Lotus Permaculture Homestead

02/06/2026

Love the Autumn colours, even the harvest meals are shades of Red. We're enjoying the last of the Tomatoes & Brinjals, also Potatoes including 2 types of Sweet Potatoes the Red skin & Orange. The food pics are what we have for lunch usually, sharing with whoever is here for the day. Rocky's wife joined him on Saturday, she loved the food & wanted to come for the experience. Sharing knowledge & skills is encouraged, also being valued. Ethina had the opportunity to bake a Sweet Potato bread from scratch & made Plum jam for the first time yesterday, the recipe is with the pics.

We cleared the front garden & removed the first Elderberry planted, we have been maintaining it incorrectly for years it needs heavy pruning. I noticed the drop in flowers last season, most growing too high only the birds could reach. The hugelkultur bed is the happiest. Some pics of what's growing at the entrance, with one taken 4yrs ago.

20/05/2026

I love making Beeswax candles, I sold the last 3 hand dipped sets at the Mowbray Market this month. The rainy weather yesterday motivated me to stock up, variety sells & regular customers love to see what's new. Making Tumeric soap today, formulating recipes gets easier with the soap calculator, the main ingredient must come from the garden. I also add Beeswax to salves & soap, rendering it is rewarding. I started making candles 3yrs ago it was needed as we live offgrid, it's toxin free & purifies the air. Comfrey products followed & that's when I joined the monthly market.

We sheet mulch our pathways, this helps with soaking the rain & w**d control. First we add cardboard then a layer of woodchips/bark, gathering these resources takes time. Some pics included also a no knead bread recipe.

17/05/2026

Sectors in Permaculture is everything out of your control coming onto your land like Wind, Fire, Sun, Water, Wildlife, Storms, criminal activities also stock theft etc must all be considered when planning & designing. There was no water & electricity in Grabouw for days, water tanks are not a priority for most people here when we have enough rainfall throughout the year someone needs to do something.

We had to clear the back perimeter of an old Pine tree windbreak first before fencing 6yrs ago, I contacted a local company & they moved away many truck loads. I was given some wood to build the cabin in exchange. We had a wild fire 2yrs ago the stumps & roots all burnt imagine if the trees were still there. Tree management is important especially close to buildings & structures, we need to replace with indigenous varieties. I'm going to contact the authorities to remove the huge Bluegum trees about 40-50m away this was our biggest threat in the storm when lots of branches snapped & landed all over our gardens. They are the tallest trees usually in the background of some pics.

It's a beautiful sunny day compared to 1wk ago when the stormy weather started. We are at 100% back to "normal" after Chosa Aka Chombe Wixy came to fix the leaks & clear all the fallen wood also along the perimeter fence on the outside🙏Ready for the 2nd gardening workshop next Thursday, loved meeting the growers who attended last Saturday.

Some pics taken around the house & from the back stoep(porch), thanks to our local old school builder Reagan there are no structural problems.

14/05/2026

Life is nearly back to normal after the storm. A local plumber connected the water tanks & the solar power is finally back on after 4days, thanks to Louis it needed a big jump start. Trails End the bike hotel down the road helped us locals with mobile charging for 3days🙏

Some pics of the new seedlings I planted recently, mainly a variety of Brassicas(Cabbage family), beetroot, carrots & lemons. Made a pot of soup to share with our community yesterday arranged by our amazing farmwatch group & a few Sweet Potato flat breads for home the recipe is included.

12/05/2026

The storm has settled more rain is expected & should clear by tomorrow afternoon. Trees are dangerous in a storm fortunately no serious damage, lots of lessons learnt. All is good, thanks to those making contact it was scarey with no power or network ☮️

11/05/2026

Enjoying leftover Malva pudding we ordered from The Orchard Farm Stall & Coffee Shop for Mother's day, watching the storm. I just managed to save the gazebo when it snapped & was ready to take off.

11/05/2026

The Cape of Storms even Roy is hiding ...

04/05/2026

Contact SEED for more info 🐞🐝🐛

We’re seeding resilient futures 🌱

Just 1 week to go until our Resilience Training kicks off at SEED.

This 3-week programme builds real-life skills across personal, household and financial resilience - from confidence and wellbeing to practical tools for everyday life and pathways into the local green economy.

If you’ve been thinking about it… this is your moment.

👉 Find out more and sign up here: https://seed.org.za/workshops/. Bursaries available.

03/05/2026

Happy International Permaculture Day!

I started volunteering at SEED in Rocklands Mitchells Plain 13yrs ago before doing the PDC(12day Permaculture Design Certificate)in the E.Cape with Serenity Permaculture, a 50th gift to myself. I had a stoep(porch)garden in Woodstock for years, we started this garden from scratch in 2021. We live 100% offgrid, it's been challenging to be honest but we have come a long way thanks to Permaculture as a guide. Sharing knowledge with some of the locals when we introduce the chemical free growing workshop next Saturday.

Our Beeswax candles, Comfrey + Calendular Soap & Potatoes were the most popular at the Mowbray market yesterday, thanks to TCOE - Trust for Community Outreach and Education for this opportunity to trade at no cost to the vendors.

We would like to host Permaculture interns with an in person PDC in the future, feel free to DM for more info thank you.