Home Life on an Ostrich Farm

At the turn of the 1880s a young British couple trades foggy November mornings for the bright slopes of the Cape. Their ship brushes past Table Mountain and lands in Cape Town, where the narrator wanders Wynberg’s gardens, collecting silver‑leafed foliage and counting a dazzling array of wild blossoms. The journey continues to Port Elizabeth and the modest settlement of Walmer, where Christmas is stitched together with blue water‑lilies and white arums that recall ancient Egyptian lotus. Through a keen eye for detail, the opening pages paint a portrait of colonial South Africa that feels both exotic and intimately familiar.

The couple’s purpose emerges on the windswept Karoo plains, where they aim to revive an ostrich‑farming venture the husband once tended. Their homestead balances counting birds, repairing fences, and caring for chicklings with garden paths and sunrise over the desert. Vivid sketches of towering ostriches and their curious offspring accompany the narrative, giving listeners a sense of place. As the season unfolds, the settlers meet the rhythm of a life dictated by feather, wind, and the relentless South African sun.