The beginning

one of my kruiwas with indigenous lachenalias

Where to begin this? I have so many ideas and thoughts, that I really should have started years ago!! Never mind, I shall simply fast forward to present time with several posts that will keep you interested and looking forward to more!

When we first left The Big Smoke, fondly called Johannesburg, in 2006, our family and friends all said to us... "But what will you DO all day?" I must admit that I had the same thought, until, after a 2-day drive with a howling cat in the car, we breasted the hill and saw our future spread below us. White walled houses with an aquamarine sea spread to the horizon where it met and fused with a sky so blue it hurt our eyes. Then it didn't matter what we would do all day, we would make a new life and enjoy it to the full! We rented a little house while we re-planned and built our home on a piece of land a stone's throw from the sea, which we had bought a few years previously.


White walled houses, low walled gardens, friendly people who actually greeted us, no burglar bars, no traffic, no shops (that was a major problem for many of our friends) and no stress! Our 12-year-old cat Clyde saw mice for the first time in his life and spent long days staring at the rockery and waiting for them to move. He never caught one though, I don't think he even tried, the fun was in the freedom of watching. He was also allowed to be out after dark without the threat of speeding (or in fact, any) vehicles, and while he adjusted to the freedom of being outside, we adjusted to the freedom of living in a village of just 200 houses, dirt roads and children who chose to go to school without shoes!

have to start some-where

Because we didn't know anybody we gave them nicknames. The man who fixed boats in his garden became Oom Skip (Uncle Ship), the chap who made kitchen cupboards was re-named Oom Kombuis (Uncle Kitchen) and the fellow who spent ages on his roof trying to fix the leak was affectionately called Oom Dak. I became Tannie Kruiwa (Aunty Wheelbarrow)!! Why? Because I was so desperate to start a garden I begged and scrounged old, rusty and broken down wheelbarrows from the local builders! Many mornings I had a small queue of people 'driving' antique kruiwas which I cheerfully 'paid for’ with 2 litre cokes and packets of chips! The builders were only too pleased to find me as an outlet as it saved them from having to take the wheelbarrows to the local dump!! So, as my mobile garden took shape I nurtured and chatted to geraniums, petunias, bulbs and indigenous plants that I bought from the local nursery. Before we knew the owner, he was Oom Kwekery or Uncle Nursery!!

One morning I went to check my beautifully flowering pink and red geraniums to find that during the night they had actually gone. Disappeared. All that was left were stalks where the flowers were yesterday, and a few leaves on the ground! I couldn't even blame the wind (another story) but all was revealed when I saw a small pile of buck droppings on the path! My robber was a gourmet!! We had seen the buck roaming through the village at dusk, but I was not at all angry. I feel amazingly privileged to be able to live with these beautiful creatures, along with tortoises, mongooses (or should that be moongeese??), rock rabbits or dassies (did you know that the dassie is the closest relative to the elephant? I kid you not). We also have an amazing variety of birds, from the small white eyes to the herons, francolins and weavers and the wonderful Spotted Eagle owls that clatter on the roof and call with their mournful Whoo Hooo down the chimney!

Apart from the wildlife that I welcome to the garden, we also have snakes and scorpions. But that's another story too!