Good morning ! After rain comes shine.. and it did.. all of a sudden, after the heavy rains the sun came out.. and although in Cape Town the temperatures reached into the 25's, it was slightly more modest in the Valley, where the max. temperatures were in the lower twenties, but, for winter it was quite an amazing period ! And this lasted all of 2 weeks ! Totally different and absolutely lovely, winter in the Western Cape is nothing like winter in Holland at all, its not an everlasting grey period with chill, cold and nasty weather, but interspersed with 'summery' conditions.. And.. while the beautiful weather persisted, 'up north' the Dutch were experiencing extremely wet, cold weather, hmm.. ;-)
So working outside was all of a sudden a pleasure and even painting was possible again, which we did.. We finalized the painting of the walls of the guest cottage, and the plumbers came (I really really tried, but could not figure it out) and installed the solar geyser on the roof, this time WITH electrical back up.. Found out that going 'only' eco and off grid is a great goal, but not entirely comfy when cloud cover persists and results in having to bathe with cold water all the time.. (!) The electricians will come to morrow and connect it to the grid, a special control will be installed inside which will easily facilitate hot water either from the sun, or from the grid, and most of the time from the sun only !!
Painted and fresh, geyser on the roof, water system in place, and now on to the next step, the septic tank. A long 30 meters ditch had to be dug towards the meadow, where the tank was sunk into. Bacteria will 'digest' the solids, and the overflow into a 'french drain' will put the remaining, 'grey' water, back into the land..
Washing machine- and bath water wil flow back into the garden. Water from the sink will join the water in the septic tank. Not a drop of water will be wasted the way it's all installed in this cottage.. At a later stage a nice rain water tank will be installed between the kitchen door and bathroom, so for cooking and drinking, fresh water 'from the sky' is available.. no chemical additions, but very pure, as nature intended.. and the TASTE !!! Delicious !
The entire farm, by the way, is not connected to the municipal water, but all water is piped down from 'my' river and well, situated halfway towards the top of the property, and gravity fed to where the cottages are ! Not quite 'white' but drinkable and very usable, and not polluted !.. No energy whatsoever is being 'wasted' to provide any of the cottages or the land with clean, potable water at all.. the word ECO on this farm is not just a word, but being put into action as much as possible, and as much as budget allows... Some examples.. the 'main' part of the cottage is left in tact, and consists of mud brick, built many years ago. The beams supporting the roof come from the property itself. The addition was built from cement blocks, made and pressed just down the road, the geyser sourced locally and 'proudly South African' and the pebbles for the terrace, delivered by truck (sorry) come from a quarry only 15 km away..
2 x 10 m3 of pebbles, from the local quarry, being delivered for the parking lot, and the terrace.. No "Italian marble" in the house anywhere ;-) We're back to basics here..
The bathroom is also taking shape and has the necessities to make a stay comfortable and perfect.. Bath/shower, toilet and basin, what else does one need.. and all water will be re used ! LED lights will see to it that you're not left 'in the dark'... and consume as little electricity as possible.. not yet solar, but its a future wish ! On the left.. where once there was storage for bales of Lucerne for the horses, there is now a bathroom. Only when you built it yourself, do you find this an amazing feat !
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And then.. some time for R&R of course.. Great weather and great friends on the one day last week.. Linda, Katinka and Theresa visited for a day and we went for a ride, discovering one of the trails together, which proved to be very adventurous.. off we went, onto the property of the neighbor (800ha !) let's go girlzzz..!!! What a great day this was.. still remember it fondly..
From left to right.. Theresa on WhyNot, Linda on GaLaXy and Katinka on Buddy.
Gorgeous girls sharing a gorgeous day ! After the ride a great lunch out on the terrace..
A day just as I imagined it should be on the farm when I started it all.. not just work, but also fun. And fun was had by all.. amazing out ride, lovely company, good food and lovely wine ;-)
Last weekend the rains came back with a huge bangg.. and the wind !!! The property was being pelted by almost horizontal rains and we're back into winter all of a sudden.. What a shame.. Gini came all the way from Holland, and with some 10 riding lessons under her belt, we planned to ride out together, her very first out ride in her life ! The weather decided otherwise, so we had to stay inside unfortunately, but made it nice and cozy, sitting round the roaring fire..with a good glass of wine , of course, from the local winery !!! Thanks for visiting Gini, better luck next time hey !!!! And.. just now, the 26th of July at 07.15 am, for the very first time since my arrival in the Western Cape, 15 years ago, had to remove ICE from the windows of my car.. it has been freezing last night !!! Totally Amazing @!!
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