8 May 2014 - About a chameleon and a chaste tree

 

الرحمن الرحیم بسم الله

In the name of Allah most gracious most merciful.

Come a chameleon

 Welcome winter and goodbye mosquitoes and flies. Welcome rain and cool weather to work for hours in the garden. Welcome winter and shorter days but longer hours for ibaadah, for hot chocolate made with real chocolate and a sprinkling of cinnamon. But not welcome electricity outages, like today! More than 12 hours is a bit much ne!

Yesterday was woelig! Made samoosas for a friend; weeded the strawberry beds; did some washing and went to vote quite late – just before sundown. This was a first, in and out in 15 minutes. But it does not beat the buzz of queues of people mostly ones you have never met before, trying to guess who they will vote for, a bit of camaraderie, meeting the neighbours in your area and that feeling of satisfaction. Wish there was more of that when I made the samosas – “you only make for other people”. Boo hoo! So I made 100 more – eet en vra nie weer nie.

We have a ritual for nearly 20 years now – Abubakr buys me flowers and books and I write him stories. Our kids are going to have a field day when we have both passed on one day and they open the chests with letters. I must confess not to have written to him since the blogging (sad face).

poppies and nasturtium plants

The first flowers he brought home were Dutch irises - arms and arms full in shades of lilac and yellow and white. I was never really a lover of roses, well I do tolerate them when they are a part of a bouquet like peach coloured ones and purple irises; white ones with lavender or star gazers and so on and so forth. He introduced me to many kinds of flowers from lisianthus to delphiniums from Inca lilies to red sunflowers from chrysanthemums to St Joseph’s lilies, poppies, nasturtiums and tulips. Even planted me a wisteria bush that bloomed that same year, jaaa you don’t know him hy is a real romantic! We always have a gardenia bush. When it is lush with blooms there is lots of barakah and rizq but few buds dan is die pap maar dun. Just kidding!

Of late he stands there and says tadaaa! And in a brown bag would be seeds and corms and bulbs. A few days ago he brought home some vitex shrubs, guava trees and wild garlic and iris and ranunculus corms. Lekker opgemaak, I consider the new patch on the side of the driveway. My mind goes wild: the purple vitex and a row of French lavender and right on the curb some variegated wild garlic  and could go and get some bushels of St Joseph’s lilies from Abu’s aunt in Paarl and if I painted the wall white the purple will stand out so kwaai! And as I bend down to trim off the growth on the base of the shrubs – daar sit die chameleon, intertwined with the stem, batting his lids at me.

The children are as fascinated and wonder how to get it to roll out its tongue. Maybe catch a few flies and throw it up in the air close to it. Uit kom die camera, no flash please! Much better than kittens right? Gets its own food, keeps itself warm, and is quiet. But I’m sure it cannot compete with the affection, the beautiful purring, the nuzzling and the playfulness. Must not forget to get two kittens for Azrah as a bribe to plant in garden.

seeding for Cape of Storms pansies

Seriously, the moment I said OK we're now ready for kittens, my daughter opens my Organic Gardening book; checks what plants kittens like and bullies her father to give her some soil filled punnets for catnip seeds. Maybe I should do a blog – how to get your kids to love gardening too! Ja, in fact some ideas could be: offer a plate of sunkissed strawberries and blue berries. Then say: “Oh these ole things” just picked it a few moments ago.” Or “you know that electric blue pansies you love so much, I have some Cape of Storm seeds and a bed ready just sprinkle it around and like a magic you will have a carpet of blue and white”. But keep the promise! I am actually looking for two kittens and I have already planted out some mint and lemon grass for them. And then she says, “what about valerian?” en ek sê, “los maar vir Harry Potter”.




chaste tree and guava trees in centre

Before I planted the purple leaved vitex, I checked my pruning book and it is described as a chaste tree. What? Out comes the encyclopaedia. A chaste tree is described as agnus castus, a shrub or small tree related to the verbena.

So there you have it I am planting chaste trees of which its uses have been quoted as far back as The Iliad; monks use it to stay celibate and is excellent for women with PMS and menopause and for men who have prostrate issues. For more information checkout:
 www.exhibithealth.com/general.../health-benefits-of-chaste-tree-berry-67.

