For those of you, treasured readers, who have always looked to EcoStreet for green titbits (I love that word) of the British variety, but have noticed that the flavour has been distinctly African of late, here’s a belated explanation for you.
Although I spent 13 years in England (which is where I was living when Nikki* and I started EcoStreet back in 2002), I am South African, Capetonian to be precise. It took me a while (and several holidays that included long-haul flights and associated guilt and carbon credit purchases), but I finally persuaded my dear English husband that moving our brood to sunny South Africa was the right thing for us to do. And so that’s what we did, just a little over a year ago.
We now live in Cape Town and since our arrival a year ago, we have:
- acquired a house built sometime in the first 1/3 of last century in desperate need of some TLC and retrofitting for sustainability (it also has a great view of Table Mountain, see above)
- adopted two rescue dogs of the Africanis variety
- got our kids into lovely schools (almost as difficult to do as it is in England)
- started an organic food garden (we moved in to our new house 6 weeks ago and it’s winter, so we’re not in full swing yet)
- got our bearings (thanks to the super friendly green folks we’ve met in Cape Town) and discovered organic food markets, organic veg box and CSA schemes, community gardens, restaurants, cafes and farmstalls where we can get our hands on seasonal, local and in many cases organic or biodynamic produce while we wait for our own garden to start producing as much as we can eat, and
- met a whole bunch of really fantastic green-minded folks (referred to above) who have enriched our lives more than they could probably ever know.
So here we are. EcoStreet is going strong, I’m in Cape Town and Nikki (*my sister, EcoStreet partner & the hip-geek who makes EcoStreet look beautiful and work properly) is still back in Old Blighty doing what she does best (and that includes working on a new look for EcoStreet that I’m super excited about, watch this space).
I hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve been getting from me lately. There’ll be more of the same coming your way, it won’t be exclusively African, I will be keeping it green, and expect to see more about how we’re adapting to living green on this side of the equator. It promises to be an exciting journey.
Last word: thanks so much for reading what I really enjoy writing! 
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Comments:
Hi Tracy. I’ve seen you pretty active on muti, and it’s nice to hear some background. Keep up the greenstuff!
Well done you, l wish l had your guts, left SA in 1979 and live in Scotland, great here but not the same as SA. my roots are too deep here children and grand-kids are Scottish and, like you, l am a organic grower so your “green in SA” blog is of great interest to me.
Keep on writing/blogging green and be aware that there is a whole (green) world outside Cape Town except for not always so organic wines (where most of the South Africans and lots of overseas visitors go for)
Enjoy Life
(Our Life is full of cactus but we don’t sit on it)
Herman & Yvonne
Herman & Yvonne´s last blog ..Life Skills in Robertson, South Africa
Thanks for the positive comments folks, much appreciated.
@yzerfontein: Thanks for the muti submit.
@colin: I was an organic allotmenteer in Surrey, what sort of growing do you do?
@Herman & Yvonne: Keen to come and see what you guys are all about.
Hi, well l lived on a farm in East lothian and the farmer allowed me to cultivate a piece of waste ground, lt took two years of hard work to clear it and two crops of potatos before the soil was ready for seed-beds. Because l was working on a low salary we decided to grow vegetables as an income supplement and divide the garden in two, one part to grow vegetables which we could eat right away eg salads, lettuce, radish, new potatos, spring onions, and cabbage, the other half devoted to crops which we could store in the potting shed or freeze eg. turnips,parsnips,main crop potatos,carrots,onions and so on.
We had locally, a church run, “Sunday market” where people brought in their products/produce and sold them to the public minus a tenth which the church took, it was called “Teas n crafts” and so popular that most of the best stuff was sold in the first half-hour(Something to start in Cape Town?). among organic enthusiasts, it could be great social event as well!
@colin I love the idea of Teas n Crafts, and wow, 2 years, isn’t it amazing how gardening teaches patience.
Hi again, For something like “Teas n Crafts” all you need is premises,( church hall) it’s always a good idea to involve an charity element after all they will benefit by receiving 10% of the proceeds.
Each member is alocated a number which is stuck on each item for sale, numbers are then recorded at point of sale and the exibiter paid at the end of the month,–easy peasy. There should be a good “Mix” of products,eg. fresh produce and bakery products sell better than hand-knitting, though profits higher in the latter.
Why would l recommend this? because during a ressesion people will always look for a side-line that will make an extra buck, encourages small growers/and arty-farty people to exibit their wares, and, the public will always look for bargains, fresh home-grown produce.
Two years? well not quite, we had a dozen laying hens and they occupied the plot for the first year,—surprising how much damage hens can do to weeds! then we grew two crops of potatos, there is nothing better that potatos to clear a dirty plot as the green canopy suppresses weed growth.
Its great to have you here.
I’ve hooked up to your work, let me know if its good karma?
All good Haroun, thanks muchly!
Well done on returning to South Africa when so many are leaving. I love South Africa. Good luck with the garden and your green endevours.
Teresa Schultz´s last blog ..Signs and traffic on the N2 near Hemingways
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