Felicity's Breakfast Scones

These scones make a delicious breakfast or tea time treat

I’ve been using this scone recipe for 17 years now. (Gosh, that makes me feel so OLD !) It came from my Mum’s cousin, Felicity. When I was a student in Durban (South Africa) I used to sometimes go and spend weekends with Felicity, her husband and her daughter as they lived in a suburb of Durban at the time. I loved the break from dorm life, and being in a family environment for the weekend … Felicity used to make these scones for breakfast and serve them warm, right out of the oven with butter melting into them and slathered in a tart raspberry jam.

Mmmm …. they bring back some wonderful memories, and they are now a regular in my own kitchen. I usually make them on a Sunday afternoon, and they are also a great standby if you suddenly have unexpected visitors for tea. (Which, let’s face it, doesn’t happen that often on a remote farm !)

Here is the recipe (which I’ve adapted slightly over the years). The secret to this recipe is to have a very light hand and not to over handle the dough. If you do that, you should have perfect scones every time – this recipe hasn’t let me down once in 17 years !


Felicity’s Breakfast Scones

2 cups Flour
4 tsp Baking Powder
2 tbsp Sugar
Pinch of Salt
3 tbsp Margarine
1 Egg, beaten
½ cup Milk

Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar & salt. Rub in the margarine, until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add the beaten egg & milk. Mix with a fork, until mixture leaves the sides of the bowl. Knead gently (and quickly) on a floured surface. Roll out quite thick – about 1 to 1 ½ cm – and cut in to rounds. Bake at 200’C/400’F/Gas Mark 6 for +- 10 minutes.

I’ve also made these into cheese scones before (husband’s request !) by omitting the sugar and adding ¾ cup grated Cheddar cheese instead.

UPDATE - 10 YEARS LATER !

View of Kilimanjaro from my old home

It has been just over 10 years since I left my life in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro & the beautiful country of Tanzania & relocated to South Africa. 

During this time, I turned my blog off, for personal reasons. I have had so many requests over the years to make it public again & for my old recipes to be made available - so, here it is ! (Excuse the outdated format & poor photo quality, but I wanted to leave it exactly as it was !) 

TO FIND OLD POSTS & RECIPES - See the "Archives" or "Labels" tabs to the right, or use the search bar.

FUN FACTS ! 

• When I stopped the blog, it was being read on every Continent/Worldwide (including Antarctica & on ships at sea !) 

• It ranked no 13 in Tanzania, no 628 in Africa & had won a few awards as well as extracts being published in local & overseas publications (Eg "Chicago Sun Times" & "Getaway Magazine")

☆☆I AM IN THE PROCESS OF STARTING A NEW, CURRENT & IMPROVED SOUTH AFRICAN FOOD & LIFE BLOG TO BE LAUNCHED IN MARCH 2021 - IT WILL BE LINKED HERE, SO WATCH THIS SPACE ! ☆☆

I will not be updating this blog - I wish to leave it as a collection of wonderful memories of a very special time in my life, aswell as a resource for people not only for my extensive recipe collection but also for those of you wishing to find out more about the beautiful country of Tanzania & for those of you planning a safari there in the future !

WHAT I'M UP TO NOW:

  Me today-a decade since I wrote the blog !

I still live in South Africa & am divorced from Ivan.  However, we remain the best of friends, are in weekly contact & he visits our children here as often as he can.

The farm we lived on in West Kilimanjaro was sold & soon after I left Tanzania, Ivan continued farming in another (very remote) part of the country where he still lives today.

My daughter, Logan is now 16 & my son, Paul is 11 - my blog covered my pregnancies, Logan as a toddler & Paul's birth - how time flies !

Justin still works for my ex husband, caretaking a property we still jointly own on the edge of the Arusha National Park & I keep in regular contact with him.

           ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

I hope that you enjoy reading through my blog & re living some wonderful memories with me ~ and a BIG thank you to my faithful readers who have kept in touch with me over the past 10 years via email & Facebook ! 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS 2010 !