Plant seeds and try to keep all your promises.

Yasmine

5 May - Red sunflowers and heirloom seeds

 

الرحمن الرحیم بسم الله

 

5 May 2014.

This morning the sun seeps through and I am happy that we can shift the compost heaps, do some serious weeding and plant all kinds of exciting new plants. So as soon as the children have left for school, I whizz together some juice, yogisip, a carrot, half an apple, a handful of oats and a teaspoon of honey and sit down with my smoothie and contemplate the work in the garden.

Alhamdulilaa, how I love the rain in Cape Town, daai mot reentjie. It is constant like a drip system ensuring that the plants are watered deeply. But the wind that deposited the rain yesterday, was a bit hectic early morning ne, my plante was omgeklap. Especially the ones that were just loosely staked and the bottles with cuttings lay there all verlep.



Mikaeel

All the strawberry plants have recovered from the shock of transplanting and new leaves emerge from the core of the plant.  Now, to trim off all the floppy long leaves and allow it to stabilise. In the winter the plants and roots grow steadily and inshaAllah, if these plants do as well as last year we will have a bumper crop for the summer. I can just imagine my grandson Mikaeel running from patch to patch, eating until he can’t anymore. There are still quite a bit of plants and those we are putting in bags to pack in trays because there is no more space left to plant them, we’ll line them up against a sunny wall. Maybe we’ll plant some in deep gutters and to hang them on the walls.  To feed a family of four with this vita-packed fruit for next summer, now is the time to plant about 25 plants.







With strawberries one may plant onions and garlic, spinach or lettuce in between the furrows and
interspersed as good companions. But the best companion is borage. I have yet to use borage in salads though. It is also recommended to replant strawberries in new beds every third year to reduce the risk of disease. Strawberries can also be planted close to other berry plants like blue berries, raspberries and black berries, which also benefit from the onion family (alliums) close by. But enough already about strawberries.  We visited a project in Constantia, where we bought some clean seed – calabash, giant pumpkin and red sunflower. The way they plant the calabash is so exciting. Wattle wood poles are planted in two rows with a few knocked across on the top to form a canopy. The calabash plants are then trained to grow over and the calabash hang on the underside.  Most of the plot is covered with shredded branches, every path or open space.  So the wood chips are underfoot and trampled into mulch, clever ne!


I placed red sweet potatoes in water jars to encourage root formation and growth. The slips of 


planting turnip seeds

these plants are then taken off and planted deeply in rich soil, the heads should stick out. Any piece of stem in the soil encourages root formation too. Last year I literally threw peels into the garden and had quite a few sweet potatoes creeping around the beds. The pine apple top has good roots and is ready to be planted – did you know that pineapples are berries too? 

When I smell the perfume of the herbs in the garden it reminds me of Shakespeare’s garden in Johannesburg.  In the morning when Abu and I walked the children to school, we would continue walking briskly to the JHB Botanical garden. We’d walk right up a lekker steep hill and there, surrounded by a bay leaf hedge was the herb garden. An arena of herbs of all kinds, a solitary crab apple tree on a slope and a mini amphitheater in the centre.

Then we would walk through the most beautiful oaks and maples and gardens and back down towards the Emmerentia Lake where canoeists would be gliding their oars through the water and the ducks would mill around in the hope of a muffin crumb or two. By that time the gardens would be abuzz with joggers, walkers with their dogs and cyclists. Surrounding our house were many mulberry trees – passersby would help themselves to handfuls on their way to work, children would break off branches for their silk caterpillars and birds would feast on the topmost berries. Sometimes the kids and I would climb up to the tallest branches armed with plastic bags and pick ‘n eat. And I would freeze some to throw into early morning smoothies.

The compost is almost ready; I am so impatient to plant in the huge square crate. I have packed the base with stones for drainage and will line it with builder’s plastic so the wood won’t rot inshaAllah.The compost is really a huge saving for us, a cube can cost between R350 to R450. Without calculating the bags we bought, and we used at least five cubes already as well as about 4 cubes of manure and topsoil.  We have started to clean up and compost a border section at the gate against the wall. The soil just needs a bit of a dig over and then we will plant some wild garlic borders and some beautiful purple shrubs, maybe I should get some St Joseph’s lilies to complete that patch inshaAllah.

