To look with one’s heart

I do not know the words to describe what it feels like to come home to Towerwater. Perhaps everything does not need to have words. Sometimes it is enough just to feel.

Walking down the steps from the parking area to below the roses that are in their first flush of spring, one is filled with a sense of peace and serenity.

With the roses planted on a raised stone terrace, higher than the gardens that surround the house, it is as if one steps into a secret garden. The phrase sub-rosa comes to mind. It is quite a luxury to spend a weekend sub-rosa, a position from which one always looks up at beauty.

Looking at the first flush of spring, the rosarium does not fail to surprise and delight with each successive year. With beauty comes sadness. Rosebushes do not last forever. Every year there will be losses that will need to be replaced the following winter.

During the day the roses go through different stages, from the intense closed rosebud in the morning, to the perfectly formed rose at midday and the fully opened bloom in the evening.

The three stages of the rose can be observed each day in the rosarium. Each stage has its own beauty. It demands at least three daily walks through the rosarium. This is best undertaken in the morning, at midday and in the afternoon.

At Towerwater we observe with the heart. The beauty and sense of place is more than the visual. It is a happiness within you that defies explanation but which comes with a sense of belonging.

Extroverted Strawberries

The strawberry bed in the vegetable garden is bursting with red fruit like warning signs that summer is around the corner. The red fruit attracts one and all. There is a fiesta in the garden and the strawberry bed is the place to mingle and meet the average garden pests and birds. All are feasting on the sweet red fruit.

We still managed to get a healthy picking of strawberries to include in various forms in our meals.

Strawberry and vanilla cups

Dessert is the first thing one thinks of when you see the bowl of bright red offerings. But I enjoy using the fruit to brighten up a jug of homemade lemonade as well.

As with most of the garden produce, I have to find different ways of using the abundant offerings of the strawberry bed. I decided to make strawberry vinegar for use over summer salads and even fish-dishes.

Strawberry vinegar in the making

Strawberries are not actually fruit as their seeds are on the outside. They are in fact members of the rose (rosaceae) family.

The red colour of strawberries is due to the anthocyanin in them. This means they contain powerful antioxidants and are thought to offer protection against inflammation, cancer and heart disease.

I am sure to find more ways of preserving them. The best though, is to eat them fresh and enjoy the sweet taste of summer bursting into one’s mouth.

Red is apparently the colour preferred by extroverts. I can agree with that, as the colour of the strawberries gives them a sense of being extroverted as they stand out in the vegetable garden where green is currently the dominant colour.

I think that it is time to introduce this extroverted fruit into Towerwater summer cocktails.

In Chloris’s footsteps

Early mornings in the rosarium feels mythical and the cool dew seems to amplify the colour of the magical roses. And looking at the delicate beauty of the flowers it is as if Chloris the Greek goddess of flowers and springtime just breathed life into some mythical creatures of the garden.

With my camera I can capture the silk and velvet rose petals encrusted with dewy jewels.

Note: In Greek mythology there is the tale of Chloris, goddess of flowers and springtime who was out walking early one morning when she stumbled upon the lifeless body of a woodland nymph. Saddened by the innocent creature’s fate, Chloris decided to breathe life anew, transforming the nymph’s body into a flower. She called out to Zephyrus, husband and keeper of the west wind, asking him to blow away the clouds in the sky so that Apollo might allow the sun to cast down its warming rays. To this, Aphrodite would add beauty, and Dionysus a nectar of intoxicating aroma… the three Graces further bestowing upon the blossom the gifts of charm, joy, and splendor. All agreed it was the most spectacular of flowers, truly “The Queen of Flowers.” Aphrodite named the flower Rose.  Source: http://www.charentonmacerations.com/2014/10/29/mythological-rose/

Listening to buildings

As would be the case with a person that is nearly 200 years old, the buildings at Towerwater have many stories to tell. To hear the story of a building, you need to be patient and listen attentively.
One of the stories of Towerwater is captured on the kitchen door. The door is of a stable-door design. Over the many years of its existence, it has been coated in layers and layers of paint. One weekend, Keith’s sister, Cheryl and brother-in-law, Anton came to visit. During the visit, Anton was curious about an external protrusion on the top-half of the door. Having taken it for a knot in the wood we had never given it much thought. Anton observed however that the shape was specific and that there was no matching shape on the inside.