Wishing all those of you who celebrate it, a wonderful Christmas day today ! Thanks, too, to everyone for all the emails that have been coming in since yesterday - I'll get around to replying soon ;)

I have a special message today for all those of you who are spending Christmas alone, or without their loved ones - I know how hard it is for you, and I will be thinking of you especially today - those of you who have lost loved ones, or who's children have flown the nest, single parent families or those of you who have loved ones working far away from home, or perhaps in hospital during this time .... may you have extra strength today to get through the Christmas season which I know, is not an easy one for many.

Lots of Love

Lynda XXX

A Long Overdue Update

I'm sorry that I have been so slack with updating the blog lately !- I'm in Johannesburg at the moment, my son had his operation on Tuesday & is now at home recovering. The past 2 days have been up and down with him ... a few hiccups and another Dr's visit this morning, possible post-op problems but we hope & pray that there won't be - only time will tell as the next week unfolds.

Thanks for all the messages, comments, emails - I have so many to reply to, and will do so as soon as I can. Thanks to those of you (you know who you are !) who've been keeping in close contact with me, especially during these past 2 difficult days - no matter how bad things seem, they CAN only get better, and I'm holding on to that thought as I face the coming days/week.

The photo's above were taken on the road to Johannesburg (from the Eastern Cape) this past weekend - I have some more posts to follow soon on the trip & the lovely B & B we stayed at along the way - but they'll have to wait until I have more time and am in a more peaceful place in my life !

Blog Greetings From South Africa !

I've arrived in South Africa ! Got here a week ago after an uneventful trip (quite rare that - this being Africa !) .... 3 countries, 3 flights alone with the 2 kids & around 100 kg's of checked & hand luggage ..... but we made it here okay ;)
The scenes in these photos were taken on the beach in front of my parent's house on the Eastern Cape coast where we are now ............

To all of you who've been emailing me - thank you - I'm sorry I have not responded yet. Thanks for the Facebook messages, emails and comments ..... Jo, Ian, Wendy, Karine, Di ...... I promise to be in touch soon ;) has been a difficult time for me these past few weeks as those close to me know .... thanks for all being there !

I head off to Johannesburg next week and will be there for around 12 days, before returning here for Christmas ..... I promise to pop in and blog as often as I can !

Hope that everyone is gearing up for the festive season & a nice holiday break .............. and to all those of you on the other side of the world - keep warm !

On My Way To South Africa Soon ..........

Kilimanjaro's snow covered peak - as viewed from my front garden

Yes, I'm still here ! (And yes - I know that I've been a Really Bad Blogger lately !) Thanks to everyone for still reading, commenting, following and emailing - I appreciate it !

I am heading off to South Africa next weekend (those of you who have read me for a long time will know that my son is due to have an operation there in mid December) - but I promise to keep on blogging once I'm there, to let you all know what I'm up to !

I'll be spending some time in Johannesburg, and also on the Eastern Cape coast - where my parent's live and where I'll also be spending Christmas and New Year. As always, I'll let you know what I'm doing/eating and getting up to on my travels. Can you believe that we're almost at the end of 2010 already ?! (I can't !)

You know that I often post stats and interesting snippets about the blog , and I do feel a little guilty here as I am not blogging as regularly as I used to, yet the blog's ranking is still climbing with my new ranking being no. 13 in Tanzania (no - I'm not superstitious !) and no. 628 in Africa - and all I can say is THANK YOU to each and every one of you, for reading me as often as you do (even though the posts aren't as regular) because if not for YOU the blog wouldn't be ranking as it is !

'Food, Fun & Farm Life' has had 449 299 visitors as I type this post, the majority of my overseas readers currently coming from the USA, closely followed by the UK and then Canada. The majority of my African readers come from South Africa, followed by Kenya and then Zambia. (Tanzanian readers - where are you ?!)

