FLOODS, SEEDS AND OTHER WEIRD STUFF

Boy have we had a week! We had floods on Sunday, with the rain running through our bedroom. This resulted in no loss of belongings just piles of washing! Towels by the dozen, and….well it rained on my huuuuge ironing pile. So I had to wash it all again. The universe’s hint…hey Sue, how about doing some ironing, huh? Well I finished that round of washing and drying on Tuesday evening.

Then came Wednesday, when I made the decision to re-install our dishwasher. I haven’t been using it as it gobbles water and electricity and it just didn’t feel true to our principles. Well I’ve had a guts full of dirty plates and cups and bowls and well, honestly I’m exhausted… So I thought, for now I need a bit of extra time in the day and I can save the better part of an hour if the dishwasher does the washing up. (Yes I timed it :o ) )

Anyway we bring it in from the store room, and I proceed to get it connected and for some reason the connection wouldn’t tighten. So I called John and asked for his strength in doing it. Well, then came flood number 2. The pipe in the wall just burst it’s end off! The kitchen and lounge were an inch under water within 5 minutes. We managed to turn the water off for the whole property, but then had to wait a day for the plumber, so borrowed water from our neighbor. But as at now the dishwasher is working and helping me immensely!

But from that little episode, came another piiiilllle of towel washing! Which was finished finally this morning, when, you’ll never believe it, the washing machine hose, just slipped out of the outlet, flooding the bathroom with water! But I set my mind to it and those clean up towels are now washed and dried.

Our pool vacuum has just given up the ghost so we are now shopping for a new one, preferably one that’s a little more reliable.

Hopefully life can commence as usual now and the water will just behave!

Other than that I’d like to share our garden news with you. Our winter lettuce is pretty much finished now and we’ve left it to go to flower and then to the seed stage. If you’ve never seen a lettuce flower then here is a pic for you, isn’t it beautiful?

Beautiful Lettuce Flowers

Then we’ve planted more seeds of course as we do regularly, in the hope of abundant food, the hope is usually dashed by a storm or high winds, but we love the process so keep it at none the less! We don’t eat any animals or fish, so one of the plants we needed is a chickpea plant. Well our nursery thought I was daft and said they had no clue. I was unable to find seeds, so being as stubborn as a mule, I went to our look grocery store and bought chickpea sprouts, supposedly for salads and stuff. Well I warmed then and wet them and nursed them and now look….

Chickpea Seedlings

We have chickpea plant seedlings! There are about 10 of them so lets see how it goes, if it works then what that means is we have a “faux meat” plant!

And then on a seriously light note….here’s a really good reason to be patient, if you have rocky soil, and put it through a garden sieve (which we have believe it or not)! Most of our carrots are pretty straight but this one was just bizarre….StJohn pulled it out and his face was just filled with wonder. Of course I told him the Gnomes did it, the mischievous ones, that sleep under the gem squash bush next to the carrots.

Twisty Carrot

Hey who knows maybe they did?!

Blessed be this weekend, Sue.xx

Filed under: Bio-Dynamic Gardening, HOMESTEADING, Homeschool on November 21st, 2008

3 Responses to “FLOODS, SEEDS AND OTHER WEIRD STUFF”

  1. Mandi, on November 22nd, 2008 at 5:45 pm Said:

    Hi Sue,
    I always look forward to reading your blog. We are a family in Johannesburg that will also be homeschooling from Jan/Feb next year. My 2 girls aged 6 and 10 are out of themselves excited (me too). I too have started growing chickpeas. I bought the dried organic chickpeas and put them into soil to see if they would germinate. Sure thing, on my kitchen window they started to sprout. Seems like they flower along the leaf and the chickpeas form after the flower, almost like a fern. We also have a problem with slugs, parktown prawns etc. and have also had weather to deal with. All things considered, at least we try our best.
    Have a great weekend,
    Mandi

  2. Jim, on August 22nd, 2009 at 10:25 am Said:

    Interested to see that you have a garden sieve. I’ve tried everywhere but cannot find one. Where did you get it.
    Regards
    Jim

  3. Sue, on August 23rd, 2009 at 10:29 am Said:

    Hi Jim

    We purchased our sieve at Chapmans Hardware in Noordhoek, Cape Town. It is sturdy and has stood up to all sorts of abuse!

    If I remember correctly it only cost about R100. We get a wide variety of goodies at our local hardware that are made locally, and I haven’t seen elsewhere. They seem to stock things that appeal to most of the rather odd residents out this way!

    Hope that helps!

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