Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.

In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful.

11 December 2014.

 

 

 Alhamdulillah, as the year comes to a close, I do a mental check. It’s IPSA's final Thikr and handing out of reports this evening; studies under control; Gourmet garden doing fabulously; The kitties are darling, so irresistible and naughty; Yay! Our iLABS e-newsletter (though a bit late of last term) is now on-line and furiously working on final edition. Have a peak the link is at the bottom of the blog.

 

I have visions of kicking off my gumboots; buying pretty summer dresses; strolling the beach; early morning swims; cool fruity summer breakfast and friends over for interesting conversation and no work – except in the garden.

Was the Stewardship module on the Enrichment course fruitful and interesting? Absolutely! The gourmet garden sports some handsome looking lettuce and basil and mints and lavender and everything that the students planted except the butternut seedlings that drooped and dried. Wethinks it may be the pretty ginger kittycat. The veggies and herbs are already finding their way onto sandwiches and cool spritzers. The IPSide Edge Blog is beautiful and interesting and the calligraphic paintings are so comely they will be exhibited tonight with the garden lit up with fairy lights. I do so look forward to the 2014 students handing over the gourmet garden to the new Enrichment students of 2015 as an amaanah inshaAllah.

Closer to home, the gardens are doing well, Thank you Allah. Though the wind has tugged and teared at the trees with some loss of small fruits, a solitary pomegranate stands in the midst of the blossoms blown off. The white fig tree has numerous little figs, alas not enough to make some konfyt. The chaste trees are starting to flower and we look forward to the berries which mind you is good for infertility, prostrate cancer, menstruation and menopause.

The sweetpeas then

The flower beds need some clearing up as the poppies are done blooming and heads harvested for seeds to plant next year. The sweetpea pods are dried on their stalks, waiting for us to harvest and store. The delphiniums are blooming in all tones of purples, a few Peruvian lilies have bloomed and a bright pink Barbeton daisy has graced our stoep. I strew cosmos seeds along the border close to the wall and maybe in a week or two we will have flushes of pink and white. In the meantime I seeded some snapdragon seeds in punnets also for summer colour.



I harvested about a lunch box filled with flaxseed and there are still many ears of it in waiting, one day at a time, Yasmine. Many artichoke heads have made their appearance and small small cucumbers hang on creepers. Water melons are sizeable and I cannot wait to harvest them for cooking and konfyting. The butternuts are so well formed and the squash, dark green and thick skinned will be cooked tonight still.

Wolverine Then

Wolverine now

Leo and Wolverine are growing so Ma shaAllah – and lekker stout! They strut around with me when I pick fruits and veggies. And at night after they have eaten, at Magrib they run around the entire property.

There we stand pssw pswws. They come closer and the moment we want to pick them up off they bounce again. They love the strawberry patches and I thought they may have a penchant for berries but they just brush up against it so they smell like ripe strawberries when they want hugs. And very late at night and early in the morrow, they frolic and slide down the passage on the magic carpet.
 

I love that many friends and family are buying plants as gifts, for weddings, end of year gratitude presents, Christmas presents, and presents to bribe teachers with. How cool is that? A small wooden crate with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (like in the Beatles song). I got the idea when my friend Athalie gave us a gift like this when Abu and I got married, thanks again Athalie.

rosemary and sage

So ja, it works perfectly when one wraps a bit of pretty tissue paper and some cellophane around the plant! Imagine that guests receive gifts at a wedding of a small herb pot plant, just plain awesome to encourage to start planting food.

So plant food and give plants as gifts.

Yasmine

Link for iLABS e newsletter :iLabs Newsletter 2 sept2014 sm

ps. finally an electric blue delphinium!