My most unusual readers come from 'ships at sea' & their location is - the middle of the ocean ! I also have readers from as far afield as Macedonia, Indonesia, Japan, Slovenia and Bermuda - greetings to you all, and thanks for reading from your corner of the world !

One of the most popular recipe posts on the blog at the moment is the one over here for 'Tanzanian Chapati' which I posted over 2 years ago and the most popular 'life' post at the moment is this one on 'Typical Tanzanian Road Side Scenes' which shows scenery on the way to the farm.

So, yes - thanks for continuing to read me & inspire me to keep on blogging .... and watch this space !

Easy White Bread Recipe

This easy white bread recipe has a soft texture & was great when used a day or two later to make sandwiches

An old friend of mine (aren't old friends always the best type of friends ?!) forwarded me the link to this easy bread recipe the other day, and I decided to try it over the weekend as we were having guests to stay.

It turned out really well and I will definitely be making it again.

The original link for this recipe can be found over here on the BBC Good Food website.

Easy White Bread Recipe

500 gm strong White flour, plus extra for dusting (I used white cake flour)

2 tsp Salt

7 g sachet of fast action Yeast

3 tbsp Olive Oil

300 ml Water

Mix the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre, then add the oil and water, and mix well. If the dough seems a little stiff, add 1-2 tbsp water, mix well then tip onto a lightly floured work surface and knead. Once the dough is satin-smooth, place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Leave to rise for 1 hour until doubled in size or place in the fridge overnight.

Line a baking tray with baking parchment. Knock back the dough, then gently mould the dough into a ball. Place it on the baking parchment to prove for a further hour until doubled in size.

Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Dust the loaf with flour and cut a cross about 6cm long into the top of the loaf with a sharp knife. Bake for 25-30 mins until golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath. Cool on a wire rack.

My Garden .... After The Rain

We've been having so much rain on the farm at the moment - and suddenly everything is turning a lush green again. The Jacaranda trees (above) are in full bloom, too ..........

Our garden is like an oasis for the surrounding bird and insect life, I usually have to make sure that our bird bath (above) is topped up once a day - but not when it rains every day as it has been lately.

We have an amazing array of insects in the garden, too - lots of different multi coloured ones like these below, too .....

And a lilac sea of agapanthus ................ (commonly called 'Lily of the Nile' despite the fact that it is not a lily, and is native to South Africa.)


We have hibiscus in the garden in varying shades of pink. Hibiscus make a refreshing Summer drink, and you can see my recipe (published a little over 2 years ago !) for hibiscus syrup (cordial) over here.

A view of part of our house/veranda, below ............

The bougainvillea is in full bloom now, too - lining the entrance pathway to the front door .......

The two windows on the left in the photo below are my kitchen windows .....

The view from my kitchen, below ................... (beyond the garden hedge I can see wheat fields, too - although these are not visible in the photo).

For photo's of my Winter garden (& where I answer one of my most regularly asked questions !) click here.

Pork Sausage, Pea & Pepper Casserole

This Pork Sausage, Pea & Pepper Casserole is great served over mashed potato

This is really easy midweek supper which you can throw together using ingredients from your freezer and store cupboard. Sausage casseroles are usually a hit with the whole family – you can also try my Tangy Sausage Casserole over here or my vegetable packed Lazy Sausage Casserole over here.

I always have a few packets of pork sausages in the freezer as they are a handy standby. If you don’t feel like making a casserole with the sausages, I’ve published several recipes using pork sausages in different ways on the blog over the years - have a look at my Homemade Pork Sausage Rolls made with an old family pastry recipe over here and see my recipe for Pork Sausages Wrapped in Bacon (did anyone say ‘cholesterol’ ?!) & served in an Onion Gravy over here.


