Early Planning for Summer [ liff/ ]
Time for me to get busy preparing for the coming Summer. Yes, I do know that it's still the middle of Winter.I have some contract (software) architecture & design work over the next few months which will see me spending quite a bit of time in Cape Town, starting in mid-August, so if I don't get off my duff and start preparing veggie beds now, I'm going to be hopelessly behind schedule by the time October comes around. The only real problem I face is a huge shortage of compost! There simply hasn't been the water for making compost from the stable-sweepings I usually use.
As it is I'm going to run a week or so late with seed-sowing, but it shouldn't do any real harm. As ever we'll be optimistic over rain this coming Summer, but I really must try and concentrate my efforts on fewer varieties of Chillis and Tomatoes, and on increasing the sheer volumes. Still, it's so great to be getting my hands back into the ground! I can't believe how much I've been missing the dirt under my nails.
Need I say that the veggie garden has been badly neglected, so it is a jungle of weeds. I wish the rotovator was working, then I'd make short work of clearing the beds. Perhaps we'll be able to spare enough money for a new rotovator motor if things go well. The old one bent something vital in the engine, and, given that the motor is a foreign make with no local agents, the cost of repair is up there in the same region as an entirely new motor. When we visited the Barley Breeding Institute, I noticed that they use the same make of rotovator as I have (BCS), and asked them where they source parts. The chap there laughed and said, "Oh no! We replace the motors as soon as we get the machine. The motors they come with are useless. Fine machines otherwise, though!" I can't help but agree.
We're also planning on acquiring a couple of Piggies. Brother-in-law has a mild-tempered boar who has been quite (cough) busy... and they receive a piglet from each litter he's responsible for. They've offered to let us have some, and I am very keen. I just don't know that keeping only two sows justifies the keeping of a boar of our own...
Busy times!
Rain and Snow [ liff/ ]
Just a short update, as there's not much to tell... Brilliant rain for the month of June. Hooray! We got a wonderful 71mm - fully 65% above the mean for June. This meant that there was sufficient water in the dam to warrant re-priming the pump. Before the rain the inlet pipe was high and dry.Now here we are only 1/3rd into July, and a rainfall of 45mm over the past couple of days means that we're already reaching the mean rainfall for July. It's plenty cold, so there's been quite heavy snow on the surrounding mountains. We first saw the snow while returning from a trip to Cape Town for the past week, and, although snow on the local mountains is not unusual for Winters, I doubt we have ever seen snow so low down the slopes! Of course it mostly melted in last-night's rains and today's follow-up sunny and warm weather, but it's still pretty early for snow around here. Small surprise for our many (many!) foreign visitors who thought of Africa as The Hot Continent!
Notwithstanding this great rain, we're still far from confident that the drought has broken. Optimistic, yes. Hopeful, always. But the fact remains that the rainfalls we're seeing still represent "abnormal" weather patterns: Winter is "usually" our dry season.
Oh, well. In hope and optimism I've planted some Swiss Chard, Carrots, Shallots and Salad Greens (Lettuce, Red Mustard and Rocket, semi-mixed-up.) All are up except the salad stuff which still needs a few more days.It's far too late for Cabbage tribe, Broad Beans or grains, so we've mostly missed out on the Winter growing season. Just holding thumbs for Spring. I guess that means I should get busy preparing Spring beds and making compost.
PS: Hard luck, Netherlands! I was rooting for you guys. Spain played brilliantly, though!
A Small Journey Eastwards [ liff/ ]
We're off to the Wilds of the Eastern Cape tomorrow for a few days sojourn in Grahamstown to attend Dale's graduation ceremony at Rhodes U. Quite an occasion, and, since (still) nothing's happening in the garden, a welcome diversion.Rhodes seems to make a much bigger fuss of graduation than my old uni: we've received invitations from both departments that awarded Dale his major subjects. Cheese and Wine with the Zoology department, and Breakfast with the Geography dept. We're especially looking forward to the Zoology do as we'll get a chance to meet some of the Profs and lecturers that Dale's dealing with this year - he's reading for his Honours degree in African Biodiversity this year.
And while we're talking academics, a big Thank You to the Zoology department for a scholarship awarded to Dale. Certainly takes some strain off our finances!
Tempocalyspe Now [ liff/ ]
Fires raging on all sides. Not close enough to worry us... yet... but still too close for comfort. A forest fire to the north that started in (I hear) Kerkbos, raging out of control, fires down the Phantom Pass - two helicopters with water buckets working there. Fires out at Harkerville. Redlands fire fortunately under control. Seven fires out of control in the broader South Cape region; extra firefighters flown in from other parts of the country.And it's still a heatwave. Thankfully the wind has dropped.
Still no signs of rain. The drought rages on. Everything is terribly dry. The veggie garden is essentially dead. Dams are empty. What little vegetation was left in the veggie garden got eaten by a Bushbuck a few days ago. Bastard.