With Keith’s interest piqued, the paint was promptly removed over the shape. An oval brass plaque was revealed impressed with the wording “FB Bruwer Maker”.

The older plaque on the door

The immediate questions that were raised were; who was FB Bruwer? What did he make? And, why was his plaque tacked to the door?

We have some friends named Bruwer in the valley. We know that Bruwer is a very old family name in the farming community, with the Klipdrift farm probably being the most famous of all the Bruwer farms.

The brass plaque was left on the door as part of the historical artefacts of Towerwater. For years it remained a topic of discussion and speculation.  The answer, as with all the other stories of the house, we trusted would be revealed one day. We just had to be patient.

After we restored the hearth, Keith began searching for an antique ‘waterbalie’ (water barrel). He wanted to place it next to the hearth. Searching for a ‘waterbalie’, it became one of the items that would draw Keith’s attention whenever we noticed one in an antique shop.

The F B Bruwer Waterbalie

Recently, browsing through the auction catalogue of Strauss and Co. for their October 2016 auction in Cape Town, lot number 351 took me by surprise. The description read, “A Cape teak brass-bound ‘waterbalie’ and stand, F B Bruwer, Robertson, late 19th/early 20th century”.

There it was. After nearly 25 years I saw another reference to F B Bruwer. This time we knew what he had made. He was a cooper from Robertson. It was as though the universe had contrived that it should be a ‘waterbalie’. It was as though Keith’s instinct connected with the house and willed the FB Bruwer on the kitchen door to be the maker of ‘waterbalies’, the one thing he really wanted to restore to the house.

The plaque on the Waterbalie

This one description of a lot number at an auction, told us so much of the history of the house. Clearly there had once been such a ‘waterbalie’ in the house. This original must have succumbed to age and use. The brass plaque removed, and for some nostalgic reason fixed to the door.

If F B Bruwer was connected to the house in any other way, we may never know. His name is not reflected in the ownership records of the property.

What we do know is that the house predates the canal (completed in 1906). A time when the ‘waterbalie’ would have been the only way of having fresh water in the house – a time before the advent of running water.

I sent the information to Keith who was understandably excited. It was decided there and then that the ‘waterbalie’ had to come home. Not only was it the one item he yearned to include in the restoration, but it was one made in the valley and quite possibly not unlike the one which had once been in the house.

The lid of the Waterbalie

I started searching for information on F B Bruwer. It led me to Estienne Bruere who was born in 1655 in Mer, in the district Blois in the Loire Valle of Orleanis, France. Fleeing religious persecution, Estienne boarded the ‘Voorschoten’ that sailed for Cape Town on the 31 Dec 1687 from Delftshaven, Zeeland (Netherlands).

The Voorschoten arrived at Saldanha Bay (on the West Coast of South Africa) on 13 April 1688. Governor Simon Van Der Stel sent the Jupiter to fetch the Huguenots. It arrived in Table Bay on 26 April 1688. Among the 192 people on board were 22 Huguenots and the bachelor, Estienne Bruere.  Estienne was a wagon builder by trade.

Estienne started using the Dutch version of his name Steven and the Bruere became Bruwer.  At the age of 25 in 1690, Estienne married the 16 year old Ester de Ruelles. They had no children together.  Ester died in about 1701. Estienne then married Susanna du Puys on 19 February 1702. They had six children together.

The lid of the Waterbalie open

In 1730 Estienne started farming on the loan farm De Zandrivier near Rietfontein better known as Willemnelsrivier (in this valley). This farm is still a Bruwer farm.

To find F B Bruwer was not easy. After requesting information on a genealogical site, I was informed that the only FB Bruwer found in South Africa, was a Francois Bartholomeus Bruwer. He was born on 26 September 1856 and died in 1932. He is from the Daniel Bruwer line and he married Aletta Johanna le Roux. Here is a possible connection to the property. The house was owned by Gabriel Petrus Jacobus le Roux in 1928. Perhaps Aletta was his sister?

