I think I’ll remember 2020 as the year the world paused and took a breath. For a short while, everything stopped and we were given the gift of silence. Collectively we had a chance to stand still. And listen.
What did you hear? What do you see? What did you do? Things have been hard and challenging for many. There is much uncertainty for the coming year. How are you doing? I would like to know.
Here is a year-end update from me with a small collection of pictures. A glimpse of what I have been up to. There has been much more. This is where I am.
THE ART OF FARM LIVING
The past three years home has been in Goudini, which is just over an hour outside of Cape Town, South Africa. At the beginning of this year I was permanently joined by my beautiful partner Rhodi-Anne. We live together in a tiny barn cottage on a family owned small holding surrounded by olive trees and vineyards with our growing menagerie of much loved animals.
Here we practise our art of farm living. Rhodi-Anne is guru-like in our little farm kitchen. Packing, preserving, fermenting and generally conjuring magic. She is equally active and passionate about our nursery, which we upgraded and expanded this year. The covered area under high level shade cloth and micro irrigation is now nearly 200m². Beyond that, there are established fruit trees and we have also been adding to the herb and vegetable gardens as time and energy allows.
Rhodi-Anne came up short of her goal this year of propagating one thousand trees. When Lockdown arrived our focus shifted to increasing food production. Although this will keep paying off in the long term, we’ll keep working on a vision of creating a food forest around us and trees from a nursery to share. In the meantime spaces are quickly filling up with young oak trees, fever trees, olive trees, white stinkwoods, paperbarks and a variety of whatever nature brings along.
FEATHERS AND FLUTES – AN ONLINE STORE
When food safety became a concern for many, we extended a hand by sharing home and food products to help our family and friends. We started doing weekly deliveries of farm produce into the city at our own expense. This has developed further throughout the year and since then we have added more products including button mushrooms, various oyster mushrooms and also medicinal varieties such as Lions Mane. If you are local, and would like more information, please get in touch or visit www.feathersandflutes.com for more info.
The Feathers and Flutes online store has also been hosting products from some other contributors. Most notably, Muddy Water_Creations has been showcasing her jewellery until she can create a more permanent online home of her own. Her beautiful creations can be viewed and purchased from this link – https://feathersandflutes.com/vendor/muddy-water_creations/ or you can connect with her via her Facebook page where you will see some of her latest creations. Here is the link – https://www.facebook.com/muddywatercrafts
A LIBRARYTHING
During the second half of the year books started arriving in our cottage. It started as an idea of caring for a collection which includes many special and interesting books, worth keeping together.
In response, I started building shelving all around our lounge. As more books arrived and they were catalogued, thoughts of a library started forming. Available to anybody who wishes to come and spend some time reading or researching. Somewhere where it is warm and cosy in winter, or cool and comfortable in summer.
The cataloguing process has only just begun, but is rapidly growing as we receive more books. I’ve started including our own books too and making it part of the collection. I found a wonderful library database system to use. It is called LibraryThing. Here is a link – https://www.librarything.com/catalog/antonvanrensburg
A FRENCH CORNER AND A BUS
With our lounge space in the barn cottage likely discovering a new function, it is partly a relief that we are making plans to move into an old farm cottage that has opened up further down the property. We refer to that area as The French Corner. It is a wonderful new project for the coming year. It is a raw and basic dwelling, but has lots of space with potential and home for our alpacas close by too. We have just recently started working on it and soon there will be extra place to stay. There is much to do and help is welcome. More info will be shared as we go.
Oh, and about our bus. A tiny home project. A few months ago we bought an old school bus. So far, all 29 seats have been removed and we have started sanding, insulating and sealing the interior. Another project that is likely to take up a large part of this coming year. This past week, I put up the stretch tent and the bus is now standing underneath, ready for more attention. Once we get working over the first few weeks of the new year I’ll add more pictures to those already attached.
THE MAGIC OF THE FLUTE
The Indian bamboo flute (bansuri) continues to be my heart compass. I watch closely where it takes me. The passion I have for this instrument is a gift for which I have deep gratitude and work hard on every day. A while ago I started a separate Facebook page to share my music and journey with this ancient instrument. Here is the link – https://www.facebook.com/antonvanrensburgbansuri
As for my continued study of Indian Classical music with the bansuri, this year I did not have a chance to travel to my school in Mumbai. Like many of us, I adjusted and found ways to connect with my teachers online, via Skype and Zoom. I was also blessed to share time with Chetan Rathod. Chetan was visiting and teaching here in Cape Town earlier this year. When lockdown happened he was stranded, forced to stay on for an extra few months until he could get a flight home to India. He is a senior student and teacher from Vrindaban Gurukul and is also the founder of Harivenu Flute Academy. Here is link to his page – https://www.facebook.com/Harivenu-Flute-Academy-100245661795228/
ASTROLOGY
Astrology is a spiritual science and I have been a keen student for the past few years. Rhodi-Anne shares my passion and interest. One of my favourite astrology books introduces your natal chart as a blueprint of your character. It says:
“Character IS destiny. There is nothing static in this universe in which we dwell. We can change by changing our attitudes and patterns of behaviour. In doing so, we change our destiny.”
This is an invitation for a joint reading from us. We need as much practice as we can get. While we are learning, there is no charge. A reading takes about 90 minutes. If you know your exact time, date and place of birth, let me know and we can arrange to connect via Zoom.
SOMA
Some of you know that for the past number of years I have been working with Soma and sacred mushrooms, gaining much experience watching and hosting overnight retreats in the Western Cape and throughout South Africa. I have deep gratitude and respect for everybody involved in this important work.
If you have any questions you are welcome to contact me. More information can also be found on these Facebook pages :
Soma Retreats – https://www.facebook.com/groups/sacred.mushrooms
Soma Mushrooms – https://www.facebook.com/groups/389053314620367/
Or you can visit the following website which I designed and maintain – https://somaland.org/
MY ONLINE HOME
https://avanar.online/ is my personal domain and outlet on the world wide web. This is where you will find some of my stories. An official repository of my digital presence online holding content of experiences, writing and creations. This post, along with some history can be found there. Easily searchable and regularly updated.
For now this all I have to share, except for wishing each of you a fountain of love for the coming year. <3
I have much hope that the experiences of 2020, good or bad, filled with joy or sadness and no matter what the point of view, will inspire each of us to be better than we would otherwise have been.
May you stay safe and healthy. Lots of love from me and us. <3
