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Lotus Permaculture Homestead

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Lotus Permaculture Homestead

Sharing new OFFGRID beginnings working mostly with what we have available, would love to inspire too!

09/10/2026

Something Yellow from the garden🌻Made home grown Tumeric soap for the first time also rendered a little beeswax from the one & only hive that has now been removed since the 🐝left 😭 We have lots of 🐝🐝 coming into the house & dying, apparently the local Apple farmers bring in hives during the pollination season & I thought they followed the wax. Pics of the process included.

I made some Honeysuckle cuttings from Anke Pearson last year, we planted them along the fence with the Kei Apples on the road side they have started flowering. It's our Seedswop tomorrow, we will have Elderberry drinks & other harvest treats comment if you would like to attend.

02/10/2026

There is rain on the way we planted 2 varieties of bush beans today & the Tomatoes are the first to start growing in the seed snails. I made some Lemonbalm plants to take to the Mowbray Market tomorrow, also Elderberry & Vetiver cuttings plus the usual Comfrey. We have lots of volunteer Evening Primrose, let me know if you would like to collect one there.

We made some Indian samoosas today for the first time, Punjabi style Potatoes without the peas. It was delicious will make some for the seedswop next week the recipe is with the pic!

28/09/2026

What a blessing to start sowing seeds knowing exactly where it comes from these were all from last seasons harvest. It helps to soak bigger seeds for 24hrs before planting directly.

Here we have Corn, Red Beans, Cranberry Beans, Pigeon Peas, Pumpkin & Strawberry Popcorn. Cranberry beans are similar to the popular Sugar beans in South Africa & a good substitute, we planted for the first time last season. The Red beans are used to make Rajma a popular Indian vegetarian dish, I make the pickled beans from these when Green.

These bush beans will be planted all along the edges of the existing beds same as we always do, they will eventually release Nitrogen into the soil to help the companion crops. The Winter rain was not enough to fill the new tanks this year yet, we were hoping to increase our grow space.

Leave a comment if you would like any of these seeds, I can take some to the Mowbray Market on Saturday for collection the poster is with the pics.

27/09/2026

The weather was perfect for our garden workshop yesterday we expected rain, always love the meeting & sharing. Happy that we had more growers from Grabouw this time, Lee Ann came all the way from the southern suburbs with plants & seeds for everyone I planted the Poppies with Strawberries this morning.

The Pomegranates are flowering, Spring has finally arrived. We have a seed swop here on the 10/10, you're invited the poster is included with the pics.

20/09/2026

This is my first ever Rose I planted, made from a cutting a blessing from my old neighbour Dina in Suurbraak 2yrs ago. A Mulberry cutting from Sindiswa has fruit it's just over 4mths old, when growing from cuttings the new plant is the same age as the one it comes from when it comes to flowering & fruiting.

We've been Spring cleaning thanks to Gemma Morris who is helping me to get organised, we are ready for the garden workshop next Saturday the poster is with the pics. The plan is to build a shadecloth Nursery with the help of Saabir Jacobs, it will be a space to increase propagation especially for giveaways.

We had Banana bread with Marula nuts for tea time, I also added rolled oats the recipe is with the pic.

14/09/2026

Gooseberries & Vetkoek(fat cake) I harvested nearly 1kg yesterday from 2plants. Started out with 1 seedling from Anthea in a Comfrey swop 5yrs ago, now there are lots of volunteers & no need to ever make any. I made jam adding the Elderberry cordial that was ready instead of water, it's delicious sweet sour & flowery.

I made vetkoek to go with the jam, the quick method with SR flour. I need to make these for my grandsons it's alot easier for them to learn how to do, they prefer the Sweet Potato bread & Roti usually. It's still raining so will make a harvest soup to go with the vetkoek!

There are lots of Yellow flowers including the brassicas(cabbage family), it's delicious in salads & stir fries some will become seeds. Some pics of what's growing, recipes will be added.

12/09/2026

Our tanks are connected just in time before the rain today, hopefully enough to really soak the soil.

Rocky also managed to cut & chop some firewood he only comes to help on Saturdays. We had Sago pudding for tea time & our first Elderflower cordial will be ready tomorrow, both recipes are included with the pics.

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Lotus Homestead
Grabouw
7160

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