I'm starting a market! / Mariella

I am starting a food market in Plettenberg bay. Our first day is on the 26^th September. An auspicious day, according to an astrologer friend. And I’m very excited! We have space for twenty stalls and we already have seventeen! Fresh local produce is our priority, but we also have healthy meat, delicious local cheeses, a bakery on the premises, pickles, preserves, healthy snacks, wholefoods, chocolate and safe cleaning products. The idea was to create a locally stocked super market.

Worldwide trends point toward more sustainable solutions to food production and with growing economic pressures, going local is a logical option. It keeps the money in the community, ensures small scale crop diversity which reduces the need for pesticides, gives local entrepreneurs an opportunity to supply on demand and also ensures that the food you eat is yummy, healthy and fresh!

It’s important to think about where the product comes from, what it’s made from, what its total environmental impact is. It’s great to buy organic fruit but when it comes from across the globe, there’s an enormous carbon footprint to consider. And this is really the point that we are trying to get across, everything you need is right here and if it’s not here yet, once you create the space for it, it will quickly appear!

I’m learning a great many things through this process, for example, cheese makers are very busy people! I’ve also learnt that it’s almost as impossible to get healthy beef off a farm which sells its meat through the usual avenues as it is to buy raw milk. I remember going into a health shop once and asking the lady if she had any for sale, she asked me if I was an undercover policewoman! This is serious stuff; the health of the masses is at stake, steak…either way they’d get their fingers burnt!

It’s helpful to remember that this is very much a cultural thing which can therefore be amended. In Europe, for example, it is considered sacrilegious to use pasteurized milk to make cheese. And most Eastern and African countries consume mostly raw milk. It is just a mindset and based on that alone, maybe it should be a choice?

That aside, I’ve learnt that free range chicken and free range pork often come from the same farm, if you know why please let me know! I’ve also learnt that starting a market is all about dealing with produce, and it is also all about dealing with people! I have learnt so much about making myself understood, which can only happen once I truly grasp what it is I’m trying to say! And do not underestimate this simple truth, we all too often have a sense of how we feel and react on that before we have properly assessed our emotions and motivations.

I am starting this Market with a business partner whom I know quite well, which is very different from very well! But this process has given us the opportunity to concentrate on the job at hand, to compliment one another’s strong points, and communicate clearly, a trait often tossed by the way-side in the face of familiarity. And of course we both have the same vision for our market: healthy body, healthy planet, it’s so simple when you see it like that!         

Wish us luck! We are embarking on an adventure filled with appetizing delicacies and apathetic emails, tasty discoveries and deadline decision making, hidden ingredients, restrictive regulations, entrepreneurs, introspection, produce, press, pressure, and a deep knowing that if and when we get this right, it's going to taste great!    

Home made gluten-free breakfast cereal

I figured out early in life that carbohydrates don’t suit me very well, but somehow I forgot all about that as an adult. There is just something about freshly baked bread when it’s still steaming and how the butter melts on contact and with a bit of cheese and…….You see, it became a soft spot. You can imagine how tough it was to give up carbohydrates again. But six months down the line, the health benefits are like hundreds of new puppies running around my body begging to be let out to play, work, think, create, enjoy, live! I can’t help but pat myself on the back for sticking it out, and encourage myself to leave the room when fresh bread comes out of an oven. 

Not always easy, I can tell you!

When you give up carbs and sugars, breakfast can be the largest hurdle to overcome. Usually I would have made one big smoothie for everyone, packed with dates, honey, banana and other super goodies. I would generally be hungry soon after and the sugar lows came sooner and sooner as the years went on. I found that starting my day with sugar was not working for me.

I have since, with the help of my very ingenious brother-in-law and his wife, also ingenious, come across a fantastically delicious, raw, filling, sustaining breakfast. The only downside is that you need an Oscar or similar food processer.

You mix together                                                                                            

linseeds,

macadamias,

pecan nuts,

walnuts,

almonds,

sunflower seeds,

goji berries,

chia seeds

and any other seeds and nuts you’re partial to in a bowl and send them through the Oscar.

Do this slowly, as the oilier nuts tend to clog up the Oscar.

It’s best to premix the ingredients as the linseeds and chia tend not to crush sufficiently otherwise. I find a ratio of 50% nuts and 50% linseeds works for me, but it depends on you, and your budget.

Once it’s all minced up by the processer, add a third fine desiccated coconut and mix well.

This mix can then be stored in the fridge for about a week at a time.

You can add it to your smoothies, or sprinkle some over yoghurt (see How to Make your own yoghurt) or you can have it the way I like to have it:

Add a spoon of whey powder, dry goat’s milk, sprinkle of stevia, dollop of coconut oil and hot water, stir it all into a smooth porridge and have that with yoghurt. It is so yum and I’m not hungry till lunch time!

Faeries in my garden!

