Planting Seeds + Wheelbarrow Rides

Hello there and brightest of blessings for the new week ahead my friends.

I do hope your weekend was relaxing and enjoyed by you and yours? What did you get up to?

Saturday was pretty glum and miserable with much needed rain. Soccer was cancelled due to this so we didn't need to venture out at all and since all the shopping (miraculously) was done on Friday I didn't have to worry about going out at all, the whole weekend or for the rest of this coming week either in fact. I have weeks were I just cant get all the shopping done for the week ahead in one day, so then I catch up with the rest on the Saturday. (or send Rob with a list to do it for me 😉 ).

Sunday, although still pretty icy, cleared and by mid morning we were able to venture outside again. In fact it even warmed for the rest of it. So much so that we got so involved with outside it almost felt that it was time for a new season of gardening. I found Rob and the younger two outside clearing what was left in the vegetable beds and prepping them for just that. I love when we get to this time of the year. It can still get pretty cold and we're usually hit with a freakish cold front that brings on in snow as close as dammit to our mountain ranges before we can even consider being in the clear for real Spring weather. But, in saying this, there are other ways we can start getting prepared. Like clearing and prepping the beds. AND then dreaming about what will be planted in them.

We have also added gardening to our homeschooling curriculum. Rob and I feel it is so very important that the kids take part in the growing of our food and of course in doing so learn to appreciate what ends up on our plates at the end of it all.

A few months back our grocery store was adding a couple of these sweet little pots with every purchase made at their store. The incentive was (of course) that depending on the amount spent that would determine how many little pots you were given. Clever 😉 right? But, for us, as gardeners it was completely the wrong time of the year for them to be planted. So we kept them to one side for just the right time. We planted all the veggies pot this weekend and have left the edible flowers for another time. Each little pot comes with instructions and it will be up to Garren to keep them going.

He really is so excited about his project. He knows that once the plants are established he will be given his own space in one of the beds to nurture them until harvest time.

Finally we ended off our day in the garden with the inevitable wheelbarrow rides.

This was Danika's first time and in true Danika style she summoned her brothers to be there alongside her through it all.

There is so much to plan for our garden for the months ahead.

i certainly cant wait.

How are your gardens coming along?

Love Angela ❤

Ylang Ylang + Rose Geranium - New Artisan Soap

This loaf bar is just freshly cut and the aromas wafting through the kitchen are amazing.

The colours in this photograph are a little out. More so because this moment is capture in the early evening, so the lighting isn't very good. As soon as they're cured I will photograph them a little better and then add them to our Shop.

I am loving the imperfections here. In the past it would have got me all in a spin. The way the charcoal line smudged down the bar from the slicer or that the one end is not even or flat enough. In the past I would have sliced and diced them into perfect squares shaving off all the best parts - the imperfections.

My Ylang Ylang + Rose Geranium Soap Bars are made with Olive, Coconut + Sunflower Oils as the base. There is an infusion of Bentonite Clay combined in the bar which will draw impurities from the skin (absolutely gorgeous for shaving) + a sprinkled line of Activated Charcoal which aids in pretty much the same way as the Bentonite Clay. One could say this would be a perfect face soap especially if it (being your face) has oily tendencies.

I dont know how I will possible hold out for the next 4 weeks of curing!

 It really does smell delicous in here.

🖤 love, Angela

First Week - Third Term

Happy Friday You Guys!

If you are anything like me you are watching the clock to celebrate (with a wine glass in hand) for making it through the first week back at school for the third term - right.?!

How did you fare?

We made it through without incident - it could be because we have decided to change schedules a little with homeschooling.

What is the point of not being able to do just this. It's part of the reason for it all.. isn't it? Being able to decide how and when it all should be learnt and done.? And all of this at their pace.

We have cut back drastically on the hours a day spent on book work. I was finding that we were spending way too much time with our noses in books and not enough hours spent outside under the Sun. Don't get me wrong, I love to have my nose buried deep in any book. But this is not for everyone. This was not working for us. G is not a child who can cope with not enough fresh air time. The whole other schedule was just too stressful for us both. So we have cut down and are focusing more on one subject at a time with math every morning.

AND its been wonderful.

Math in the morning with breakfast and coffee and then we get ourselves outside after 10am. There is still a chill in the air and the ground is still soaked from dew from the night before. But all this can be made right with the right sized Wellies and a hand knit jersey.

