ABERDEEN NEWS — The first meeting of the Aberdeen Garden Club proved to be most interesting for all who attended.
The Club met at the home of Dick and Estelle van Wyk in Grey Street, where members were welcomed with some delicious refreshing homemade lemonade and granadilla juice.
Jadre Lategan welcomed everyone, including new members and guests. Among the guests were Angus and Donny, the soft toy mascots from Aberdeen, Scotland, who are busy experiencing life in the Karoo! Jadre read out several quotes about friendship as the “thought for the day”, including a very appropriate “Friends are like flowers, they brighten your day”. Members were informed of the increase in the annual subscription, which is still a very reasonable R75. Some possible venues for future meetings were discussed, and input requested.
An interesting discussion ensued after an article was read out giving old recipes for insect problems, particularly flies, and other embers chipped in with more tried and tested remedies. For flies, which seem to be a huge problem this year, the mixture recommended in the magazine was 10ml eucalyptus oil, 20ml pure alcohol and 200ml water. A favourite mosquito repellent contributed by a member is 15ml Dettol, 15ml baby oil, to a cup of water, and put into a spray bottle. Several people were seen making notes of these. Mention was also made of the value of plants such as mint and basil as natural fly repellents if kept on a windowsill.
Hostess Estelle van Wyk then gave her well-researched talk on the uses of carob. There are many carob trees in Aberdeen, but she explained that for the trees to bear fruit, there must be male and female trees in close proximity. On each table, Estelle had placed carob pods, and bowls of both whole seeds and ground seeds, discussing the importance and characteristics of each. After explaining the health benefits of carob over chocolate, members were invited to taste the treat of the day, some freshly-baked carob brownies. As well as being very healthy, these were also extremely tasty! Estelle will be selling these, and other baked goods, at the Blue Door market on Friday.
After the talk, members enjoyed the lavish tea provided and spent some time catching up friends.
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