Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year

As a resident of Salem Crossroads Christian Care centre, I am in a unique position to give you some insight into the typical week on the farm. But this isn’t a typical week. It’s Christmas and we have been blessed with food donations from the Rotary Anns, the Holtshousens, Gail Banfield and Mark Maritz. Christmas lunch was a sumptuous affair. But this is a Christian care Centre and we did not forget the real reasons for the celebrations. We had a seat for Jesus at our table.

During this Christmas period the Nursery Team have been kept busy preparing for the markets in Kenton-On-Sea on the 23rd and the 27th. An eclectic collection of the nursery’s offerings will be on display as well some of the goodies that we sell in our Farm Stall.

Our Kitchen Team kept themselves occupied planning for our Christmas feast, and volunteers were been roped in to help. The menu seemed to evolve as donations arrived at the farm.

The Wood Team seem to be everywhere. They collect and split trees to supply pizza ovens in Grahamstown, they cut Christmas trees and collect humus for the nursery. A pond close to our farm stall has been cleared and plans to build a water feature with a windmill and wishing well are progressing. A big thank you to the Wood Team for clearing a ton of weeds from the area.

Our Farm Stall improves daily. We have made a big effort to increase the range that we sell. We stock biltong, homemade fudge, ginger beer and lemonade, craft jams and bush honey. But we don’t only sell food. The craft stall has a wide array of tanned skins, from Nguni to wildebeest, wooden owls, found wood sculptures and bags of braai wood. We are adding a range of home baked biscuits, and plan on selling coffee and pies in the near future.

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We recently welcomed 3 new residents. They have all settled in well and are slotted into their respective work teams. And so our family grows. It never ceases to amaze me how little conflict there is on a farm where 25 men from different backgrounds and different ages are able to live in harmony. Come and visit us soon without forgetting that our well stocked nursery is only 200 metres away!

We pray that you all had a blessed Christmas. And we hope that you didn’t forget the real reason behind the celebration;

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9 v 6)