A special Mother’s Day tribute

When I was 15 my mother died, leaving two angry teenagers to run the home.

When I was 16 my dad remarried a younger woman, who, at the age of 27 had to come into this home and take care of the above mentioned angry teenagers.

Needless to say there were sparks.

Today I pay tribute to a special woman who, after 30 years of being my step-mother has crept into my heart.

Dear Sheila

Thank you for sticking it out. Those early years must have been really hard for you too.

Thank you for your green fingers and for designing and planting about 5 of my gardens.

Thank you for my little sister and brother – they add a sparkle to my life.

Thank you for looking after Dad so well

Thank you for being there through thick and thin.

Happy Mother’s Day

With love

J

Photo pinched from my sister Dale

Painting challenge – Eggs: Update

If you would like to know more about our painting challenge please click here to read about it

 

Below you will see some of the pictures already submitted for our challenge.  Some have done a quick colour study before starting their main painting and others have been submitting progress pictures as the go forward.  Some of these artists have either never painted before or last picked up brushes many, many years ago.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I would like to encourage those of you who have not started yet to pick up your brushes and get going.  That includes me. I start in earnest tomorrow.

I have also heard via the grape-vine that my Dad MAY just pick up brushes for the first time and try this challenge.  Wow – I would be so thrilled if he does.  Come on Dad!!

Related articles

• Our first group art challenge is launched – Free Your Art (slowvelder.wordpress.com)

Meet Kayla

My first grandbaby, born to my son and his wife.

Isn’t she just the cutest little thing ever

She was born after a long day of labour (9am – 4.20 am the next day – 17 feb). After all the worry and fuss, she arrived by natural birth and needed no surgery. We are all so very happy that all went well.  Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

A bit about my boy

I don’t often blog about my son.  It’s not because he is not important, but because we don’t get to see each other often.  He has been out of our home for 5 years and now lives in Johannesburg. Last week we traveled there to attend his wedding.

Photo by Steve Walker

The wedding service was lovely after which we had a delicious breakfast at tables set out under some shady trees surrounded by beautiful gardens and a pond with ducks.  It was really special.

A Mother’s Song

 by Anthony W. Carter

 Tying little shoe laces
Wiping off dirty faces
Are just a couple of things
That a mother will do…

Mending a broken heart
Is only just a part
Of the care and the love
That I’ve given you…

With a Kool-aid smile
And a sparkle in your eyes
I wrap you in my arms
And whisper this advice…

Be strong, be kind
Be patient and in time
You’ll find out, my son
What true love is all about

Be faithful and be true
Show love in all you do
Then you’ll know, just how
You make your mother proud

Now, little boy days have passed
And you’ve grown up so fast
But in my heart
That little boy will never be far…

So on this blessed day
There’s so much I want to say
But above all, I thank God
For the man that you are…

With a tender smile
And a twinkle in your eyes
I wrap you in my arms
And whisper this advice…

Be strong, be kind
Be patient and in time
You’ll find out, my son
What true love is all about

Be faithful and be true
Show love in all you do
Then you’ll know, just how
You make your mother proud

You’ve made your mother so proud…

Update from the middle of nowhere

School is finally over for the Bean after a month of exams. It’s been a long hard year for her and I am so glad that I was able to stop working at the fruit packhouse to give us more time at home to get the school year done. Now it’s the nerve-wracking wait for her final results at the end of December.  Hopefully she will be off to university in Pretoria next year.

We are now holed up on the farm – only venturing in to town when we run out of supplies or for a few social occasions – this is how I want it to be. Things are really starting to come together for me now.  Bookings are rolling in for Jackal’s Den, I am busy on the farm from sunrise to sunset, loving every moment, and I have orders for paintings lined up well into next year.

With regards to the patio, the retaining wall is built

and the floor now filled in with rocks and soil

All I need now are the creepers which I hope to buy next week and then I will be making paving blocks to cover the floor area soon. I am also going to plant some lawn around this area to green it up a bit.  It’s been so much fun doing this project.

The Bean’s roof is still not done.  A job that was supposed to take 5 days is now on 21 days. Hopefully it will be finished by Friday when we leave for Johannesburg to visit our family and attend my sons wedding.

This is my current painting project which I am painting for a commissioned order. Still a long way to go on this too.

and finally here is a picture of our baby Savannah.

