Archive for November, 2010

provided by Matthew Ballenden, dad to Isabella & owner of the Fresh Earth Food Store, an organic health store and vegetarian restaurant with a  great online store.  Visit their website to find out more.

The safety of beauty and household products has largely been taken for granted but as you do with food, its vitally important to also scrutinise these ingredients.

The shampoos you apply to your body and the detergents you use in your home eventually end up down the drain and into our water system. It is therefore important that these products have no negative environmental impact during manufacturing and also when released into the environment.

Natural and organic detergents are generally not as strong as regular chemically-based detergents and require a little more effort in the cleaning process. People are often put off by this but a little sweat never harmed anyone in comparison to the damage non-environmentally friendly detergents are causing.

Every year a new Organic detergent is brought into the market and its effectiveness is getting better and better. There are no more excuses for not buying environmentally friendly body care products and household cleaners.

All one needs is white vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, water, and a bit of elbow grease.

Not only are these ingredients cheaper than other products on the market, they come in fairly large containers from your local supermarket – white vinegar, for instance, is available in 2 litre bottles (plastic, unfortunately, but it is recyclable).

Visit the Fresh Earth Food Store website to learn more about natural detergents and cleaning products

by Tanya van Eyk mum to two beautiful 4yr old girls, who  teach her something new about life every day. She works in IT and  also runs a party planning service called The Party Key

People will ask me, “So how is the potty training going?”  My response is normally a blank stare followed by an intelligent, “Uh?” as I have always felt that going to the toilet was just another milestone my girls would reach at some stage, when they were ready.

I did think that perhaps they were ready one month when they suddenly refused to wear nappies. and I promptly  rushed out to buy a potty.

While out shopping I  wondered whether  to buy one or two potties. (My twins had been going through the stage where they wanted identical things)., I settled on ONE yellow potty, knowing I could always go back to the shop if I needed another.

I was surprised to find that they were willing to SHARE this new addition to the house. There were squeals of delight at seeing the potty but after an hour everyone from Barney to the doll had gone to the ‘toilet’ except for the girls. Sadly potty was relegated to a dark corner, like so many of their toys they get bored with.

Then began the new term at crèche…… “From now on you will need to send pull up pants to school,” I was informed by the teacher. “We will have them potty trained in no time” I smiled at her optimism.  A month later, I broached the subject,” So how is the potty training going?” Her silence spoke volumes as she tried to tell me nicely that it wasn’t going well, ending with,” But we are getting there.” Then at the end of term during the parent teacher meeting, we decided to give potty training a break for the winter and to try again the following summer.

This term I have decided to take the ‘toilet’ matter a little more seriously and bought a second potty. The girls now feel more inclined to ‘use’ the potties as they both have their own.

Potty training trials happen on the weekends and while the elder of my twins has responded eagerly to the idea of going to ‘toilet’, it feels as if she only does it for the praise and attention she gets, while my other daughter only seems to go along with it not to be left out.

Both has yet to produce their first work of art. After a short stint on the potty, they both jump up with a happy “Wee wee mommy”, or “Poo poo” and point at their empty potties

While I do realise this potty business will be a part of our routine for quite awhile to come, I do comfort myself with the knowledge that they surely will be out of nappies before they go to Grade 1, or will they?

By Madelein Kriegler, a working mom of two, always on the run, always looking to do new interesting things. You can visit her blog or  find her on twitter @Madelein

So we returned to Chrissiesmeer for more countryside fun and this time chose to go look for Goliath’s footprint close to Amsterdam.

Chrissiesmeer is a small little town about 2 and a half hours drive from Joburg, situated in Mpumulanga. Just before Belfast you turn off to Carolina, follow the road and just when the road meets the N17 to Swaziland -there is Chrissiesmeer.

Anè at Florence guest farm is a wealth of information about things to do and see in the area and the giant’s footprint seemed like a good pick as the kids are all about giants and fairies and the like right now.

On our way we stopped at Warburton at the Working on Fire station to have a look at the cool equipment, planes and “huey” helicopters.

All these things got the males in the family very excited- but I must admit it’s hugely interesting what they get up to, how they use their equipment and the prevention measures they have in place. The team had just come back from fighting the bush fire in Kuruman, so when we went to see them it was a day for cleaning equipment and making sure everything was still working. This fire brigade is privately sponsored by the huge private forest plantations in the area and has some of the most sophisticated fire spotting equipment in the world.

From there off the N17 you take the R33 turnoff to Amsterdam and about 16km from the turnoff you turn off onto a dirt track. The signboard says Emzulwini.

You take the first left fork then the first right fork an about 1.1 km from here you will find the giant’s footprint.

*Local legend tells the story that when Shaka chased the Swazi’s out of this area there was a woman who was a giant. She was known as a goddess amongst the people. She ran towards her lover and left a footprint in the rock. The lovers skull can be seen right in front of her footprint .

This is the left footprint, the right footprint apparently in Sri Lanka on Adams Peak.  In Sri Lanka as in South Africa the site is holy. On the Sri Lankan side the footprint gets visited by thousands of visitors every year.

*This is taken from  an info sheet Ane has at the guesthouse. I cant vouch for it’s accuracy.