Pork Sausage, Pea & Pepper Casserole

1 pkt Pork Sausages (about 8)
1 pkts Tomato Soup (single serve instant ‘Cup of Soup’ type)
1 tin Peas (+- 400gm)
1 tin Tomatoes, peeled & chopped (+- 400gm)
1 Red Pepper, sliced
1 Onion, sliced
Salt & Pepper – to taste

Lightly brown the sausages in a little oil in a pan. Remove & place in a casserole dish. Make the tomato soup up according to package instructions, pour over the sausages. Scatter the peas, tomatoes, red pepper & onion over. Season to taste. Stir to mix. Place – uncovered – in the oven at 190'C/375'F/Gas Mark 5 and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring a couple of times. Serve over mashed potato.

Tanzanian Summer Days ......

A trip to the city revealed Mt. Meru out in all her glory (above) ..... her snow capped peak just visible amongst the clouds .......

The jacaranda's are in bloom again ........... leaving a soft lilac carpet in their dappled shade .....

Lunch with friends in a majestic old homestead ................


With summery views out over manicured lawns & clear blue water .............


The shady veranda a perfect spot for a pre lunch G & T ................ or two

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. If I had to tell you what was happening in my life right now, I think your jaw would drop on the floor ;) but it's all good ..... and all to do with moving forward, and moving on ....... lot's of changes on the horizon ...... and new beginnings, as hopeful and bright as these heady Summer days ...........

Mini Jam (or Syrup) Sponges

These mini sponge puddings take just 5 minutes to cook in the microwave, and are best served hot with custard (Jam pudding pictured above, & Syrup pudding pictured below)

Here is a quick & easy recipe for mini jam (or syrup) sponges, which are an ideal Winter dessert. These are cooked in the microwave, and can be thrown together at the last minute – taking just 5 minutes to cook, they are also ideal for last minute guests.

These are best served with hot custard, but you could also serve them with cream.


Mini Jam (or Syrup) Sponges

150 gm (5 oz) Butter
110 gm (4 oz) Sugar
3 Eggs
170 gm (6 oz) Flour
1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Lemon Zest
1 -2 tbsp Milk (optional)
6 teaspoons of Strawberry Jam (or Syrup)

Cream the butter and sugar together until light & fluffy. Add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Sift in the flour and baking powder, stir in the lemon zest. If the mixture seems a little thick, add a tablespoon or two of milk.

Lightly grease 6 glass ramekin dishes (the ones I use are +- 8cm in diameter) & place a teaspoon of strawberry jam (or syrup) into each one. Spread it around a little to coat the bottom of the dish. Now divide the batter between the 6 dishes. Cover each one with plastic wrap, pierce a couple of times with a fork & place in the microwave on medium power for around 5 minutes (adjust settings/time according to your microwave). Alternatively you can leave the cling film off & bake these in the oven at Gas Mark 5/190’C/375’F for around 20 minutes.

Tanzanian Buses - Where Would You Like To Go Today ?

Shall we catch a Tanzanian bus, & go on an exciting journey somewhere together today ?!
Buses are one of the main modes of transport here for people wishing to travel from one city to the next

You can catch a bus to Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Mozambique or Malawi

So .... which city would you like to visit today ?!

Where would you like to go today ? Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Uganda, or Rwanda ?

On almost all Tanzanian roads, you will find these buses running – especially along the major routes like Dar es Salaam or Arusha to Nairobi, Kenya. They’re bright, shiny and travel at break-neck speed on long, open stretches of road ! (We don't have 'highways' or 'freeways' here). Just ask a friendly local in whichever town or city you happen to be in, where the closest bus depot is - hop on, and enjoy the ride !

Buses are the main means of transport for local Tanzanians to get from one town or city to the next. They are also a popular choice for travellers on a budget, and I know several tourists who have successfully (& safely) travelled around Tanzania on them – and had great fun in the process !

