This is life...

As the year draws to an end and I stroll through my garden, it always amazes me the peace I find here. I'm grounded here, on my own tiny piece of African paradise...

The White Karees (rhus viminalis) and Black Karees (Rhus lancea) have now grown to about 15m, offering shade to the plants and home to all the lovely birds that have chosen this as their home. I feel honoured.

Every morning as I step outside to fill the bird feeders and give my special whistle, they sit watching me intently, hardly able to wait for me to finish. Then I spend a while sipping my coffee at the patio table watching as they flit from one table to the other, not being able to decide what to try first - the suet and fruit section or the mixed seeds. There's a lot of scrambling and busyness for a while, but it soon quietens down as they settle into the serious business of eating.

I finish my coffee with a sigh and head for my studio.

I just want to say thank you to all of you for stopping by, reading, commenting and sharing my experiences of the past year as I whirl through this journey called life. It means a lot to me.

May your new year also be filled with JOY, LOVE, SPARKLING LIGHT and INSPIRATION.

Camera : Kodak EasyShare C195. Flowers of the Acacia 'karroo' - Pic taken in my garden in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa.

Speckled Emperor Moth

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.
~ Richard Bach

A Speckled Emperor Moth, (Wattled Emperor Moth, Mopane worm) resting on a Restios plant in my garden. It is from the Saturniidae (Silk Moths) family. I actually found her inside the house and brought her out to safety (not sure how SAFE it is...?) and she seemed quite content to just rest a while before disappearing into the thickets.
Camera : Kodak EasyShare C195 Digital

This moth is widely distributed throughout southern, central and east Africa. Across most of its distribution, the species is bivoltine, with the first generation emerging from pupation in November to December and the second in February to March, only in more arid areas is it univoltine.

Adult moths lay a single cluster of 50 to 200 eggs around twigs or on the leaves of host plants over a two month period. After approximately ten days, the larvae emerge and then pass through five instars before pupation. Instars I to III of the caterpillars are strictly gregarious and will forage together in aggregations of 20 to 200 individuals. After moulting into instar IV, caterpillars disperse immediately to become solitary. The larval stage lasts approximately 6 weeks, during which time the caterpillars undergo a 4000 fold increase in body mass. At the end of the larval stage, the fifth instar caterpillars burrow into the soil, where they undergo a period of diapause. Eclosion occurs either one or six to seven months after pupation, depending on the generation. The non-feeding adult stage lasts only two to three days, during which time the only function of the imago is to find receptive mates and to oviposit.
Info from "Mopane.org"

The Starling and Christmas in Africa 2011

A bit of festive fun with one of my sketches - The CAPE GLOSSY STARLING (Lamprotornis nitens) having a wonderful festive season with his friend Tweetie in my garden! (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa).

Starling to Tweetie : Have you heard Tweetie? Maree has already bought all our presents! Suet, peanuts, minced meat, mealworms, wild birdseed, mixed birdseed, apples, bananas, paw paw and peanut butter!

• A Merry African Christmas and a stunning 2012 to all my blogging friends!

Pippin, the Bushbaby

W&N watercolour in my Moleskine Nature Journal

This is Pippin, whom I was lucky enough to have in my life for a few weeks after I rescued him from children who were stoning him, as a result of which he lost the use of his left eye. After nursing him back to health, he spent a couple of weeks living in my indoor garden in my lounge, often bounding onto my shoulder for a snack. When I was satisfied that he had fully recovered, I released him in the thickets on the banks of the Magalies River, which was in the vicinity where I had found him. I just hoped and prayed that he had learnt a lesson about people and would stay out of reach of the children ...

Galagos, also known as bushbabies, bush babies or nagapies (meaning "little night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small, nocturnal primates native to continental Africa and
are almost exclusively seen only at night.

I did this sketch from a photograph I took of him, as he NEVER sits still long enough to be able to sketch him!

Hedgehog Country

HOME FROM HOME

Hedgehogs like to live where their food - largely insects and soil animals - is abundant, and where there are plenty of broad-leaved trees, whose dead leaves they need for making their nests. This means that hedgehogs are widely found in forest and traditional urban farmland, and also in that most artificial of habitats, suburbia.

They are scarce in wetlands, conifer forests, moorlands and mountains, where there are few nest sites and often little food.

But is the hedgehog running out of space, as the bricks and concrete spread across our countryside?

Cemeteries are an ideal habitat for hedgehogs - plenty of nooks and crannies, plenty of food, little disturbance, and no deadly traffic.

Although it is better able to cope in built-up areas than many other animals, it needs parks, gardens, cemeteries and other open spaces in which to forage and nest. If these get built over or tidied up too much, hedgehogs will die out.
Info from "Everything You Want To Know about Hedgehogs - Dilys Breese"

My Acacia 'karroo'

My Acacia Karroo (Soetdoring - Vachellia karoo) after the Springs rains October 2009
- Camera : FujiFinepix 2800Zoom

My thorn trees (Acacia) are just coming into bloom and for those that suffer from hay-fever, this is really a bad time of the year, especially if we haven't had much rain. Spring started off very dry, and we have only had some decent rain late in November this year.

During Winter I'm able to prune the tree's low-hanging branches a bit and I just love keeping some of the branches with the HUGE thorns for display around the house - they become quite a conversation piece!