 

Saturday, we drove around in Schaapkraal, through little dirt roads and over hills. You will not believe the tracts of land filled with rows and rows of vegetables; it is such a beautiful sight – the bread basket of Cape Town. This prime farming land Subhanallah – I really hope that this land will continue to be used for farming and not to build houses inshaAllah.

 

Imagine this entire sector going entirely green and organic. Imagine training for aspiring farmers being available and support and resources made accessible. Imagine us sharing our seeds and boycotting all of the patented ones. Imagine the inheritance that you leave for your children and grand children are seeds. Imagine that!

Anyway,  grow and plant your own from seed. 

Hasta la vista compadres!

Yasmine

  

 

 

1 May 2014 – Kaalvoet op die chamomile.

In the name of Allaah most gracious most merciful

 

Guava trees with sour fig carpet

I hope you all have enjoyed the days off as much as I have. The weather has been excellent for Mayday celebrations, planting and walks. Subhaanallah! Yesterday some friends took us to a farm in Franschoek.

I have been talking about how I would like to espalier some fruit trees against a fence or wall. "Let us take you to see espaliered trees and much more, " they said.  “Roadtrip!” So off we went packing a large carpet some water and the rest we thought supples could be bought at farm stalls.

From the first moment we set foot to when we left just after Asr, we oohed and aahed- walking on avenues of wood chips and avenues of peach pip shells. We kicked off our shoes and stood shoulder to shoulder on Chamomile carpets and inhaled deeply, we were so heady we lay down to look up into the clouds. 

The creativity of the use of resources both natural and man made looked so easy and in place. I never realised that one could espalier so many trees - nurturing and training fruit trees over time. I always thought that it belonged in smallish gardens where one grows it against a wall of sorts. But here it was used to create spaces for inter-planting that was just superb.  So let me say no more and allow the pictures to speak for themselves, shukran Luqmaan for camera work!

Plant food and a chamomile lawn.

Till later

Yasmine


Grapefruits waiting to be picked




Are these gourds? Yep calabashes!

 

Man made frame with gourds













Greetings!

 

 

 

 

 

 



Koi ponds and lavender or rosemary

 

Espaliered fruit trees



Bees in lotus



Avenues of wood chips



Friends talking environment



Red hot chillies



Last of the raspberry season



Watch out granadillas over head



Drinking in the smell of chamomile



I thought I saw a sunbird

28 April – Alhamdulilah for 60 days of planting

In the name of Allah most gracious most merciful, who makes day change into night and who directs the changing of the seasons and who creates life from nothingness.

Ice cream bush close up

 So many vacation days, just when one gets into the work groove it’s another day off and everyone is unavailable. Don’t get me wrong – I love these chill days. As long as my work is done I can do late breakfast with family and friends; run over to the shop to get 4 Panini for R10 at you know where and grab some soft cheeses (brie, camembert and cream cheese with a bit of blue). Pick some rocket, cos, basil some salad tomato with a dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a sprinkling of yellow sugar and thyme – and you have a winner. A perfectly sound breakfast both nutritious and tantalising.

The weather is just perfect- someone is sanding a handle of a new bow; someone’s knocking nails in an easel; someone’s sunning herself on the garden bench with a book in hand; Moroccan music in the background. It does not get more poetic than this. But of course there is always work to do in the garden.

wigwam bed

Try as we might to plant strawberry plants in new beds there is still a sea of them. Even some beds that were allocated for vegetables has become strawberry beds with garlic, lettuce and spinach in between. We have planted out in trays and packets and made sadaqah to friends and schools and still the bed remains volumous.   I started planting out the onion seedlings both red and brown ones. The rocket crop is so delectable I have put in some more seedlings. The poppy plants are standing strong, though some in clumps because I just scattered them by hand a bit too randomly. The orange tree has new growth which means it’s settled in well as are the granadilla creepers and berry bushes. Talk about granadilla – the cuttings in the clone device (propagator) has taken root.

pea blossoms

I caught some basil seeds to store and wait patiently for the tomatoes to turn sunset red. The peas and beans are doing really well, climbing up wigwams and fencing and starting to bloom. Although the fruit trees are dormant for winter, there are so many healthy buds in waiting. The curry tree has a few new plants growing from the base, I will have to wait until they are strong enough to transplant them! I must remember to tell both Abu and Basil not to water the beetroot. It should be watered every 3 or 4 days, overwatering leads to lush leaves and small beets.