She has settled in very well. Cleo and Savannah have a strange relationship – sneaking up on each other when they think no one is watching to get a good sniff. So far there have been no fights or dramatic chase scenes – rather they respect each others boundaries mostly and give each other a wide berth (although this seems to be narrowing as they get used to each other).  Savannah, although very loving, is wild in the sense that she is very nocturnal. Much more so than Fred was. She sleeps solidly all day waking as the sun sets and then she is off out into the bush for the night. She eats at home but still catches mice and squirrels most evenings. We even got a bat as a present last week. She does not like being inside and only ventures in if there is a rain storm. Otherwise her favorite daytime haunt is our veranda where she has set up a type of nest in some hessian on a little wall where she sleeps.

While we are away for the next two weeks some friends of ours will be living at Jackal’s Den, having a well deserved break and feeding Savannah.  I hope Cleo will be able to travel with us as she won’t really cope well away from me, although I still need to clear this with my family where we are staying.  I hope she will be able to come but if she can’t my friends are the best folk to look after her.

I will be back in two weeks. Happy blogging

Related articles

• I’m dreaming of a cool Tuscan patio…. (slowvelder.wordpress.com)
• Patio – part 2 (slowvelder.wordpress.com)
• African cats and our new friend Savannah. (slowvelder.wordpress.com)

African cats and our new friend Savannah.

All of you will know about the big cats found in our area as they are popular animals to search for when on safari.  Lion, cheetah and leopard are wonderful finds when looking for animals in our surrounding game reserves.

Of the three, lion and cheetah are found in game reserves only and do not wander about freely in South Africa. Leopard are still found outside of reserves and are often treated as the enemy by farmers when their cattle, sheep and chicken are eaten by wandering leopard. There have been sightings of leopard on our farm although I have only seen their spoor.

Lesser known cats are fantastic to sight on safari. There are 7 species of wild cats found in South Africa. Four of these are the smaller cats. These cats are found widely across the country outside of game reserves. Most are nocturnal and are difficult to spot so when one does, it is like an extra special treat. They are the caracal, serval, African wildcat and the black-footed cat.  We have spotted the caracal and serval on our game farm.

A big problem in our area is of domesticated cats interbreeding with the wild cats especially the African wildcat. For this reason, housing estates in the bush usually have rules not allowing residents to keep pet domestic cats.  Hoedspruit however does have a problem with stray domestic cats as do most other cities and towns in the world.  We have an active group in town who catch stray cats and spay and neuter them before releasing them again.  This helps stop the interbreeding.  I have found a few spots in town when stray cats seem to hang out. One spot is at one of our local shopping centers.

This week when I came out of the shop I saw a beautiful kitten lying next to a pillar asking for tickles from all the passers-by.  As a cat lover I could not resist so I spent a few minutes with her tickling and talking to her.  When I got to my car I looked down and she had followed me across the parking lot.  I picked her up and showed her to Cleo (our dog) who was waiting with the Bean at the car.  The cat and Cleo just ignored each other. I looked at the Bean and she looked at me and we both knew that this kitten now had a new home.  I went back into the shopping center to check if anyone knew who the cat belonged to or if it was one of the strays.  They said it was a stray and that we were welcome to take her home.

Our new member of the family has settled in well. She is a small cat – I am not sure if she is still young or is naturally small boned. The more I watched her wander about, the more I thought that she had a slightly strange build and manner of walking, and then I remembered about the interbreeding with wild cats.  After looking up more information I am convinced that we have a tame African wildcat on our hands. Whether she has domestic cat blood in her veins is still unclear although probable. She has been spayed and I assume it was done by our local cat charity. We have named her Savannah Lybica.

This is a picture of an African wildcat.

DISTRIBUTION

The African Wildcat is widespread in Africa,  found also in the Middle East, but excluding the Sahara and rainforests.

HISTORY

African Wildcats diverged from the other Wildcat subspecies about 131,000 years ago. Some individuals were first domesticated about 10,000 years ago in the Middle East, which are the ancestors of the domestic cat. Remains of domesticated wildcats have been included in human burials as far back as 9,500 years ago in Cyprus.

SUBSPECIES of WILDCAT

• Felis silvestris lybica - African Wildcat
• Felis silvestris silvestris - European Wildcat
• Felis silvestris ornata - Asiatic Wildcat

SIZE

The African Wildcat is a subspecies of the Wildcat (Felis silvestris) and is similar in size to domestic cats. In fact the African Wildcat is the ancestor of domestic cats.

NAME

The African Wildcat is also known as the Desert Cat, African Desert Cat or simply Wildcat. In Afrikaans (South Africa) vaalboskat means grey bush cat.