This is one of South Africa's most beautiful and useful trees. It is integrally part of our country's history having been used for everything from raft-making to sewing needles and fencing for the houses of the royal Zulu women. The thorns were even used by early naturalists to pin the insects they collected! It is very widespread throughout southern Africa and there are different forms in some places, which can be confusing. Acacia karroo may be found from the Western Cape through to Zambia and Angola. In tropical Africa it is replaced by Acacia seyal. The name Acacia is derived from Greek "akis" a point or barb. Karroo is one of the old spellings of karoo which cannot be corrected because of the laws governing botanical nomenclature (giving of names).

The sweet thorn makes a beautiful garden specimen. The bright yellow flowers look very striking against the dark green foliage. The rough, dark brown bark is also most attractive. The flowers are sweetly scented and are renowned for attracting insects which are essential to any bird garden. Birds also like to make nests in thorn trees as the thorns offer them some protection from predators. These thorns can grow up to 6" (15cm) long and if they are very thick, it's an indication of an abundance of water. Caterpillars of 10 species of butterflies are dependant on the tree for survival. These include, the club-tailed charaxes (Charaxes zoolina zoolina) and the topaz-spotted blue (Azanus jesous). In cold and dry areas like where I live, the tree is deciduous.

Regions where the Acacia Karroo can be found - I can be found approx. where the red dot is at the bottom of Southern Africa. (Click on pic to enlarge)

Vachellia karoo - Acacia 'karroo' flowers" Watercolour sketch - Maree©

Acacia karroo also known as the Sweet Thorn (Vachellia karoo), is a species of Acacia, and the tree is especially useful as forage and fodder for domestic and wild animals. Apparently, there is no risk of poisoning from it. Goats seem to like A. karoo better than cattle. The flowers appear in early summer in a mass of yellow pompons and make a very good source of forage for honey bees; honey from it has a pleasant taste.

An edible gum seeps from cracks in the tree's bark. The gum can be used to manufacture candy and it used to have economic importance as "Cape Gum". In dry areas, the tree's presence is a sign of water, both above and underground.

It is a tree of open woodland and wooded grassland. It grows to its greatest size when rainfall of 800-900mm is received but can grow and even thrive in very dry conditions such as the Karroo region of western South Africa. The requirement here is for deep soils that allow its roots to spread. Everywhere in its range, however, the tree is easily recognised by its distinctive long white paired thorns and coffee coloured bark, both of which are very attractive. In the tropics it shows little variation but at the southern end of its range it becomes more variable in appearance.

Common names in various languages include Karoo Thorn, Doringboom, Cape Gum, Cassie, Piquants Blancs, Cassie Piquants Blancs, Cockspur Thorn, Deo-Babool, Doorn Boom, Kaludai, Kikar, Mormati, Pahari Kikar, and Udai Vel

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The Hedgehog's Future

NEW HORIZONS

What will be the future for hedgehogs as the countryside changes at such an amazing rate? We can only guess, of course, but some changes can only be for the worse as far as hedgehogs are concerned.

Farmlands are not popular with hedgehogs. Insects are controlled by pesticides, so food is short. And there are few trees, meaning that there is little nesting material, and the open fields hold few nesting sites.

The conversion of pasture to arable land means that crops will be sprayed with chemicals, which destroy insects, slugs and worms, the main parts of the hedgehog's diet. And the grubbing-up of hedges and clearance of small patches of waste ground will destroy many good sites for hedgehog hibernation nests.

But as long as hedgehogs prosper in gardens and suburbs, the future isn't entirely bleak!
Info from "Everything You Want To Know about Hedgehogs - Dilys Breese"

Farewell to Mbuso

I've been following the progress of the Black Eagles and their chicks (nesting at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens in Roodepoort, Gauteng, South Africa) for many years now, and this is the latest news on their new chick, Mbuso.

Nov 2011
Mbuso, our juvenile Black Eagle chick, will soon be leaving the Garden to establish his own territory. He has been practicing to fly for a while now and hopefully all these efforts have perfected his skills that would allow him to hunt and fend for himself. Even if he still enjoys 'home' his parents will soon chase him out of their territory. We wish him every success and hope he will find a life partner and a suitable habitat to thrive in.

On Wednesday, 31 August, Mbuso the juvenile Verreaux’s eagle took his maiden flight from the nest site at the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden. The young eagle was very keen to fledge from the nest at 89 days, and this surely indicates that it is a male, as females usually take a week or so longer, at over 100 days.

Mbuso was very active on the nest at a very young age, with wing exercises starting early on in his second month.

The adult eagles did a sterling job again this year in finding prey and in raising a strong and healthy chick, who will spend another three months in the natal area learning the eagle ways from its parent birds.

The adults will still provide prey for him, and at the end of November the adult male will start to show aggression towards Mbuso, as it will then be time for him to leave the area and find his own home territory.
Info from my SANBI Newsletter (South African National Biodiversity Institute)

Although, Black Eagles pair for life, they will replace their companion. In the Roodekrans scenario, the female, Emoyeni replaced her mate 3 times after 2 of them disappeared... Read the full story of the Black Eagles at 'Black Eagle Project Roodekrans'

You can go HERE to watch the EagleCam. The Black Eagle Cam is situated in the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens in Roodepoort, Gauteng, South Africa.

Queen of my own Compost Heap

"I'm queen of my own compost heap & I'm getting used to the smell!"