The local Baboon troop has been causing havoc, too, ripping into rubbish bins and refuse bags, taking fruit off the trees (and breaking branches in the process.) With help from friends we have found out that the behaviour we're seeing form the younger males is typical and role driven. So the usual dingbat ideas of "Shoot the buggers" or trying to scare them with (illegal) fireworks simply won't work. Why do people always fall back on the same stupid ideas that they know don't work? We consider ourselves the intelligent species, yet we're consistently outmanoeuvered by the Baboons.
If the blog stops abruptly it will be because we have to evacuate. We're already thinking about what essential possessions we would take. Passports, birth certificates, the computers (or at least their hard-drives), family photos, my seed collection,... I really don't think it will get that far (though it has for some of our neighbours down the Rheenendal Road) but it's best to be prepared - mentally at least.
Not a very happy situation, but we soldier on. It's really hard to imagine yourself being self-sufficient in the face of this drought. Be pessimistic about the future for the human species, given that we wont get out of the fucking Hummers and Prados.
Too many topics for one short blogpost, I know... it all jumbles together...
Braamekraal Webstuff Changes [ liff/ ]
Wiki URLS Have ChangedI've changed the way that URLs are handled in the wiki that handles the farm website content so that they're more human-readable. This means that some of you (and it seems that I have quite a few regular readers - Thank You!) may have bookmarks in the old style. From my testing these should still work fine, but if they don't, please re-bookmark. Drop me a line if you're stuck...
Blog Changes Soon
In similar vein I am planning to replace the blog software I've been using forever. The old system is just too clunky and ugly to continue using, so I'll be replacing it as soon as I can make time to hack up some nice templates for the new software. The big trouble is all my old content... (Indeed, the poor access to old content is one of thr motivating factors for moving to newer, better software!)
Moving the content from the old system to the new will take a whole lot of time, and I can't seem to find an easy way to automate it. So I may end up losing old comments, and it may take quite some time to move the older posts. In any event, my planbe blog link is highly likely to change...
Advertising? What Do You Think?
I've resisted running ads on the farm website and blog up to now. It is not a commercial site, and I hate the idea of cheapening it. Then, too, I strongly hold the stance that The Whole World Is Not Your Billboard. Not everything is for advertising. Not everything is for sale. (I've been known to remove random real-estate boards from fences in prominent public eye where they're clearly just taking a chance.)
But! Times are (very) tough and money is tight. I'm not sure that the site drives enough traffic to earn even a little bit of money from running ads, but the idea of some small revenue (however minor) is sounding increasingly attractive.
So: I'm asking you - my regular readers and friends - what you think. Please contact me directly or leave a comment. Is it worth risking the integrity of the site? Or am I blowing the risk aspect up too large in my mind? How do you feel about ads on the Braamekraal site and planbe blog?
[ liff/ ]
Optimism in a cup. Crabbiness in a can. Caffeine is widely available around here.Anne Herbert
Waking up grumpy is partly waking up in caffeine withdrawal. Then have a cup and speed off.
We'resort of zooming Earth life away with too much activity. Glaciers melting, deserts growing are not exatly caffeine hangover events, but not exactly not.
A bias for action around here is sometimes so slanted it becomes a precipitous cliff.
Abbreviated Update [ liff/ ]
A miscellany. Life has had too much happening to have blogged it all in detail. I may get around to telling some of it in more detail, but, like all other Good Intentions, don't hold your breath.Last week was a trip down to Cape Town to chat with all the microbreweries between here and there, gathering some basic data for a business idea I have. Along the way was a most interesting visit to the SA Barley Breeding Institute! Many thanks to the kind folk there who were so generous with their time!
CT was a bunch of hectic running around sourcing various materials for the brewery, culminating in a get-together with the SouthYeasters Brew Club on Wednesday evening. My good friend Franz kindly gave me several new yeast strains, including a couple of Belgian abbey strains, so I'm looking forward to brewing some Belgian Ales in a little while.
Cut the trip a little short and returned home on Thursday, as the OB Dog was obviously very seriously ill. And I am very glad we did. We spent a last few hours with her on the vet's lawn last Friday. That evening I had to take the very sad decision to let her go... she was suffering from an inoperable liver tumour that was causing her all sort of grievous problems. We're still very sad about losing her... tears come to my eyes at the oddest moments. I've had many special dogs in my life, but none as special as OB. She taught me things about what it is to be a wolf/dog, and also things about what it is to be a human. The truest friend anyone could have had, we were extremely fortunate to know OB -- most people will never experience that privilege!
This week has been a bunch of gardening, still trying to get beds cleared, Tomatoes transplanted, squashes in,... I've left the bloody Fennels too long in the seedtray... endless litany of weeding and clearing.
Culled a couple of roosters on Wednesday morning, only to have someone leave the chicken-house door unsecured that evening, whereupon the Ratel (or maybe a Gennet or a Lynx) got in that night. Rudely awakened at about 10.30 to the squawking and screeching of dying chickens... the bastard took out 2 roosters and 3 hens, which amounts to half the flock. So I got to spend Thursday morning plucking and cleaning Still More Chickens. Too late did I read Hedgewizard's Really Good Idea... Would have saved me a bunch of work, I can tell you! The only consolation is that I was planning to cull those two roosters anyway.