Whenever one of these buses passes slowly through a town, or slows down at an intersection you see lots of vendors running up with boxes of goods for sale for hungry/thirsty passengers. The vendors push the goods up through the windows – shouting their prices out, haggling & running alongside the bus in order to keep up. I’ve watched many an exchange of boiled eggs, bottled water, peanuts, bananas or bread between vendors and bus passengers – a great source of business for the vendors and no doubt a source of entertainment for the travel weary passengers !

As a matter of interest, catching a bus from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi, Kenya would take you around 13 hours and the trip from Arusha to Nairobi would take you around 5 hours (of course these times may vary slightly depending on how long it takes you to get through the Namanga border post which lies between the 2 countries). If you’d like to go to the Kenyan coast, then a coach from Dar es Salaam to Mombasa takes around 12 hours.

You can also travel from Dar es Salaam to Lilongwe (approx. 27 hours) in Malawi, or even to Mozambique, Uganda (this route usually runs from Nairobi via Dar es Salaam to Kampala) or from Kampala, Uganda to Bukoba on the shores of Lake Victoria.

If you’re a traveller reading this, and plan on using one of these bus services sometime in the future, my advice to you would be to take something to eat & drink with you on the bus, along with a small pillow and some reading material. Have your camera handy, too & be prepared to meet, talk & make friends with your fellow travellers – Tanzanians are naturally friendly, welcoming people and you will find that your fellow passengers will be only too happy to tell you more about life in Tanzania, and to point out any interesting landmarks along the way !

Certainly more exciting than catching a 'plane from one city to the next, buses allow you to really get a ‘feel’ for the country and the wonderful Tanzanian people –so sit back, relax …. and enjoy the ride !

A Giraffe Birthday Cake !

This giraffe cake was perfect for my son's first birthday !

He was a very happy giraffe - and tasted nice, too !

My son turned 1 in June when we were in South Africa visiting my parents, and my Mum & I made him a giraffe birthday cake together, which I’ve been meaning to post on the blog for a while now !

We used the ‘standard’ basic cake batter recipe which is a ‘fool proof’ one I got from my Mum – she used the same recipe to bake birthday cakes for my sister and I when we were kids ! (You can see the birthday cake I made for my daughter using this same recipe - when she turned 4 - over here).

Looking back on the photo’s of the cake after I’d taken them, something suddenly struck me though – an important part of the giraffe was ‘missing’ and could so easily have been added on to complete the cake. I can’t believe that I never noticed it on the day ! Can you tell what it is ? If so, leave me a comment below !

Here’s how we made our giraffe -:


Basic (Plain) Cake Batter

200 gm Margarine (or Butter)
1 ½ Sugar
5 Eggs
3 cups Flour
4 tsps Baking Powder
2 cups Milk

Cream the margarine & sugar together. Add the eggs, beating well. Add the sifted flour and baking powder, then the milk. Beat all together until well mixed & pour into 2 greased 23 cm x 23 cm (approx) round cake tins, 1 greased 30 cm x 13 cm (approx) rectangular loaf tin & 4 cup cake cases. Bake at 190’C/375’F/Gas Mark 5 for 30 - 40 minutes until a knife inserted in the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before removing from the tins/cases.


Butter Icing

1 cup butter, at room temperature
3 cups icing (confectioners) sugar, sifted
2 – 3 tbsps Milk (Optional)
Brown Food Colouring – a few drops
Yellow Food Colouring – a few drops

Cream the butter and icing sugar together. Add a couple of tablespoons of milk if you need it to be a little smoother. Place a quarter of the mixture into a separate bowl & add a few drops of brown food colouring to it, until you get the desired shade of brown. Add a few drops of yellow food colouring to the remainder of the mixture, until you have the desired shade of yellow.

To Decorate

5 – 6 strips of Liquorice (I used the ‘twisted’ kind)
2 brown Lollipops

How To Assemble Your Giraffe:

Get a stiff, covered board long enough for your giraffe to fit on to (we used a short wooden shelf covered with foil !) First, take the 2 round cakes & position them to make your giraffe’s head and body. Next, cut the cake from the loaf tin to size to make your giraffe’s neck. Use 2 of the cupcakes to make his ears, and the remaining 2 to make his feet.

