Farm News - Tafelkop Without Power

Dear friends and supporters,

As many of you may have heard, for five days, Monday to Friday, we were completely without power here on Tafelkop after the snowstorm last week.

For us, the rain and snowstorms are always a big challenge. We are located at the very tail end of a long, sparsely populated Eskom supply line, and this unfortunately means that we are often at the very back of the queue when repairs are made.

This time it made us very aware of how vulnerable we are. For example, we had someone here on a private retreat, and he had to cope with the entire week without electricity with us. By day 3, the goods in the freezer had to be transferred to a freezer on a neighboring farm that has solar power. This made us realize that we can’t just hope that there will be few outages this coming summer, or that the next one will be shorter.

There is also another side to our power problem. Our Eskom bill starts at around R3 400 each month (fixed line charges and tariffs), before we have even used a single unit of electricity. This means we are already paying over R40 000 per year in fixed costs and tariffs alone.

This makes it tempting to think: why not just go completely solar and invest the money we would save on Eskom in a proper system instead?

Unfortunately, our situation is not quite that simple.

Here at Tafelkop we use equipment that requires considerably more power than a normal household. I have several 3-phase woodworking machines and a 3-phase welding machine, and Matilda’s pottery kiln is also 3-phase. At this stage, we do not know of an affordable way to disconnect this equipment from the Eskom network.

So for now we have to keep Eskom – but at the same time we want to start building a second, independent power system for the things that need to continue working during a power outage.

This is where our Tafelkop Emergency Power Fund comes in.

Our plan is to do it step by step, within our limited means, rather than waiting until we have enough money for the ideal, complete system one day.

The first step: the Cottage

We would like to purchase a robust, self-contained power system for the Cottage, where we live, that can support the basic necessities during a power outage.

We are currently considering an EcoFlow Delta 2 Max, along with two 220W solar panels (440W in total). This will allow us to recharge the battery with solar power during the day and at the same time keep lights, communications, laptops, other electronic equipment and the fridge running.

We already use a gas geyser and gas stove, so our cooking and hot water needs are fortunately not dependent on Eskom.

The package costs approximately R34 500.

The second step: the Large Retreat House

Here we recently received a particularly good piece of good news.

Friends of ours have just bought a house that is already equipped with a very good inverter and battery system, connected to Eskom’s system. It is therefore fully dependent on Eskom’s supply and can provide emergency power for a few hours, but if the power remains out for a long time, the batteries run down.

They want to switch completely to solar power. When they install their own solar panels, they want to give us the existing system.

We intend to install it here on Tafelkop and supplement it with our own solar panels. This will give us a more robust hybrid system with which the large Retreat House can function during longer power outages.

We realise that a lot of work and planning is still needed to determine exactly how the different systems can best work together. However, we would rather start now to build something that can be expanded later than to start from scratch every time.

How you can help

We are therefore starting with the Tafelkop Emergency Power Fund.

This is not an attempt to finance a large and luxurious solar power system for Tafelkop. We are simply trying to make our basic functioning less vulnerable when Eskom’s power goes out – and to do it step by step according to what we can afford.

If you would like to make a contribution to help us with this, we would truly appreciate it. Big or small, every contribution brings us one step further.

Bank details:

Absa Savings Account

9315 820 671

M Angus

Reference: Tafelkop Power and your surname

Thank you very much for everyone’s care, compassion and continued support of what we are trying to build here on Tafelkop.

We are very grateful to the people who believe with us that this is a space where people can come to rest, breathe, think, learn, create and simply return to themselves.

Warm regards,

George en Matilda

The Restory, Tafelkop

Whistle while you work

Drawing by Ron Leishman When last did you whistle while working? When last did you hear someone else whistle while working? Somehow it bothers me that whistling has become an almost absent element in our work. The sound of a person whistling a tune while busy somewhere in the house or out in the workshop conveys something of an underlying happiness, satisfaction and contentment. An enjoyment of the work itself. The tune need not be flawless. Applying more air than sound won’t lead to disqualification, as long as the intention is there. Whistling can even be replaced by singing in all that I’ve said up to now. The same principles apply. The absence of any of these two activities bothers me because it says something about us doing the work and the type of work that we do. Can it be that our type of labour in this 21 st century is not conducive to either whistling or singing? What type of work is that then – draining, stressful, pressured? Or are our conclusions ...

A likely Hero: Jara Cimrman

As Matilda has already indicated, one of the most difficult things to do after you’ve visited a country is to return and convey something of what you’ve experienced. How do you show a city’s many faces, introduce its inhabitants? How do you tell of the effects a history has on people and of a stance towards life that can actually not be translated into words? In the case of Prague, it is very helpful to have someone like Jara Cimrman. ~ ~ v ~ ~ Petrin Hill, on the left bank of the river Vltava running through Prague, is in many ways a site worth visiting. Climbing the 299 steps of the Petrin Tower, inspired by the Eiffel Tower, gives you one of the most beautiful views of the city. But by going down into its basement, you enter into the psyche of the Czech people. Here, quite unobtrusively, is the museum for the “ Genius, who has not become famous ”. Matilda and I almost stumbled onto it by chance and as we went through the exhibition, our amazement over this brilliant ...

You never can tell

This morning I was out in the vegetable garden looking for signs of sprouting cabbage and spinach that we had sown a week ago. Among the weeds, I did find the tiny seedlings pushing through bravely, but I had a surprise coming. The young Zulu gardener drew my attention to an abundance of ready food growing in the ruins of the tiny stone cottage only meters away: Umbido, a type of wild spinach, and a staple food in the rural areas. I grew up with much the same in the northern parts of the country, but called Marogo in the Sotho language. Enter my new helper and friend, Winnie Nkosi. She lives on the edge of the Zaaihoekdam in a traditional mud house with no electricity. Twice a week she walks the four odd kilometres to help me with all things domestic. She has also taken it upon herself to teach me the Zulu language and culture with optimistic determination. The planned lunch menu was immediately ditched in favour of a lesson in local cooking and Winnie showed me the differenc...

The Restory Retreat Centre

Search This Blog