IDENTIFICATION

The African Wildcat looks similar to a short-haired domestic tabby cat, but has reddish colouring on the back of the ears, over its abdomen and on the back of its hind legs.

In investigating the features of the wild cat I see that Savannah has most of them.

• Due to the diversity of habitats where this cat occurs, there is a wide variation in colour. In the drier habitats and in the grasslands the colouring is shades of light brown, whereas in the wetter, forested areas, the colouring is grayer and darker.
• The coat has faint vertical stripes on the body, with dark rings on the legs as well as on the black-tipped tail.
• The chin and throat are white and the chest is usually paler than rest of body.
• There is a distinctive reddish colouring on the belly, backs of the ears and hind legs.
• The feet are jet black underneath.

The following pictures are of Savannah.

If anyone has more knowledge of these cats I would love to hear their opinion.

A blogger friend, Lisa, from ‘Notes from Africa’ was lucky enough to spot these cats in the wild and photograph them on one of her trips to the Kalagadi Transfrontier Park. She wrote about her experience which you can read here.  Her photos are really beautiful and the cats are so much like Savannah, especially the kitten. Please take a look at her post and tell me if you think Savannah Lybica is an African wildcat.

Related articles

• Evolution of Domestic Cats (lonestarcats.wordpress.com)
• 8 Obscure but Adorable Wildcat Species (mentalfloss.com)

Trouble in paradise….

The Bean is currently writing her final school exams so our stress levels are a little high here in paradise.  Last week she came to show me a spot on her leg where she had found a tick.  We have been watching the bite site closely as a blue-black spot in the middle of the site is indicative of tick bite fever.  

Image via Wikipedia

Today when I collected her from school after she wrote an exam she was walking with a slight limp and told me her leg muscles were a bit achy.  I asked her to show me her bite and the tell-tale blue-black mark had appeared.  We went directly to our local GP who said after an examination that her one lymph node was already inflamed and that it is almost guaranteed that she has tick bite fever albeit in the very early stages.  He prescribed antibiotics and pain killers for her which we started right away.

I am so worried that this will affect her studies and exams as she is trying really hard for good marks to get into university. I hope that because we have caught it early we will be able to keep her symptoms to a minimum.

Here is a little more information on the disease for those of you who may be interested. 

(summarised from an article on Health24.co.za)

Tick bite fever

What is tick bite fever?

Tick bite fever (rickettsia) is caused by a bacterial infection transmitted by ticks. This condition occurs in many areas of the world and is often known by a variety of names (see table below).

What causes tick bite fever?

The organism that causes tick bite fever belongs to the Rickettsial family of bacteria. As can be seen from the table, there are a number of different species of Rickettsias.

These organisms are relatively small and are only able to survive inside cells. They are found in certain wild and domestic animals, and ticks acquire the organisms when they feed on these animals.

When the tick bites a human, the bacterium is transmitted in the saliva. 

In various parts of the world, different species of tick and Rickettsia are involved in causing tick-bite fever, and these forms of the disease are also given different names.

Infection	Organism	Location	Other names
Rocky Mountain spotted fever	R. ricketsii	USA
Boutonneuse	R. conorii	Africa, Meditteranean, India	Marseilles fever, Mediterranean spotted fever, African tick bite fever.
Queensland tick typhus	R.australis	Australia
North Asian tick typhus	R. sibirica	Siberia, Mongolia

In South Africa, the cause of tick bite fever is either R. conorii , or R. africae.

How do you get tick bite fever?

The organisms are transmitted in the saliva of an infected tick when it bites humans. Being bitten by ticks usually occurs in rural or wilderness areas i.e. when you are out camping, hiking in long grass etc. 

Symptoms and signs of tick bite fever

If you get bitten by an infected tick, the incubation period (the period between being infected and displaying symptoms) is about five to seven days. Symptoms can vary, depending partly on the organism involved. Your age and underlying health may also influence the severity of the infection.

Typical features may include the presence of a black mark where the bite occurred, and fever, severe headache and a rash. The black mark at the site of the tick bite is called an eschar . It may look something like a spider bite. The eschars can be single or multiple and can sometimes be very difficult to find. The eschar usually appears once the fever appears, as does the headache and malaise (general feeling of ill-health). Lymph nodes near the eschar may be enlarged.

A rash is usually, but not always, a feature of tick bite fever (it is supposedly less likely to occur in someone infected by R. africae), but when it is present, it consists of small red marks on the skin, sometimes raised slightly above the surface. It typically starts on the limbs and spreads to the trunk, and can involve the entire body, including the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.

