We’ve just survived a 20 hour power outage at our shop. Something about a cable that was leaking power – please forgive me if this is not possible, the technicalities of electricity are way above me. We didn’t have any load shedding all winter and only occasional supply problems, so we’ve really become very complacent as far as relying on electricity for our everyday needs.
The night before last I decided that I wanted to make ice cream. I googled some recipes that looked simple enough and didn’t require an ice cream machine. I already visualised lovely creamy ice cream in multiple flavours. I measured the ingredients, warmed, cooked, beat and froze. The freezing part took longer than I thought but I was ready to give it a final whisk this morning, freeze it and enjoy the final product.
Last night at about 9 we were plunged into darkness, and this morning we had to do some deliveries before I could get to my ice cream. Certain products enjoy priority when it comes to the freezers that get to run off our generator. Needless to say my experimantal ice cream was not one of them. By the time I got to it (after the power had been restored) there was a mass of ice in the one bowl and the other two were mush. I had divided it into three flavours. The question is do I try and salvage what is left, do I abandon the whole project, or do I save what I can and start all over again?
I think the answer to that all comes down to passion. Am I passionate about making my own ice cream or was it just something that I was curious about? How many times are we busy doing something and we get opposition? The way we react to that opposition proves how serious we were about it in the first place. I think the proof of our commitment doesn’t really have anything to do with what people are going to say when we give up (or don’t) but we need to determine what we feel really strongly about and what we do not. Life is too short to be wasting time on things that we don’t have our hearts in. Is that sentence even grammatically correct? I want to spend my time on things that make my heart beat faster. On things that are worth putting time and effort into. What’s really wonderful is how something that I will get really excited about won’t make the next person even bat an eyelid and vice versa. It’s just so good that every person is so unique and that there are enough passions to fill everyone’s heart. Just like the sun shines on everyone and you can’t ever use up all the rays; no matter how many people are enjoying its warmth.
Just as a matter of interest, I planted my apple pips in a tin of vermiculite. My husband dropped a coin into on of those machines where you can win a toy or whatever, and he got this sealed tin called a mini garden. It turned out to contain Morning Glory seeds. I found out that they are really classified as weeds in South Africa and you aren’t allowed to propagate them due to their invasive nature. When I put the apple seeds into the growing medium I thought I had removed all the Morning Glory seeds.
Four days after the seeds received their first water.
From this picture you can see how fast these plants grow. Within a month they would be mammoth. I pulled them up and destroyed them. They have vigorous tap roots.
The other interesting thing I saw today was a paw-paw without any pips. I don’t know whether its a specific cultivar but I’ve never seen one before today.
My seedless fruit pawpaw – easy when I made the fruit salad, but really strange.
Now my apple seed have the vermiculite all to themselves and I see there’s a little green stem appearing. I can’t wait to see if its really the beginnings of my first apple tree. I hope you are all going to enjoy indulging in your passions.
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