Don’t throw away materials when you can use them to improve your lawn and garden! Start composting instead! I find it highly satisfying having a separate bin in the kitchen for egg shells, potato peels, tea bags and other food waste. This gets emptied on top of my compost heap every morning and three times a week all the leaf litter and grass cuttings from the garden is added. I bought a couple of tins of (live) earthworms from a fishing tackle shop and, besides adding them directly to my garden, have also put some into the compost heap and I've been surprised at how they have multiplied!

Compost is the end product of a complex feeding pattern involving hundreds of different organisms, including bacteria, fungi, worms, and insects. What remains after these organisms break down the organic materials is the rich, earthy substance your garden will love. Composting replicates nature’s natural system of breaking down materials on the forest floor. In every forest, grassland, jungle, and garden, plants die, fall to the ground, and decay. They are slowly dismantled by the small organisms living in the soil. Eventually these plant parts disappear into the brown crumbly forest floor. This humus keeps the soil light and fluffy. I therefore hardly ever clean up leaf litter from within my flower beds and though some might not like the look of such an "untidy" garden, I also enjoy watching the Thrushes scratching around in the leaves, enjoying the insects and snails hiding underneath.

This work is deeply simple. All you need is a shady piece of ground large enough for a compost pile that is at least 1×1x2m. First you fork open the soil beneath your proposed pile and arrange a base made of old plant stalks, stems, and soft woody debris. Next you mound on top of this base a deep layer of green, nitrogen-rich materials like garden weeds and grass clippings, mixed with animal manure and kitchen scraps.

The following layer is dry, carbonaceous material like straw and old leaves, or wood chips and sawdust, all well watered so that your pile is nice and moist. Continue to layer your compost green material and then let dry until you have a tall, noble pile, as high as you can reach.

Every compost pile is alive, teeming with billions of invisible micro-organisms digesting your autumn mountain of garbage. In a few short days a healthy compost pile begins to steam with metabolic life as clouds of heat-loving bacteria break down raw protein and complex carbohydrates into amino acids and simple sugars, generating temperatures as high as 72ºC.

This breakdown stage is followed a few weeks later by a build-up stage that lasts for more than a month as complex fungal networks absorb the pile’s free gases into their web work of mycelia, reducing leaching of nutrients, disarming pollutants and disease pathogens, and physically binding soil and compost together, creating stable aggregates that increase water infiltration and retention.

In the last stage of decomposition a few months later—or sooner, if you turn your pile—your mound will be alive with sweet, woodsy-smelling compost laced with up to one hundred industrious compost insects per square foot, intertwined with writhing red compost worms testifying by their presence that decomposition is complete.

Compost Materials
Almost any organic material is suitable for a compost pile. The pile needs a proper ratio of carbon-rich materials, or “browns,” and nitrogen-rich materials, or “greens.” Among the brown materials are dried leaves, straw, and wood chips. Nitrogen materials are fresh or green, such as grass clippings and kitchen scraps.

Food
The 50/50 Rule: A perfect mixture of material consists of brown (carbon-based material) and green (nitrogen-based) material by weight.

Air
To Turn or Not to Turn: The organisms that live inside your compost bin need air to survive. Mix or turn the pile three to five times per season using a pitchfork, garden hoe or shovel. Proper aeration can make a big difference. You will know if your bin is not getting enough oxygen if the pile smells of ammonia.

Water
Moist, Not Damp: The organisms need water to survive, but not too much or they will drown. The ideal moisture level of your compost pile should be like that of a wrung out sponge.

Surface Area
Small is Best: Cut up or shred organic waste materials before placing them into the compost bin. This increases the surface area and speeds up decomposition. You can also store your kitchen scraps in your freezer to speed up decomposition, as your materials break down at the cell level when frozen.

When it comes to WHAT NOT TO COMPOST, the best is to use your common sense. Obvious items like chemically-treated wood products, diseased plants, human and pet waste and MEAT, BONES, AND FATTY FOOD WASTES are big no-no's, as is plastic in any form, tins and glass. Keep it natural and you can't go wrong.

And remember: "A good compost pile should get hot enough to poach an egg, but not so hot it would cook a lobster!"


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Rhus lancea (Swart Karee)

People in suburbia see trees differently than foresters do. They cherish every one. It is useless to speak of the probability that a certain tree will die when the tree is in someone's backyard .... You are talking about a personal asset, a friend,
a monument, not about board feet of lumber.
- Roger Swain

21st November 2011 - Finally we've had some GOOD rain! (30mm in a couple of hours) and this will really boost my lawn, which has still been yellow since the winter. The trees are also all fresh, green and sparkling clean, as is evident from the sketch of a few leaves of one of my Karees (Rhus lancea) indigenous to Southern Africa. It's a bit of an untidy tree, with a weird growing habit of the branches backing up on one another and having most of its leaves right at the tip of the branches. It has a graceful, weeping form and dark, fissured bark that contrasts well with its long, thinnish, hairless, dark-green, trifoliate leaves with smooth margins.

The small, inconspicuous flowers are presented as much-branched sprays which are greenish-yellow in colour and are produced from June until September. The male and female flowers occur on separate trees (luckily I have quite a few of them in my garden, so some must be male and some female). The fruit are small (up to 5mm in diameter), round, slightly flattened and covered with a thin fleshy layer which is glossy and yellowish to brown when ripe. The fruits are produced from September until January.

