A PURE SOUTH AFRICAN EXPERIENCE in post-Apartheid South Africa. imagine what is possible, create that opportunity, change a life….or yours. A task as routine as air travel, taken for granted by many people, could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience to someone else… Perhaps you have no need or desire to travel. Or perhaps you do. But wouldn't it be nice to have the option. To have the opportunity to experience something you may never otherwise have experienced. Isn't it also incredible to have the opportunity to create that opportunity for someone else?
Jess Jess is an incredible beast. She has gone around the world 8.4 times traveling 335000 km. We have been together for 15 years and this car has been a unique identifier for who I am. Letting go has been a fun process and she will be remembered for her services.
I put together a short video with footage from my farm during the last rain event. We had some serious rain here over the Easter period. During the final surge, after there had already been 450 mm and there is a lot of runoff, I was running around filming it. I recorded 472 mm in a 48-hour event which has claimed at least 51 lives in KZN. This video is not about the floods but more specifically how the rains impacted the Farm I live on. I took a run through the farm in KZN during the last wave of the storm to investigate. It was late afternoon and just getting dark so I had to add some trickery to the footage to improve visibility. I added the approximate catchment size for reference which was calculated using Google Earth Pro. I have never seen water to this scale on this property and neither has my father (83 this year). We were very fortunate to be safe during this event but there are many people in the provinces who have suffered.
It was after the crazy egg hunting days of easter that we decided to get some chickens. Besta (my Zulu mom and teacher) generously gave us some of her flock to start our own family. I made a small chicken tractor (1.5 x 3 m) using scrap wood I collected from an old chicken coop. The basic idea was to test the model being used by Joel Salatin in my own context. I wanted to find out what it would take to run these birds on the farm in an attempt to improve the soil health through animal impact. Chickens are a great way to reintroduce life back into the soil, something I hope to be able to trail at the farm scale in the near future. Having these chickens stirs around some moral and ethical scenarios and I have been trying to answer these questions for myself.
There is a beautiful unknown universe that co-exists alongside us. A universe that has co-evolved with us and we are only just beginning to discover it. It's part of who and what we are. I went out to meet it. The soil under our feet. By simply paying attention to some of its basic components we can start to imagine the vastness of its unknown. Observe the difference in its textures as you wander around. They play an important role in the overall functions required for a “healthy” system. The soil is a living universe, a nonrenewable resource that we need to pay more attention too. I am only just beginning to grasp the vastness of its reach and how much fun it can be.
Vetiver is a type of giant clumping grass and is one of my favorite grasses. In this video, I go out and fetch a new clump of vetiver which I split and plant in a small row. I have tried to include all the steps needed to establish a row which can be easily dug out and split again as they mature. Vetiver is used to manage water flows and minimize the loss of topsoil caused by erosion. I managed to find a clump last year which I split and planted out in my vegetable garden. One of the important considerations when thinking about using vetiver is growing sufficient planting stock. It is easy to propagate and grow but it will take time so plan in advance instead of going out to buy some. I have started to use it on the farm, something I will showcase in a later video.
I have been threating to start creating content for this platform for far too long. This is my beginning. I plan to upload a new, short, simple, real, informative, and entertaining clip at least every second week without getting too hung up on the editing. Join my journey by subscribing to my channel
I have been threating to start creating content for this platform for far too long. This is my beginning. I plan to upload a new, short, simple, real, informative, and entertaining clip at least every second week without getting too hung up on the editing. Join my journey by subscribing to my channel
Biochar is a form of carbon produced through incomplete combustion of carbon-based feedstock. The idea is to produce carbon in various forms of purity through a process called pyrolysis. It can be as a soil amendment which can increase the surface area and water holding characteristics of the soil. The basic process of producing biochar is to induce combustion of carbon-based feedstock at temperatures ranging from between 400 °C to 900 °C under low oxygen environments. Under these conditions, the impurities found within the feedstock are released as wood gases whilst the carbon remains intact. The process has been called carbonization and results in a product of 70 - 90 % carbon if the correct procedures are followed. During the process, the wood gases are burnt to further provide the heat required to ‘purify’ the feedstock. The end result is a brittle black media which takes on the sound of clanging glass and tastes like nothing.
Last year I set out to build a Ram Pump on my farm. I had never seen one working (except my sister's high school science project model) and there were no people in the area who could help me. I trawled YouTube for help and found various iterations of pumps which allowed me to make mine. However, I often found the videos lacked some of the critical information about the pump.