Hillandale Farm News -- May 2001
It has taken a while, but at last our Hillandale web pages are ready, as you see here!
We intend to add a short round up of news from time to time, for all who would like to keep in touch with Hillandale. We welcome your comments about our web site, and if you have any suggestions for additional information you'd like us to include, please let us know. You can find our contact information on a separate page.
Wedding Bells
Recently we were away from the farm briefly for a big family event: On the 24 March our only daughter and eldest child, Gayle married her long time boyfriend, Hermann Meyeridricks at the Devonvale Country Club outside Stellenbosch. (And yes, that's us, proud parents Hilary and Robin, standing behind the bride in this photo!)
She was attended by Tania van der Walt, Gayle's brother's fiance and Hayley Bartels her long time school friend who flew out from London for the wedding. The lucky couple went off to Thailand for a glorious ten days on honeymoon. They are now living in North Riding in Johannesburg.
We have placed more wedding photos on a separate page.
Long distance cyclist
Last weekend Sally De Jager, from Avondale in the Beaufort West district came to spend the weekend with us in order to do some cycling on Hillandale mountain bike trails.
Sally is a cyclist of some repute having cycled from London to Turkey and back with three friends and then decided to cycle "home" to Cape Town from London through Africa. Sally's journey took 15 months and included many exciting adventures.
Sally agreed that Hillandale had much to offer the cyclist in the way of variety with lots of lovely Karoo terrain and wonderful scenery.
Welcome Rain in Our Area
The Karoo was really dreadfully dry where we live until 15 March when the first rains fell. Thereafter we had rain at regular intervals and the veld is now green and beautiful and our Merino sheep very grateful to be able to raise their lambs where the food is once again plentiful.
Robin is planting oats at this late stage, hoping for some winter fodder. He managed to plant some lucerne earlier in the season after the first rains.
Mohair Shearing at Hillandale
We have just completed our Angora goat shearing and have packed up the hair and sent it off to Port Elizabeth to be sold. The hair was surprisingly good considering the very poor conditions under which it was grown.
Our Endangered Riverine Rabbits
We are still working towards establishing a conservancy for the very rare Riverine Rabbit, but have encountered a few hitches so will have to work at it a little more...
Hillandale Soil Conservation Work on Display
The Big Weir at Hillandale featured prominently at a recent exhibition of soil conservation works which had been supported by the South African Soil Conservation Association. This exhibition was part of the Soil Conservation Committee's Half Century celebrations held in Beaufort West on 16 May 2001.
Our weir was the biggest privately built soil conservation weir of its kind in South Africa at the time it was built. It consists of three arches which are seven metres high and span a distance of one hundred metres. The structure is of mass concrete design and consists of 5000 cubic metres of concrete and has an earth wall 150 metres long and five metres high.
Congratulations to Grandpa Jim (Robin's father, Jim Steven-Jennings) who spent three years on this huge undertaking!
Hillandale Hunting
The onset of winter brings the hunting season which keeps Robin pretty busy. Hunting is carried out mostly on the neighbours' farm where Robin has a hunting concession so hikers and bikers can still visit Hillandale without any disturbance by the hunters. Hunters come from all over South Africa as well as overseas and many of these folk use hunting as an excuse to be out in the veld on their own, enjoying the clear crisp winter air of the Karoo.