 

small curry trees

It’s amazing how this garden lures good company and new friends – met a couple originally from Jo’burg who came to visit with all kinds of offerings from compost to seedlings, a grapevine and other trees and a thresher for us to grind up branches and straw. Good conversation and welcome advice. Certainly Allah listens to our duahs. I think in the 60 days of gardening it’s starting to look like plants live here and what a feeling of blessing, Alhamdulilaah.

The spinach and celery stands lush and majestic, I look forward to the Ramadhan. Soup greens are growing abundantly and I start staggering everyday greens such as coriander and lettuce of all kinds. I am still looking around for plump fresh ginger to plant and it would be so oulik to find some fresh root turmeric and plant that too. Seeing that it has so many health benefits. I remember my Mom sprinkling some on a cut I had that would not stop bleeding. Apparently it may be useful in preventing blood clots as well as being great for bad cholesterol and staving off Alzheimer's Disease. But hey go gently, small doses over a period of time is better that one big dose. So have some in curries, rice, desserts and so on.

 We planted the potato seed in two baths which we tilted ever so slightly and put some big stones at the drain. Then covered the base about 5 cm high with rich soil and compost mixed with a bit of bone meal. We covered it with newspaper and watered in. Then placed the sods about 30 cm apart and covered it with about 7cm of composted soil and watered it for good measure, can’t wait for them to peep out soon inshaAllah.

The time does go quickly as the approaching winter - before you know it there is a nip in the air, the burnt orange sky starts turning magenta and the Muathin calls. Alhamulilaah for patient children; for beautiful weather; for 60 days of planting a garden; for good camaraderie in the trenches; for generosity of friends and family; for good health (maybe a bit of sore back now and then); for the rain that Allah sends; for small birds that chirp in the early morning; for the stable manure from neighbours; for Basil who works consistency; for insects who come and pollinate and help themselves to lush leaves and for so many things that cannot be described in words.

 

Plant food and don't forget to be thankful for small mercies.

Yasmine

 

 

23 April 2014 – The importance of books and pancakes

 

 

In the name of Allah most Gracious most Merciful

23 April 2014 - 00h09

When we moved to Schaapkraal I was a bit irritated with the outages. Not the outages itself, but the extended hours without electricity affect the supplies in the fridge and having a small geyser the water would be cold. Once a week for 8 whole hours sometimes, is a bit much by any standard. Being the practical person that I would love to be, I started keeping candles close by. Out came writing paper and pencils, books stacked on my table, bought a whistling kettle for tea and so on and so forth.

Last night was unexpected - at 8 pm in the middle of a conversation with the laptop, while Abu was making tea, we were rudely plunged into darkness. Someone complained – I have not prepared my new lesson yet! Abu picked up his favourite book of the week – Maqasid Al Shariah by Jasser Auda and I groped around for my spectacles and snuggled up to read some Lin Yutang, (The Importance of Living, published in 1937)  – by the kind light of the candle. As long as I know Abu he collects Lin Yutang’s books and he is always quoting little gems. I opened the book and from the first page, I was hooked.

Listen to how this delightful book is prefaced:
This is a personal testimony, a testimony of my own experience of thought and life. It is not intended to be objective and makes no claim to establish eternal truths. In fact I rather despise claims of objectivity in philosophy; the point of view is the thing. I should have liked to call it “A Lyrical Philosophy,” using the word “lyrical” in the sense of being a highly personal and individual outlook. But that would be too beautiful a name and I must forego it, for fear of aiming too high and leading the reader to expect too much and because the main ingredient of my thought is matter-of-fact prose… (and I smiled and I knew I am going to really enjoy reading the book.)

