I can’t believe it’s nearly November! The year seems to be flying by at great speed.

We have had 2 nights with dramatic thunderstorms bringing much-needed rain to the parched land. It has been a high alert for fires for some time with all the dry grass and strong winds. There have been some devastating fires in the vicinity but luckily non on our land or immediately adjacent land. Tonight is a brilliantly clear cloudless night with the sickle moon slowly descending and incredibly bright stars.

 

 

The pond surrounding part of my house is incredibly noisy with bullfrogs and others in full throttle. The pond is an endless source of activity. Frogs and toads mating then long streamers of frog spawn abound which soon leads to the emergence of hundreds of tadpoles. Both spawn and tadpoles are eaten by the fish. Hammerkop birds and a recent water snake have both come in to feast off the frogs.

 

 

I continue to visit the Rietvaly Tirisano crèche, which depends on the financial support of Rokpa International. Rebecca has returned to work with her lovely young daughter Hope on her back most of the time. It won’t be as easy for her to work once the child is more active. Despite it only being the end of October, both staff and children are already beginning to ask if there will be a Christmas outing to the Marico dam. This is clearly the highlight of the year and does require funds for transport, dam entry fees, and food. Hopefully, we will be lucky enough to receive the needed donations. An opportunity to practice generosity!

 

Last weekend I participated in Melanie’s 3-day inspiring retreat. It was great to have her energy back here and see how much the participants gained from both her input and just being in the healing space of the valley. Melanie also did a personal four-day retreat before the bigger group retreat and says her energy has been renewed in the healing mandala of TRC.

 

 

I am not actively involved with activities on this permaculture side of the hill but am an observer. Recent ongoing activity is focussed on building a sandbag ablution block and setting up the first two platforms for the future campsite. The sandbag building began with a one-week workshop run by Sid from SCD which was joined by two participants from Rietvaly interested in the technique. The onsite team is now continuing with the labor-intensive work.

 

I continue to try to keep up with opposing the ever-increasing number of mining prospecting applications flowing in. There are currently 11 for over 40 different minerals and natural gas which would involve fracking and the possibility of causing great harm to the dolomitic aquifers in the area. I continue to rely on advice from the hugely dedicated Jeannie and Brian from Mmutlwa wa Noko who work tirelessly to send in detailed objections. It is becoming harder to oppose any as there is a big political drive towards mining for economic development.

I have also participated in two other recent gatherings. The first was a Marico Biosphere co-ordinated workshop run by 3 members of the Unisa Department of Applied Management. Called “Sustainable Tourism made real”. As people become more aware of environmental issues, Eco tourism is a growing demand both locally and internationally and many venues in the biosphere area including ours could become certified once systems have been put in place.

Today I attended a meeting on protected areas in the locality. We were one of the first 18 properties gazetted under the protected areas act in 2016 and are part of the Oberholzerskloof core area. Another large group of farms is waiting for gazetting, which is a long slow process. Once gazetted there will be 54 farms in different core areas. Officially if gazetted mining should not be allowed, but there is no guarantee.

It is not too long before we welcome beloved Donal back for the two retreats he is offering from late November and December.  There is the Beyond Violence retreat from 25 November and the Take a Break retreat from the 23rd of December to the 1st of Jan. We look forward to welcoming back old timers and hope to see many new faces.

If you don’t want to join a retreat but are in need of a rural break you are more than welcome to come for personal time out.

Pippa

Oct 2022