Innehållsförteckning för Summer 2022/2023 från go! Platteland

“Just like it’s an art to make a cigar, it’s also an art to smoke one,” Jaco says. “The first thing you need to know is that a cigar is fire-resistant. Do not be embarrassed if it takes you up to 10 minute to light it – the aromatic oils will turn against you if you try to take a short cut and light it too fast. Besides, it’s part of the ritual.” You don’t have to smoke an entire cigar in one sitting. “When you’ve had enough or the cigar has gone out, blow air into it three times as if you were blowing into a trumpet. Lightly rotate the cigar against the edge of the ashtray and tap it gently to break the ash off evenly. Before you…

WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Write to us and tell us about your move to the platteland or your dreams of doing so, the characters in your town, the things you love… or the things that bug you. Go to platteland.net and click on“English”and then“Contact”to write your letter, or send an email to helloplatteland@gmail.com, or post it to Platteland Letters, PO Box526, Moorreesburg 7310. Include your name and surname and, importantly, the town where you live. Plattelandreserves the right to edit and shorten letters at our discretion. So we paddled through the dam wall winning letter I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article about Vanderkloof and the Vanderkloof Dam in your Spring 2022 issue! It reminded me of a canoe trip I did with my four brothers and a friend…

There’s no reason the heat of an African summer should put you off the thought of a cuppa. The Bluebird team has come up with a range of innovative ways to enjoy your coffee even in summer. Katie shares these two: • “For the past four summers, we’ve been having Sprojays in the office – it’s espresso with orange juice and ice. Choose a bag of our Migoti Hill Natural or Primavera Family Coffee, make an espresso, add orange juice and ice, and voilà!” • “If you don’t have an espresso machine at home, we also love filter coffee with ice. The simpler, the better.” WIN One lucky reader will win a subscription box from Bluebird Coffee Roastery containing two speciality coffees and one secret“Blue Bag”coffee, valued at R309. Go…

Facial Hydrating Oil (30 ml) R345 Oil Milk Cleanser (200 ml) R438 The Balm (40 ml) R345 Skin Creamery’s skin products contain organic plant oils such as baobab, jojoba, Kalahari melon seed, marula and prickly pear. Skin Creamery skincreamery.com Mini Christmas-tree ornaments made of scrap wood R80 each Gerhard Woodcrafts gerhardwoodcrafts gerhard_dupreez@yahoo.com Fig Liqueur made with fynbos honey and fig leaves (750ml) R300 Darling Honey darlinghoney.co.za Drink infusion with dried fruits and spices for gin, water or iced tea (party box with 10 packets) about R100 Mooihoek Strawberry Farm mooihoek.com and selected SPAR stores Tall gin glass R86 Woolworths woolworths.co.za Short glass R45 Mr Price Home mrphome.com Seagrass hanging planter (22cm high) R170 Mr Price Home mrphome.com Natural Sunscreen SPF30 with Aloe ferox and argan oil R290 Bytjie Salf www.bytjie.com Straw hat…

No one will ever know what went through the mind of Valiant the ram when he lowered his head and “playfully” butted the woman who loved him. Ruminants are not as dof as their reputation suggests, so perhaps some of the neurons in Valiant’s little sheep brain were misfiring on that day in 2013. Whatever the explanation, the result was both painful and messy. As Valiant rushed towards her, Heather instinctively put out her right hand. “The impact bent my thumb completely backwards, breaking it badly and tearing tendons and ligaments.” By the time she saw a specialist, it was too late to reattach the tendons and ligaments, so the thumb was fused. “Next, one of the pins in my thumb started to come out and went through a nerve…

At Grootbos Private Nature Reserve’s Hannarie Wenhold Botanical Art Gallery you can admire the remarkable detail of fynbos flowers captured in 124 botanical illustrations. GROOTBOS, Overberg Amonument to plants The team at Grootbos Private Nature Reserve has been conserving and rehabilitating the indigenous vegetation of the Overberg coast for 24 years. Now, the reserve has introduced a world-class florilegium* – a book containing a collection of botanical art and nature observations – a first in Africa, as well as the first botanical art museum in the southern hemisphere. With more than 922 fynbos species, Grootbos is one of the most diverse biospheres in the world. “We live in possibly one of the most beautiful floral regions on the planet,” says Grootbos co-owner Michael Lutzeyer. “We wanted to share it with…

