Rejuvenated

at the beach . to breathe . embrace the surf . bare feet freedom . feel the spray . celebrate summer 

It's wonderful what a week at the coast can do - no wonder they say, 'a change is as good as a holiday'. Spending time in nature is always a plus for me. When we open ourselves to the natural world, we escape the fast-paced bustle of our daily lives. That experience, not only reduces our stress, it also grounds us, reaffirming our connection to the Earth and all its creatures.

Just the 6½-hour, 650km, drive in itself is quite an experience - it is a route well-known to me and I have my favourite landmarks which tell me how far I am and how far I still have to go. I never do the whole trip in one go, but often stop to take photographs, do some sight-seeing and have a bite to eat.

 

Driving through the flat landscape of the Free State, situated on flat boundless plains in the heart of South Africa, one of my favourite stop-overs is a quaint coffee and gift shop about 200km into my trip - unusual building style, excellent food and a shopper's paradise for curios, gifts and even clothing. I often take a short walk through the grassy landscape and it is here where I spotted a Spike-heeled Lark (Chersomanes albofasciata) for the first time but was not quick enough to get a photo.

The first half of the journey goes through this flat landscape for about 300km and as one gets to the border of KwaZulu Natal at Harrismith, which is 1661m above sea level, the scenery changes dramatically. Big plains get overtaken by mountainous terrain, sharply dropping off as one descends Van Reenen's Pass into KwaZulu Natal, with a breath-taking view over the Valley of a 1000 Hills.
 

(Pic from KwaZulu Natal tourism)

Harrismith area

The drive through Natal, which is green year-round, is a real pleasure with lots of sightings of various Eagles, Vultures and other birds of prey and on one particular stretch of road near Swinburne, I always keep an eye out for the Yellow-billed Kite and I am never disappointed - they seem to have a great liking for that area.

After the long drive, seeing the beach for the first time is ALWAYS like seeing it for the first time again! A wonderful sight which also means the long journey is at an end!

One of my favourite tidal pools

A beach plant bravely enduring the elements and flowering against all odds

A perfect end to the day - cocktails at sunset at one of my favourite restaurants over-looking the ocean.

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December gifts

. . . tomorrow’s flowers . winter food for hungry birds . shapes and shadows for a grey landscape . something to look forward to . december's delights ...

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M.I.A. because of lost chicks

I've been 'missing-in-action' for a couple of weeks and it's all summer's fault! Everybody is broody and  Solly's chickens have been hatching babies like mad, but the heavy rains and predators have been taking their toll. One of his hens hatched six little chicks but within a few days there were only two left.
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I suspect a stray cat which I spot every now and then, skulking in the bushes and behind tyres in the workshop, but have never managed to befriend it so that I can catch it and take it to the S.P.C.A. Then, to top it all, the mother suddenly abandoned the two chicks and I found them woefully calling under one of the shrubs in the garden. I managed to catch them, fast and wild they are! and brought them inside and, to my delight, within the hour they thought I was their Mommy! I didn't expect imprinting to happen so fast as they were already almost a week old.
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Their Mommy did a good job of teaching them to eat the corn and seeds I put out for Solly's chickens every day because they immediately took to eating and drinking some water after I showed them where it was.

 

After having their fill, it was time to settle down for a quick preen and a bit of a roost.
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Then a couple of days later, another one of Solly's hens hatched five of the cutest little chicks, but by the next day there were only four left, the little black one at the bottom of the photograph being gone.

Early one morning at about 5.30am, in pouring rain, I heard the panicky calling of a little chick and upon investigating, I saw one of her little black chicks all alone in the grass outside the garden, soaking wet and close to collapse - the mother and other chicks were nowhere in sight. I rushed out into the rain, collected it and rushed back, drying it off and cupping it in my warm hand while I prepared a hot water bottle for the basket. It soon warmed up and within half-an-hour it was preening itself and looking around.

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Solly's chickens do have a coop but they are REALLY free-range with only a few of them choosing to sleep in the coop, the rest wander and nest all over our property. I normally try not to interfere with 'nature', but it's impossible for me to see a lost chick and not to rescue it...

