Farmlands

Of course, the alternative is that it’s too late at night and I’ve started rambling nonsensical nonsense! You be the judge.

A County Fair farm

I recently had the opportunity to visit a friend who lives on one of County Fair’s farms. County Fair is one of the large broiler rearers in South Africa – to the left of this photo are the large structures that house the chickens.

I have to say that the visit to the farm made me somewhat sad. While I know that many will say “they’re only chickens”, I can’t escape the fact that theirs must be a terrible existence. Kerry-Anne buys only free-range chicken and eggs, and while there’s a chance that free-range chickens don’t necessarily have a much better life than the non-free-range variety, at least they do get to potter around outside in the sunshine.

Take a moment to visit Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary’s blog. The sanctuary rescues farm animals, and the blog tells their stories. (They also have some great farm animal photos ).

A tractor

Years ago, before I was 10, my grandfather owned a farm in the Northern Transvaal (now called Limpopo). This tractor reminded me of our visits to my grandparents over the Christmas period.

I remember two small tractors, similar to this one, that stood on their property, with flat tyres and worn-out engines. The strange thing is that I can also remember the (very distinctive) smell of old oil and grease (from the tractors) baking in the sun, and now as I look at this photo I swear that I can actually smell it again!

Tractor rides

Early morning and sunset tractor-rides through vineyards are the best. I’ve just discovered how difficult it is to find somewhere (near Cape Town) to go on a tractor-ride. But nevertheless I’ve managed to find a wine estate in Wellington that does just this. Diemersfontein Wine & Country Estate offers tractor-rides for 6 people at 35ZAR per person – including a glass of wine! At that price the cynic in me says that it must be a glass for everyone to share, but Kerry-Anne’s convinced that it’s a glass per person.

Check out Diemersfontein’s website and consider doing some of the other activities, like perhaps a picnic, horse ride or short hike.

Disclaimer: Diemersfontein didn’t ask us to write this article, and, in fact, we’ve never actually been to Diemersfontein. If you decide to go, and then discover that it sucks (which I doubt), please leave a comment and let us know. On the other hand, if it’s awesome, please leave some feedback too!

A toothy horse

We stopped over at the Durbanville Wine Valley Season of Sauvignon 2009 festival on Saturday. Although Jimbo here wasn’t part of the festival, he kept a keen eye on the proceedings while munching on ground-greens. I plucked this juicy, yummy-looking weed from my side of the fence and handed it over.

After only a few nibbles, Jimbo’s connoisseur’s tongue rejected my offering, and he instead demanded a couple of life’s simple pleasures: nose-strokes and head-pats. Horses are so easy to please.