“The most unusual gardeners of Stanford, South Africa just started to sell their garden spin off” – FB-page ‘Stanford Notice Board’

We do not have the Big Five, but we offer many smaller wonders for the visitor to enjoy! On a recent drive through the wheat fields, pastures and up the mountain on Landmeterskop, we saw many, many bird species, amongst them herons, Cape Sugarbirds, Egyptian Geese, Kori Bustards, Spur-winged Geese, guinea fowl and a Jackal Buzzard. In the veldt gazanias, oxalises (pink sorrels), various bulbs and other little veldt flowers were in bloom. Up the mountain were proteas and other fynbos, and fascinating sandstone rock formations. And naturally there were also all the farm animals – sheep, alpacas, goats, pigs and chickens.

There were also a herd of grey rhebok. The grey rhebok or grey rhebuck (Pelea capreolus), locally known as the Vaal rhebok or Vaalribbok in Afrikaans, is a species of antelope endemic to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and Swaziland. The specific name capreolus is Latin for ‘little goat’. (The Afrikaans/Dutch spelling of the species, reebok, lends its name to the British sportswear manufacturing company Reebok).

Warning: it seems that this cake is addictive ….

What you need:

2 medium oranges, whole and not peeled

240 g whole almonds

210 g castor sugar

6 jumbo eggs

5 ml baking powder

5 ml vanilla essence

Orange syrup
100 g castor sugar

75ml fresh orange juice

75 ml water

What to do:

Heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Put baking paper on bottom of 24cm springform pan and spray pan with non-stick spray.  Place whole oranges in a pan in warm water to cover oranges. Close the pot and heat until boiling point.  Simmer until soft, drain and cool. Cut oranges in quarters, remove pips, and roughly chop in a food processor.

Chop almonds and castor sugar in a food processor until fine.  Beat the eggs and add baking powder and vanilla essence.  Add almond mixture and oranges.  Pour mixture into pan and…