Hello Darling!

No, it's not a new way of greeting you, my dear reader! Read on!

What do these things have in common?

Jam, marmalade, chutney, paste, bath salts, soap, hand cream, bread, and chocolate? To name but a few!

Some of the products.

They are all the by-product of olives! As well as oil and the actual fruit. But if I had said oil and fruit, it would have been too easy! I know that I have mentioned the Darling Olive products before and showed a photo of some of the them, but I wanted to write again about the farm as we went there on Wednesday to buy more oil, and of course came away with a few more things as well! We were on our way to meet friends for lunch in Yzerfontein, so Darling is a short detour away!

Peace and Quiet and the Dog Came Too!!

Wow, doesn't time fly when you are having fun?

And that is exactly what we had, plus peace and quiet and the knowledge that I had three unread books on my kindle! It's funny, but if I had to sit and read all day here at home, I would feel incredibly guilty that I wasn't pretending to be busy cleaning, or dusting or cooking. But to sit in a camp site and read doesn't carry the same guilt at all! Well, not in my book!! (No pun intended!)

Absolute bliss, a river, a dog........and a book! Or kindle!

Now, I don’t know if this is true of everyone, but the minute we head off on a trek, I start planning our eating stops! So a couple of hours later, close enough to lunch time to be lunch time, we pulled into a little restaurant close to Hermon, called ‘du Vlei’. We have stopped there several times, either to meet friends, or on the way to or from somewhere, and we know that the food is fresh and tasty, and Alfie is welcome! Fortified with quiche and salad and a coffee shake that was so good we had to have another to prove it, we headed off to 'Fish Eagle River Lodge' to be met by the owners and their dogs.

The camping ground at Fish Eagle River Lodge.

What a fantastic place! We had the pick of sites, and we tucked ourselves into the corner, under huge shady blue gum trees, and close enough to the Berg River to simply sit and stare as it burbled past.

The Berg River, We could hear the Fish Eagles calling.

After getting the tent up in a howling gale, we decided not to braai as the wind was just too strong and would put the fire out before it was lit.

Nicely set up and ready to do........nothing! (Pic thanks to Rob)

We had booked for three nights, but we ended up staying for five. It was peaceful and quiet and for us wrinklies, the best part was the fact that no under eighteens are allowed, so it is for mature campers only! Our Malmesbury friends came for a lunchtime braai one day and every evening we walked around part of the farm. They grow olives and courgettes for the local market and their olive oil is delicious with a lingering taste of freshly mown grass. The dam is home to two Egyptian Geese mums and their combined tally of fourteen babies, all bobbing about together and Alfie finally made friends with the farm dogs.

Look carefully and count!!(Pic thanks to Rob)

And then we moved on! Read on!

Darling Olives in June!

Yesterday we were forced to go on a trundle. The problem? We were without power for the day as some major additions and adjustments were being carried out on our power here in Jacobsbaai.
So, unable to vacuum, do the ironing, bake or do anything else constructive, I reluctantly agreed to leave the dusting for the day and allow Rob to buy breakfast and lunch followed by an ice-cream for afters!! We loaded Alfie and his ball into the car, dodged Basil who was quite keen to come with us, and headed off inland.

Our selection of olive products, yum!!

Our first stop was the Olive Farm and shop in Darling. We have bought their products for years now and loaded the car with a five litre can of oil, a large bucket of pitted, broken olives (wonderful for baking muffins and bread and takes the fiddle out of eating them), two bottles of flavoured oil, one garlic and one chilli, some olive pesto and two jars of marinated olives. That should keep us going for a while and once the oil is finished, the can will make a welcome addition to our collection of tins and things. Alfie was very good and sat while we tasted the new infused oils.