I made the stupid mistake of getting
stuck in a website – I got to reading and just couldn’t stop. It was quite late
when I did get to bed, and then the cuddle-parade started … first Lady Jane,
who needed intensive cuddling and tummy rubbing for ages! Followed by Ziva who
– for some strange reason – demanded just as intensive cuddling and tummy
rubbing, and unlike normally, kept creeping up to me for more and more and
more. It was past one when she finally settled down – and the Mewthos arrived!
He made me laugh! The way he sits on his rear exposing his tummy for a good
long wash! With all that bedroom entertainment it was really very late before I
got to sleep.
And I woke up really late, yet
again. Sigh. So, what got me so captivated that I forgot the time last night?
Well, strangely enough an online shopping site. It’s not a simple
supply-delivery service, but they also thoroughly investigate the ingredients –
every last one – as well as the manufacturer. It’s partly in line with my own
thinking, as well as my own life-style – but at the same time, I find it
ridiculous that, while they promote proudly South African, most of their
products are Eastern, as in Asian. Like salt: why does it have to be from the
Himalayas? All those strange eastern products I’ve never even heard of! It’s all
a bit too ‘fashionable’ for my liking. It’s a whole different world, almost
alien. I haven’t quite made up my mind about it all. Part of me feels that it’s
quite silly, somewhat extreme and in line with the current ‘healthy living’
fashion. What makes it seem silly to me is concepts like going to gym for
exercise, then employ household staff for the heavy work like gardening and
scrubbing – which give one just as much healthy exercise.
One of the online players once
proudly told me how she’s bought herself a conductor rod, which is planted in
the ground outside her window, and she sits at her computer connected to the
rod with a bracelet via wire, which drains ‘all that filthy electricity out of
her body’. I’m sorry, but I find that quite ridiculous.
Other ideas, however, I find almost
irresistibly attractive – but they are dressed up in such fashionable, alien
terminology, I have difficulty understanding the language! However, what I do
like most about this website I found, is that it offers not only a cryptic
description of their product, but a complete explanation as well – none of the
other online shopping options really enable you to get any real knowledge of
their products and you’d have to go to an actual store to look at the item
there to be sure what you’re paying for. Most sites don’t even include the
outer labels & descriptions!
I guess I’m just a queer mix of
simple, old-fashioned and fancy new tech – like: my phone is a very simple one,
I can only sms or call – not even graphics; yet at the same time, instead of a
journal, I write a blog. Then also, I like to cook my meals ‘from scratch’
(e.g. when I make pizza, I also make the base myself); yet at the same time I
also like to use some of the latest gadgets, like my induction plate. On the
one hand I like steamed or fried vegetables, rather than boiled; I don’t like
fast food at all – yet I’m not at all interested in health-conscious eating
habits. I just eat what I like.
My key motivation in all of this is
actually financial, rather than any life-style choice – yet, rather than resent
it, I get a lot of pleasure and sense of achievement from managing to live so
well on a secretary’s salary. Most of the home-made or home-grown is not really
‘worth the effort’ – except that I find the effort so pleasurable that for me
it’s double the pleasure. I’d much rather spend time ‘making’ than shopping for
ready-made.
I’m afraid today is far too hot, and
without a cooling breeze, for me to continue the vacuuming as I had planned.
Instead, I’m thinking about the changes I want to make in my new home – maybe
even start here, already. That’s what captivated me last night so badly, that I
stayed up way too late: I was reading up about this new composting thing called
Bokashi. I had seen it at Builders’ already and almost bought it – but then
decided against it. Last night I finally found enough information to make an
informed decision. It’s always so difficult to find the negative information,
the contras, but that’s the only way to really know whether it’s worth the
cost! Whether it’s what I really going to be useful!
After yesterdays experience with the
maggots, it sounded like the perfect solution and I was tempted to get one
right away; but then I discovered that, although you can add almost everything,
you can’t add anything that’s starting to go off! So, what use is it, then?
Oh, and for anyone who hasn’t come
across it, Bokashi is a composting bin. Basically, you buy an air-tight bin
into which you can throw almost all organic kitchen scraps, even meat, fish and
small bones. You also need to buy the anaerobic digester which you add in
measured quantities, which are basically the microbes that do the actual
composting – rather than rotting, it ferments (pickles), and since it’s in an
air-tight container, there’s no smell. Except when you open it to add to it. I
found the FAQ site very useful to make my decision https://www.earthprobiotic.co.za/FAQ/
For my own home, I’ve discovered two
draw-backs: 1) you can’t add any food that is starting to go off and 2) to use
the contents of the bin, you should bury it quite deeply, which is a problem
here (and will probably be in Pretoria as well) since the ground isn’t very
deep before you hit rock! None of my beds are more than 10 cm deep, and the
contents should be buried with at least 30cm on top! Well, the 30cm is
suggested if you have pets – otherwise 15cm is considered sufficient. However,
you can ‘bury’ it, in the middle of your ‘standard’ garden compost heap!