So there you have it, taking care of little demanding chicks didn't leave me much time to get round to blogging, it's like being a young mother all over again!
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Up-date - The same day I found the little black chick, and still pouring with rain, later in the morning I saw the Mommy and her three other chicks having some seeds outside my Studio, so I rushed out, put the black baby down and she fairly attacked me, gathered the baby under her wing and then herded them all to safety under a canopy and out of the rain. Whoot whoot! Another happy ending and one less baby to take care of! To date, all four are still safe and have grown into beautiful healthy little chicks!

The first two are still in my care, having gotten used to the routine of sleeping in their basket every night and being let out into the garden in the morning, calling when they miss me and following me back to my Studio for a rest and some roosting. I've also taught them the route to the bathroom court-yard garden and every now and then they wander over there for a scratch and a sand-bath. But it's a full-time job and I'm just now catching a breather as they prefer to be in the garden scratching around with the other chickens. Seems they will be joining my girls in the coop shortly...

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Bond between chick and parent does not last

Black Eagle juvenile - Jabulani

Unlike in human beings, where many families share a lifetime of existence together, bonds between parents and offspring only last a for few months for many animals.     

Verreaux's eagles (black eagles) are no exception. The juvenile that hatched a few months ago at the Walter Sisulu botanical Gardens in Gauteng, South Africa, jealously guarded and fed by its parents, will soon be chased away forever to start a life of its own. The eaglet, dubbed Jabulani, enjoyed all the protection it needed to make it in life. It even had the dubious privilege of killing and eating its own sibling with the ‘approval' of its parents. After several months of learning how to fly and hunt, along with other survival skills, Jabulani's future now depends on her wings. 

She took her maiden flight on 13 September 2012 and has been seen taking plunges on some of the canopies. Although she has not yet mastered the art of hunting, all the other features she need have now fell in place - a sharp beak, strong feet with claws as sharp as daggers and wings that will give her total control of the skyline. Her parents will soon chase her out of their Garden territory and she will have to fly away to establish her own territory until she meets a suitable mate who, like her parents, is likely to become a lifetime partner.             

For now, her main concerns will be to learn and perfect hunting skills, and gain weight that will be needed for her battles ahead. Verreaux's eagles are capable of eating any small to medium-sized animals and typical prey includes guinea fowl, francolins and dassies (rock hyrax). 

Photograph: G. Heydenrych  

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Orange River Francolins

On a hot, windy Monday morning in mid-October 2012, the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden staff on a plant survey of the ridge nature reserve areas, took a photograph of a wary francolin which, with another, was making its way along through the low bushes. The pair was identified as Orange River Francolins and had not been previously recorded for this Garden. This brings the francolin and spurfowl species number up to four; Coqui and Red-winged Francolin and Swainson’s Spurfowl having been recorded before. 

Orange River Francolin, like most gamebirds, have a varied diet, feeding on bulbs, seeds and insects such as beetles, grasshoppers and termites. The nest is a shallow scrape in the earth made by the female and she broods the chicks when they hatch. Both adults help to care for the chicks.

Info from Walter Sisulu Newsletter

 View from my daughter's house

Well, I'm off to the coast tomorrow for a week to Ballito on our North Coast (South Africa), for a week to visit my daughter and grand-children, but I hope to be doing a post or two as I am taking my Samsung Galaxy tablet with me. I've never used it to post anything on Blogger, so will have to see how it goes. Otherwise I'll have lots of pics and news when I get back! Have a great week ahead and remember, "The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but seeing with new eyes."  - Marcel Proust

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Nature's food store

How many of us turn to Nature when it comes to healthy eating and living? I know ALL foods like fruit and vegetables come from nature, but often we buy them after they have gone through strict cleansing and preparation, ready for purchase by us, the public, often with extra additives like bleach to get the potatoes nice and white.

