people would want to come to the Cape for medical treatment. Except for the terrible early morning traffic on the way to my scans, there are few things more soothing than a late-afternoon walk in the beautiful mountains above Stellenbosch with my sister and their team of dogs. I just feel bad cheating on Tumi, Paris, Patch and Coco with Chloe, Nina, Teeger and Impie. Poepsie cat also wouldn’t approve of my affection towards Sophie cat and Katty. Shhh, please don’t tell!!

Walking with Nina, Teeger and Chloe.