The fruit is eaten by birds such as Bulbuls, Guinea fowl and Francolins. Game animals such as Kudu, Roan antelope and Sable browse the leaves of the tree which can serve as an important food source for them in times of drought. The sweetly scented flowers attract bees and other insects to them. Now re-named Searsia lancea, it is useful in providing natural soil stabilisation and increasing infiltration of rainwater into the soil thus reducing erosion and raising the ground water table.

The leaves of the Karee provide valuable fodder for livestock but can taint the flavour of milk if eaten in large quantities by dairy cattle as a result of the resin contained in them. The tree is also an important source of shade for livestock in certain regions. The bark, twigs and leaves provide tannin. In the past the hard wood was used for fence posts, tool handles and parts of wagons. Bowls, tobacco pipes and bows were also made from the wood. The fruits are edible and were once used as an important ingredient of mead or honey beer. The word karee is said to be the original Khoi word for mead.

Camera : Kodak EasyShare C195 - pic taken in my garden (Tarlton, South Africa).

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Grass Aloes

In the hope of reaching the moon
men fail to see the flowers
that blossom at their feet.
- Albert Schweitzer

Watercolour sketch in my 'Nature' Journal

I found a large clump of Grass Aloes not far from home on the road to Magaliesburg (South Africa), flowering profusely after all the veld fires we have had this winter, spread out over the charred landscape, providing bursts of red colour.

Grass Aloes are an appealing group of deciduous aloes. As the name implies, they grow mainly in grasslands subject to winter fires. Their leaves and colours resemble their habitat, making them difficult to find when not in flower. These largely miniature aloes have very attractive flowers, making them desirable, if difficult, plants to cultivate. Their growing pattern is closely related to the winter fire cycles of the veld here in South Africa, some species responding directly to burning and producing leaves, flowers and later seed after such events.

This interesting Aloe belongs to a group of deciduous aloes known as the "Grass Aloes", which are adapted to grassland habitat and are able to survive both fire and frost during the cold dry months. They are often burned during winter and then re-sprout with the onset of spring.

This well known grass aloe is commonly found along rocky ridges and rocky slopes on the Witwatersrand and Magaliesberg as well as in mountainous areas of the Northern Province and Mpumalanga. In years gone by it was even more prolific, but numbers have been greatly reduced due to development on the ridges and from harvesting by succulent collectors. A number of different forms are found throughout its distribution range.

Grass fires used to be less frequent in earlier centuries. They were initiated by lightning strikes, on the whole, at the beginning of the rainy season in September and October. These fires were ideal in that they cleared the habitat of moribund grass and other vegetation just before grass aloe species initiated their growth cycles.

Fires are more frequent nowadays and may occur at any time during the dry winter months from May until late spring, October. Plants are as a result, left exposed to harsh conditions for many months before they start to grow. Some species are even starting to appear on the endangered species list.



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Red-chested Cuckoo (Piet-My-Vrou)

A bird in the hand is a certainty, but a bird in the bush may sing.
Bret Harte

30th October 8.04 am and I've just heard the Piet-My-Vrou (Red-chested Cuckoo - Cuculus solitarius) for the first time this season! It's rather late, I normally hear them at the beginning of October, but it's as if they've waited for the first rains before being heard! (We had 20mm of rain last night and 15mm the night before, so the world around here in Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa) is looking and smelling sparkling clean!) They're extremely shy and very hard to spot, but I managed to get a quick (not-so-good! so I couldn't post a photograph) shot with my camera before he disappeared back into the thick foliage. Had to use my bird book to complete all the colours.

I have held most bird species in my hands at least once, but with the Red-chested Cuckoo I have not had that pleasure.

In Southern Africa, all cuckoos are "migratory" (the Klaas's and Emerald Cuckoos appear to be resident in the warmer east), arriving from Central or Eastern Africa at the start of the rainy season in late September and October. Upon arrival, the males establish territories and advertise their presence to females (and birdwatchers!) by calling incessantly, sometimes even after dark.

The Red-chested Cuckoo is mainly found in the eastern half of southern Africa, and is quite common in protected areas, living in a wide range of habitats. It feeds mostly on invertebrates, particularly hairy caterpillars but also grasshoppers and beetles, amongst others. It mostly parasitizes members of Muscicapidae (robins, thrushes, flycatchers, etc.), rushing into their nests, and removing the host's eggs before laying one of its own, all in just 5 seconds! Once the chick is 2 days old, it evicts the host's eggs and nestlings. It stays in the nest for 17-21 days, and is dependent on its host parents for 20-25 days more, before becoming fully independent. (Info from Wikipedia)

This Cuckoo occurs throughout Africa south of the Sahara, but avoids arid regions. In southern Africa it is common in eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland and eastern and southern South Africa. It generally prefers Afromontane forest, closed woodland, Miombo woodland, open savanna thickets, stands of trees in human settlements, mature gardens and parks.

Piet-my-vrou [Afrikaans]; Uphezukomkhono [Xhosa]; uPhezukomkhono [Zulu]; Mukuku (generic term for cuckoos and coucals) [Kwangali]; Tlo-nke-tsoho [South Sotho]; Phezukwemkhono [Swazi]; Ngwafalantala [Tsonga]; Heremietkoekoek [Dutch]; Coucou solitaire [French]; Einsiedlerkuckuck [German]; Cuco-de-peito-vermelho [Portuguese]
Info from "Biodiversity"



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Hedgehog sounds

Hedgehogs don't often make noises - not that human ears can hear, at any rate. But babies in the nest, for example, make a high-pitched twittering, while non-vocal sounds include the quiet snufflings made while a hedgehog is hunting for food and the 'huffing' noise often heard during fights.