Let me whet your appetite a bit more – second page of the Preface:

If the professors of literature knew the sources of my ideas, they would be astounded at the Philistine. But there is greater pleasure picking up a small pearl in a trash can than in looking at a large one in the jeweler’s window. I am not deep and not well read. When one is too well-read then one does not know right is right and wrong is wrong… There is an unconventional way of studying philosophy- the incorrect way. Some of my sources are Mrs Huang, an amah in my family who has all the ideas that go into the breeding of a good woman in China; a Soochoo boatwoman with her profuse use of expletives; a Shangai streetcar conductor; my cook’s wife; a lion cub in the zoo …or any writer who does not kill our sense of curiosity in life or who has not killed it in himself…

And so I snuggled down deeply, specs perched on my nose and savoured a few pages leaving the rest for tomorrow, Aah is this not happiness? Try to get copy of any of the Yutang books– the beautiful cover kind, whose pages have turned yellow and reeks of history.

3.00 am The cold April winds have started and I am wide awake. Tomorrow the garden will need checking for progress of the peas and beans climbing, the compost has to be aerated. The washing takes a bit longer to dry and it is not necessary to water the garden as much anymore, come the rains and we can save a lot of water. I noticed that the run off tank needs fixing and although I take every opportunity to reuse water in the flower beds, we have to make more effort to conserve water.

 

 This cold weather makes one conjure up warm bakes and pancakes dripping with honey, baked banana flapped over and a squizz of lemon, hmmm. It’s amazing how the original recipes that we grew up with are always a winner, like the bread puddings and pancakes and doughnuts. Later I hope to be working with a colleague, marking and assessing scripts while a hot pot of tea is brewing. We will take turns to bake some pancakes and keep it warm under a glass dome. In a separate pan I would have already lightly fried slices of banana in warm butter; cut some oranges and lemons for garnish; warmed the honey and put aside some fine cinnamon sugar. I hope to make a chilli choc source that warms the senses and keep the sniffles away and finally whip some cream – actually that’s Abubakr’s job.

Pancake ingredients:

·         2 cups self-raising flour or 2 cups cake flour with 2 heaped teaspoons of baking powder
·         ½  teaspoon of salt
·         1 Tablespoon of sugar
·         1 teaspoon of finally grated nutmeg
·         1 large egg
·         1 heaped Tablespoon of soft butter
·         1 ½ cups of milk
·         About 2 to 3 cups of cold water

Method

1.       Sieve flour and add salt, sugar and nutmeg.
2.       Rub in softened butter.
3.       Make a well in the middle of the flour and add egg and milk.
4.       Stir until it is a thick batter.
5.       Water off to a runny consistency with half a cup of water at a time.
6.       Warm a non-stick pan until fairly hot.
7.       Pour mixture from a ladle and twirl the pan with a fluid circular wrist movement to cover the inside base of the pan and bake until the edges are slightly brown.
8.       Lift and flip over and bake for a few minutes, it should be beautiful brown.
9.       Stack on top of each other and keep warm under a dome or on a plate over a basin of warm
water.

Baked banana: Slice some bananas on an angle and douse with lemon juice. Fry gently in hot butter, not too long or it becomes mushy. Set aside.
Chilli choc sauce: Warm a half cup of milk with a stick of cinnamon, some grated nutmeg and a red chilli – then strain it. Stir the milk mixture into dark chocolate melting over a hot double burner. And keep warm.

 

Lay a simple table with small plates, some knives and forks, a pot of tea and plonk down everything – allow everyone to make their own combination of sensations.

14h15. Waseemah and Safia have left and we made pancakes according to plan except for the chilli choc sauce which I will make later this week inshaAllah. Alhamdulilaah we had a wonderful morning, I made a new friend who shares many of the same passions from organic gardening to finding serenity in earth and soil. As an added bonus. Safia and her husband can certainly teach us more about many things – from planting olives and harvesting optimally to insights into growing artichokes. I loved the advice from Safia:  2 lavender sprigs boiled in a small pot of water for 5 minutes and cooled off is an excellent remedy for upset stomachs. Yay! I love lavender and what do you know, before we knew it there stood Abubakr met 5 French lavender en 5 English lavender plante. Waseemah started to giggle, the smell was quite heady. The day was done far too quickly. Our stomachs were filled with beautiful pancakes. Did I say we would be marking some scripts? I lied.

