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My work and my life is my prayer... A Highlander - from the desolate plains of the Great Karoo where I grew up on a sheep farm in the Fraserburg district. (Cape Province, South Africa)
Born on the 15th of August l945, a Leo- and Sunshine child - lover of LIFE. By NATURE I am a gardener and painter and ever since I can remember I was collecting plants to grow in my garden. At the age of 4 I already had, together with my brother Jan, a vegetable garden. By the time I turned 8, a vast collection of succulents was growing in my semi-desert garden. Fortunately for me, my Mother was a teacher and had a primary school on the old farm, so I could nurse my plants and watch them grow. Those were the days when the school desks were fitted with white porcelain inkwells and we each had a turn to fill them up in the mornings before the bell went. At break we used to play rugby and soccer with the boys, unforgettable and unforgivable, (very typical of the boys), they never wanted to play netball with the girls. After school we would do homework and one of the most favourite games was 'Cowboys and Crooks' My Father, a musician/ farmer and a great plants man, and it were with amusement that I could watch him prune and graft the trees. (Below, some of the pomological studies exhibited at The Royal Horticultural Society, in London and published on the front cover of 'The Decidious Fruitgrower' - June, l993.)
II admired him so much and it always seemed as if he knew exactly what to do and when, under all circumstances. He had a keen touch as an amateur veterinarian as the only animal clinic was more than 200 miles away. Both my parents had a great compassion for life, whether it was a plant, animal or human being. Life on the old farm was good. The freshness of homegrown vegetables and wheat from the land, milled on the farm, and baked into the most divine loaves I've ever smelt and tasted. There was homemade cows butter and sometimes, pure white goats butter to go with the bread; together with honey collected from the many natural beehives on the farm.
During summer time almost all the fruits were processed into jams, jellies, chutney and preserves and some were sun-dried and stored away for winter. Home made jam and fruit jellies were cooked on the black Dover stove, and later years the Dover stove was replaced with the fashionable AGA.
Our garden Delightful to have sat down in the shade of an apricot tree, or to peel a Cape White fig with care and taste the sweet goodness of the earth's abundance - until it was time to go home for supper. Spade in one hand and a basket of freshly picked fruit in the other while the Great Karoo was displaying one of its magnificent sunsets.
How I loved to help looking after the farm, the many trips to the veld to see whether the flocks of Merino sheep were doing well. The first Merino sheep were introduced from Spain. Shearing time would come and we could play in the freshly clipped wool, jumping up and down with delight until we were covered with a layer of woollen fat. It was with great pride that my Father emblazoned the woollen bales with his emblem. Fortunate also, the fact that I could visit the store, close to Glengall Bridge, in Pepper Street, now called 'The London Arena', in the Canary Wharf, Isle of Dogs, in East-London where many a sheep farmer's produce from South Africa was auctioned up. The animal fat was processed into homemade soaps. I remember the many coloured soaps, particularly the white and blue speckled soap, the interesting patterns of the blue dye, showing off against the white. But most of all, it was the toilet soaps which I found most intriguing. When held against the light, there was an almost transparent display of rose, mint green and amber - for the fragrance of Lavender, Rose and Bergamot oil will linger on forever in the chambers of my memory . . . . . . . My Mother had a great affinity for Botany and all bird life. She kept many chickens like Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds. There were also turkeys, geese, macowe, Mallard and white ducks, peacocks, pigeons and wild guinea fowl. Mealies and lucern were grown to feed all bird life. We, as children were always in competition as to whom would gather the most eggs from the nests! Many ostriches were kept for their magnificent plumes and the plucking of the feathers was a difficult task and it was with great excitement that we could watch from a distance. An ostrich egg is the equivalent of 2 dozen chicken eggs. Bravo for the chickens for not tolerating their dozen to be turned into a decimal, and from the era I come, a kilometre will never be a decent mile! I am grateful for the philosophical minded parents I had and for the noble example they set. They were modest and hard working people - the keepers of the land and energetic community workers. It was the year 1956 when they had an entertainment group from Cape Town, flown in by a Dakota plane, to perform in the big shed on the farm, in order to raise funds for the local hospital in Fraserburg. This was only one of their many efforts to build a solid structure for the entire community and all these lovely memories will live on. Finally the day came that I had to leave the old farm to go to high school at La Rochelle Girls' High in Paarl. Earlier years I also applied my artistic skills to stage decor, tapestry designs and pottery, mainly earthenware. During 1986 I exhibited Botanical Art for the first time. I have three beautiful daughters who are also artistic orientated, they paint, write poetry and prose, and apply their skills in the academic and scientific fields. I now live in the University town of Stellenbosch, in the Western Cape.
No institution but NATURE and no school but LIFE could ever claim my name. For it is in the SCHOOL OF LIFE where I shall remain an apprentice. My work and my life is my prayer. It is not about who I am, but what I do. As I move through the passage of time, I wish to share my enthusiasm, respect and love I have for LIFE on our planet. I only want to look back one day and say: "I was born in Africa where I could paint flowers and fruits and get lost in dreams of truth and beauty - for thís, is what I want to be remembered for.”
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