Plant these herbs in a bed or in pots near your back door, stoep or entertainment area to deter mosquitoes and flies. Why spray insecticide if you can just plant herbs?…

Follow the guide below to time your planting according to the phases of the moon, and look out for the next instalment in Platteland #38, on sale from 28 February 2023. First quarter (Wed, 30 Nov, at 16:37) to full moon (Thu, 8 Dec, at 06:08) Full moon (Thu, 8 Dec, at 06:08) to last quarter (Fri, 16 Dec, at 10:56) Last quarter (Fri, 16 Dec, at 10:56) to new moon (Fri, 23 Dec, at 12:17) New moon (Fri, 23 Dec, at 12:17) to first quarter (Fri, 30 Dec, at 03:21) First quarter (Fri, 30 Dec, at 03:21) to full moon (Sat, 7 Jan, at 01:08) Full moon (Sat, 7 Jan, at 01:08) to last quarter (Sun, 15 Jan, at 04:10) Last quarter (Sun, 15 Jan, at 04:10) to new…

Menu – STARTERS – Olives and blueberries Hummus with garlic confit and olive oil crackers – MAINS – Coq au vin blanc (the most delicious chicken cooked in white wine) Pumpkin tart with caramel sauce – DESSERT – Chocolate cake with compote |and crème fraîche Olivesand blueberries Believe it or not, but salty olives and sweet blueberries are a winning combination as a snack; they’re as moreish as nuts or peanuts. Grapes and gooseberries go equally well with olives. Serves 6–8 Preparation time 5 minutes plus 1–2 days’marinating time YOU NEED THIS IS HOW Place the olives in a bowl and add the blueberries, olive oil and rosemary needles (or thyme leaves). Mix the ingredients gently using your hands, making sure the herb is distributed evenly.…

Cathedral Peak and the surrounding environments are important to me, as this is where my love of uKhahlamba – “the barrier of spears” – started. As members of the Durban Ramblers Hiking Club, we would hike these areas time after time, never tiring of the hills, cliffs, valleys, caves (our home away from home) and rivers. The seasons each had pros and cons, none of which dampened our spirits. We relished each challenge that the Berg subjected us to. Climbing up uMlambonje Pass, sleeping in Twins Cave, looking across the tops of the clouds below all the way through to Royal Natal National Park, or simply walking the valleys and sleeping in the Lower Berg caves… Being pelted by hail or frozen by snow was all part of the experience…

A firefly is not a fly – it is, in fact, a beetle that undergoes metamorphosis shortly after the eggs hatch in January. This means in the southern hemisphere summer is the best time for firefly-watching, especially in the winter rainfall areas. The pupae transform into adult fireflies and glow during mating season to attract a mate. Handré Basson, a master’s student in entomology at Stellenbosch University, says fireflies are a lot more common in South Africa than we realise – we just don’t recognise them without their light. “If a layperson spotted a firefly during the daytime, they might not look twice because these insects have no defining features to discern them from other similar insects,” he says. “About 30 firefly species occur in SA, belonging to two subfamilies,…

WESTERN CAPE Mead tasting MAITLAND, CAPE TOWN 3 & 10 December 2022 Book your spot on one of Cape Town Meadery’s tasting days if you’d like to explore the unique flavours of mead, a fermented drink made of honey that’s as elegant as wine but with the creativity of craft beer. Tickets R120 at Quicket Contact capetownmeadery.com ernst@capetownmeadery.com 083 236 3244 CapeTownMeadery Coastal Foraging Experience with Veld & Sea SCARBOROUGH BEACH, CAPE POINT 10 & 11 December 2022; 7, 8, 21 & 22 January 2023; 4 & 5 February 2023 Discover what the sea has to offer by foraging for ingredients along the Cape shoreline with which to create a three-course meal. Remember to pack your water shoes, camera and plenty of sunscreen, and if you want mussels, buy a…

As an entrepreneur, placing your name on each and every jar and container and package that leaves your home industry requires limitless trust and pride – in yourself, in your products, in the people who work for you and, in Elana Bruwer’s case, trust in the quality of the fruit that your husband and other farmers in the Breede River Valley cultivate. But when you meet the pioneer behind Elana’s in the flesh one Friday morning, she doesn’t strike you as a brand but rather as something between a cheerful, hard-working farmer’s wife and a funky 21st-century home-industry tannie. Although the Western Cape remains the most important distribution area for Elana’s products, her preserves, jams, sauces, cordials, olives and pickled vegetables – all with a long shelf life – are…

Archaeological evidence suggests that blacksmithing began about 3500 years ago, not long after an ancient group of Indo-Europeans known as Hittites created an empire in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). Although the Hittites had little more than fire and basic tools, they were able to forge crude weapons such as spearheads and arrows that would be attached to poles or sticks. A major breakthrough was the discovery that charcoal allowed a forge to burn hot for a long period, allowing blacksmiths to control the process and create more complex items. Then came steel, created by combining iron ore and carbon (generally from charcoal). Steel weapons inevitably replaced those fashioned from iron, which was sometimes too soft or brittle to be useful. During the medieval period, blacksmiths were central to village life and…

We had no idea what a revelation it would be: we didn’t know that a mouthful of smoke – slowly drawn into your mouth through the delicate folds of rolled tobacco leaves and then gently swirled over the taste areas of your tongue – could evoke flavours like honey, cashew nut and cherry… or citrus, cardamom and bread… or even moss and hay. For the record: Both of us Platteland editors are ex-cigarette-smokers who kicked the habit more than a decade ago. The revelation didn’t occur at El Floridita in Havana, Cuba, where Ernest Hemingway used to hang out. And it wasn’t a Fidel Castro impersonator or a reincarnated Winston Churchill who introduced us to the finer points of smoking a cigar. Nor was it the legendary Graciela Gonzalez, aka…

This time of year there’s nothing more pleasant than sitting outside in the shade of a tree, gathering around a campfire or just lolling about on the stoep when the worst of the day’s heat has passed. But as soon as you put your feet up flies descend on your cheese platter and mosquitoes start buzzing around your feet. Here are three hacks from Pinterest for repelling them using herbs and lemons from your garden. DIY I Table decoration This is a practical plan for a table decoration, a source of light and fragrance, and a bug repellent all in one. You probably have most of what you’ll need in your home. YOU’LL NEED WHAT TO DO Slice the lemon or orange and arrange the…

Zigi says… This raised planter box with crates is a great solution if you’d like to have your own small kitchen garden that’s protected against the elements. Garden chores are easier because you don’t have to bend or kneel, and you can move the planter if necessary. Gardening is supposed to be a relaxing pastime! * Our DIY planter box is a replica of one we saw in Adriaan and Louize Mocke’s lovely garden in Swellendam. Geteverythingready SHOPPING LIST • Five 38 mm-thick x 76 mm-wide x 3 m-long treated pine planks (R375)• Three 350 mm x 530 mm x 290 mm plastic stacking crates with vented sides and base for drainage (R70 each at Mambo’s = R210)• One packet (60) of 4 x 75 mmscrews (R30)• Four 4 x…

MENU – STARTER – Chilled beetroot soup – MAIN COURSE – Moroccan chicken pie Eggplant involtini Roasted pepper salad Minty summer salad with yoghurt dressing (optional, recipe on page 137) – DESSERT – Chocolate tart with mixed berries – FOR LATER – Last-minute Christmas cake Chilled beetrootsoup This light soup is the perfect vegetarian option. We love the recipe for its vibrant colour and robust flavour.You can prepare the soup in advance and serve it hot or cold. Serves 6–8 Preparation time 15 minutes Cooking time 1 hour YOU NEED • 1 large onion, chopped finely• ½ teaspoon (2,5 ml) Ina Paarman’s Green Onion Seasoning• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) canola oil• 4–5 medium beetroots, scrubbed• 2 large carrots, scrubbed and chopped coarsely• 3 celery sticks, sliced• 6 cups (1,5ℓ) hot…