Hedgehogs produce this sound by sharply breathing out through their nostrils. Courtship, sometimes mistaken for fighting, is accompanied by loud and aggressive snorting. But the most alarming sound must be the very loud scream occasionally made by a hedgehog in distress.
Info from "Everything You Want To Know about Hedgehogs - Dilys Breese"

Luckily that's not a sound I've ever heard!

So the hedgehog world isn't really so quiet after all!


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Pachypodium lamerei 1

My 15-year old 3-meter tall Pachypodium lamerei in the summer of 2005/2006. With fragrant frangipani-like flowers, this barrel-shaped tree exudes character.

My 15-year old Pachypodium lamerei (also known as the Madagascar Palm) suffered many a severe winter here in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa, to such an extent that it had been frosted down so many times that it eventually had 3 stems. Then in the Winter of 2006, it finally succumbed and died completely, much to my utter distress.

Pachypodium dead after the severe winter

It started off as a baby in a pot, being outside all summer long and brought into the house every winter. It got transplanted into a bigger pot every year until, finally, it was too big to bring into the house and I decided to plant it out in the garden in 2003. Every year it got bigger, rewarding me with those most beautiful white flowers every spring. I was truly devastated when that winter killed it.

Pachypodium flower

I'm not one for replacing plants that get killed by winter, but in January 2008 I broke down and got a new Pachy, and yes, he's in a pot and comes inside every winter! I'm a sucker for succulents, what can I say?!

October 2009 - next to my 'Old Man's Beard' cactus

February 2010 - sharing space with some Echeverias

11th November 2011 - sharing space with some newly-planted nasturiums

He has grown in leaps and bounds over the past 4 years and will soon also have to get transplanted into a bigger pot and DON'T ask me what I'm going to do when he gets too big to be moved around, one step at a time!

Pachypodium lamerei has a tall, silvery-gray trunk covered with sharp 6.25 cm spines. Long, narrow leaves grow only at the top of the trunk, like a palm tree. It rarely branches. Plants grown outdoors will reach up to 6 metres. It has large thorns and leaves mostly just at the top of the plant. It is a stem succulent and comes from the island Madagascar and bears large, fragrant flowers. Blooming time is late spring to early summer.

This plant grows best in warm climates and full sun. It will not tolerate hard frosts, and will likely drop most of its leaves if exposed to even a light frost. It is easy to grow as a house plant, if you can provide the sunlight it needs. Use a fast-draining potting mix, such as a cactus mix and pot in a container with drainage holes to prevent root rot. Water sparingly and do not fertilize. Do not water in the winter months when there is no foliage, for this is what killed my Pachy.

Today Pachypodium consists of about 20 species; five are native to continental Africa and the rest to Madagascar. In Africa they are found in arid areas or in dry situations in Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Mozambique and South Africa (Northern Province, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Northern, Western and Eastern Cape).

Camera used: FujiFinepix 2800Zoom



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Farm talk - Winter in S.A.

After quite a severe winter and struggling with the many 'veld' fires we get here in South Africa every year (we're very much similar to Australia in that regard, and where do they COME from?) - the first spring rains have arrived - and it really amazes me that, no matter HOW much you water the garden, just 5mm of rain and everything is flowering, towering and spreading with zest and zeal.

The fires are always a mystery to me - part of our smallholding is not situated near a road, so it cannot be from somebody carelessly throwing down a match or cigarette, yet the fires would always start 'somewhere' and then spread ferociously the length and breadth of properties in its path, resulting in every possible helping hand rushing in with wet sacks, branches and whatever is available to try and extinguish the demon and rushing to get animals out of harm's way.

Life on a smallholding or small farm is always very much at the mercy of the rain - too little and you have to supplement from the borehole and in any drought situation, there's always the worry that the borehole might dry up. This is every small farmer's greatest fear, as it's costly and time-consuming drilling a new borehole, or two or three, because no matter how strongly the 'water diviner' insists THIS is the place to drill, there is no guarantee that one will find any water. Too much rain and the potatoes might rot.

During one such drought, the water level in our trusty 20-year old borehole dropped to beyond a depth that was viable to try and retrieve, so we opted for drilling a new hole. Now this takes major organisation, because you must remember that, from the minute that your water tanks run dry, you are in a position of having absolutely NO water - no bathing, no cup of tea, no water to cook with (so you end up frying or grilling everything), not even to wash your hands with!

So while the drilling contractor is busy setting up his equipment, we were busy organising with the next door farmer to get some water pumped into our tanks for daily use - pipes and fittings have to be bought and trenches dug for hundreds of meters to get the water into the tanks 10m high - there are equations to be worked out between the Kilowatt strength of the neighbour's pump, the distance to the tanks and the pressure needed to get the water 10m up ...

Once the water from the neighbour has filled the tanks, utter caution is exercised in the usage of the water - every spare drop is used to full capacity for flushing toilets, watering plants and supplying the animals with enough to drink. And possibly weeks later, when the new borehole is finished, all the equipment is removed from the old borehole and fitted to the newly drilled hole, once again trenches are dug for new electrical connections and then, hopefully, beautiful, sweet cool water once again flows.

I wonder how many town folk ever give this precious commodity a second thought ...

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Male or Female?

Anatomy of a Hedgehog -




THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SEXES




It is often assumed that large, powerful-looking hedgehogs are male and that smaller, more delicate ones are female. This is not the case.