What is the outcome of tick bite fever?

African tick bite fever is usually mild, and death and serious complications are very uncommon. This is in contrast to Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which is usually a more severe illness. 

The presence of the rash and an eschar is a very strong diagnostic sign for tick bite fever. 

How is tick bite fever treated?

Some forms of tick bite fever are fairly mild and self-limiting – people may get better on their own without specific treatment. This can take up to two weeks however, and treatment with an antibiotic can shorten the duration of symptoms and reduce the chance of a serious side-effect. 

Can tick bite fever be prevented?

The easiest may to prevent tick bite fever is to avoid being bitten by ticks. Avoiding rural or wilderness areas where ticks are likely to occur is one way to achieve this, but not a great solution if you enjoy hiking and camping. Other measures are generally common-sense, such as wearing insect repellents and long trousers and sleeves. There is no vaccine against tick bite fever, and taking prophylactic antibiotics (as one does for malaria) has never been shown to be effective or necessary.

Frugal is as frugal does.

I made a choice over two years ago to live frugally. It was my choice, not the choice of my daughter, however, she has been fully supportive of me living like this and has come to appreciate many things that she took for granted.  It is her choice not to be too frugal yet, although she lives within the restrictions of my lifestyle choice very graciously. She is a typical teenager who likes gadgets, clothes, jewelry and instant gratification. I think though that she looks upon these things with new eyes having been exposed to the way I try to run our home.  She does have quite a few of the electronic toys that most teens have, but they are mostly from before we changed our lives or from her father. She looks after them very well because she knows that it won’t be easy to get new ones and does settle by having and using older models of the items.  Last year she worked during her holidays to save up for a new mobile phone.

This Saturday was her prom night.  She has been chatting to me for the whole year about what she wanted to wear, and had saved many, many pictures of dresses, hair-dos, and make-up ideas from the internet.  I did not have to think too hard about making some clothing purchases for her for this evening.  Although I have not bought any clothes for one year now and plan to only buy and use nearly new and used clothing for myself (except for underwear) in the future, I decided that for this one evening I would break my rules and have a dress made for her.  There were restrictions of course. I was not prepared to pay a preposterous amount of money for something that she would hardly ever wear again, so she would have to find a dress we could have made locally at a reasonable price and that she could use again.  I find it really shocking when I hear of the prices some people pay for prom dresses and shoes and I find the excesses practised around these types of functions a little abhorrent. Rumour has it that one of the girls had two full outfits made and designed at a significant cost so that she would be able to choose which dress she wanted to wear on the evening.

Shoes were also an issue – she showed me many pictures of the type of shoes she would like. There is a very limited selection of shoes to purchase here in our little town so it would mean driving over an hour each way to buy some shoes at the nearest shoe stores, again going against my principles of buying local.

I was very surprised when the Bean came to show me her final idea. She stood in front of me holding one of my little black dresses (from my previous jet-set lifestyle) and asked me if I would mind her having it altered to make it into her prom dress. I told her that it was not necessary, and that I would have something special made for her but she insisted that this was what she wanted. We took the dress to a lady here in town to be altered. It was done in a couple of days and when we went to collect it, she had made a matching hair clip and told us that she could not charge us for any of the alterations as it was such a small job – all she had done was attach a ribbon and some lace and taken the dress up and in a little.

Even more surprisingly, one day when I collected the Bean from school, she breathlessly told me to drive very quickly to a local chain store as she had heard rumour that there was one last pair of shoes there that would match her dress. When we got there she literally ran into the store and came out with the perfect pair of shoes for her outfit – bought for a very reasonable price. It was the last pair on the shelf and they were her size.

So, while she has not fully adopted my choice of lifestyle, I do believe that some of the principles have rubbed off on her. She ended up with a beautiful outfit designed by herself that cost the huge sum of R99.00 (EUR 9.11 or US$ 12.65), while practicing recycling, and strict resource management.

Now that she had saved money we could splash out a little and have her hair and make-up done by local ladies, supporting local industries. I am so proud of her.

Here are a few pictures of her special evening.

Answering your questions

A few days ago I asked you if you had any questions about my life in the bush, and today I will be answering them.

The first question came from Jocelyn from O Mighty Crisis (and from Quin)

What foods do you wish you could have easy access to…but don’t?  What do you crave?

