63. 30th October & 1st & 2nd November 2008 Open Gardens and Arieskraal Mill

Hello all,

During Elgin Open Gardens weekends, the first two in November normally, many homes in our area throw their doors and gates open to all comers, offering a wonderful day in the country, proceeds from which go to various local charities. In the case of Beaumont Wines / Compagnes Drift / Zest Catering, the charity supported is Bot River Senior Citizens.

Preparation for this has been going on for weeks, but last Saturday, I realised if I took some time off in the week and with some help, I could remove the scaffolding and get the planks for the wooden end-piece of the launder more or less into position on the rail I put in last week. 

I got away on Thursday at last and within half an hour, this is the improved view we had:

From the top of the lawn: 

The farm staff had been busy whitewashing walls and two years of dead oak leaves were removed from the pit under the wheel. We also carried the new sluice gate nearer to where it'll be used:

It will be set up just to the left of the head of the launder, with the top of the gate just lower than the 'gunwales' of the launder when it's closed.

So Saturday morning was spent doing some last-minute tidying on the wooden launder section, some of the planks had warped quite a lot. I had brought along some steel strips with forked ends which will become part of the u-brackets which will hold the launder square:

There is still a slice that I have to take out of the side, so the upper rail will drop down into the lower side. This will help with alignment. The upper rail will be extended to the end. I still have to work out where the trap-door must be placed in the base of this, for the water flow to be most effective on the buckets.

Meanwhile, inside, Jayne had brought down some mill-related paintings which were exhibited last year at the Open Days, done by her and my wife Pippa. So we hung them for best impact:

Jayne had also hung a photo of the display case containing the sash which Servaas de Kock wore at the Battle of Blaauberg over 200 years ago. S de Kock was an early owner of Compagnes Drift, which was given to him by General Janssens for his part in that Battle:

On the right is the same S de Kock, a copy of one of the earlierst daguerreotype pictures done in this country. So the inside of Mill House is looking ever more cosy!

During Saturday, I must have ushered through at least 60 people, sometimes demonstrating milling, depending on demand from the sales at the Main House where the visitors were enjoying the ambience of the garden and the food prepared by Zest Catering. I milled about 25kg of meal during the day. Later on a group from the Crankhandle Club came through, as part of their annual Houw Hoek Run.

Late in the day, a Malachite Sunbird flew in to the mill, panicked and flew into a window and fell to the ground. I picked this exquisite little bird up carefully, and put him in the foliage in the pot plant outside. He took about half an hour to recover, and when I looked again, he had gone:

The Sunday of the Open Gardens was similar, perhaps a few less people visiting, but always extremely interested in the milling operation. I milled another 25kg of wheat, some of it to bake bread with for next weekend's Open Gardens. Most visitors were keen to know when the wheel will be turning with water. Soon, I hope!

Next weekend is the second of the Elgin Open Gardens and we have asked a team of archaeologists along to help us find the original course of the tail-race below the water wheel. In the same way as I knew on the first visit what I would find inside the mill house regarding pulleys and striking gear, I'm hoping they will shed some light on the problem for us, because soon we will want to start experimenting with water!

I did manage to do some more on the wooden launder end. First, I cut out the piece I'd marked out on Saturday, so the corrugated section is lying deeper in the wooden part. Later in the day, I extended the upper section of the rail with wood I brought along:

Both days I was sent really tasty food from 'up top', a treat to eat food prepared by Zest, and nice to wash it down with a drop of 'Raoul's' !

The balance scales arrived last  week. They make weighing and filling bags much quicker and easier!

Earlier in the week, I had a major breakthrough as far as local mills are concerned! During last year's Beaumont Wines Port Stomp, I was talking to Catherine Anderson (nee Buchanan) about the early history I had found out concerning the farm 'Arieskraal', where she was brought up. She could not understand why I had read that the sons of the Beukes family used to leave Arieskraal early in the morning with two sacks of grain and travel by cart all the way to Bot River to have it milled (by family at Keerweer, not Compagnes Drift) and take it all the way home in the evening, twice over the difficult Houw Hoek pass. Why didn't they use the Mill on Arieskraal? She asked. For me this was a bombshell! I am frequently on that farm, working on tractors and spray equipment. This week, armed with instructions from Liz, Catherine's mother, I first looked for the graveyard, and found the headstone of Sophia Dorothea who featured in the history I was referring to:

It was strange standing there, knowing the sad circumstances of her death in childbirth 117 years ago, and her husband on the right in 1915, from a broken skull when he was thrown from his horse-cart at the gates of Arieskraal. From there, I bashed tentatively into the undergrowth towards the river, and on the third attempt, I found what I was looking for!

In a stone-built wall is the hole for the axle tree of the water wheel to pass through. Photography was very difficult, but on the other side of the wall there's the pit for the water wheel:

And in line with that, upstream, the pillar supports for the launder....

Unmistakably a Mill! I plan to ask permission to clear the saplings and to cut up a pine that's fallen on top.

A real Water Mill here in Elgin!

Regards
Andy