Ice everything with yellow icing, and then use the brown icing to make ‘spots’ on your giraffe’s body and neck, and on his ears.

Now position 2 liquorice strands between the body and feet portions to create the legs. Use some more of the liquorice to make his mouth, eyes & nostrils and place the 2 lollipops on his head to make the ‘horns’.

Voila - a giraffe is born !

Tanzanian Roads Travelled This past Week .......

As regular readers know, I've been quite busy lately with lots of new projects on the horizon - building a house on the land we've just bought, refurbishing our guest cottage, school runs .... not to mention catching up with old friends (from sedate morning tea's to boozy barbecues !) and .... shopping trips to the city.

So, I decided to post a few photo's of the roads I've travelled this past week - just to give you another idea of what a diversely beautiful country Tanzania is. The road above is the 'driveway' to my daughter's school - which is nestled on the edge of a very old coffee plantation. Beautiful, isn't it ?

The other road scenes were taken on the way to our plot, on the way to the city, on the way to a friend's house - all over, really ..... I particularly like the shady, tree lined road above - and always feel really peaceful when driving along it ....

So much of Tanzania is still relatively untouched - no power lines or telephone lines to marr the horizon (although we do have several really ugly mobile 'phone towers dotted here and there).

Punctures are a common occurance here, but as long as you are prepared you're usually okay. Within minutes of stopping you can expect around 1 million kids and people from the nearest village to surround your car offering to help (as you provide them with their daily entertainment !)

My children are so used to driving on bumpy roads and sleep better when we're driving on them, than they do when we're on the tar !

If you'd like to see some more incredible African roads and scenery from different parts of this magnificent continent, then pop on over to two of my favourite African blogging friends .... 'One Stoned Crow' over in Namibia has posted breathtaking photo's of Namibia's stunning Orange River road in a recent post over here and Jo at 'Memorable Meanders' who is currently posting from her home in the Sudan (did you know that the Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt ? I didn't ! Browse Jo's blog & visit some of them with her !) did a (heart wrenching) post on 'Children of The City' early this week - click here to read that and see the streets of Khartoum.

Potato Cake Fun In The Kitchen With The Kids .....

My husband can't really cook but can, on occasion, throw together a decent breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausages etc - or the odd steak (either inside on the stove, or outside on the barbecue). So when he suddenly gets inspired 'to cook' I am always cautiously optimistic ;)

The other Sunday he was 'inspired' to make potato cakes .... and before I could so much as open a recipe book for him, he had aprons on both the kids, chairs out (so that they could reach the kitchen counter) and was ready to start .......... (as pictured above)

My kitchen usually looks like a bomb has hit it after hubby and the kids have been doing 'inspiring' cooking in there - but I took a deep breath and just let them get on with it !

Here's what the potato cakes looked like in the pan -: ('eh ? What's that I can see ? A pea ? The recipe never said anything about peas !)

And .... tra la ..... here is the finished greasy product -:


If you'd like to try making these yourself (pint sized assistant's & peas optional), here's the recipe -:

Potato Cakes

4 large Potatoes, peeled
1 Onion, finely chopped
4 cloves Garlic, finely grated
1 Egg, beaten
2 to 4 tablespoons Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
Ground black Pepper
Oil for shallow frying

Briefly par boil the whole, peeled potatoes until just beginning to get tender. Allow to cool slightly, before grating into a bowl along with the onion & garlic. Squeeze any excess liquid out and then add the beaten egg, flour (add 2 tablespoons to begin with & more if necessary – it should have a thick consistency), salt & pepper. Drop tablespoons of the batter into hot oil – once it begins to set, flatten slightly with the back of a spoon before turning over to brown on the other side. They should be cooked within about 10 minutes or so. Serve immediately.

