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Having discovered to my horror that it is four years since I last wrote a newsletter for Hillandale I decided that I needed to put fingers to keyboard without delay!
Things in the Karoo do not change much and if they do, they do so at a country pace and for this I am really grateful. I am happy and blessed to live in a place where we can be close to Nature; the smell of the animals and the fresh morning air and the ever welcome scent of the Earth after a hot summer afternoon thundershower. We are now into Autumn and the leaves of all the “exotic” trees and plants in my garden are falling and gathering in corners in neat little piles. The autumn colours are pretty and the 100 year old pear trees are changing into their autumn dress prior to shedding. They will soon be bare and will face the winter without their clothes!
The Merinos are lambing and we have had a good lamb crop, but unfortunately many have provided easy food for the black backed jackal. Jackals are proving to be more and more of a challenge for farmers and in spite of being hunted for many years they still have the upper hand and seem to be ever on the increase. We have tried using the much acclaimed Anatolian shepherd, but have not had any success. There are a few farmers who are using these dogs successfully, but many farmers have not had much success at all. Either the dogs turn to catching sheep or they do not stay with the sheep and keep on returning to the homesteads. They are inclined to wander and are destroyed by farmers on whose veld they trespass.
We are still planting onions for seed and have just harvested a crop and the seed has been sent to the seed masters. At present we are planting the next bulbs for the next crop of seed. We have also planted a small patch of butternuts for seed and these are also waiting to be picked.
The shearers are due to arrive this week and we will be shearing both the sheep and the goats. Things do not move quickly in the Karoo, but there aren’t many dull moments either!
There is plenty of work to do in the garden before the winter and having had good rain last week the task of tidying up becomes so much more pleasant.
Our family has grown considerably since the last newsletter and we now have five grandchildren! Unfortunately they all live in excess of 500kms away from us so we do not see them often. Thank goodness for technology as we do receive photos via the email. Our youngest son who now resides in London and is working for a bank seems to have survived the downturn in the economy and is still, as I write, employed.
There has been a resurgence and revitalization of the Tourism Industry in the Karoo. Some folk are looking for quiet, sparsely uninhabited places where they can have some respite from the hectic city life and others come to pursue the basic urge to hunt. The Winter is a wonderful time in the Karoo as the nights are cold and clear and the days are warm and sunny. The air is wonderfully invigorating and engenders one with new found energy.
We now have a new Tourism office in Beaufort West with new staff and things are really looking very promising ahead of the Soccer World Cup in 2010. We are anticipating that there will be plenty of folk passing through Beaufort West en route to soccer centers and we hope that some of them will take time to stop in the Karoo and experience the unique countryside in which we live.