What a revolting day. If this was what farm life was supposed to be all about, I was certainly having a rethink! What I didn’t know was that our staff was being collected on a Saturday, to assist the previous owner in the assembling of green house for palm trees in his new home. He would collect them early on a Saturday morning pay them with a ‘kannetjie’ of wine costing R13, and bring them back totally intoxicated. So by Monday they were still so drunk that work was almost impossible. Most went awol within an hour of clocking in for the day’s work. Vince drove around to find them settled neatly between the vineyards snoring happily and loudly.

This was the same farmer with the bloody terrible dog that terrorized my cat and the other two cats that I inherited from said farmer. Upon our purchase of the farm, he’d offered the dog and the two cats, and their herd of cattle. We said no to the dog, but I’d agreed, to take the cats as long as he paid for their sterilization. His immediate response was that he was not paying for that, and then he would just shoot them!! Oh my God, I was horrified. I spat out a stammer of no’s, and he smiled in acceptance.

Vince still had his business in Cape Town and so we would leave on a Monday morning by 8.30 a.m. and return on a Friday afternoon…spend the weekend and the following week on the farm, and then return to Cape Town once again the following Monday morning…So 5 days in Cape Town and 9 days on the farm…in cycles.

We were not aware of the former owner’s visits when we were away, or that he was helping himself to what ever he felt he needed, from slate sections for a paving project he was busy organizing, to taking the staff as and when he needed. In his eyes he still had rights to the land he grew up on, and farmed. The final straw came on a Sunday morning at 7.30 a.m. when we woke to the sound of a bakkie driving up to the store. Kai was barking his displeasure at the intrusion, and made sure we heard him loud and clear. Vine rolled out of bed, wondering who the hell was visiting the farm at such an early hour.

Pulling on his clothes, he unlocked the office door, reassured Kai, and made off toward the main store. He was gone for a short while and returned fuming. The original farmer’s son in law had popped on by, to collect some ‘stuff’ from the store! Vince sent him packing and told he and his family to stay off our farm!

This went unheeded and the workers informed us that he was continuing to help himself whenever we were away.

One weekend my granddaughter and I were there and lo and behold, his Lordship arrived, driving along the road to the labourers’ homes. He loaded two of our staff members onto the back, helped himself to some wood and disappeared.

Enough was enough. Vince contacted the local attorney to arrange for his enforced restraint! That was on Thursday.

The following Tuesday I heard a bakkie arriving with the dreaded imposter again….this time returning the wood…which he had taken without permission. I walked down to the old house to ensure he returned all that he had removed…only to see that he’d brought less than half the load back. He greeted me, as if nothing had happened. Hopefully this would be the last time.

Life is never dull on the farm. Later that afternoon, I received a call from the local school, to inform me that a dog had bitten one of our workers’ children. I needed to collect him and take him to the local doctor for stitches.

Everyday is a learning day! He has a makeshift bandage across the lower section of his leg, and apparently this dog got a meaty bite into the back of his muscle! Limping, but not too uncomfortable he climbed into the Jeep. An older pupil asked if she could come along to support him and off the three of us went.

By now, Henry had gone dumb. Maybe he was in shock. He wasn’t responding at all, while Melony on the other hand, was chatting nineteen to the dozen, about school and the students. She told me quite happily that the poor dog had been tied up and teased and once it had managed to break free, Henry was simply the closes piece of meat the poor thing could latch onto.

That brought forth a lecture from me about teasing animals and the results thereof including a stern reminder that he had received precisely what he deserved. All of which only produced a scowl .

Arriving at the surgery I enquired whether Henry had ever had stitches before. In response to a half hearted shake of his head I explained that he would probably receive 2 injections, one for the anesthetic and the other for tetanus. He showed no reaction.

In short order we were called into the doctor’s room and the bandage was removed. It was a nasty bite. Braam, our local Doc, explained to him what would be happening, and I held him like a good ‘Mom’ reassuring him as they began the work Henry’s eyes were as large as saucers not having been inside a doctor’s office before and yet he took the whole process in his stride. He winced slightly as the doctor injected local anesthetic and then just watched what was happening quite passively. No reaction at all.

In fact even when they gave him the Tetanus shot which burns like hell he just shut his eyes tightly and muttered quietly. He was given instructions to keep the leg clean and NOT to remove or tamper with the stitches for 10 days, after which I would remove his stitches. Bloody hell! Me remove stitches??? Apparently that’s what farmer’s wives did in these parts. We left shortly after that, him in discomfort, and me shell-shocked. I’m not a nurse, just a regular Mom! Feeling sorry for him I decided an ice cream was in order, and took him to the factory outlet for Parmalat ice cream,in Bonnievale. I told him to choose whatever he wanted and he chose a choc pie ice cream which he ate it with relish….not missing a drip, licking the sweet creamy delight with gusto. Needless to say Melony had an ice cream too!

And so …for a while there was peace. We went back to Cape Town for a week. There were wages to be sorted on Friday morning at Vince’s office, and I would stuff the envelopes on the way home, so that when we arrived back on the farm, we could literally jump out of the car, pay the staff, then unpack!

We arrived back at the farm at ten to five. The traffic from Cape Town had been horrendous and the labourers all finish up at five. That left us ten minutes to chat with the foreman, Klonkies, and find out what had happened during the week. We had been harvesting for the week, so casual wages needed to be included.

Jurie our direct neighbour and Vince had a business arrangement. For the weeks we were in Cape Town, Jurie would ‘run’ our farm, as well as harvesting when necessary and we would pay him to do so.

It was only the beginning of the weekend and already most of the staff had been drinking and we could smell it on their breath. They were overly chatty, another telltale sign.

Fortunately a quiet weekend ensued, for which we both were grateful. Wayne, a friend that farms in Barrydale popped in for visit on Sat to watch rugby and on Sunday we took a drive to Robertson for lunch at Saddles, a steak house. What a disappointment. The food was really awful! Note to self …no return visit.

Then Monday morning rolled around. Faans and Niklaas, turned up for a days work, but were too pissed to even stand without having something to lean on. They were told to go home, and sober up! Two men short during harvesting season was not helpful. Tuesday was a better day and we harvested 40 tons of Colombard and achieved 1st class rating into the bargain…we were thrilled. It was a long hot day, harvesting starting at 6.00am and finishing at 5.30 pm….

At 12.03a.m. I heard Kai bark ferociously, warning us that somebody was on the property and it was not someone he wanted there. We had been sleeping with the curtains open to enjoy the star filled night sky, and I suddenly felt very vulnerable. The nights are particularly dark here so the stars are magnificent. After collecting my thoughts and trying at best to get with the programme, I heard a muffled voice, Steven, the Garden man, was informing me in his loudest whisper that his pregnant daughter was in labour. Crap! Leaping out of bed, I told him I would call the ambulance, and told him to go back home and be with her. The ambulance arrived at 02.10 a.m. two hours after calling them. I held my breath and hoped they were in time.

Wednesday morning when Steven arrived for work, I checked on her progress and was told it had been a false alarm.

Robyn had arrived a two weekends ago with a gift for her dad, a Jack Russell puppy we named Sir George! He was the cutest sweetest little pup, and he and Kai bonded straight away! Our family is growing…I too am counting the days for Enigma to have her litter of kittens.