If someone had told me 20 years ago that one day I would be living off the land (and that in the Kalahari!), I would probably have laughed.
Me? A city girl?
The girl who loved wandering through beautiful food markets and boutique food stores, discovering new flavours, browsing shelves filled with wonderful delicacies and bringing home something new and delicious.
And yet, here I am.
Making my own yoghurt.
Baking sourdough bread.
Working with our own meat.
Growing what we can.
Life in the Kalahari has slowly taught me something I never expected to learn: there is a particular kind of joy in using what the land gives you.
It isn’t about doing everything yourself or living without the conveniences I once loved. I still appreciate a beautiful deli and browsing through an European food market.
But there is something deeply satisfying about looking at what the land provides and asking, “What can I create with this?”
A handful of spinach becomes a vibrant pesto.
Fresh milk is transformed into creamy yoghurt or homemade cheese.
Flour, water and time come together to create sourdough bread.
And the harvest from the land becomes beautiful food shared around our family table.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.- Leonardo da Vinci
There is pleasure in the making, but even more than that, there is a deep contentment.
Perhaps it is because you begin to understand abundance differently.
Abundance is not always found in having more. Sometimes it is found in appreciating what is already in your hands. There is a quiet richness in simplicity — in having enough, and being deeply thankful for it.
The words from Psalm 65:11–12 keep coming back to me:
“You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.”
Living here in the Kalahari has made these words feel less like something I read and more like something I see. Something I feel. Something I taste.
My heart is full.
Not because life is perfect, but because I have learned to notice the gifts that are right in front of me.
And today, one of those gifts became spinach pesto.When the spinach is growing faster than we can gather it, this vibrant pesto is one of my favourite ways to preserve the harvest. It is fresh, full of flavour, and endlessly versatile. Toss it through warm pasta, spread it on toasted sourdough, spoon it over grilled springbok fillet, or swirl it into soup for an instant burst of colour and flavour.
Simple. Green. Fresh. And, like so many things in this life, completely unexpected.
Sometimes the wilderness really does overflow with abundance. (Recipe on page 2)
With love, Aldalene
Garden Spinach Pesto
Ingredients
- 4 packed cups fresh spinach, washed and dried
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves (optional, but wonderful if you have it)
- ½ cup toasted almonds, walnuts, pecans or pine nuts
- ¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 2 cloves garlic
- Juice of ½ lemon
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ½–¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Lightly toast the nuts in a dry frying pan until fragrant. Allow to cool.
- Place the spinach, basil, toasted nuts, Parmesan, garlic, lemon juice, salt and a few grinds of black pepper into a food processor.
- Pulse until roughly chopped.
- With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until the pesto reaches a smooth, spoonable consistency.
- Taste and adjust with more salt, pepper or lemon juice if needed.
Spoon into clean jars and pour a thin layer of olive oil over the surface to help keep it fresh. Refrigerate for up to one week. Makes about 2 cups.
To Freeze
Freeze in ice cube trays. Once frozen, transfer the cubes to a freezer bag.
Each cube is the perfect size to stir into pasta, soups, sauces or scrambled eggs.
Kalahari Kitchen Tip
Traditional pesto is often made with pine nuts, but they can be expensive and difficult to find (especially in Gobabis!) Sunflower seeds make a wonderful alternative — they are affordable, nutritious and give the pesto a lovely nutty flavour. Pan fry before using to bring out their natural nuttiness.
For an extra depth of flavour, add a small anchovy fillet or two. It won’t make the pesto taste “fishy”; instead, it adds a beautiful savoury richness and brings all the flavours together.