Having a garden sporting a few of your favourite herbs and vegetables is a great way to ensure that you have some healthy, un-treated food at hand, straight from nature to your plate. One of my favourite plants in the garden is Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), which is used as a decorative plant in gardens and has many culinary and medical uses. The plant is said to improve the memory. The leaves are used to flavour various foods, such as stuffings and roast meats.

Image from Ageless
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Rosemary is a tonic, astringent, restorative herb that relaxes spasm and increases the rate of perspiration, while stimulating the liver and gall bladder. It improves digestion and circulation and controls pathogenic organisms and has antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, spasmolytic, antioxidant, smooth muscle modulating, analgesic, venotonic, as well as anti-inflammatory properties.

I have used Rosemary in many ways - for cooking, as a pest repellent in my chicken coop and even as a conditioning rinse after washing my hair. Here is what I do to make the conditioner:

Take 1 cup of coarsely chopped, fresh Rosemary and 1 quart of distilled water. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let infuse (soak) for 1 hour. Strain, then add 1 quart of white vinegar to the liquid. Store in plastic containers and keep in a cool, dark place. (You may be worried about adding the vinegar, but it acts as wonderful softener for your hair and is also a preservative. You can make your rinses without it, but then they must be stored in the refrigerator and used within two days.)

One of my favourite Rosemary recipes is Rosemary-Garlic Cream Cheese Spread :

ROSEMARY-GARLIC CREAM CHEESE SPREAD

• 1 8-oz. package softened cream cheese (light or regular)
• 4 Tbsp. sour cream or plain yogurt
• 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
• 2–3 tsp. fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• Fresh mashed garlic to taste

Blend softened cream cheese and sour cream or yogurt in a small bowl; add lemon juice and blend well. Then add the rosemary and garlic and blend well. I use old cream cheese holders to store mine in the fridge. (They can also make great little gifts for a friend - dress up the container with some string or ribbon and a little card or other accessory that you find beautiful.)

This makes a nice spread for bagels, focaccia bread or other kinds of flat bread–spread on warm bread, top with some tomato slices, add some sliced olives, and sprinkle with a little Parmesan cheese – yum! You can use it as a dip for fresh veggies, too–add another teaspoon of lemon juice to thin it out a little more if using as a dip. I also like to have some Sweet Chilli sauce at hand for added flavour.


Pic from Food.com

I often make myself a cup of Rosemary tea. Containing powerful antioxidants and many vitamins, rosemary tea is easily made by adding 1 tsp. of the dried or fresh leaves to 1 cup of boiled water. Steep for 10 minutes, strain and sip. As it has a strong rather bitter taste, you can add honey if you need a sweeter concoction. 

It seems that the ancient art of foraging is in decline but in these tricky economic times, it makes perfect sense to collect free food from nature. There is much you can do to ensure your own constant supply of 'food from nature', like planting your own vegetable and herb garden, planting a few fruit trees and keeping a few chickens for a constant supply of fresh free-range eggs. Living off nature is one of the greatest pleasures of life!

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Hurricane Sandy and birds

Devestation on the North Coast of South Africa after a storm in 2007

With the whole world watching the progression and now, aftermath, of Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast of America, my thoughts of sorrow and compassion for the people involved turned anxiously to the animals that were caught up in this tragedy. Reading other animal lovers' plight and preparations for the safety of their pets and farm animals, had me feeling thankful that we have hardly ever experienced something similar here in South Africa. We don't get hurricanes and have only had a few small (compared to what the rest of the world suffers) tornadoes. Our last big, scary storm that hit our North Coast was in May 2007, when properties on the beach were severely damaged, but luckily with no loss of life.

I just cannot imagine what it must entail to suffer the loss of animals and pets during such a disaster and what preparation it must take to safe-guard, not just your own family and property, but the animals as well.

It is said that chickens, like birds, can predict the weather. Just last week I saw my hens gathering close together on an overcast, windy day, looking rather disturbed and then being led into the coop by Artemis, the rooster. Shortly after we had a HUGE hailstorm, with hail the size of golf balls, destroying half my garden and even damaging windows and cars. But the chooks were safely ensconced in the coop, obviously knowing what was coming.