Although our home is quite isolated, we are about 23 km’s from the nearest town. In town there are two national chain supermarkets which carry most products that we need on a daily basis although sometimes our choice is limited. For instance, it took us some persuading to get the supermarket to stock my daughters favorite breakfast cereal.  Before that, we got people to bring some to us when they came to visit.  She still wants another variety too but I’m not sure if it is still being sold in South Africa (Fruit Loops?)

Things like tahini, that I need to make my own humus, is not available, so a couple of us from our town place orders when someone is going to a city.  Other things we crave sometimes are Kentucky Fried Chicken and Sushi (we can get a limited amount at one of our restaurants on a Friday evening only – and then you have no choice).

 

 (drool!)

I think because there are quite a few luxury international safari lodges in the area, the shops tend to stock most of what we need.  Besides food though, we have a very limited choice when buying shoes and clothes and prefer to drive a few hours to do that kind of shopping.  There are also no fabric stores, movie cinemas, home decor stores, or book stores, and we don’t have a functioning fire station (a few homes burned to the ground recently) or a decent hospital.

The second question came from Greg from Greg’s World

What is a legavaan?

Well Greg, it’s kinda like a huge lizard. (rock monitor)

(image from here)

(Varanus albigularis),  the legavaan or white-throated monitor, is a species of monitor lizard found in southern Africa. It is the second longest lizard found on the continent of Africa and the heaviest bodied.

Last week Cleo, my dog, had a run in with one at the pool. She barked at it and grabbed it in  her mouth and tossed it into the air until I called her off.  The legavaan didn’t seem to care much but moved off eventually.  Cleo is very lucky that it did not hurt her.

Question 3 comes from Sweffling from Stopping by woods

Which animal/s do you have the most difficulty keeping out of the house and allied to that, which animals wish to come in and share your house during the winter?

Luckily, because we have extremely mild winters, most animals are quite happy to stay away from human habitation in our area.  The creatures that give me most problems are squirrels because they like to make their homes in our thatch roofs. We have to regularly rescue birds that have flown inside and release them and on a couple of occasions have had to remove snakes from our cottages and relocate them. So far we have not had any inquisitive mammals who would like to move in (thank goodness).  On the insect front, it’s really another story. They ALL want to live with us and it’s an ongoing battle to keep our cottages reasonably insect free without resorting to poisons.  I must admit that even although I am considered a greenie, and I save and release spiders,  - cockroaches, flies, mosquitos and ants get sprayed.

My veggie garden on the other hand gets many visits from all types of buck, porcupines and hippos.

Question 4 is from Mark of The Idiot Speaketh

What is the strangest ANIMAL or creature that you have found taking a secret dip in your pool?

Now I know Mark is longing to hear about gorillas, and constantly teases me about them, we DO NOT have gorillas running wild in South Africa.  The strangest thing I have found in the pool is a long extremely thin worm like creature that wriggles and squirms its way across the surface of the pool. It is so thin that it almost looks like a hair and is a few inches in length.  I have yet to find out what it is.

Other creatures we fish out of the pool are bees, frogs (lots of frogs), huge beetles, grasshoppers and unfortunately once a drowned snake.  The larger animals on the game reserve don’t even come to drink the water from our pool.  They are fussy and I think prefer chlorine-free that they get from the river and watering holes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you have all learned a little more about us and our home.  If you have any more questions, please post them in the comments and I’ll do another post like this if necessary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Braai Day

As tomorrow is national braai day, I thought I would repost this post from last year. Hope you enjoy it.

 

Yes, that’s correct, South Africa has a public holiday tomorrow – and its National Braai Day. Tomorrow we celebrate one of South Africa’s proudest traditions – the braai.

A braai is a South African barbecue – unique in its preparation and celebration – obviously, as I think we may be the only country in the world that has a public holiday in honour of a barbecue.  Many in this country see the braai as a sacred ritual, performed only by those to ‘whom the tongs have been passed’.  Dare anyone without the gifted touch even go near the burning shrine.

Traditionally it is the male of the species who wield the tongs, although, as with many other processes in our world today, this is changing somewhat, much to the disgust of older professional braaiers.  It is very important for any visitor to get acquainted with the Rules Of The Braai in order not to upset the delicate balance of order that prevails.

 

The Braai Rules

Braaing, traditionally, has very specific rules of etiquette, firmly based on gender.

When a man volunteers to do the BRAAI the following chain of events are put into motion:

Routine…

• The woman buys the food.

• The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables, and makes dessert.

• The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill – beer in hand.

• The woman remains outside the compulsory three meter exclusion zone where the exuberance of testosterone and other manly bonding activities can take place without the interference of the woman.

