An oasis! In the semi-desert. Cool botanical bliss only 20 minutes dirt road away. This pretty piece of paradise is also the exquisite garden of a fellow homesteading, homeschooling hippie organic friend. She does it all. Alone. With minimal water. Maximum sunshine. And, of course, indignant bleeting and cackling from her two goats and dozen chickens. Wandering through her magnificent though postcard size garden is quite an experience. Looking around at the rugged mountainside and rocky valley it is hard to believe she has built a gem of a garden off dry rock. It is truly an oasis in every sense of the word.
We love to organize playdates. Our children play while us mamas take a break from the demanding homesteading life to sip our latest fermented concoctions and catch up ....
Well what is there not to discuss when you have so much in common with someone and so little free time to talk. We sample each others latest health snack or treat. Exchange herbal cuttings and veggie seedlings. Laugh over the latest goatie antic.
She's recently had solar issues. Join the club! We're discussing mama creative alternatives to feed and bath children. There's also the dilemma of poor seed germination and broody hens. She has pink yarrow - pink! I have white. We swap. We also swap echinacea seed. She has white and I have pink.
This week she's made fermented wild honeybush and buchu kombucha. It is delicious! She explains where up the mountain pass I can forage. Which leads us to discuss the snakes this summer. She points to an old milk can near the goats house and explains how they found a black rattle snake inside a couple days ago. Country living has dangers of a different nature to the cities.
We coo over the new year's homeschooling books. If only our own school textbooks were half so beautiful and captivating. My youngest toddles in with a handful of baby chick.
I raise my eyebrow. "Rosie stashed that away in the dog kennel" she rolls her eyes. "One egg! One! Let's just hope it's not another rooster".
Eventually after getting the children out of the thorn tree treehouse we wonder through the picturesque country garden. It is a riot of colour. "Not too many veggies though." She stares at her calloused hands, deeply tanned from long hours in our Karoo sun. "I sometimes wonder if it is worth it" She sighs. "And yet look at the view. Look at the contented children. I wouldn't exchange this for all the money in the world".