Life Love Wings: 'Self confidence is a super power. Once you start believing in yourself magic happens' Author unknown

This past week I have started to focus on building up my confidence in areas that I feared. It has led me through an interesting journey and I have begun to realise that I have not done this often enough. The words 'practice makes perfect' came to mind often during this week of mastering new skills. During this process I have realised how much grit and perseverance one has to have to develop the confidence to master a new skill. And how are we teaching this critical character trait in our generation of children?

So the

★★★★First challenge

came in learning to master a CHAINSAW! I had a very good teacher who gave me very precise instructions ...

And then it was for me to try........

Oh my gosh ! I have a new found respect for all people who work with chainsaws! I have got better and today I managed to start the chainsaw and cut some wood - it was such a feeling of success 💪💪

Wood perfectly chopped and neatly laid !

★★★★Second challenge

came in learning to put our landrover into low range when necessary. This was so much more difficult than I thought but I did that too! I can now go up the driveway and up the mountain pass to our braai area and anywhere else I desire (I hope) by MYSELF!!

Langgat

Celebrating success!

We heard we could go and pick grapes from De Kranz and then came the

★★★★ Next challenge

What to do with the grapes we picked? Wine ????? 😊 We decided that was a step too far (for now 😉) and so with Claudette's and my mum's help we embarked on making JAM and RAISINS

Picking the grapes

Grapes at R9.50 per kg!

Grapes at home ready to be washed!

Sorting

8 cups grapes , 4 cups sugar, 1 cup water
and 2 T lemon juice on the stove to boil.

The end result - absolutely delicious.

At the same time Michael decided to use some to make raisins ....

Starting to turn into raisins ( this is after 3 days in the baking sun)

Still awaiting the end result!

So what comes next ........

★★★★ SALT RIB ( although to be honest this was Michael's challenge completely!) Michael came across the recipe in the 'Cooked in the Karoo' by Justin Bonella

It is a process but, as many things in life, it's the process that makes the end result so gratifying

Rub ribs in salpeter (gun powder I discovered!)

Dry outside for a couple of hours

Boil for a couple of hours

Braai !

Reena (our neighbour) gave us an old waffle iron so that brought us into our next challenge ......

★★★★ making WAFFLES in the riverbed! It was interesting and our first ones were definately not great but by the end we had created delicious ones (topped with honey from the farm or homemade plum/apricot jam!) Any takers ? 😉😉😉

I suppose the last challenge comes in

★★★★ LOOKING for JOB OPPORTUNITIES!!!!

Both Michael and I have been browsing and seeing what opportunities are around. We have spoken to local people in the community and have lots of ideas swimming around in our heads but at the moment we are still investigating and are happy. We went and visited 'Die Heuwel Speelskool' which is a christian based playschool and is just incredible. It is amazing that if you have a dream and a desire to make it happen, things work out. The story of this little school really touched our hearts and the difference that Sheldon and his team at the school are making in the community, are just incredible. We offered our support to them in any form it may take. Afterall , preschool educaion is critical and forms a base for a successful life journey.

Die Heuwel Speelskool

Teaching is the core of who I am (I suspect 😉😉) and I have seen so many learning opportunities which have stimulated my brain. I can't believe how many times I have had to use the concept of 'ratio' - mixing cement, making jam, mixing my dishwashing liquid : the list is endless and yet I don't believe, as a teacher, I placed enough emphasis on this concept! I wish I had and I urge all teachers to introduce this concept from an early age. It's so very very easy when we think about how much we use ratio in our daily lives.

The other experiment I tried was when I was working with soils and trying to find the PH balance of our soil. I came across this pinterest post

Testing PH balance of Soil

and decided I had to give it a try because so often these look good but dont work........

I got some soil in our garden and then added vinegar to it

I was amazed at how it bubbled! This means our soil has a PH balance of between 7 - 8!

This was the result when it dried.

Bicarb to be added if soil doesn't react to vinegar.
Love someone to try the Bicarb and see if it works a
as well.

But I do have a question : Our newly made bird bath water is this colour ...

Why ? Any suggestions?

I am so thrilled that Ali has popped in for a few days - he is able to work from here and I'm as excited as any mother is when their children arrive home 💓💓💓