Scope for the imagination

We could never have imagined the place we call Towerwater when we walked through the doors of the derelict old house early in 1991. We did however recognise the elements of a very old house, hidden beneath a sixty’s façade of large steel-frame windows and a rusty corrugated iron roof.

The Karoo sun captured in a Murano glass bowl.

The reed ceilings and cow-dung floors told a story. It was a story of a different time. When the house once stood proud, as part of a complex of farm buildings, in the centre of a quitrent grant farm. On the appointed day, we met the house and a lifetime of exploring, researching, building and discovering a forgotten South African heritage, began.

We never lacked in imagination, but the adventure we embarked upon when we decided to restore the house, outbuildings and its gardens, was beyond our wildest dreams. It was as if the universe guided us on our journey, and we were open for new ideas and possibilities.

The Karoo sun captured in the flowers of Veilchenblau

It was relatively easy to put the basic ideas on paper. Like the buildings, orchard, planned vegetable and herb gardens and rosarium. The detail and layers were added over time, but not always consciously. It was as though we were doing the right things, and the old homestead would respond in the most surprising ways.

We have learnt so much over the years as we were restoring. It feels in some ways as if we were restoring ourselves. There are always new things to discover in this world, and as the saying goes, ‘one is never too old to learn’.

I did not realise at the start that I needed to know all the different things one can do with Seville oranges. A mistake from a nursery, selling me the wrong citrus tree nearly 20 years ago, has put me on a path of discovery in the use of Seville oranges.

Today, I realise it was not a mistake, but the universe foreseeing the need for a Seville orange tree in the garden. I am very happy about that serendipitous addition all those years ago. While I snack away intermittently on home-grown, homemade candied Seville orange peel, marmalade and other delights.

Our journey of restoration, is one filled with serendipitous events that enriched the experience. We have discovered that the more we do, the more we open up our lives to new experiences. Everyday there are possibilities for the new and interesting, just as long as one is open to them.

We have decided to embrace the setbacks and treat them as lessons to be learnt. We have so much to be grateful for in a place that rewards hard work and effort in the most unexpected, but pleasant, ways. Every seasonal event brings joy into our lives. From the first flush of the roses, the surprise nasturtium carpet on the orchard floor, the first sighting of vegetable seedlings for a new season, to the harvesting of pawpaw’s from the self-sown pawpaw tree in the herbaceous border.

We allow Nature to surprise us. Nature gave of her free hand in sowing pawpaw’s, nasturtiums, flowers and vegetables in unconventional places in the garden. The secret of a happy garden is to allow the unexpected and to embrace the joy of surprises. Nature loves a little madness and will happily step in where one wants to overly order things.

Towerwater is truly an enchanted place, as the Afrikaans name suggests. We cannot take credit for all of it. We are merely the curators of the magical place where the blessings of the universe abound in reward for our efforts.

As Anne of Green Gables said, “...Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?” ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

My curious self is happy that life on Towerwater gives me “scope for imagination”. I will never know everything, but it will not stop me from trying.