Today I stand before you in awe! I am amazed, overwhelmed, utterly grateful, physically tired! And why? Yesterday I experienced the absolute privilege of having seventeen people and their children descend upon my vegetable garden armed with spades, forks, buckets and other manner of garden tool with intent to put their hearts and backs into doing what ever needed to be done until the sun went down!

You know those moments when you allow yourself to ponder on exactly how, if you had the time/resources, you would extend, alter and improve an area of your life? I’ve had that often, while standing in my vegetable garden. My husband and I have carefully considered things, done what we could and then left the rest of the dream for another day.

When our Permaculture group decided to visit our garden, I thought we could prepare things, adjust things, and change a little here and there in line with permaculture principals (which I am only just learning about). I had no idea that we would tick off every single item on my wish list! Many hands make light work and outside insight is so invaluable. And it’s fun! Who could fault a Sunday filled with fantastic company, great food and shared manual labour? This is the stuff real community living is made of.

Gardening groups are popping up all over the country and you don’t need to know something about permaculture to invite some friends around to work together in your garden. As long as you know that the time will come to work in their gardens too!

After the group left and the garden grew still and sleepy in the late afternoon light I had a moment to just be, in my new garden which suddenly looks more like a farm, and I realized that the spirit of friendship is magically fertile ground which allows for magical things to grow! The proverbial cherry on the top came this morning when I checked the planting guide, and read that fertile time for planting starts today!

Afrika Burns 2012

Afrika Burns is nothing short of a life affirming experience. It will press your buttons, stretch your imagination, test your survival skills, shift your perspective, work your muscles, boggle your brain, catalyze your creativity and expand your heart. And it isn’t confined to the desert, it sneaks out and hitches a ride back to civilization in your clothes and hair and mind. It sticks to you like dust, like revolution, like memories so good they make the bad memories run and hide! But what is it about this event that reconstitutes the way that some of us see the world?

Is it the humbling empowering baring of the human spirit in every art piece you come across, the rejuvenating wind through your hair as you cycle around the Playa with your buddies on your way to a tea and cake rendezvous, is it the self-governance, radical self-reliance, extreme isolation, the music that coaxes every last step out of your feet, the presence of a thus far mostly conscientious society where you can truly allow your three year old child to get on his bike and ride? It may be the golden light of Lithium Sunsets over the far distant mountains, or just the opportunity to watch them without having to sit in traffic, answer the phone, feed the kids before your story comes on. Whatever the reason may be, this pop-up mirage of a town in the middle of the Tankwa Karoo casts an embarrassingly large shadow over what we see as the developed world. It’s more than just a great party; it’s possibly an ethos to base our future on!

One concept which shines brighter than the others for me is the idea of a Gifting Economy. The first year I went I really didn’t get it! When I gave a baker some over-ripe bananas to make banana bread I made sure that I was there when the bread come out of the oven! So insecure was I about the fairness of our transaction! He just smiled. I was not conditioned to truly believe that if everybody gives, then no body needs. It really is a very simple concept, but it required trust in my fellow human beings that I seemed to not have. I have it now, not everything you expend time and effort on must have a monitory value. It is a place where money is left at the gate, you give into the pool of human need and you receive equally. This is a very ideological notion and possibly may work so well because Afrika Burns only lasts for a week, but, as I’ve said, it’s reaches stretch further than those seven days, it reaches into our relationships with those we go home to, and it’s infectious! It’s neighbourly and once you try it out, it’s a very natural way to go about things! 

Every year I hear the same thing when I get back from Tankwa Town, “Wow! I didn’t make it again this year but I am really going to go next year!” or “Things came up, but next year definitely”. But what I hear is, ‘it all sounds awesome but I’m ill-equipped and terrified’ and that’s ok. It’s not for everyone! You have to be tough, well prepared, well informed and brave!

How to make your own Yoghurt | by Mariella

As I have said, I love making yoghurt (see Bees, honey and Yoghurt). You put two things in a pot and a completely different thing comes out, a thing that is so much more than the sum of its parts! The other reason I like yoghurt is that it is so easy to make. With all the toxic ingredients and additives like thickeners being added to yoghurt, I had no choice but to start making my own and now, there’s no looking back.

First, you want to make sure that the milk you are buying is free from hormones and antibiotics. I only make yoghurt with full cream milk.

-      Pour the milk into a steal pot and bring to the boil, I make yoghurt when I know I’m going to be in the kitchen for a little while! Take the milk off the heat once it’s starts to rise. Allow to cool, testing the temperature with your finger every so often. You need to be able to comfortably keep your finger in the milk for a count of ten.

-      Once the milk has sufficiently cooled, stir in four tablespoons of yoghurt. I keep yoghurt from the previous batch and use that to make the next batch. If I run out for any reason, I purchase a little tub of healthy yoghurt to start up again.

-      Put the lid on the pot and wrap the pot in a thick blanket or place in a hot box, if you have one. Give it about ten hours to colonize, just to be safe.