Thank you Allah for affording us all the barakah of the heavens and the soil and the goodwill and open heartedness of those who touch our lives.

Plant food and keep warm!

Yasmine

22 April 2014. Up close and personal

In the name of Allah Most gracious, Most merciful

 

22 April 2014

Whenever we start a new workshop series, a 5-month course or a yearlong certificate we spend time getting to know the participants and for them to get to know us and each other, (if they were meeting for the first time) taking our time so everyone gets comfortable. Then we negotiate rules of engagement.

The last round of introductions with a group of youth went something like this:

Please spend a few minutes chatting to your buzz partners and then introduce one another in the following way: Introduce your partner; an adjective that describes her/him; what are your partner’s goals are for this year and something about him/herself that was shared with you and can be shared in this forum.

As time was up I said Abubakr and I would go cold turkey  and introduce one another. Abubakr’s eyes said it all, round and wide and surprised but with confidence he starts out to say that I am his wife Yasmine (last time some students asked us where our respective partners were because they were worried that there was a vibe between us Abubakr Shabudien and Yasmine Jacobs – huge guffaws). That I am spritely (huh?), that my goal is to have us eat all of our vegetables solely from the garden and that I adore my grandson Mikaeel. I, in turn said that an adjective describing him would be astute or witty, his goal for this year could be or should be to get a car that we can all fit into and drive far up country and that he has sketched a hundred Madibas and sold a few in Washington. It was easier after that for the rest to start.

The fact of the matter is that when you teach something you must try to live up to it – so I interrogated myself about my goals for this year as I over-emphasise that niyyah (intention) and maqsad (objective) is what we need to put into place and realise and then the learning will be manageable and even enjoyable. So with the grace of Allah SWT, hoping they are smarter these are my gardening goals for this year:

1. to be able to get all of our food from the garden, albeit seasonal.
2.  to share this knowledge with as many people as we can
3. to be self-sufficient in terms of our own seed/seedlings and compost
4. to have success with the following crops: garlic, potatoes, granadillas and olives
5.  to learn to make cheese, pasta from scratch, croissants and phyllo pastry.

I know that all of my goals may not be realised for different reasons but hey, a girl’s got to set some goals. We should also realize that we can set goals but there is no certainty that those goals will be realized without the permission of the Almighty. The thing about goals is that it serves as reminders to ourselves of where we should be heading – to our ultimate goal.  It may different things for different people but for myself my ultimate goal is to refine my relationship and bond with my Creator and for my Lord to be pleased with me now and in the Hereafter. Having said that, every year I set out goals to make that goal and an action plan to temper myself and my nafs (ego). And to realize such a goal, one breaks it up into bite size pieces.

Over the years I have always set myself goals of new culinary dishes and desserts and ended up putting them together in a recipe book (it’s still being tested and edited). I have an overall goal to be fit, so I walk more and more briskly. I open and close the heavy gate and walk around the property many many times a day and aspire towards attending Tai Chi class again and finding a pool close by.

For me to realize the organic gardens to its full potential I have to continue to learn, to exchange, to read to discuss and to experiment. For example, to realize my goal for the potatoes, that are not planted in tyres or in bags but a crop in ditches in the soil, I developed my own seed potatoes and researched the best possible methods. I also need to remember that some goals need to be flexible or should I say smarter. We need the space for the strawberries so I will plant potatoes in the two baths instead.

So even if we are nearly in the middle of the year set yourself some goals; put it on the fridge, on the mirror, on your pc, on your phone to remind yourself. You will certainly be more focused and not sweat the small stuff.

 

But how does one know that the garden is complete or as complete as it can get for the season?

When sparrows fly low over ones head at dusk; a lizard suns itself on the warm path; seeds abundantly germinate; beans and peas reach out their tendrils to climb up the fence and the bees, bugs and butterflies flutter from flower to flower, and of course when children can have fun in the garden. It is that absolute space where nature and human endeavor meet to co-exist in order to create harmonious living whereby we can all benefit.

