Exactly what is it about a forest that awakens that feeling of pure enchantment? The muffled silence, the coolness, the dampness, the light that is blocked and fragmented and softened… There is the life in the branches above you; the soft carpet under your feet built up through the seasons of many years, a sponge that harbours life: insects, reptiles, mammals, plants, fungi… (And, sigh, snails…– Eds.)
And the most wonderful thing of all? Nobody comes along to scatter fertiliser to sustain these various forms of life.
A forest takes care of herself.
THE GARDENS of my life have always – unintentionally and unplanned – veered in the direction of a forest. Fortunately this has always been possible, because there has been space, the weather was moderate and without devastating extremes, the rainfall slightly more predictable, and the soil deep and rich in humus.
It was here in Koringberg that we finally realised what a privilege it is to have good soil. Surrounded by grain fields, the town lies diagonally at the foot of a hill, and the topsoil is clayey and meager. Just below it lies the shale, layers and layers of it…
Rain is a major event here, and the groundwater is brackish and unusable. In summer the sun beats down mercilessly, causing all creation to wilt. Our prospect for a forest therefore seemed bleak.
The property around the almost 100-year-old house was bare and dusty, filled with old car wrecks and other junk, a wasteland where even the weeds were giving up.
The two trees in the yard looked sad, as did the empty fishpond where we came upon a barbel taking its last gasps in the mud.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Winter 2023 من go! Platteland.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Winter 2023 من go! Platteland.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
There are few secrets in Verlorenvallei
All platteland towns have that one famous (or infamous) character who knows everyone's business. Meet Livia Hoogenboezem, the keeper of every piece of gossip in Verlorenvallei...
Make magic with winter's abundance
This winter menu is our invitation to look beyond the bewildered herb garden, move out of your comfort zone and bake a loaf of bread, appreciate the beauty of a head of cabbage, and invite the rain gods to the table to feast with you on venison pie, pudding and cake.
It takes a family
Christian Fry and his fiancé, Pippa de Lange, arrived at Dombeya with just a day to spare before the Covid-19 hard lockdown commenced in 2020. Their purpose was to save the Fry family farm from being sold. They've settled into life in their Elands River Valley haven now but continue to dream big and work hard.
For the love of birds...
They may be called birdwatchers but they are in fact using their ears. As Johan van Zyl discovered on his maiden outing as an \"avian tourist\" with BirdLife South Africa to find the 450 bird species that live in the Garden Route and Little Karoo.
To the babbling brooks of Sabie
Roughly every five years, Jaco and Jens Reverchon get itchy feet. They hopped around Cape Town, moved up north to the Greater Kruger and then, recently, put down roots next to the Sabie River where they live a peaceful life with their animals.
Creativity & community in Dinokeng
The driving force behind the successful Makers Village in Irene has now implemented the same concept in Cullinan, creating an incubator and exhibition space for entrepreneurs and artists. Platteland dropped in at this budding creative hub to find out what it's all about and came away impressed.
Willie Strauss Never an idle moment
A variety concert... that is how to approach your life and career when you want to survive as an artist living in the platteland. So says singer, lyricist and radio food expert Willie Strauss, who entices visitors to Die Sinkstoor in Cullinan with traditional offal and his mother's Bushmanland boerekos.
To die for
How do you avoid the tourist avalanche if you live in an Afromontane forest where holidaymakers descend in December? You drive to lonely outposts in the mountains of the Cape, says photographer Obie Oberholzer, and you make pictures rather than take them.
1 Fiat 500 2ha 4 boys...19000 miles!
When the go-cart that an engineer father had built for his four sons couldn't handle the tufty terrain on their 2-hectare plot in Montana, Pretoria, they hunted down a Fiat 500 in a salvage yard. They only wanted its suspension system, but Mom intervened, the car was saved, and those little daredevils clocked up an impressive 19000 miles - all without leaving the plot.
SUTHERLAND Cold town, warm hearts
Life in Sutherland in the Northern Cape isn't always easy, but even those who leave tend to return. Come with us to find out why.
