April

(First of all, these photos aren't in any particular order, I'm not going to fight with Blogger!!)

Reiniers cousin Maurits has a game farm nearby Thabazimbi. Reinier writes computer programmes for him which help run the farm. He had to go there for another meeting, so we decided to make a weekend of it.

It's always nice being there, enjoying the peace and quiet.

My little tree hugger. This is a baobab.

The farm house. We stayed in the flat to the left. There are also hunting camps which would be great for a group of friends!

the little flat we stayed in. Loved it.

Waiting for the men to come home from their meeting. It was at another farmers farm.

 open the gate!

We went for a nice walk. Its quite strange just walking past sables, wildebeest and impala...

a puddle of water and a stick, he could've played here for ages!

he has to copy EXACTLY what Reinier does. Of course.

going for a game drive

there was a contractor called Henry there, he will be busy for the next few months 'ontbossing' (thinning out the undergrowth.) This is a massive job which costs alot of money and takes alot of time. 

for the mechanics out there - Henry has completely changed around the steering wheel and seat and gearbox, so that it looks like the tractor is driving backwards, but its actually going forwards...hope you get that?? Very clever.

Maurits specialises in unusual breeds. These are black impala's. (rooibok)

 and golden Wildebeeste

 Sables (swartwitpens)

 Buffalo

 doesn't that look strange?

 My father-in-law also has a few Sables on the farm. These two are his 'babies', too cute!

 baby Sables

 we got 50mm of rain Friday night! Very thankful for that, it is so dry in this region.

 Snoekie had 9 puppies! Joshua and I watched them being born. Its hilarious to hear how Joshua explains it all... ;-)

The breed's name is 'blue-tick' or American Coon Hound. Really good tracker dogs apparently!

 I love wandering around and looking at all the farm equipment.

Tick. The daddy doggie.

 "Karretjie Mense". Also quite common in the area. These are probably just locals, but you still get the genuine 'karretjie mense' who drive from farm to farm looking for work. 

We've gone all hippy and healthy in our household. Its nice that Reinier really enjoys experimenting in the kitchen too, and is all into organic food etc. We drink these smoothies every morning: milk / yoghurt / mixed seeds / spinach / banana / scoop of wheat-free cereal. Yummo! Even Joshua drinks it!

So I've seen these Quince fruits at the markets quite often, but never bought one. Then I was inspired by Tash from Little bit of Thyme. I googled around and found this recipe. It is quite time consuming, but worth it in the end! Quince is a strange fruit, sort of a mix between an apple and a pear, and it cant really be eaten raw, its very hard.

After cooking it for a long time, it turns a deep orange colour...

which then sets like a jelly. Delicious with cheese on crackers, or with anything you like!

Joshua really is the easiest eater in the world. At two years old, he enjoys spinach smoothies, sushi, and well, actually anything! (except noodle salad, how weird is that!) Here he is helping himself to sprouting seeds out of my seed grower thingy. At least they don't get wasted! (excuse his mis-matched jaamies!)

 njom njom...