Many birders have noticed birds will spend a longer time than normal bathing when a storm is coming. Afterward, they spend a significant time preening. Birds such as the quail, guinea fowl and mousebirds would take long dust baths, as if preparing their feathers for some sort of onslaught.

Many birds were affected by Hurricane Sandy, much like humans, especially those close to the devastated areas. Water birds, and seabirds especially, often show up out of their ocean environment and such was the case with this past week’s storm. A Leach’s Storm Petrel, a bird of the open ocean, was found in downtown Newburyport, where someone retrieved it from Interlocks Salon and Day Spa and a Dovekie, a member of the alcid family of birds, which includes puffins, was found trapped in a cellar!

Because birds are so attuned to shifts in barometric pressure, they can often sense ahead of time when a storm is brewing. Read here how birds stay safe during hurricanes. 

But there’s little question that avian mortality increases during a hurricane, whether due to starvation, exhaustion, habitat destruction, or exposure to pounding rains. In 1989, Hurricane Hugo killed half of the wild parrots in Puerto Rico; a year earlier, Hurricane Gilbert decimated the population of Mexico’s Cozumel thrasher.

But it's important to remember that the long-term effects of hurricanes on birds aren't necessarily negative. Every disturbance event is bad for some species but good for others. For instance, hurricanes create gaps in forests, creating habitat for species that require a brushy understory. Birds blown off course occasionally establish entirely new populations; such events may be responsible for much, if not most, colonization of remote islands by birds. Furthermore, hurricanes have been around for a long time and are part of the system in which birds evolved. It is only when they have impacts on species already pushed to the brink by humans, or if hurricane activity is increased by global climate change, that there is cause for concern.

NASA Goddard Photo Video

My thoughts are with all the victims of this terrible super-storm...

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November gifts - New growth

Although time seems to fly, it never travels faster than one day at a time. This Nature knows. 

Each day is a new opportunity to live your life to the fullest, as Nature does. 

In each waking day, you will find scores of blessings and opportunities for positive change, as Nature does. 

Do not let your TODAY be stolen by the unchangeable past or the indefinite future! Be like Nature and know that today is a new day! 

Each new day brings new growth. this Nature knows. 

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Joy accompanied me that morning

A leaf fluttered in through the window this morning, as if supported by the rays of the sun, a bird settled on the fire escape, joy in the task of coffee, joy accompanied me as I walked. 

 ~ Anais Nin 

It was a beautiful but cold winter’s morning in my garden. The grass was white with frost and as I went outside to open the hen house and let the chickens out, the early morning sun on the leaves of my Acacia karroo tree caught my attention. Such a lovely contrast to Winter's cold! 

Camera: Canon EOS 550D 

Location : My garden, Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa. 

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A Hedgehog in your home

Caring for baby or under-weight Hedgehogs 

 Initially the food should be offered in a dropper or a plastic syringe. Each young hedgehog will need to be fed every few hours.

If you find a baby hedgehog on a summer evening, it is probably perfectly all right and is best left alone. But a hedgehog found wandering around during the day is likely to be ill or, if it's very small, might be a youngster trying to feed and fatten up before the onset of winter. It's unlikely to survive without human help, so you should take it to a vet or try to look after it yourself. 

If you find a nest of baby hedgehogs that are still blind and the mother is nowhere to be found, there is little chance that they will live, but it's obviously worth a try. I never advocate taking wild animals out of their environment so please make absolutely sure that the mother is not around by waiting until dusk to she if she might return. If she's not back by then, it's unlikely that she is anywhere nearby or might have been killed and only then may you try and rear the babies yourself. 

If they are old enough to have brown spines, it's more hopeful, but young hedgehogs are very vulnerable until they are at least 6-8 weeks old. 

The mother's milk is obviously the ideal food: it contains immune proteins which protect the babies against a variety of infections, and nothing can adequately take its place. But a variety of liquid foods may help to keep the youngsters going - give them Complan baby food, sheep's or goat's milk (not cow's milk, which is indigestible to baby hedgehogs.) 

