💛 In summer I always enjoy an early-evening walk on our smallholding. No need to get in my car to find nature, I have 8.5ha right here to explore, hoping to see the Barn Owl or some Guinea fowl, but always enjoying the Bluegum trees and beautiful grasses and wild flowers along the way.
One of the (many) things I miss since moving to the coast over 2 years ago, is the sight of the beautiful sweeping grasslands of Tarlton. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing fields of grass swaying in the wind at sunset, as if to the tune of some pied piper calling them to follow him.
Statement - there is no grass in KwaZulu Natal! Fact - no, really, there are no tall grasses in Natal! Even the lawn grass can not really lay claim to being grass. Being used to the thick, lush greenness of Kikuyu lawns in Gauteng, the coastal garden lawns are a pitiful sight to behold. (Sorry I do not have a pic of a coastal garden lawn, lawns are few and far between).
Kiep, my little pet hen, comes from Bantam stock, though clearly mixed
with a variety of other chicken breeds, and she actually looks like a
miniature Leghorn.
Here she is in her nest box in my studio
(Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa), laying her very first egg! Scratching
around in her nest box, trying to settle in, all her feather’s erect and
a glassy-eyed expression until the egg finally appeared! Kiep was
reared in my studio, straight out of the egg, and to this day, 9 years
later, she still wanders into my studio too spend some time with me.
Bantam
chickens have been domesticated for centuries. In fact, they are one of
the oldest known domestic animals. Marco Polo wrote about banties in
his journal. While all bantams are chickens, not all chickens are
banties.
All bantams are smaller than regular chickens and they
share some unique personality traits. I personally think they have more
personality than chickens do, are more able to care for themselves, and
find more of their own food. They seem to keep the grasshopper
population down better than other types of poultry! I haven’t seen a bug
in my garden for ages since introducing chickens to my garden (Tarlton,
Gauteng, South Africa) again early this year.
Healthy bantams
are curious. They will check out anything that seems unusual and loudly
announce the arrival of visitors. I do not keep them locked in the pen,
they roam as much as possible (a chicken’s raison de etre!) and have
access to fresh, green grass, insects, and whatever else they find in
addition to the feed I give them.
Camera : Kodak EasyShare C195
Taken in my previous garden, Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa.
We’ve been having extremely hot weather and even my chooks have been
gasping in the heat. My chickens have no problem with winter, but every
summer you can find them listless in the shade, trying to cool off.
Unfortunately chickens don’t bath in water (they have sand baths)
otherwise that would be a quick solution to cooling off! But they do
find shady spots for a bath in the cool sand leaving my garden looking
like a volcanic eruption has taken place!
Here Chi-Chi, the youngest of my pet hens, takes a break amongst the Leopard Lilies and ferns.
Camera : Canon EOS 550D
Taken in my garden (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa)
Dedicated to all garden-lovers!
A path in my
garden slowly getting taken over by all the plants after the good rains
we had this last summer (winter here now in South Africa) and if I don’t
do something about it, I’ll soon be crawling around in a jungle!
Taken in my previous garden in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa
Camera : Canon EOS 550D
There is nothing more exhilarating than checking up on your
garden plants just as the sun is rising. Everything is smiling in
anticipation of another glorious day!
And two Aloe ferox eagerly await their turn in the sunshine!
Taken in my previous garden in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa
Camera : Canon EOS 550D
After months of drought, few experiences can match the sound and smell
of falling rain – unless it is the exhilaration of being caught in it
while working in the garden!
Camera : Canon EOS 550D
Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa
Well, we've sold our smallholding, so this blog was a very brief sojourn! We're moving down to the North Coast, Kwa Zulu Natal (South Africa) and hopefully our new life there will be as exciting, ordinary, meaningful and wonderful as our 42 years in Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa) has been.
It's hard, difficult and heart-breaking to say goodbye to a life-time of gardening, chooks, running our business, sketching and painting the area and joys and sorrows, but life has a way of taking one in different directions and enjoying the journey is what it is all about, right?
I will be documenting the move and happenings here till the last moment and maybe throw in a few Tarlton articles in between. It will be adieu, but not forgotten...