The dates for FB Bruwer corresponds with the period that he was making the ‘balies’. The maker stamp on the Towerwater kitchen door looks older than the one on the ‘waterbalie’.

The inside of the Waterbalie

With the latest information firing me on, I went to the auction to bring the ‘waterbalie’ home.

As with all previous auctions Keith and I discussed a fair price for the chosen item. Normally we agree on one price but sometimes we differ depending on the importance we each ascribe to the item.

With the ‘waterbalie’ there was an auctioneer’s lower and upper estimate. With that context we then had to determine how high we were prepared to go with our bid. On the auction day, I went prepared with a preferred price, my highest price and then Keith’s highest price. His was higher than mine as he clearly wanted it more.

Five items away from the ‘waterbalie’ adrenalin was rushing through my veins in excited anticipation. I imagine this is what a big game hunter must feel like as he gets his prize animal in his crosshairs.

Finally bidding opened for lot number 351. I waited to see what the other bidders were going to bid. I was surprised to hear only one bid and before it was about to be knocked down. I raised my number and entered the bidding. The bidding was quickly rising in obscene denominations per bid. At the start, I imagined carrying the waterbalie to the bakkie confident in my bidding. A little later I could imagine Keith polishing the waterbalie while I was still confident in my bidding. A brief moment later the images were starting to fade as I switched over to Keith’s top price. Every successive bid was a swipe of the eraser to the images in my mind. Finally I bowed out, defeated and deflated.

I could not bring the ‘waterbalie’ home and it was not to be Towerwater’s. But the story is Towerwater’s. We now at least know the origins of the brass plaque with the FB Bruwer maker’s stamp on the kitchen door.

The close up of one of the legs of Waterbalie

There will be another auction and there will be another ‘waterbalie’ made by F B Bruwer. For now I will be patient and listen for the next story to be told by this amazing house.

Note:Most of the Bruwer family history information was found on the website http://www.bruwer.info/

Seasons of happiness

Saturday morning was spent preparing the empty beds in the herb and vegetable gardens for sowing. With Fungai’s garden office resembling a seed shop, where I was sorting the seeds into groups for planting, I felt like a child again. The excitement of planting feels like the first time I could sow my own.

My Mom had her standard choice of vegetables and flowers for our garden when I was growing up. I can still see the beds of zinnias, marigolds, carnations, stocks and snapdragons. She harvested her own seeds and had a constant supply of them.  Every year, we introduced something new into the garden.

I was allowed to choose the seeds and that was the most exciting part for me as a child. That bed of seeds became my treasure. I would literally will those seeds to come up, watching them every day.

From the first leaves to the last blooms, those flowers became a big part of my life. Spending time with my Mom doing the thing she loved most, created a lot of happy memories. When your parents are happy and relaxed you feel safe and happy. It is a feeling as a child that you want to treasure forever.

Being in a garden, for me, is about being happy and at peace. It allows me to create and play and leaves me with a sense of excitement to see what Mother Nature is going to do with all my plans and designs.

Standing in front of the table covered in groups of seeds, I could already see each bed filled with my choice of herbs, vegetables and salads.

With the garden at different stages of planting, growing, and producing, Saturday was spent harvesting, pruning and planting.

Imagine tomatoes

This year, I have planted my tomatoes in seeding trays to be sure of the colours that I am going to plant into the garden. Last year, I made a chequer-board frame with reeds. I placed it in the designated vegetable bed and proceeded to sow the different colours in different squares as formed by the reeds. I used our own home-made compost in the bed. I did not factor in the possibility of tomato seeds that might be dormant in the compost.

Imagine rhubarb and sage

Needless to say that although I planned to have a black and green tomato bed, and transplanted the seedlings according to the planned colour scheme, when the tomatoes ripened, I found that I had red, orange, yellow, pink, green and black tomatoes. I could imagine Mother Nature having a good chuckle at my surprised face.

I could harvest oranges, lemons, potatoes, carrots, grenadillas, Swiss chard, cabbage and spinach making for a colourful display from which to select ingredients for meals.

The garden can be exhausting. But, it provides us with seasons of happiness, giving back abundantly according to what we have put into it during the year.