If your resident hedgehog is co-operative and lets you take a look at its underbelly, sexing it is a straightforward matter.




In adult males, the penis shows as a large projection (similar to dogs) approximately where you would expect the navel to be, about 5cm in front of the base of the tail.




In females, there are two opening close together, near the base of the tail.

Info from "Everything You Want To Know about hedgehogs - Dilys Breese"










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Crocodile in Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens

What if you decided to visit a Botanical Garden and, while enjoying a nice and relaxing picnic, you were suddenly faced with the jaws of a crocodile some metres away? That possibility is now a reality at the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden (Roodepoort, Gauteng, South Africa) after an approximately 80 cm young crocodile made the waterfall its new home. It has been named Snapper.

It was first sighted by a visitor, Vimal Sewlal, who took a picture of it whilst trying to capture the majestic flow of the water at the waterfall. He told the staff on duty about his scoop. This was dismissed as there was a possibility that it might have been mistaken for a huge monitor lizard sighted at the Garden a few months earlier. He then forwarded the pictures to the office proving beyond any doubt that we had a real crocodile on the estate.

Professor Graham Alexander, a reptile specialist, confirmed that it was indeed an indigenous Nile crocodile that was probably kept as a pet and might have escaped accidentally or was released on purpose by its owners. ''People are not responsible with these dangerous animals and it's highly likely that the owners did not have a permit and decided to release it in the Garden'' he said.



He said the predator was unlikely to make the waterfall its home as the area is too cold. At its age it is not yet a danger to humans although as young as it is, according to Prof. Alexander, it can deliver a nasty bite to anyone encroaching on its territory.

The Garden management is in the process of getting the young crocodile relocated but still working on procedures with the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development regarding a permit. The new tenant has become a draw card and talking point of visitors who come to the Garden. He became a celebrity when he featured on the second page of some national newspapers on 21 October. People have been descending on the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden over the past weekends in the hope of glimpsing this beautiful reptile. It can usually be seen sunbathing near the waterfall. Snapper is probably feeding on frogs, fish, birds and crabs. The Garden is now home to the king of the sky (Black/Verreaux's Eagle) and the beast of the fresh water. Coincidentally the river that runs through the Garden is known as Crocodile River. Visit us on www.facebook.com/wsnbg to see more.
- Taken from my WWBG Newsletter

FARM TALK - Straight from the Cow's Mouth!

Life on a farm or smallholding is certainly exciting and out-of-the-ordinary, to say the least. The thrill of having a big tract of land at one's disposal conjures up images of green fields, herds of cows, goats, sheep or whatever and neat, tidy and sturdy fences keeping everybody organised and in their place, sheds for lots of storage and the farm cat lazily strolling around on the look-out for those pesky rodents. The (old) tractor and trailer is loading and moving bales of food and the sprinklers are gently wetting the earth and getting everything to grow, grow, grow into MONEY!

For the lady of the farm, there are images of a rambling, yet comfortable, old farmhouse with chimneys and wrap-around porches, rolling green lawns and a herb garden close to the kitchen. Home-made butter, full cream Jersey milk, home-made bread and fresh garden vegetables are first on the list of things to do.



And of course, there have to be chickens (for Sunday lunch - except we can't slaughter Kentucky, the rooster, because he's such a character, or his wife Hendrina, because she's so sweet) and eggs for breakfast, to go with the home-made bread. You might have a couple of pigs (for the bacon - just not Miss Piggy because we reared her with a bottle) and then the kids want some rabbits, because there will be lots of carrots to feed them.



So now the vegetable garden has become a priority (after all the pens for chickens, pigs, rabbits, goats and sheep have been erected). And after all the beds have been properly prepared, fertilised and planted, at great expense, the first seedlings start showing their heads. Your next priority is a scarecrow or SOMETHING to keep away all the birds destroying the seedlings (after you have put up bird feeders all over the garden to attract garden birds!).

The vegetables are ready to be harvested and suddenly you find that EVERYTHING is ready at the same time! You now have 20 bags of cabbages, thousands of carrots (the rabbits can't keep up! even though the original two have now become 11), enough beetroot for several restaurants (a business opportunity?), every shelf and drawer of the refrigerator is packed with tomatoes and you have enough green beans and peas for six months. And family and friends can't understand why they have to pay for "free" vegetables from your own garden.

You also have so much milk and butter and cream now, that you decide this is definitely worth the trouble of selling it. You spend your mornings in the 'bakkie' (LDV) delivering milk (which has to be in an utterly bacteria-free bottle otherwise it goes sour within a couple of hours, so you spent the whole of last night sterilising bottles and getting up early was a nightmare) ... and there's still so much to do when you get back ... The chickens and rabbits have to be fed (and there's a hole in the fence so the rabbits are all in the vegetable garden), the milk from the cows that were milked at dawn has to be de-creamed (for the butter), the butter has to be made and bottles sterilised once again - and some of the neighbours never left their bottles out, so you actually have to rush to town as well to buy a dozen more. And the local market where you established a contact for selling some of your vegetables expects their delivery before 7.30am. You suddenly remember that you also have to be back in time for the truck collecting the pigs you sold because everybody at home suddenly had an aversion to bacon and besides, nobody wanted the job of cleaning the pig sties ... besides, the tractor broke down last week, so the trailer couldn't be loaded with all the muck to be taken away - will have to wait a while now ...