Stay in the mercy of Allah and plant trees. And set some goals.

Yasmine

20 April 2014. Ba is the beginning of Bismillah!

 

20 April 2014.

I have a very distinct memory of being eight years old, standing on the stoep of our home in The Dry Dock of District Six. It was my birthday and I had received 70 cents from my Uncle Boetie – a five bob and four five cent coins. A fortune considering that Star sweets were four for a cent and a packet of chips were two and half cents.

As I looked over the docks I could see a steamer being tugged in and a flotilla of boats scattered in the Bay. The tallest building was the Sanlam building which indicated the time digitally. It was an Indian summer’s day and I was considering which ice cream to buy – a two gun Charlie or an ice cream in a wafer shaped like a rocket with sprinkles on top. I was also considering buying a set of Ten jacks and a ball from the Sweeteries in Hanover Street and in my mind’s eye I could see jars and jars of candy – sugas and meetofbos and licorice ropes and sherbet and almond rock and amadia blokkies -the feeling of pure joy…

Fifty little birds came visiting on Thursday, so cute and fluttering, wearing sunhats sun protective cream! Eight and nine year olds with their teachers and parent support - enjoying the morning and left when the bell tolled 12 times.

It was exciting but so hectic, teachers of the Foundation Phase – take a bow! Zakiyyah you have the most amazing techniques of class control and it works! So we greeted, welcomed and chatted about the benefits and hadith of planting and how whenever we plant a seed with Bismillah we are performing an ibadah! I showed them the development of the lemon tree from a seedling to a “teenager” to an adult plant – I am sure that they are going home to cut open their Moms’ lemons to see whether the seeds look green enough to plant.
Zakiyyah explained too that in Australia many people plant lemon trees. When they fruit they are picked and put outside in brown paper packets inviting anyone to take them home and enjoy! I tried to imagine that in Schaapkraal, naaa let me rather not share my thoughts in public.
They lined up in neat little rows and we skipped over to the compost heap to see and understand how the manure, straw, garden and kitchen waste, wood chips and twigs all breakdown and turn into compost. Basil poked a stick right down in the middle a few times and when the steam came out we knew it was really cooking down there.

And over we traipsed to the strawberry section. Today especially for the children, butterflies flew around in all colours, browns and black and blue and speckled, alas someone caught a butterfly and broke its tender wings, accidently I am sure. So we let it flutter down to the sand where it would enrich the soil as well.

We broke off pieces of rocket, and either the children were really hungry or they dared each other - but many of them popped it into their mouths and asked for more. They were fascinated with the peas and beans climbing up the wigwams and the tomatoes hanging and then we made holes with our fingers and planted 5o spinach seeds. Ha, ha, ha lots of spinach for the Ramadhan! Planting marigolds to attract bees and butterflies to pollinate the plats really grabbed their attention. Ja, I said, the bees dip into the nectar and the pollen cling to their legs and off they fly to the next and the next thus pollinating all the flowers, without them we would have to do it by hand, so we need honey bees for both the vegetables as well as the fruit trees, but the fig trees are pollinated by fig wasps!

The also realised that almost anything can be recycled to plant in – from a tea pot with a chipped spout to old baths and catering trays.

The pupils licked their lips when I said that from all the strawberry plants we would harvest many strawberries and they promised to visit again to pick some. And then they had a snack and ran around until it was time for air kisses and goodbyes and poof, just like that they were gone.

The last week we  experienced all kinds of bugs, lady bugs, crickets, beneficial bugs and alas those bugs that has one running from room to room with buckets for sick ones. Remember to put the good bugs back to all of those who have had a bad tummy bug - the pro biotics.

Yesterday, I sat in a circle, a circle that was a halqah of Egyptian women who came with their children to spend the day relaxing running around and chatting. Although my conversational Arabic leaves a lot to be desired I could understand most of the talks and Thikr.

What a warm group of women sitting and encouraging one another to improve themselves and their relationship with Allah. I loved it, and felt blessed to be a part of this group. As we said goodbyes Um Khalid and I smiled and she said: "Yasmina, how else could it have been remember that we knew each other since the Arawaag!"

Don't forget to plant food and each one teach one!

Yasmine