I did some calculations, and the
price of the bin comes to the cost of about 8 bags of compost or potting soil;
plus the digester (which costs about as much as 7 bags) – so, at 20kg a bag,
I’d have to make about 300kg of potting soil or compost to break even. That’s
just a rough estimate, though, since it doesn’t take everything into account.
Before the contents get buried in the garden, there’s also the Bokashi juice
drained throughout the filling process, which isn’t only an effective
fertilizer but also a natural drain cleaner! Another consideration is the fact
that it will reduce the amount of waste going into landfills quite drastically.
Well, drastic in my household, not in general.
All in all, it’s definitely worth it
to me, and I considered going right ahead and start filling my first bucket
here and now – however, until I know the conditions of my new home,
specifically the garden, I can’t really be sure that I’ll be able to have a
compost heap. I’d much prefer to be sure I’d have use for what comes out of the
system before I spend money on it. Even if I end up giving the contents to
someone with a garden. I do, however, feel quite sure I’ll find a means and
will go ahead and get the system in the near future.
I also came across quite a number of
interesting items on that site, like airplants! Never heard of them in my life!
Basically they’re called airplants simply because they don’t grown on the
ground, or in earth, but just anywhere they can find; since they don’t get
their nutrition through roots, but through their leaves. So they don’t need a
pot, just a surface – often they grow on other plants; though not
parasitically. They are sold mounted on a wooden board, you just need to spray
them with water occasionally.
I also saw some enticing kits! A
mushroom growing kit for oyster mushrooms, an Italian cheese starter kit and
various growing kits for herbs, vegetables and such. I just stumbled across a
bee hotel! Apparently not all bees live in a hive; some are solitary bees. By
providing them with an optimal place to breed, I’ll get my plants pollinated!
Okay, so they’re not honey bees, but still – I did wonder how I could make sure
my plants can reproduce, so I won’t have to continuously buy seeds.
It’s really dreary being neither
here nor there – I can’t do just anything I’d like, there are so many
limitations now, while at the same time there’s a pressing list of what I
should be doing: packing! And cleaning. Sigh. It’s also no use getting more
stuff to be packed, so …
I’d love to start growing some
vegetables, that site also has a wonderful variety of seeds, as well as growing
kits. Even some exotic items like Asparagus, Brinjals, Leeks, and Wild Olive!
I’d really like to be able to grow the more expensive vegetables myself, like
leeks, celery, and chives. It was so lovely being able to freshly cut chives
for my potatoes in the evenings.
Or start experimenting with baking
bread, I’ve learned a lot from past attempts – but I’d really like to start a
sourdough culture. And I’d have to get rye flour (which is what I’d like to try
baking) – and then find space to pack that! And I can’t take a sourdough
culture with me, which is why it’s no use starting one now.
Rose had told me bout the lovely
flower arrangement she made, so I went down with my camera. It really was very
beautiful, all done with bits from our garden. We had our usual lovely chat
with Lady Jane and Mewthos popping in every now and then. At one point Lady
Jane got somewhat stuck half-in and half-out the window – the burglar bars were
giving her some trouble; I don’t have any upstairs, so they’re a new
experience. Another time she tried to use one of Rose’s Christmas decorations
as a chew-toy! My going to the bathroom puzzled her the most, though – she
couldn’t figure out where I kept disappearing to! She’d sit on the kitchen
counter (which is allowed in Rose’s home, though not in mine) and stare at the
bathroom door with a look of bewilderment! Ha Ha!
As I was leaving, I gave the gem
squash another tap – and decided to pluck them now, since the leaves all around
the fruit are covered in that white mildew! Since there were two, we had one
each.
When I got home, I realized that I
had completely forgotten about dinner – and it was already after seven! I took
a rump steak out of the freezer, but then opted for a quick pasta with sauce. I
still have a few of those pasta sauce packets I was trying a while back – I
can’t say that I particularly like them, though.
Ziva is not happy about being shut
in, and I have to confess, I quite agree with her. It’s been an awfully hot and
humid day – almost like Durban – and as soon as I shut the door, the flat feels
quite oppressive. I was sorely tempted to open the door, but the thought of
anything happening to any of my mippies held me back.
It really has been horribly humid
most of the day, even the mippies felt damp whenever I tried to stroke them! I
decided just after nine to have a quick bath, just to wash today's damp off
myself that I may hopefully be able to sleep!
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