Noorspoort Guest Farm

P O Box 29

Steytlerville

6250

Website: www.noorspoort.co.za

Date: 2008-02-12

Ref. 53

Dear 

NOORSPOORT NEWSLETTER 2008-01

We at Noorspoort hope to make this new-format Newsletter a regular feature. Obviously we will be marketing some of our products as well, but well, that’s the free market system in operation! Hopefully, however, we will also be supplying you with other interesting and relevant facts and figure, including a teeny bit of humour – without which it may be almost impossible to survive in the modern world!? You are welcome to send in any contributions or comments you feel may add value to a newsletter such as this. Thanks.

NEWS AND EVENTS

Geese Farming courses

Geese farming in South Africa is mostly done extensively, i.e. most farms with geese have relatively few geese that are mostly left to their own devices to thrive and survive. In Europe and China there are large farms which are intensively managed, and, of course, most of the water birds are kept for their meat with down and feathers a by-product. Farming with geese is not simply a matter of extrapolating from the numerous poultry handbooks! At Noorspoort we have learned our lessons with geese farming the hard way, but we have also had the benefit of visits to Poznan University in Poland and elsewhere in Europe to get our knowledge up to speed. To see what our course entails, click here.

Photography course

The guy on the left is Pine Pienaar of Port Elizabeth, previously – whilst still working formally for a boss – a photography/art lecturer at the NMMU (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University). Pine has given a number of photography training courses at Noorspoort Guest Farm as well as numerous stargazing sessions. His next Digital Photography Course will be at Noorspoort from 7 to 9 March 2008. If you are interested in getting to know your little black box more intimately, please contact Heidi at 082 865 2699 or 041 368 6087 or at e-mail heidikb@mweb.co.za.

Wedding Venue

Work is under way to install air-conditioners in the Craven Haven Hall at Noorspoort Guest Farm so that weddings and other functions can be comfortably offered during the hottest of hot summer months (dit kan soms 40^oC slaan op ‘n warm Februarie dag in ons wêreld!).

FACTS & FIGURES

·         According to the scientific magazine Nature, Neil Shubin has traced man’s evolutionary past to the extent that our hand resemble fish fins, whilst large sections of our genome (all our genes as arranged in chromosomes) are the same as that of roundworms and bacteria! Even hang-ups and hiccups, he says, are leftovers of the long animal evolutionary past of Homo sapiens.

IN LIGHTER VEIN

·         A guy went to the doctor and complained that his wife had become hard of hearing. The doctor suggested that he perform a practical test to assess the extent of the problem by speaking to her normally from an ever-diminishing distance. This he did by first going into the garden at a distance of 30 meters from his wife, who was working in the kitchen, and asking her ‘Honey, what’s for dinner?’ When he got no answer he moved closer to 20 meters and repeated his question in a normal voice. Again no answer. He then moved to 10 meters from his wife, again being unsuccessful in eliciting an answer. So he finally stood right behind his wife and repeated his question. To which she answered ‘ For the fourth and last time, James, fillet steaks and mashed potatoes’!

·         There are people who want the death penalty back … but please, not using the electric chair, otherwise the waiting list may get too long (compliments of Eischkom?).

Kind regards/Vriendelike groete

Dr George Craven

PROJECTS COORDINATOR

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