One subject is then read and spoken about while lunching alfresco on a blanket under the Pines. Anything needing to be written or answered in exercise books will be done after, while D has her afternoon nap.

And then after 3 when naps are done and the last of school work has been marked we're all outside for a couple more hours or until it is just too cold to stand it anymore.

Our Coop is D's obsession at the moment. She needs to be in there as soon as I set them free from the cottage in the morning. She beelines there as fast as her Wellie Boots can carry her. And of course he follows.

He is teaching her to clean up, check that their water and food is enough for the day and collect the eggs for lunch. Pine needles are raked to fill their nesting boxes too.

Of course, you know how well that goes with small humans. He does everything and she stands about the coop calling "Cheekins". Did you see that video on Instagram :) ?

I will add it here just in case you didn't ;)

Credit: @a n g e l a 🌙

Crafty Duck Animal Farm

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weekend before last we meandered our way up the mountain to The Crafty Duck Animal Farm.

It was Danika's first visit with the once popular Urban Farm along the Table Mountain Road. When Garren was a whole lot younger and a cuddlier toddler he would proclaim, each time we drove passed its sign, that this was "his place". It was an absolute treat to take him there to pet and help feed the farm animals. Fast forward a good couple of years later, with a sweet small girl in the picture, we find the need to find our way back there so she can share the same experience.
Sadly, I wish I could say that the experience was as fulfilling for her (and us) as it was for him back then. The past few years have not fared well on this once magickal playground. The low down by the new owner is that the previous menagerie gambled away all the profits and loans taken against the farm. How deeply sad. And it shows.

The new owners are now trying to rebuild this once safe haven for all the animals and reclaim its magick with its once regular patrons.

I do hope that they do.
It would be ever so lovely to walk the paths of the Crafty Duck Village and feel that love again.

Mid Year

I know, I know... it has been over a month since I posted and updated. I do apologise, Mid Year everything always seems to catch up with me before I know where I am.

Mid year exams are almost done for Joshua, he finishes off tomorrow. Garren will be done (hopefully) at the end of this month and then Rob will take over and study all the month of July for his Trade qualifications. It is always a quieter time of year while I try and support each of the them in anyway I can to get them through it all.

Come August I should be home free only to start it all again for year end.

Winter Solstice & the July School holidays are almost upon us. Where has the year gone? Before I blink again Tristan will be home for a quick visit to renew his visa. I am so looking forward to that.

I know there was huge concern over the Carte Blanche article regarding the young South Africa folk that are "Stuck in the East", I can assure, as soon as it was sent to me for my attention I had heard from Tristan and all is well. Thank the gods!

(You can read more about that HERE)

Come the end of the month and I will be adding new 100% natural handcrafted soaps to my Shoppe & Offerings. But, there are still a number of soaps available as well as essential oils and environmentally friendly toothbrushes. I will update you before the time. So, if you haven't signed up yet for Newsletters & Posts you really should HERE - I am giving all new subscribers a discount coupon which will be sent to you on subscription. For those who wish to join my WhatsApp group you can HERE - there is also a discount code which you can claim when you join my group. I do have a giveaway that will be heading your way in the next bit too.

So... sign up so you know when it is all happening :) !

love always xx

A Week of Nine's

We’ve had a week of 9s…

Danika hit her 9 month milestone and Garren his 9^th year trip around our not so-very-warm-but-bright Winter Sun. What a week indeed, I’d say I feel a little older (and I do) but not from my seeing in their milestones but rather the head cold that I have been nursing since the last Full Moon. I just can’t seem to shake it.

Were in the midst of both the younger two boys last week of their mid-year break. Then we’re back to getting them up early for their busy day at school. Winter break is always over much speedier than we hoped for and it’s always a long haul until the end of the year, although they do have a small break around September/October. Days are noticeably (well for me that is) a wee bit longer with sunrise dawning just a few minutes earlier daily. Roll on Imbolc! I’m weary of the dark - I think. I am being teased, every time I walk our sad winter hedgerow, by our sweet Magnolia Tree with her beautiful pearl of buds balancing regally on her branches and the soft open petals scattered on the ground at her feet.

The Spring Equinox is not that far off, I can feel it in my bones!

Nine Full Moons.