Here comes the important part:

• The man places the meat on the grill.

More routine….

• The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.

• The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is looking great. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he flips the meat

Important again:

• The man takes the meat off the grill and hands it to the woman

More routine…

• The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.

• After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.

And most important of all:

• Everyone praises the man and thanks him for his cooking efforts.

• The man asks the woman how she enjoyed ‘her night off ‘.

When men stand around the braai – there is also a set of rules that are followed for those within the 3m testosterone zone.  Watch this.

Now that there are so many South Africans living all over the planet and intermarrying with other nationalities it has become important to add to the rules – incorporating our expat brethren to maintain the purity of the tradition.  These (slightly rude) rules follow:

Universal braai rules

1. Men do the braaiing. But around the fire everyone’s equal, so women are more than welcome.
2. If  you don’t know how to braai, then you’re an Aussie, Kiwi or a Pommie. Don’t braai. It’s best to leave it to the experts.
3. You can only braai with wood. So cut down a tree, raid a skip or import a container of the real stuff. If desperate, a builder’s palette will do the trick with the aid of some briquettes added later to the burning wood.
4. Please note that the donkey droppings you get from British supermarkets are not briquettes or charcoal. It needs to say “charka” on the outside of the bag to constitute anything remotely acceptable.
5. Anything that claims it can be lit “instantly” without proper firelighters, petrol, paper or fine firewood should be placed under the Houses of Parliament.
6. A fire can never be too big and coals can never be too hot. If you are someone who thinks that it can be, you are most probably an Aussie, Kiwi or a Pommie. Refer back to rule number 2.
7. If you’re not the braaier, never comment on what the braaier is doing. It’s his braai. You are allowed to talk about the weather, the Springboks, why Kevin Pietersen should not play for the Proteas and fetch cold beer.  Leave religion, politics and your best friend’s mother out of it.
8. A braai with more than one salad is not a braai. If you want to go for a picnic, pack a blanket and bugger off.
9. Turn the meat regularly and spice it properly. If you want to leave it on the one side until it’s charcoal and then do the other side until it’s charcoal without spicing it, you’re an Aussie, Kiwi or Pommie. See rule number 2.
10. If you want to have pap with your braai, prepare boerewors and make onion and tomato smoor to go with it. If you want to eat it with milk and sugar, book into the Holiday Inn in Uzbekistan and stay there.

Pap & Sous (Tamato & onion sauce/smoor) as mentioned above

UK braai rules

1. Find proper meat. The thinly sliced bacon strips that look like Prince Charles’ ears available in UK supermarkets are just not braai meat. Go to a market or find a butcher. If your butcher doesn’t know how to cut meat properly, buy in bulk and cut it yourself. Anything thinner than the Oxford dictionary is not acceptable on the coals. If you are desperate and have to buy from a supermarket, find something with an expiry date long gone. The meat in this country is generally a month too fresh for a proper braai. Green is gold on the international braaiing stakes – just make sure you cook it properly.
2. You can braai in summer and in winter. The fact that supermarkets stack away braai gear from October to May is ludicrous. Have they never heard of umbrellas and gazebos in this place?
3. Create a bit of smoke at the beginning and make lots of flames to piss off the neighbours. Have some wet wood, newspaper or an old Christmas tree available just for that. If you don’t get a knock on your door from the local council within three weeks from moving in, you’re most probably an Aussie, Kiwi or Pommie. Revert back to rule number 2, as listed under the Universal Braai Rules.
4. If you want to braai wors, braai boerewors. It’s dark red and made of real meat. If there is more than 10 per cent pig in it, it’s not wors: it’s a banger, and should be had with a hangover the next morning done in a pan with eggs.

Boerewors

You know the rules, now get out there and do it properly.

This second set of rules is courtesy of http://southafricantimes.co.uk/the-expats/community/archive/2009/08/24/how-to-braai-properly-get-the-braai-rules.aspx

I guess you can now understand why we need a national holiday to do this?

Tomorrow (24 Sept)  is in fact National Heritage Day in South Africa, (well that’s what the calendar says) although there are millions out there who would disagree if they were reading this and not out there cooking meat over hot coals.

Related Articles

• Braai Backlash (blogs.timeslive.co.za)
• Nederburg Braai Masters (blogs.timeslive.co.za)
• Braai Time with WOSA (brandonmarc.com)
• World Cup 2010: How to cook a South African braai (telegraph.co.uk)
• A taste of Africa (independent.co.uk)
• Discover braai, South Africa’s most famous cuisine (canada.com)