Initially the food should be offered in a dropper or a plastic syringe. Each young hedgehog will need to be fed every few hours.

 When they're old enough they can be fed from a bowl

When they reach three weeks old and weigh about 100g, the babies should be offered a wider variety of food. Crumbled biscuits moistened with milk, bread soaked in gravy and scrambled eggs are all suitable. they can gradually move on to puppy food; two or three tablespoonfuls twice a day should be enough. As they get older - and hungrier! - this can be mixed with table scraps or tinned dog food, which my hedgies absolutely loved! 

But caring for young hedgehogs isn't just a matter of food. Hedgehogs are not well insulated and when their temperature drops , digestion becomes slower, movements slow down and gradually they become colder and less active until they die. Warmth will help to reverse this fatal tendency, but not a sharply-focused heat source such as a lamp. the best idea is a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel and frequently refilled to keep the temperature constant. 

Depending on how many hedgehogs there are, a cage or box about a square meter in area, floored with earth, newspaper or an old carpet, will provide temporary quarters. Remember that the bedding will be need to be changed DAILY. And also be aware that hedgehogs are very good at digging AND climbing! Unless the box has smooth sides, it's a good idea to edge it with something along the top. 

If your young hedgehogs prosper, you can release them into the wild when it reaches the necessary weight, I'd say about 450g, the weight they must reach before it's safe for them to hibernate, otherwise wait until spring before releasing them. 

Most of the info and pics from "Everything You Want To Know about Hedgehogs - Dilys Breese"

It takes dedication and commitment to look after hedgehogs taken out of the wild, so be sure you're up to the task before considering it. 

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Saturday pleasures

“If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” 

― E.B. White 

Fresh bread with home-made Apricot jam for breakfast

Hanging a bottle filled with fresh water and Nasturtiums from a tree

Watching a garden ornament gently spinning in the breeze

A nest discovered in the back yard

A basket of Pecan nuts brought over by a friend

My favourite sugar bowl

Wooden ducks on my kitchen table

Late-afternoon visitors to my garden

Snuggling up in my favourite armchair, reading a friend's poetry book while sipping a glass of red

What were your pleasures this Saturday?

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Rural love affair

People take different roads seeking fulfilment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost.

- H. Jackson Brown, Jr. 

For thirty seven years I've been having a rural love affair. I grew up in various towns and cities across South Africa, and when my husband and I got married in our late-twenties, we couldn't wait to own our own little piece of rural bliss, somewhere in the country, far from the madding crowd. 

We bought our first smallholding in 1975, starting from scratch on a virgin piece of land covered in lush indigenous grasses and lots of blue gum trees. For twenty seven years we fenced, planted, tended animals, built our house, stables, a cottage and other farm buildings, always busy with some project or another.

And after all this time, I still have not tired of travelling the quiet country roads, spotting wildlife and farm animals en route or stopping to pick some Cosmos or wild flowers for a vase.

Driving up one of the gravel roads in and around our area always fills me with expectation - what will I find over the horison? Neat, green fields? A little stream? Or some antelope crossing the road? I can't remember how many times I've been blessed with some wonderful find, a Hedgehog sprinting for the cover of grass, a Duiker quickly leading it's fawn back to the safety of the trees, a Kestrel sitting on a fence post devouring its prey.

 

And going for a walk takes on a whole different meaning. Walks are filled with all sorts of exciting things - unknown plants that need to be identified, bird song and insects, ground-hog families scurrying about their business, the odd snake hurrying to get out of your way - an artist or photographer's heaven!

But country living is not ALL bliss and joy and certainly has its fair share of draw-backs, like the wildfires we suffer every winter, an essential part of our ecology but still with devastating effects on wildlife and properties. A country property always seems to need more maintenance than suburban properties - fire-breaks that have to be cut, fences that need mending, boreholes that either dry up or need a new pump and all the animals that need tending. 

But its a way of life that, once it gets into your blood, you won't exchange for any other way of living!

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