Winter Wheat

When we visited Cape Town in September last year I was fascinated by the way they make the most of the land, growing wheat between the rows of vines, during the winter season, when the vines are dormant.

At the Farmer's Market we had a close up view of it, so I thought I'd share it with you.

In another month, you will hardly see the vineyard and wonder why the farmer left so much gap between the rows of wheat.

Today I visited the home of a lady in our church and they had two rows of vines growing right across the back garden - very enterprising!

Farmer's Market and cheese!

Farmer's Markets are held once a month in Durbanville at a local wine farm. We went to our first last Saturday.

Local produce is available for sale, most of it beautifully presented with options to sample a small amount before buying - a great way to try new foods. We bought some goat's cheese to try.

Breakfast was also available. I had an open mushroom and cheese omelete and Andy had a 'full English' (bacon, sausage mushrooms and poached egg) served on an open pitta bread. He asked for the cheese to be served separately, which the waitron thought was most odd, as she pointed out that the cheese melts through the other ingredients, holding it all together. Nevertheless she complied and Andy preferred it that way.

We notice that they serve cheese in recipes here, in ways that we are not used to. For example, sweet muffins are served with butter, jam and cheese. The muffins are wonderful but we never put the cheese on them. Having cheese for breakfast is something which Brits hardly ever do.

When we lived in Brazil we could never get used to having pão de queijo (cheese bread) for breakfast. We have a friend there who worked with Andy and brought him a cupful of mini cheese breads most days. Now, she says that she always thinks of us when she has her breakfast.

Her name is Jesus (pronounced Jesoos, with a soft j, emphasis on second syllable) and she sent us this photo last Christmas.

Bless you Jesus, we miss you too!

Project Progress report - Zambia

Now, Zambia

These photos were taken in July, so they are now a little further on, but the roof is not complete yet. The studios will be situated around a central open-plan office area. This is the front of the building...

...and the back, with a covered patio area.

Also on the site, behind the studios will be a residential area for studio staff, with 12 small apartments (three, two-storey blocks of four) and three bungalows.

The foundations to the third block.

Project Progress report - Cape Town

I thought it was about time that I posted a few photos of the building progress in both Cape Town and Zambia.

First, Cape Town - outside

The main entrance, facing the road, is on the first floor. The building is on a slope so the ground floor is is accessed from a car park to the right of the building. The ground floor is currently being used as the office area for staff. This will be refurbished later on, when the first floor offices are complete.

The ground in front of this corner was largely obscured by trees, until recently. These have been moved onto the land at the side to provide more light into the building and enable cabling to be moved underground - this has been a major landscaping task, constructing a retaining wall and paths next the building.

Andy is standing next to the retaining wall where a back-up generator, supplying electricity during power cuts, will be installed soon.

The trees and other plants, which have been moved from the front, have been replanted around this large plot, next to the building. This will be grassed over, but for now you can see where the wheelbarrows have been pushed along tracks between the plants. When we have heavy rain this land becomes more like a quagmire!

Our apartment is the four windows on the right, behind the white wall and there is a gate through to this piece of land exiting from a very small courtyard.

Eventually the land will be enclosed with a fence around, separating it from a large car park, which is in front of the apartments.

Cape Town - inside

This is the first floor, which will be the main open-plan office area, with the stairs in the centre facing the entrance. There were lots of small offices on this floor, so many of the walls have had to be removed and ceiling supports put in place. The floor is now being laid and most of the walls and windows are finished, giving a better idea of what it will look like.

All the studios and edit-suites will be on the second floor. They form a balcony around a central atrium with a peaked glass ceiling.

The three south-facing studios will have magnificent views of Table Mountain. Here the inner skin has just been enlarged to house a large picture window, giving magnificent views of the top of Table Mountain...

...and this will be the view.

I can also see this view from my lounge window - if I stick my head out of the window!

Zambian Wildlife

I posted some photos of game we saw in South Africa, so here are some from Zambia.

They were taken at Lilayi Lodge, a small game park (800 hectares) just outside Lusaka. The park has no big game and no predators, but we enjoyed seeing the following...

...giraffe, including a baby giraffe

...zebra (crossing!)

...lots of antelope; this is waterbuck

...wildebeast (apologies for the poor photo)

...warthogs

...and of course, lots of monkeys!

The bush was mostly grass which can be used for thatching. It eventually dries out and falls flat, making the animals more visible, until the rainy season (Nov - March) when the new growth appears turning everything green again.

We also saw some very yellow bamboo...

...and a magnificent boabab tree (upside down tree).

Monkey business!

Probably against our better judgement, we have been feeding the monkeys and watching their heirarchy in action!

The younger ones have far less fear of approaching the house, but as soon as they run away with pieces of banana (one in the mouth and one in a paw), they are chased mercilessly by older females.

Once the skins had been abandoned, the baby monkeys then came back and salvaged the skins, picking them clean.

We then hung half a banana on a string to see what happened...

She jumped up and grabbed some of the banana. This photo shows a piece of banana falling and I have some great video of one of them approaching, taking and running away. As I can't put the video on this site we thought we would send it to 'Funniest Animals on the Planet'!

The alpha male watched from a distance and we were convinced he orchestrated it, up to a point. However, suddenly they all disappeared back through the fence, and we heard the most awful squabbling taking place, even though there was still a banana hanging on the patio.

These cheeky monkeys were running over the thatch at Lilayi lodge, presumably doing untold damage. Oliver and Brigitte have a thatched roof on their home in Cape Town and commented that they are glad they don't live in an area with monkeys.

But vervet monkeys are prolific in urban areas in South Africa. These were on the roof of St Mary's School in Kloof, near Durban, with the following notice on the door.

I have to give credit for these two photos to my friend Roz (on the left), from Australia, whom I met at the CDFSA conference, recently - thanks Roz!.

Out of Africa

We took a ride around the farm recently. This photo has a classic African-landscape feel about it. I hope you agree.

The herd has a great variety of colour. This mottled cow was beautiful....

...as was this one...

The cows have given birth to 120 calves so far this year.

The calf in the centre on the ground had only just been born and was still wet...

...but then, while we were there, it stood up for the first time!

This magnificent Brahma bull is one of about a dozen on the farm - a ton of sheer muscle!

Behind him is the 'house on the hill' which a previous owner of the farm built to escape to from the farm house and no doubt gaze upon his land. It has one of the best views of the farm.

Beyond the farm, at the southern boundary, is a huge sugar plantation, which extends as far as the Kafuwe River, which is just visible from on a clear day from the house on the hill. We think the massive pipe must be bringing river water for irrigation.

Three months later you can see how the vegetation is drying out. Compare this photo , showing the stump of a palm tree, to a similar one taken on May 3rd, at the start of the dry season.