You are determined and stubborn and knowing.

Smiles are not parted with easily but when given they brighten your whole being.

You speak so intensely with your eyes.

Your eyes that pierce right through to our souls. Your eyes that know things, other things, not from this world things.

You have a love for food of all varieties but pasta and strawberries and whatever may be dished on Mama’s plate are preferred.

You already have a favourite pony toy and love to ride your Papi like a he is your own personal horse.

Your favourite lullaby is Twinkle Little Star. It soothes your immediately and if I gently stroke the side of our face you fall peacefully asleep.

Outside with nature and daily grounding is a must with no exception to a stop off at the coop to talk to the chooks.

As soon as we step outside Zeus is there by your side watching and waiting. I’m sure he’s counting the days until you there walking him and just him alone.

You have all your brothers wrapped around your small delicate finger. I know there is nothing that they would not do for you dear girl child.

Today we are celebrating your 9th month Earth side.

To think it wasn’t that long ago that you joined us on the 9 month and we cant believe that it has already been a whole 9 months you have been part of our earth bound lives here.

https://youtu.be/M7hNMSGSrCU

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7hNMSGSrCU]

The Moon After Yule.

Full Moon blessings dear Tribe.

This is not a time to fight, rather surrender to the will of Spirit, even if you are being asked to let go completely and tumble into the brink of Creation itself.....

Full Moon is Now in Capricorn until the 10th July 6.33 am

Be..

Ambitious * Focussed * Practical

Beginnings Of New.

There is dust from the belt sander still laying thick on my towering Hibiscus and there is a splattered fine dust of the same on my potted Strawberry plant - that bird that has tweeted us to school and back home again for the last few months has finally died and with it our little grey car too. Thank goodness the boys are on their mid-year break, how I have welcomed it, not only for them but for myself too. They’re sleeping in and catching up with themselves after a very busy second term of school. Which means now our little grey Tazzie car can recover and get the tender loving care it needs to get it back on the road again.

Our home is beginning to get a makeover, starting from the outside. Wooden window panes and doors have been sanded and are drying from the second or third coat of varnish lovingly slathered all over it. It’s been so wonderful watching the wood come to life again. There is still so much to be done though. The front veranda and pathway are also under construction after a root from the knobbly green trunk was lifting the paving and slithering its way under the house. That now needs to all be cemented and tiled back into place again. Tristan has been heading the man power behind these projects while Rob is at work and its looking amazing. For a man-child who isn’t hands on physically he sure knows how to get it all done professionally.

He may just have to start his own business in household repairs and small renovations. We are in Africa so qualifications don’t count here.

I have been fighting off something. I still haven’t figured out just what it is yet. Headaches, a twitching right eyelid and slightly low demeanour of late. I can’t put it down to anything much. Danika doesn’t sleep badly at all, she does get restless at times, but once nursed she settles again. I remember the days when the boys used to wake and want to play through the wee hours of the morning. Thank goodness she doesn’t do that. I don’t think I would be managing. But, in saying that, I do feel like there is something amiss at the moment that may need a good dosing of tissue salts, essential oils and mild hibernation to bring me back from. Could it be all about the Wolf full moon approaching on Sunday? Maybe once we’ve peaked I will get all balanced and aligned again. I look forward to the coming Equinox. We really haven’t had an unbearable Winter at all this year, but longer daylight hours would make for more hours in the day for me to get things done. With that being said I bet Rob will curse me by admitting that there hasn’t been that much freeze, cause he knows that come September the snow falls on the mountains and he will have to take us all to it. (he isn’t a winter, snow, dark and cold person at all).

I’d like to say that I have a few more knitted baby star gnomes to add to our shop but sadly I don’t. I just haven’t had a moment to get the needles together but I do plan to get a few more soaps listed this month. The last batch of Chamomile + Rose did so very well, I am please – thank you for your support everyone. I had no idea this batch that I had made for Danika would be so pretty and popular. One customer said she even uses to wash her hair with.

I can’t seem to make up my mind if I should do another batch of Hibiscus or Lavender.

What do you think? I do have dried flowers of both. I have enough for one more batch before I order in new supplies.

Again this year I only received a school and class photograph of our Garren. Joshua has claimed a no go again. Rob and I had a good ol’ chuckle when we received it and were told that this was his Justin Bieber look!