Owner PROFILE
and Background
Born in South Africa some 61 years ago, from Dutch parents who quite unconsciously lived a sustainable lifestyle long before it became the fashion to do so.
Possibly due to financial constraints my mother always had a vegetable garden and orchard that filled a large pantry. Dad was a professional antique restorer who taught himself to build. He bought a smallholding just outside George and established a large poultry farm because he loved chickens - always singing to them whilst he was working with them.
Our house was built by Mom and Dad, there was no money for labour and the house was anything but perfect, but as Dad used to say - “You Live & Learn!” - and the subsequent houses became ever more perfect.
He must have been very frustrated that his daughter, rather than his son, was constantly in his workshop, but I looked and learned and Dad was a willing, highly creative, intelligent teacher with a vast imagination. He eventually became quite well known as a restorer of old buildings, with the Swellendam museum being his pride and joy.
His legacy to me was a box full of drawings, descriptions, how-to’s and booklets with recipes for anything you can imagine, plus his whole workshop.
My first job was with Murray & Stewart working on the Beacon Island Hotel (Plettenberg Bay), the Gauritzriver bridge, PW Botha school (George). This is where I fell in love with the building trade, with the experience gained there coming in very handy someday in the future.
I then spent 27 years in the international tourism business, living in Germany for almost 15 years. In Cape Town I owned a small construction company, learned to draw building plans, taking courses in tiling, bricklaying and plastering, just to prove that I could do it. Carpentry I had learned from Dad.
Rev. Angora van Doorn
Priest, Anthropologist, National Tour Guide, Psychic
Teaching:
Permaculture and Self-sufficient living
But the city rat race lost its appeal and I started looking for a smallholding where I could live my dream of a natural, self-sufficient lifestyle. Smallholdings were way beyond my financial means and one Sunday, quite by accident, I happened to find Bereaville and fell in love.
Property prices were reasonable although the local community had a really hard time getting used this ’white women’ in their midst and it took quite a bit of manoeuvering to actually find a property that someone would sell to me.
In 2005 I moved here. I had to alter my dream a bit during the following years but still managed to establish what I had in mind, albeit quite a bit smaller than I would have liked. In retrospect, milking cows each morning may sound great, but I am now very pleased that I do not have to do this, although 2 milk goats are still in the planning stage. I am also very pleased that I did not have to learn to slaughter pigs or sheep and discovered that rabbits are easier and cheaper to keep, plus, well - ‘they breed like rabbits’.
The sale of the eggs from my chickens pays for all the animal and pet food, which is sustainable. My supermarket is in my own pantry and visits to the shops are limited to every couple of months for things like oil, sugar etc. The produce I cannot grow myself is readily available from the local, surrounding farmers.
Life is all about experiencing and learning new things has become my favourite hobby. Disasters happen but the earth still rotates afterwards, so I try again.
The cottage renovation was a personal learning curve for me and I hope to be able to pass on the knowledge that I gained to other willing learners of a sustainable lifestyle.