Have you ever wondered what it's like to live on a farm in Africa? You've read books about colonial life on a farm, Olive Schreiner etc. But what is it *really* like?
Most people say to me: "Oh, you're so lucky! It must be so quiet and peaceful! I love visiting a farm."
Truth is, it's like living in Grand Central. Yes, there are lovely bird sounds that take the place of traffic sounds, and yes, there are plenty of beautiful wild animals and we like to keep it that way, but there is always work. Work, work, work. And, there's almost always someone who wants something - on the phone or at the door. No shops nearby, seventy kilometers from the city, you have to sell basics like sugar, airtime, flour. Also medicate this pain and that, transport workers' children to and from schools on weekends, or transport workers to a friendly soccer game against neighbouring farms, or fix the water installations because water has just run out, or rush off to a neighbour (nearest is several kilometers away) to fight a bushfire, or...you get my drift.
Nor are weekends much different, because workers are entitled to their time off. But what about the owner? He doubles up on weekends to do everything. If he should take time off to watch some sport on television, there will inevitably be a knock at the door - someone needing something or reporting a dead cow, or buyers deciding they felt like a nice drive to a farm and now want you to take them around in your vehicle (and expense) to look at cattle. Often people hint at you shooting a wild animal like a kudu or oryx for them, and seem perturbed if you say we don't like hunting.
Droughts are the natural state of the area, but my pictures below show the far prettier rainy season, when for a short while there is water galore, grass galore, and of course pests galore, but who cares then!
So what are we doing here?
Well, it must be said that nights are tremendous! Dark, quiet except for animal sounds, and for once, peaceful. Sometimes you hear the nearby baboons groaning - probably awakening from a bad dream - or squeeling as a little one demands attention. Friendly sounds. Sometimes you hear the deep growl of a pacing leopard as it passes by, maybe 50 metres from your house. Other times you are woken by a rattle: porcupine quills, as it tries to get at you ripening bell peppers, usually successfully.
But that brings me to another reality check. In the Khomas Hochland - a hilly Namibian highland (1800m plus) in a semi-arid area - water is normally scarce and despite nice ideas about growing your own veggies, forget it! This area has over eons developed the most anti-human and anti-veggie insects and other pests imaginable. Sometimes I manage a few tasty tomatoes by careful coddling. Next season that's impossible, because red spider curse has discovered the hairy leaves of tomatoes are perfect for them So far, after one good season, I have been unable to ripen tomatoes for seven season. That's right, s-e-v-e-n years!! Now, in the meantime, I managed bell peppers last year, but that porcupine I mentioned? Well, no more ripe bells.
Oh, I can go on and on, but actually I have a beautiful garden of tried and tested plants. The birds nesting in the trees around are varied and captivating. Our dogs have the best life ever, even if it's dangerous in terms of scorpions and snakes. Have I mentioned baby calves and foals? Saving lives when a cow has difficulty birthing? So all in all, balancing up, it's tough to have to fetch your own wood for cooking sometimes, or spending 2, 3 days without any water, but what a challenging and healthy life! Children come to grips with life and death and responsibility at an early age, and it's all good.
So the truth is, quiet? Never, well almost never.
Comfortable? Never.
Good? Yes indeedy sir. Very, very good.
Most people say to me: "Oh, you're so lucky! It must be so quiet and peaceful! I love visiting a farm."
Truth is, it's like living in Grand Central. Yes, there are lovely bird sounds that take the place of traffic sounds, and yes, there are plenty of beautiful wild animals and we like to keep it that way, but there is always work. Work, work, work. And, there's almost always someone who wants something - on the phone or at the door. No shops nearby, seventy kilometers from the city, you have to sell basics like sugar, airtime, flour. Also medicate this pain and that, transport workers' children to and from schools on weekends, or transport workers to a friendly soccer game against neighbouring farms, or fix the water installations because water has just run out, or rush off to a neighbour (nearest is several kilometers away) to fight a bushfire, or...you get my drift.
Nor are weekends much different, because workers are entitled to their time off. But what about the owner? He doubles up on weekends to do everything. If he should take time off to watch some sport on television, there will inevitably be a knock at the door - someone needing something or reporting a dead cow, or buyers deciding they felt like a nice drive to a farm and now want you to take them around in your vehicle (and expense) to look at cattle. Often people hint at you shooting a wild animal like a kudu or oryx for them, and seem perturbed if you say we don't like hunting.
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| Let's look at cattle... |
Droughts are the natural state of the area, but my pictures below show the far prettier rainy season, when for a short while there is water galore, grass galore, and of course pests galore, but who cares then!
So what are we doing here?
Well, it must be said that nights are tremendous! Dark, quiet except for animal sounds, and for once, peaceful. Sometimes you hear the nearby baboons groaning - probably awakening from a bad dream - or squeeling as a little one demands attention. Friendly sounds. Sometimes you hear the deep growl of a pacing leopard as it passes by, maybe 50 metres from your house. Other times you are woken by a rattle: porcupine quills, as it tries to get at you ripening bell peppers, usually successfully.
 |
| Best rainy season ever! |
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| Babies are the best! |
Oh, I can go on and on, but actually I have a beautiful garden of tried and tested plants. The birds nesting in the trees around are varied and captivating. Our dogs have the best life ever, even if it's dangerous in terms of scorpions and snakes. Have I mentioned baby calves and foals? Saving lives when a cow has difficulty birthing? So all in all, balancing up, it's tough to have to fetch your own wood for cooking sometimes, or spending 2, 3 days without any water, but what a challenging and healthy life! Children come to grips with life and death and responsibility at an early age, and it's all good.
So the truth is, quiet? Never, well almost never.
Comfortable? Never.
Good? Yes indeedy sir. Very, very good.
Not that I have a farm, but some of that is familiar from the north of Ghana. Makes you so aware of the fragility and quality of life, so that you don't want to miss a second of it! Thanks for writing, Minette.
ReplyDeleteGood morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favour:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Namibia? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Namibia in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and a original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com, where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely