Celebrating our Successes

Julee's lasting legacy .... a few surprise wooden signs
 hidden around the garden

I have a banner on my wall, given to me by a dear friend, which states: "There is more to life than increasing it's speed" a quote by Gandhi.  So true.  I often glance at it and am reminded to stop and smell the roses.  Sometimes I am too busy to even look at the banner!  

This morning, we awoke to a glorious sun-streaming new day, filled with hope and promise.  After my second cup of organic coffee (did you know that real organic coffee is very  beneficial in clearing out the pipes?), I took a stroll around the garden with my old digital camera.  Usually, so much to do, so little time.............. I race around at breakneck pace, noting everything that needs to be done.  Having just had 2 weeks help from Julee, our German helpxchange, we can afford to "smell the roses" as many tasks have been achieved..    So this morning, I was in no hurry.  After taking 106 photos, I uploaded them and marvelled at our "pre-spring" successes.  Spring time is a frenetically-paced time of planting and planning.    I won't upload all 106 photos............ just a few which tell the story of a garden under metamorphosis.

 Our hothouse, built by Marcus, our German Helpxchange, is chokka-full of succulent lettuces of every shape, form and colour.  Mike is the great salad maker - every night he concocts wonderful tasty salads from the garden - adding baby beetroot leaves, radishes, fresh herbs, feta cheese, olives, sun-dried marinated tomatoes (until we can grow our own) and grated carrot, beetroot and cucumber.  Avo slices are a constant addition on the side.

Rows of lettuces in the hothouse

Mizuna - a great feathery addition to salads

We have just had two curving pathways installed, after much deliberation of what material to use and whether or not we really needed semi-permanent pathways at all.  We settled on a re-moveable, re-usable pathway of concrete pavers, which can be moved and re-used if the whim of change takes hold.  One pathway leads to the washing line, while the other leads to our garden shed, two well-trodden destination points.  Initially we were going to have a concrete path laid, with mosaic inserts but realised that poured concrete is not a sustainable option - it has to be broken up and ends up in landfill if one wants to change it, and is impervious to rain.  The builder did a marvellous job and this will ultimately cut down on our workload of having to weed the pathway every few months.  I'm all for decreasing the speed of life!!  Viva la Gandhi!

Some home-created pavers add interest

Meandering pathway to our garden shed

 Yesterday our neighbour popped an ailing hedgehog, which he found in our driveway, in our garden.  Shayni, our daughter, carefully built him a sanctuary in an old cardboard box, which was then placed in the bath!  She googled "caring for sick hedgehogs" (when they are out an about during the day, they are often sick and disorientated).  She fed him copious amounts of snails and squealed with delight when he drank thirstily from the water bowl she gave him.  Late last night I popped him back in the garden, as I felt he needed to get out into the night.  Guess what I saw wandering around this morning, with no cares for the cat watching him curiously nearby?  Harry, the hedgehog!  So I picked him up and placed him back in his bath sanctuary, after taking his portrait below:

Harry exploring

Harry in self-defense mod

On Monday night we attended a Hare Krishna festival (oddly enough, held in the Catholic Church!).  I am not seeking spiritual enlightenment or a "religious" path at this moment in my life, but if I was, it would definitely be the Hare Krishna path!  They seem to have it sussed - being joyful, singing and dancing with abandonment, and then celebrating life with amazingly delicious vegetarian food!  So unlike the Catholic upbringing I remember.  Sitting still for excruciatingly long moments on hard wooden benches whilst someone droned on and on monotonously, intercepted only by brief episodes of  hymn singing which I never really understood.  I do however, remember fondly watching my grandmother singing with a trilly voice - afterwards I would try unsuccessfully to emulate that trilly song voice.  And I remember gazing at the wonderful stained glass windows - the south side windows showed really gruesome and dark pictures of the crucifiction of Christ but the north-facing windows had sunlight streaming through them and seemed to be much more joyful and light.  Or so it seemed in my childhood memories.  But I digress, this was not meant to be about religion but rather about food!  So, after being inspired, on Tuesday night, I brought out my Hare Krishna cook book and made rice and Gujurati Urad Dal - so easy to make and a simple but nutritious meal, served with one of Mike's wonderful green leafy salads.

Gujurati Urad Dal Recipe:
1 1/2 cups plain yoghurt
1 Tbspn brown sugar
7 cups water
1 cup urad dal (I use mung dal - add an extra 1/4 cup)
1/2 tspn tumeric
2 bayleaves
2 1/2 tspn salt
1 Tbs ghee
1 tspn black mustard seeds
2 dried chillies, crushed
1 tspn fennel seeds
1 tspn grated fresh ginger


Mix yoghurt and brown sugar with 1 cup water.  Set aside.  Clean,wash and drain the dal.  In heavy saucepan, add water and bring to the boil.  Add the dal, bring to boil and cook uncovered for 10 mins.  Remove any froth from surface as you sing with joy in your heart.  Add the tumeric, bay leaves and salt, stir once, cover the pot and cook for 20 minutes over medium-low heat.  Remove bay leaves and blend with stick blender till smooth.  Let simmer 
In smaller saucepan, heat ghee or sunflower oil in pan over medium heat and fry the black mustard seeds and when they pop, add chilli, fennel and grated ginger.  Stir-fry for a moment then pour into yoghurt mix, and add yoghurt mix to dal.  Stir to blend well.  Cook for 5 mins till heated through.  Serve with separate bowl of rice, and drizzle lemon juice to taste.

Easier, they don't get, but very very tasty little meal on a weekday night.


This week I also learned about organic permaculture/polyculture methods of increasing soil fertility and diversity, so yesterday, I spent some time clearing weeds from the orchard area, sowing wildflowers and marking out temporary pathways, which consist of cardboard to suppress weeds, topped with a mulch of leaves or sawdust which we are generously supplied with from a woodworking friend of ours.  Watch this space - can't wait for the wildflowers to grow - the garden comes alive with the buzz and flash of bees and butterflies flitting around, gathering nectar from this food supply.  Oh, and I was delighted this morning to note a little guest had moved into my Bug Motel.  A waspy guy.  Not the usual welcome guest, but I have had my eye on the motel for a while, and occupancy rate has been pretty non-existant for a while now!  I also noticed a bird nest-in-the-making, in my passionfruit vine - hooray, the signs of spring abound!

Orchard soft pathways in the making

Wasp in Room 103.

 So it is with a budding joy in my being that I look around and acknowledge all the blessings that a simple life can bring.  Simple domestic and gardening success ........ sweet, sweet bliss!