You're sitting on your wrap-around porch, exhausted, having a well-deserved cup of tea, admiring your green fields and neat fences and your heart swells with pride and gratitude - this is ALL YOURS! No matter all the hard work and early mornings - you now have a steady income from the vegetable garden, which has grown to three times its size, and the milk and butter, and the kids are enjoying the new pony enormously. You have learnt what to cut down on (like rabbits, for instance) and everybody has fallen into a comfortable routine, knowing exactly what needs to be done and when.

Your thoughts stray to a new idea - how about a strawberry patch? Surely there's a big market for strawberries - and mushrooms, maybe ...?

"Whatever you put your attention on gets energy from you and grows."

Hidden Hedgehog traps

Garden Dangers

You've done everything you can think of to welcome hedgehogs to your garden - you've put out food on the patio, left some leaf litter for them to scrounge in and now you're sitting back to watch your first prickly guests arrive - BUT YOUR GARDEN IS SCATTERED WITH DANGERS!

Hedgehogs will manage to get through amazingly small holes to reach the next garden or feeding area. They can also climb over fences or up walls, or reach roof gutters by squeezing up inside drainpipes, and getting stuck in food and soda cans carelessly left lying around.

Another hazard for the hedgehog is getting tangled up in nets. Unless it is rescued quickly, it will very likely die. Tennis nets should be looped out of the way, off the ground; other garden netting should be kept in the shed or hung on a wall. Netting used to protect soft fruit should be pegged down tightly at the edges, this holds the netting taut and so a hedgehog is far less likely to get tangled up.

But they also fall into things - holes, trenches, rubbish pits and ponds. They are not likely to be injured by falling on hard surfaces, since their spines cushion their landing, but being left in a trench or hole for an extended period of time means certain death.

Falling into a pond is not a big disaster as, like most mammals, they are quit competent swimmers. They will happily cross small streams in this way, but if they fall into a swimming pool or garden pond that has nowhere to climb out, they will certainly drown. Make sure your Koi pond has a gentle slope on one side or some vegetation which will provide an easy exit, but plastic pond-liners and fibreglass ponds, with their slippery sides, can defeat the most agile of hedgehogs.

Take care with pesticides, especially slug pellets. Only use pellets that have an unpleasant-tasting substances added, especially to put off hedgehogs, and conceal them where hedgehogs can't reach them.

But one of the most effective ways of controlling slugs and other garden pests is by using the services of the hedgehog itself! A high proportion of the hedgehog's natural diet - slugs, caterpillars, weevils, crane-fly larvae and many more - consists of creatures gardeners would be glad to be without.
Info from "Everything You Want To Know about Hedgehogs - Dilys Breese"

So why not make the hedgehog feel at home?

Full Moon wonder

“Tell me what you feel in your room when the full moon is shining in upon you and your lamp is dying out, and I will tell you how old you are, and I shall know if you are happy.”
- Henri Frederic Amiel

The full moon just holds a special fascination for me. I try to get outside with every full moon to sketch it, but this past winter has been a bit too severe for me. And then the first full moon we have in September 2011, officially Spring here in South Africa, I go and miss! This is a photograph of the full moon in July, mid-winter and freezing cold, peeping through the bare branches of my 20-year old peach tree.

While I was outside with the camera, I took a pic of one of the garden lights which looks a lot like the full moon

and also one of my garden ornaments hanging from one of my White Karee's (Rhus viminalis)

Night time in the garden is also special for me - last summer I was lucky enough to see some fireflies around my Arum lilies (Zantedeschia), they made it look like a veritable fairy-land! Unfortunately they don't photograph well, either they're too small or they switch off just as the camera flashes!

Camera : FujiFinepix 2800Zoom

This was my last sketch of a full moon as seen through my studio window at 5am on the 21st January 2011.

Aloe ferox - Nature's Ultimate Healer

The aloe seemed to ride like a ship with the oars lifted. Bright moonlight hung upon the lifted oars like water, and on the green wave glittered the dew.
- Beauchamp, Bliss and Other Stories, 'Prelude'

Last Spring I noticed that the Black Sunbirds were all visiting this Aloe (Aloe ferox, Bitter Aloe) in my garden, and the reason was soon apparent - it was fairly dripping with nectar! The flowers always seem to produce the most nectar just as they're getting to the end of their life-span. It's their special gift to nature.

This hardy plant, indigenous to South Africa, and with its succulent leaves can survive the harshest conditions. When damaged by man or animal, the plant seals off any wound with a sticky, dark liquid that prevents infestation by virus, fungus or insect. This dark liquid has been successfully used by ancient inhabitants as a traditional remedy for many ailments.

The white inner gel of the leaf has the ability to hold and store moisture through hot, dry conditions and months of drought. Traditionally the local inhabitants use it to soothe burn wounds, cuts and abrasions. Today those same qualities are still the being used in a wide range of moisturisers and rejuvenating creams and gels.

The nutrient rich leaf is filled with the goodness of the earth and contains no herbicides or pesticide making it an ideal source of nutrients and helping your body to cope with modern day living in a gentle and natural way.

The bitter aloe is most famous for its medicinal qualities. In parts of South Africa, the bitter yellow juice found just below the skin has been harvested as a renewable resource for two hundred years. The hard, black, resinous product is known as Cape aloes or aloe lump and is used mainly for its laxative properties but is also taken for arthritis.

