New Family Member

Keira

A new arrival: Keira the puppy arrived on Saturday. J and kids drove all the way to Jeffrey's Bay to fetch her (about 2.5 hours drive each way.)

She arrived here a very frightened and timid little thing, petrified of human contact, eyes constantly watching our hands in case we moved to strike her. I believe that she and her siblings have suffered a neglect that borders on abuse. Not that we knew this up front... For the first several hours here she refused to leave the car. If anybody tried to approach she growled very fiercely, baring her teeth in self-defence. Eventually J managed to lift her out of the car, but we clearly had a significantly unsocialised doggie on our hands.

Fortunately we understand dogs, and particularly the Belgian Shepherd breed, quite well. We simply gave her space and time, lots of gentleness, and a good number of dog-biscuits as a means to coax her closer to us until she would take them from our hands - scampering for safety as soon as she could.

Sunday morning started with her in much the same stressed-out state, though she was showing signs of improvement almost minute-by-minute. Kate, a local friend and dog breeder in her own right, came to visit late in the morning, and immediately Keira snapped back into growley-defensive mode. Once again it was a case of simply giving Keira space and time. Kate and J sat outside where the dog could see them, while I remained inside. Exhausted and emotionally spent, Keira fell asleep on the floor beside me. At that point in her frightened existence I represented the safest person to be around.

She slept for about an hour.  Upon awakening, a near-miraculous transformation had taken place. Something in her little puppy brain had decided that we were safe to be around, that we were not going to hit her, and that being touched and petted was actually quite nice! She walked up to both of us and - although a little hesitant at first - actually welcomed our attention, stroking and petting.

Today we have a much more relaxed and happy little dog. Her inquisitive and intelligent nature shines through, and I'm sure that she will settle in to being a well-behaved, hard-working and lovable member of the family.

Welcome, Keira!

Keira is a Celtic name meaning "Raven Haired" (or so I am told.)

That Good Ol' Inundation Time

That time of year. The Inundation -- not so much the water, though happily the dams and soil are looking much improved from the good rains we've had so far this month -- but the inundation of work in the garden. It's been keeping me pretty busy, I can tell you. I've managed to dig one new bed, bringing the total to 14, and with a little luck I may even get another one dug. Be aware that "digging a bed" for me means heavy composting and double-digging in a heavy clay soil to prepare a deep-bed, so it's a significant investment of energy. And then some people wonder when I am quite... pointed... about visitors to the veggie garden not treading on the beds, but sticking to the paths.  There's also been a lot of rehab work on paths and existing beds, after their 9-month neglect while I worked on a programming contract.

All the plants are terribly slow this year. Spring has been cold, windy and wet, and it's only really in the last week or two that most plants have shown real signs of waking-up. This year's Spring Disaster (isn't there always one?) has been seedling-mix. Usually I use my own compost for seed trays, but it tends to be a bit dense, retaining water a lot, and thus restricting oxygen to the plant roots and slowing plant development. So this year, feeling flush from the effects of the Sojourn In The Desert¹, I splashed out on "professional" seedling mix. What a lot of rubbish. It fails to hold water in any adequate way. It forms a lovely cement-like crust over the top, and just generally is worse than my own compost. Chillis planted into it have still failed to show-up. Chillis planted a month later in my own mix are looking much better. Sadly I risked a number of varieties of Chillis, Tomatoes and Lettuces where my seed-stocks were at their end, and I've now lost those lines. Grrrrrrr... That'll be the last time I buy that rubbish. Rather focus on finding ways to lighten-up my own seed mix.

On the bright side, both the Globe Artichokes and the Jerusalem Artichokes are doing really well, as are a bunch of relocated Tomato volunteers. Squashes and Cukes not so good -- too much cold for them -- but we'll keep trying. Beans (for drying) are doing well, though I still lack a really good Pinto bean, and am struggling to source a decent (large-size) Butter Bean. I like Beans.

I've become a lot more focussed on trying to get real staple crops going, so there's been much more work on the simple stuff -- Beans, Potatoes. Leafy crops are all very tasty, vitaminicious and the like, but what we monkeys really want are Carbohydrates. (Bananas are filling the gap, but there's a limit...) As soon as I get all the right factors in the right place at the right time, I'll be burning the rank grass off the top fields and putting them under grains and oilcrops. Fire is frightening stuff, though, no matter how powerful a tool for clearing land! Between the money-world "disasters"², the increasingly obvious climate changes, and the ever-pressing oil prices my thinking is that anybody who grows food is going to do OK over the next few years!

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[1] The Programming Contract. It may only have been 9 months, but there were times when it felt like 40 years...

[2] I find it difficult to take that whole catastrophe too seriously. I mean, really, it's all too "We deluded ourselves into believing that Some Crap was a real value and... It all turned out to be Crap!" No sympathy, me. Of course its had the inevitable effect³ on our Developing Nation Crap Currency, which means that the veggie-breeding book I want (Carol Deppe's book) was R260, but is now R330!

[3] Of course we shouldn't neglect the effect of the Idiot Who Would Be KingPresident and his fuckwit minions...⁴

[4] OK, OK! I know I made a promise to myself that this blog wouldn't cross into politics, but really... we're in for a Kakistocracy⁵ worse than the US'ians have suffered these last 8 years.

[5] The word "Kak" is a common South African term for "shit". It actually derives from the Greek word "kakistos", meaning "the worst".

Nothing Lasts

You would expect that boots would last longer than a paltry ten or so years, wouldn't you?



Gumboots were among the very first purchases made when we moved to Braamekraal almost eleven years ago, when we realised just how muddy this place can get during heavy rains.  They have served well, but disaster has struck:  One of the boots has developed a crack or split on the side, rendering them useless.  I don't see why this should have happened; the "rubber" is not particularly worn or perished, and the boots have not seen particularly hard use.


I guess I'll try and repair the split with the glue-gun.


Bah!  Ill-made rubbish!

Sproing

Spring has Sprung
Da grass has riz,
I wonder where
Da boidies iz?

I don't know if its official, or not, and I care less. My hayfever has kicked in, right on cue, so it must be Spring. That means time for the serious Work to begin in preparation for the coming Season.

Thankfully it looks like we're in for a few sunny days which should give the ground time to drain a little after all the (lovely!) rain we've been having. I managed to clear and compost one bed this afternoon, though the soil really is too wet to want working, but I can wait no longer, and, as its an established bed, already well composted, so draining better than Untouched Ground.

Much to my surprise, Chillis are starting to appear in their seed-trays, as are Tomatillos, and signs that we may see Eggplants within the next day or two. I've been very happy with the Chinese Cabbage - at least with the speed with which they grew - the Chickens have certainly enjoyed them, so I've planted more, along with Chicory, which I know the Chooks love. We should also be eating Cabbages (Cape Spitz) within the next ten days or so. Yumm!

I have a very positive feeling about the veggie garden this year...