January 2018

Back to the wild

Family-run Finca in Majorca

Family Finca in Majorca

The name Majorca has passed my awareness several times, but for some reason I always associated it with images of drunk beach goers and partying teens so akin to the neighbouring Ibiza. But boy was I wrong. Soon this Spanish island would blow my socks off, both by it’s spectacular landscapes, and delicious food.

Towards the end of April I desperately needed an escape from Berlin. It was a looooong winter. After a quick google flights search, I discovered very well priced flights to Majorca and booked it right away. But since I’m not much of a beach person I set upon a hopeful search for a farm stay, if there was such a thing…

Eventually I found Sa Rota, a farm in the middle of the island and set about my Spanish trip with great expectations.

The self catering unit we stayed in was perfectly equipped, complete with pebbled courtyard to enjoy home cooked breakfasts on sunny mornings, as well as a private deck with spectacular views over the valley and its breathtaking sunsets.

The interiors are unpretentious and stylishly decorated, with well chosen pieces that support the integrity of the old building. The shuttered windows and terracotta tiles are unmistakably Spanish while the bare stone walls add to the old age charm.

Wether your planning a romantic weekend or a week long stay, I can highly recommend Sa Rota. The peaceful atmosphere is perfect for lazy days like reading in a hammock or bathing in the pool. And should you wish to explore, the location makes it easy to get to every corner of the island in under 2 hours.

The warm welcome we received from the owners of this 18th century Spanish farmhouse, was surpassed only by the magnificent beauty of the place and it’s surrounds. Nestled against the hilltops, the finca offers everything you might wish from agritourism; from lemon trees bursting with fruit to bees buzzing around massive lavender bushes and the sound of cow bells and bleating sheep from the neighbouring farmlands.

Text & Photography © Barbara Cilliers

Wild inside

Aloe Vera

It’s speckled tentacles reach and bend like the liquid legs of a giant Octopus and yet this prickly pirate lives far from the sea and don’t swim well at all. The Aloe Vera, a short stemmed succulent, is cultivated throughout the world and widely regarded for its medicinal and cosmetic qualities.

Aloe Vera belongs to the largest succulent genus Aloe, which encompasses an elephantine number (450) of species! These are widely distributed across sub saharan Africa in dry climates with little rainfall so it’s no wonder a potted aloe adds instant warmth to indoor spaces.

Common names: Aloe barbadensis, Aloe Vera, Aloe vulgaris, Medicinal Aloe

Caring for your Aloe Vera

Soil: Plant your Aloe in well draining potting soil with corse grit or sand in a container that drains very well. I prefer keeping succulents in plastic containers inside terra-cotta pots as they drain far better this way.

Location: Keep them in sunny, bright areas, but preferably away from direct sunlight.

Water: Give the soil a thorough soak then allow it to dry out completely between watering to assure the roots do not rot. Test if it is dry by sticking your finger deep into the soil (about 4cm). In winter they need less water so be very careful of over-watering your Aloe. It can be anything between 1-4 weeks.

Propagation: Aloe’s produce offsets or baby plants that you’ll see popping up around the parent. Allow them to grow a couple of centimetres to ensure they develop a stable root system of their own. You can easily separate them by holding them closely to their roots and pulling them out gently. Be careful not to tug too roughly, you don’t want the roots to break off. Plant them into a similar potting mix and leave in a bright sunny location.

Trouble Shooting

Red or brown leaves: Your plant may be suffering from leaf burn. Move your plant so it will receive indirect sunlight and cut away dead leaves with a clean sharp knife or shears to allow healthy plants to receive more nutrients.

Soggy soft leaves: Your Aloe have been overwatered. Check your pot to make sure there is no blockage causing poor drainage. To save your plant from rotting, remove the plant from the soil and remove dead or affected leaves. Let it dry out completely and repot it into new potting soil suitable for succulents. If you use the same pot, be sure to sterilise the container before using it again.

I’m fond of these nuggets not only because they grow so easily and proliferate so well, but they’re said to be superb air purifiers – releasing oxygen and absorbing CO2 at night. And although they’re not entirely as majestic as the Aloe Ferox, they do bring a little bit of South Africa into my Berlin home.

Berlin

Memories & dualisms: Reflecting on abandoned places

My fascination with atmospheric spaces is mostly due to the emotional affect they can bring about. How strange that a few walls and a roof, a simple structure, can make you feel a certain way; cold or cozy, sombre or happy, safe or unsettled…

This affecting nature becomes even more pronounced when you venture into abandoned places. Perhaps because the predefined notions of public and private are skewed upon your trespass, as you become a voyeur in someone else’s forgotten world.

Berlin has so many of these deserted spaces. Hidden away, forsaken though not forgotten. Barred (unsuccessfully) from intruders and vandals, from explorers… Like portals into bygone worlds they become great story tellers of the ones who might have lived there. Offering the outlines, so we can fill in the blanks; a perfect canvas for the imagination.

A once unassuming structure, becomes a place of fantasy, where memories–imagined or real–are captured in the walls, each layer of peeling paint exposing an era that once was; each colour another step back in time.

These delicate worlds are perhaps so etherial not because they might give way underfoot, but because with each passing day, nature takes back what man has made there. Earth and her elements reclaiming their territory, re-entering where it was once banished from.

Suddenly exposed, are our disconnected relationship with the world. These creeping vines and rotting timbers attest to our disparity with nature. Cause with each brick being laid, each floor board secured our manmade shelters slowly take us out of nature, and nature out of us, so that we no longer feel the beating heart of the earth below our feet.

Perhaps therein lies the beauty of abandoned places. Perhaps these dirty, dusty spaces remind us not only of our forgotten pasts, but of the dualisms we’ve defined–man vs nature, dirty vs clean, past vs present, real vs imagined–and allow us to ever so briefly, collapse them into one…

Family Finca in Majorca

Text & Photography © Barbara Cilliers

Wild about nature?

Aloe Vera

Caring for your Aloe Vera

Trouble Shooting

Text & Photography © Barbara Cilliers

Wild about plants?

Memories & dualisms: Reflecting on abandoned places

My fascination with atmospheric spaces is mostly due to the emotional affect they can bring about. How strange that a few walls and a roof, a simple structure, can make you feel a certain way; cold or cozy, sombre or happy, safe or unsettled…