And voila! Delicious home-made yoghurt in just three steps. Super easy! If you let the milk cool too much, heat it up again as the yoghurt wont take if you allow the milk to get too cold.

Now….my favourite thing to make with my own yoghurt is lassi! Lassi is a traditional Indian drink made with yoghurt and, generally, loads of sugar. I make it with Stevia. Vanilla essence, little water to thin it out to a drinkable consistency, and then top it off with a spoon of lightly roasted desiccated coconut and cinnamon. Try it out and feel free to ask me any questions if you have trouble making it. 

Weekend in the garden | by Mariella

To forget how to garden is to forget ourselves’- Mahatma Gandhi.

This is one of my favourite quotes from “Jane’s delicious Garden”, by Jane Griffiths. It’s all about growing organic food in South Africa and has been my garden bible since I decided that I indeed have green fingers. I cannot recommend this book enough. It’s sensitive, insightful and easy to understand. Reading it makes me feel very capable of not killing everything in my garden!

I can also recommend spending a sunny weekend in the garden. It gives you time to focus on the details, the beauty of your garden. To meet the creatures that live there, like this little Slug eater and his 2 siblings hibernating under some cardboard mulching, 

and to meet the interesting vegetables and fruit that live in your garden too! We grow some heritage veg, like this ‘Purple beauty’ pepper which does go bright red eventually and this stuffing tomato, the last of the season, which dried on the vine and looks like a cartoon character! 

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Forming a relationship with the place your food comes from is like investing in getting to know yourself better!

I also learnt all about levels this weekend. It was one of those Mercury retrograde situations where, no matter how my husband tried to explain the concept, I just didn’t get it! After some time, I eventually understood how to work out the contour lines of the land in order to plan our new beds. Our vegetable garden is on a gradual slope and we do this to ensure that the water is evenly distributed and doesn’t dam up somewhere or create erosion somewhere else.  We used a long transparent pipe filled with water and two sticks with lines drawn on them in the same place. One person stands roughly where you would like the bed to start and the other plants stakes at intervals, making sure the waterline in both ends of the pipe is level with the lines on the sticks at each spot, simple really! We measured and planted stakes every meter. The row of stakes planted is the edge of your bed, and it’s good to do this several times down the slope as the eye often has trouble reading the incline correctly.

‘A year from now you may wish you had started today’, Karen Lamb.  This is another quote I really like! Even if you start like I did, with a small unintimidating garden box, you’ll be so happy you did, once those first little green shoots poke out of the soil. And now is the time!

In Mercury Retrograde and smiling

With Mercury in retrograde, it seems that communication foibles may be a constant companion until the 7^th of August. So if I appear to be reflecting a lot, it’s because there'll be a natural inclination towards that at this time and I’ve decided to just go with it! It’s apparently not a good time for taking action, public speaking, decision making, dealing with authorities, husbands, wives, ex-husbands, ex-wives, bank managers and the like! Oh goodness! What shall we do for the next five days?

I have set up a "Make the most of it" list for the next week of my life and I’m going to share it with you!

01. Make sure that my family knows that I love them, even though when I open my mouth to say something, it comes out all wrong! Try leaving them notes in funny places, draw smiley faces on their smoothie glasses in the morning with white board marker, and other forms of non-verbal communication!

02. Remind myself that if the Buddha in my garden can still sit peacefully with spiders crawling all over him, I can too!

03. Drink at least two liters of water a day even though it’s absolutely freezing outside and it's the last thing I want to do. If you are even slightly dehydrated, your short term memory can get so fuzzy you can forget simple things like names, have trouble doing basic maths, forget where you put stuff, have trouble focusing on the k@yb@#rd...i mean key board. Adding these kinds of minor mishaps to Mercury retrograde is asking for trouble.

04. Remember to laugh at myself. Actually remember to laugh daily. When you laugh, it strengthens your immune system, boosts energy levels, de-stresses, and diminishes pain (which is why I giggle incessantly when I hurt myself!). It also brings people closer together.

05. Eat raw and home-cooked food that I’ve picked myself out of the garden (see ‘The ultimate stress management’ post on 28 May 2012) Note to self: Do not be lazy about this, do it immediately as you get home everyday after work.

06. Go do something awesome out in nature this weekend. A winter picnic on the beach after a long hike down the cliffs to the coast may do the trick, failing that; a picnic on the lawn in the garden would work just as well! That way, if the temperature drops, we can put the kettle on! It may seem obvious, but there are real health benefits to getting out into nature that we don’t even consider, for example; it’s good for your eyes! It increases the attention span of children. It boosts energy, mental clarity, decreases mental fatigue, leads to faster recovery from injury and surgery.

Mercury retrograde can really be your friend, if you know it’s happening. If you don’t know, it’s fertile ground for feeling victimized by ailing electrics, blitzed mobile phones, car problems, miscommunication, and other patience pushers! Happy Mercury retrograde everyone! May the next week bring ample opportunity for clarity, introspection, re-budgeting, re-planning, reflection.