"Schwedenbitters", which is found in many pharmacies, contains bitter aloe. The gel-like flesh from the inside of the leaves is used in cosmetic products and is reported to have wound healing properties. Interestingly Aloe ferox, along with Aloe broomii, is depicted in a rock painting which was painted over 250 years ago.

'AloeFerox.talkspot' says, "The aloe bitter is best known for its use as a laxative. However, in addition to the purgative effect the anthraquinone (bitter) substance is also an antioxidant, antiviral and effective for cancer prevention.

Numerous scientific studies on aloe gel are demonstrating its analgesic, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, immune modulating and anti-tumour activities as well as anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. The aloe juice has been shown to lower cholesterol and triglycerides while demonstrating anti-diabetic activity." Read more about the medicinal properties HERE.

The Aloe is winter-flowering and did you know that they flower in mid-summer in France, when it's Winter time here in South Africa? Isn't nature's clock just amazing...?

Camera : Fuji Finepix 2800Zoom - pic taken in my garden.

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Farm Talk - Dragonfly - Flighty, carefree!

PS : I have not been able to identify this Dragonfly as yet, so if anybody is able to help I will greatly appreciate it! ... 

This Dragonfly (Odonata) has donned her Spring finery, a bright blue, lacy little bra! Caught her getting a bit of a suntan on the rocks next to my pond last spring just before all the males arrived!

Sometimes the period, just before spring arrives, is always filled with a few hollow promises - dragonflies appear at the pond, the Peach Tree starts preparing her blossoms and then, suddenly, a cold front dispels the promise of Spring.

A close-up of the head and thorax

Menacing and marvelous, the dragonfly has for centuries captivated human imaginations with its daredevil flying maneuvers, vibrant colors and bullish disposition.

Pre-dating the dinosaur, this fascinating insect has long been the subject of chilling myths and legends. In fact, the dragonfly's terrifying syringe-like appearance earned it a laundry list of dastardly names in world-wide folklore including "Devil's Darner," "Water Witch" and "Snake Doctor."

In European and early-American myths, children were told that if they misbehaved, a dragonfly would sew shut their eyes and ears as they slept. Another myth warned that dragonflies were in cahoots with snakes and were able to wake them from the dead or warn them of impending danger. And in Swedish folklore, dragonflies were called "Blindsticka" or "Blind Stingers," and rumored to have had a penchant for picking out human eyes. The Swedes also believed that dragonflies were used by the Devil to weigh people's souls, and that, if a dragonfly swarmed around someone's head weighing his or her soul, that person could expect great injury!

Your delicate wings rapidly beat the air
The sleekness of your weightless body hovers
Curiously observing as though you care
Steadily searching for lifelong endeavors

Do you bring a message of a tranquil destiny?
Does your evolving maturity convey wisdom?
If I follow, will I find harmony or perplexity?
As you disappear… I am serenely lonesome
- Theresa Ann Moore

If you look carefully, you can see a male that has just arrived!

Camera : FujiFinepix 2800Zoom - Pics taken in my garden in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa.

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For the Love of Pigeons - Duffy

I mean, it is an extraordinary thing that a large proportion of your country and my country, of the citizens, never see a wild creature from dawn 'til dusk, unless it's a pigeon, which isn't really wild, which might come and settle near them.
- David Attenborough

This is Duffy, whom I rescued as a featherless baby from certain death when his parents abandoned him. This was the start of my love affair with pigeons.

His parents didn't belong to me - they were Ferals who just moved in and nested in my stables, as there was plenty of food around, with seeds and corn being put out for the ducks, geese and guinea fowl on a daily basis. And why they abandoned him I'll never know, but their loss was my gain as Duffy and I spent many years together, during which time he took a wife (Wuffy) and they in turn reared many clutches of little pigeons. This, of course, led to there being dozens of pigeons now living on my property, not an ideal situation, as they are Masters of Mess! But luckily I found homes for most of them, which cut the numbers drastically down to only a handful.

Camera : FujiFinepix 2800Zoom

Cape Glossy Starling (Lamprotornis nitens)

Glossy Starling in my garden - W&N watercolour - Maree©

Kleinglansspreeu [Afrikaans]

Spring is definitely in the air here in South Africa! The Starlings, who haven't been around for some time, were visiting the bard bath today. They provide such a beautiful, bright iridescent blue splash in the garden, it's difficult to miss them!

Starlings are frugiverous and insectivorous birds with strong, slightly curved bills and strong legs. They occur from Angola and Zambia to Southern Africa, where it is locally common across much of the region, excluding central Mozambique, the Karoo, Namib Desert and the fynbos biome in the Western Cape. It can occupy a variety of different habitats, especially wooded savannah, forest edges, riverine bush, plantations, parks and gardens.

It is a monogamous, cooperative breeder, meaning that the breeding pair may be assisted by up to 6 helpers, who often remain with them through many breeding seasons. It usually nests in tree cavities, either natural or excavated by woodpeckers or barbets, but it may also use a hole in a riverbank, metal pipe or even a post box used daily. It adds coarse material such as twigs into the cavity until the platform is close to the entrance, after which it adds a lining of dry grass, dung and snake skins. It often uses the same nest over multiple breeding seasons, in fact one breeding pair was recorded using the same site for 20 years.

Egg-laying season is mainly from September-February. It lays 2-6 blue or white eggs, which are incubated solely by the female. The chicks are fed by both parents and helpers, leaving the nest after about 20 days after which they remain with the group for at least week before finding their own territory.