My News ..........

The land has views of Mt Meru (above) - Africa's 5th highest mountain

The land is currently a banana, maize and bean subsistence 'shamba' (farm)

The land is lush and green, with over 100 trees on it


We have also bought the existing house which is on the land - this will be used as a building store/for locking building supplies in, and we may eventually turn it into a lock-up garage or outside store


Village leaders from the local village which or land falls under, signing the Land Sale Agreement at the village office

Sorry I haven’t been around much lately – but here, at long last, is a post to let you all know what I’ve been up to !

I mentioned earlier this year that there would be some changes on the horizon for our family in the near future – well, I can now tell you that after about a year of planning & negotiating (things are rarely ‘smooth sailing’ here in Africa !) we have finally managed to buy 2 acres of magnificent Tanzanian land overlooking a National Park (and close to the base of Africa’s 5th highest mountain – Mt Meru) where we will start to build a home early in 2011 (as the seller will vacate the land in December this year).

The land is next door to two of our oldest and dearest friends who we have known since we moved to Tanzania in 1998, and is a mere 20 – 30 minutes from our daughter’s school – and around 1 ½ hours from the farm (& ½ hour from the city) so the plan is that we will build a home and move there towards the end of next year, so that we can be close to the school and so that our daughter (and son, as he will start nursery school in a couple of years time !) can attend it daily.

We will still keep a home base here on the farm (my husband will commute daily between our new home/farm/city office) & will come out here to stay over school holiday’s, weekends etc so it’s not going to be too sad (hopefully !) the day we finally make the move. (This being Africa, anything could happen and we could move sooner or later than the end of 2011 – so watch this space !)

I am going to be devastated to leave the farm as a permanent home base (but as hubby says, ‘Just wait until you see your own house being built, then you’ll be really excited to move !) as I love, love, love it here and if it were not for the children I would never ever want to leave (and I can tell you that I have had a love/hate relationship with the farm and that it took me many years to feel this way – when our daughter was still very young I was very unhappy here & wanted to move, but for the past several years I have been very happy & content here !) But as a parent, we all know that you make sacrifices for your children and as I do not want to send our children away to boarding school, we feel that this will be the best move for our family.

So, we have been going for endless meetings with village heads, officials and lawyers, land surveyors etc and it has all been quite exhausting with endless paperwork in order to have everything legally done, and countless trips in & out of the city which is what has been taking me away from the farm & blogging lately !

I’ve included a few photos of our land in this post for you to see – it is currently a bean, maize and banana ‘shamba’ (farm) - our friends (neighbours) have game such as elephant and hippo coming on to their land and what is really great is that the subsistence farmers who owned this land were having so much trouble with wild animals coming in & eating their crops that they were only too happy to sell, were paid very well for their land and this has enabled them to move further ‘inland’ and buy land were wild animals are no longer a threat to their crops/livelihood, so it is a win-win situation all round. There are quite a few people buying land in this particular area now, and restoring it to natural, indigenous bush & encouraging the game and birdlife back (which is what we also plan to do), which is wonderful.

I have also been keeping very busy with my Guest Cottage venture these past few weeks - and have had lots of guests in and out ! Many people have asked me what I will do about this once we move off the farm – well, a year is a long time and anything could happen in that time, but the idea is that I will still handle all the bookings/marketing etc from where we live and I will employ a good local person as a caretaker to oversee it for me in my absence (meeting & greeting people etc), and of course we will still be coming out to the farm over the odd weekend/holiday so I will still be able to keep an eye on things.

So, that’s what I’ve been up to lately ! I have also decided to only update the blog weekly (once or twice a week) for the time being, as I try to get on top of things going on in 'real' life. I also hope to find time this week to start visiting/commenting on everyone else’s blogs, too – and tackle my overflowing ‘Inbox’ aswell ! Thanks everyone, for keeping in touch – and I hope to be back in the blogosphere more often soon …..