A natural breakfast

I started with plain yoghurt made from milk from our little Dexter cows. To make it tasty Jill added stewed mulberries, stewed peaches and fresh pawpaw; all from our orchard garden. This was followed by wheat porridge, made from rough ground meal supplied by a neighbour and topped with milk, again from our own cows. It was sweetened with honey gathered in the bush near the house by an old man who makes his living this way. He is possessed of a bee shavi, he tells me (a bee spirit) which allows him to harvest the honey without harm to him or the bees who tolerate his presence provided he takes only sufficient for his needs! I followed the porridge with bacon and eggs. Only the bacon was bought in, the eggs come from my free range Road Runners – indigenous Shona hens – that range behind wire in parts of the garden laid to fallow. To complete my morning feast, I had home-made bread toasted and topped with our own butter, and a choice of four marmalades (lime, lemon, orange or grape fruit) made by Jill with fruit from the farm. Alas, the flour for the bread was bought, though we could have used the locally grown and ground wheat – it’s just that I prefer white toast! It makes the point though, that total self sufficiency is impractical and would reduce one to the bondage and grinding poverty of the peasant.