الرحمن
الرحیم بسم الله
In
the name of Allah most Gracious, most Merciful.
16 March 2014
iLABS has moved to Schaapkraal. I lament. I
should have started writing earlier; I could have started this blog sooner and
shared our doings or started a conversation, maa mushkilah. Our efforts at gardening organically are starting to pay off and the recycling component is great fun, planting in old baths and knocking holes in the bottoms of baked bean tins and milk cartons. We feed the earthworm box with vegetable peels and the rest of the kitchen waste in the compost heap. The weeds that we dig up are mixed into it as well.
So here we are on a 4000 sq m erf, trying
our best to create an environment that makes use of all the barakah that abounds
in this area and that we will learn more as the land teaches us humility and
patience. Eating the fruit of one’s efforts is certainly tastier and more
nutritious. In Schaapkraal there are so many schools: Qur’anic Sciences,
Tahfith and Qiraat, rehabilitation centres, stables, wedding venues, martial
arts school, Tibb centre etc. Schaapkraal is abuzz!
As the azure blue of the sky streaks with
dusty pink, the chill in the air heralds the initiation of autumn days. The
evening is still, a horse neighing in the background, children are being packed
into cars and the last Sunday afternoon visitors are homebound to check revision
and homework and sign journals for school tomorrow.
There is no greater feeling than working
the land; place cuttings into small black bags and seeds into trays. The heads
of new growth popping out is a feeling of satisfaction to know that in a small
way one has been a part of something profound. What I love most of this area is
the open heartedness, the bits of advice; a cutting of an unusual plant; the
bartering and exchange of supplies. A few sheets of corrugated iron may bring
you an endless supply of horse manure. Some space in the garden for storing
plants and bushes may fetch you some benches and a bunch of strelitzias and
some buchu. An old wooden vegetable crate that would land in the rubbish heap;
a gate with a few slats missing; a drive down to Nyanga Junction to buy second
hand cobbled stones and my day is made.
A
visit to the Rabbit King’s hole where there is an
endless supply of charming window frames and architraves, used garden paving, a
charming farm table and old oak wine barrels to plant in, all at very, very
reasonable prices. The Rabbit King is always open to bargain. “Ai, mon ami, this
sandstone bath looks quite battered, what would it cost me to take it off your
hands?” My haggling skills have improved thus. |
| Curry leaf settling in |
Off we went on a reconnaissance mission: where to find compost and manure to enrich the somewhat deficit soil. With bags of compost and potting soil loaded on the bakkie we made our move. Patiently, we placed some seedlings of salads, herbs, tomatoes, brinjals, peppers and chillis. We scratched amongst our “seeds of love” packets ( a gift from a noble traveller, taking clean seed all over the world, from the Chiapas to Bangladesh to Schaapkraal), beseeching Allah SWT to send His Rahmah and make the seeds come to life.
Some transplants from our old home: chives,
basil, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme and we had a bit of a garden going. I
rummaged through my husband’s art things for paints and brushes to give our old
pots a makeover. A few of the old herbs in pots hosted fat earthworms and so
they had a new home – a long flowerbed. We planted the seedlings and sowed seed
late Asr, breaking for Magrib and back to the garden. The following week we
found another patch under a window where some remnants of flowers had lived
once upon a blue moon.I still had a few plant pots up my sleeve, some lemon grass, some basil mint, French lavenders and we created some structure. In between we planted white and red petunias and mulched it with a neighbour’s straw. Two weeks of love and care and lots of watering morning and evening and that bed too was lush and colourful. In January we planted some hanging fuchsias and the shades of cerise gave the flower bed its full majesty, Thank you my Rabb.
Don’t forget to plant food and not just
lawn.
Yasmine Jacobs
Yasmine Jacobs
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