Also started on making another batch of malt. 2kg of Barley soaking, half of which I'll make into ordinary Crystal Malt, the other half will get roasted much longer in an attempt to make something like a Special B Malt in preparation for those Belgian Ales. I'm thinking of brewing a special Belgian style beer to be named for OB. (She was a Belgian Shepherd.)
And the drought goes on. It's even too hot to brew!
RIP OB PhD [ liff/ ]
OB 1999-2009
Notes to self... [ liff/ ]
Dry again, this month. 11mm to date. May is really too late to be planting things, but then earlier would just have been a waste of time and effort, this year.Gave-up on the Brassicas that were sitting in trays -- they'd been there too long. Instead I direct-sowed some CopenhagenMarketCabbage in GardenBed1 and it is just starting to come-up. Carrots still have made no showing. RedMustard sowed last week in GardenBed8 for seed, along with EarlyPurpleKohlrabi. Must still sow more Brassicas.
Have been struggling to buy (any) grain in small quantities for covering a bed or two (and to gain experience with grains.) Might just have to go with the Buckwheat I've got.
Transplanted the (few) Winter-experiment Chillies that have come-up into tubes; I must move them somewhere warmer for Winter. From memory: JalapeñoPurple, AjiDulce, AjiAmarillo, Tabasco, Tschanad and a single (green) Jalapeño.
http://mikro2nd.net/farm/Wiki.jsp?page=WinterSeason09
Software updates [ liff/ ]
Finally updated the software driving the Farm website, as well as a couple of others I've been wanting to change or get established for some while.Not a simple software upgrade, I tell you! No, not for me something simple and easy. Sometimes I swear that I go out my way to make things difficult for myself! This lot involved a whole bunch of custom template development, custom CSS and custom configuration to make all the sites run off a single instance of JSPWiki so as to minimise the memory use on the server.
At least its done, now. Hopefuly this makes it easier to update content and add more... the motivating reason for the upgrade was a bug in the earlier version, and/or a bug in my templates for that version that made editing content a real pain in the arse.
All I need, now, is the inspiration to actually write! ;-)
Update 28/2/09: Now, of course, I have to do something about the crap-looking blog!
"First" SA CSA: Nonsense in the Blogosphere [ liff/ ]
sa's first community supported agriculture (CSA) project reports the urban sprout blog.What nonsense! I've known of several CSAs run in places ranging from Knysna to the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town since as far back as the mid-90's. Hell, I've run one! (Was very small scale, but still...)
Of course I would have noted this as a comment on the urban sprout blog, but their comment form is broken -- one of those "answer the simple math problem" anti-spam measures that always reports "wrong answer" (though I'm reasonably sure that 2+2 adds up to 4, even in South Africa.) Trying to report the fault through their "contact" form also fails to work... the contact form reports a "validation error", so no way to even contact them.
Perhaps they're afraid of comments? Might there be some unfavourable comments that call bullshit on lies about the "first CSA in SA" or similar? ;-)
The Big Questions [ liff/ ]
(This post has nothing whatever to do with self-sufficiency or gardening or seed-saving or alternative energy or chickens. Maybe.)A few years ago a friend was going through some tough times in her life. No money. No marketable skills. No luck. I asked her the question,
If I handed you 30-million Rand in cash right now, what would you do with your time, with your life, when you wake up tomorrow?The amount is irrelevant (as is her answer.) I believe that most of us have a Magic Amount of money, more than which we figure we'd be "untouchable". I call it your Fuck You Value. I define it as that amount beyond which -- no matter who makes you an offer -- no matter how financially rewarding that offer might be -- no matter what the circumstances -- we have this lump of cash stashed under the bed (or whatever) that gives us the freedom to say Fuck You, I'm doing X.
Now multiply that amount by 10.
Imagine you actually have that 10 * F amount of money in cold cash, under the bed (or in a bank if you believe that's safer ;-)
I ask you, as I ask myself, "Under such a circumstance, when you wake up tomorrow, what will you spend your time doing?"
Maybe its just another way to discover (if you haven't already) your Passion.
So just today I tripped across/was reminded of another of these Big Huge Hairy Questions:
If a trusted friend could arrange a meeting between you and anyone of your choosing, who would you choose? Not for entertainment or curiosity or bragging rights. Who would you choose to meet?I confess that I don't have any answer. I can't think of a soul so important that I have to meet them. Including dead or mythical people. More than answering the question, I find the fact that I can't think of anybody I so want to meet to be the most thought-provoking thing.
- plan be Categories
Zeitgeist
- Recent ramblings...
- Early Planning for Summer
- Rain and Snow
- A Small Journey Eastwards
- Tempocalyspe Now
- Braamekraal Webstuff Changes
- Abbreviated Update
- RIP OB PhD
- Notes to self...
- Software updates
- "First" SA CSA: Nonsense in the Blogosphere
- The Big Questions
- Listening to...
-
blogs i read regularly
