I have a confession to make. I am involved in a long-term relationship with not one, but three individuals. All aliens, I’m afraid. I can’t help myself, their roots go deep and the relationships go back to my childhood. They are the syringa, the jacaranda and the oak. And I currently have one of each in my garden, all invoking bittersweet memories of childhood. Hanging upside down from my grandmother’s huge syringa tree, enveloped by the heady scent of its flowers, picnicking under jacarandas on a carpet of purple and curled up on the massive bough of an oak tree with a good book.

So my aliens are here to stay. The others on the farm HAVE to go. They are the ubiquitous black wattle, Port Jackson and the hakea. “Invaders” is a minor description for them. Given a chance they become overpowering despots, taking over any and every space. War has been declared and we have brought in our army. A very small army, if truth be told, but very effective. They are a group of 11 Xhosa women from the local area and they do a magnificent job of clearing our land of this menace. And there are other small armies just like this one dotted all over the Overberg area working under the auspices and supervision of DEAT. This job provides the means to support many families in the area. Our 11 women support 76 people among them, and this on only R60 per day. Something to really think about!

We also have a number of blue gums, many of them towering skyscrapers with long straight trunks. These are destined for the construction of various farm buildings and so will only be harvested when necessary. We also don’t believe in simply ripping out every alien tree on the property. That would only leave us with big ugly open wounds in the ground that would erode at the first heavy rains. There is a programme in place to plant wonderful indigenous trees to replace those we take out, thus maintaining the green lung of the farm. It also maintains the habitat for the wildlife and bird life around.

Although aliens are an absolute menace living, they have many uses once harvested. We make every effort, as part of our aim to live sustainably, to recycle and re-use everything, and this includes aliens. We currently have our staff weaving hurdles of various sizes out of the long thin branches. We have wonderful borders around our vegetable beds now. They also enclose our reed bed for the biodigester and, in February, they were used as shower and toilet enclosures for our tented village at our festival.

Coppiced and burnt in a drum, they make wonderful charcoal to store for winter fuel. The smaller bits are shredded and chipped to become mulch and path coverings to maintain ground moisture. Now, as Christmas draws closer, the pliable branches are woven into wreaths and decorated with fynbos and pine cones. The wonderful shapes of dried out twigs and branches become legs, arms and wings on angels, and the cut trees get whitewashed and hung with fairy lights as an updated, eco-friendly version of a Christmas tree.

Our aim this year is to have as “green” a Christmas as possible, difficult for me as after five years in the UK I love all the bells and whistles that go with a traditional Christmas. I still love to receive and send Christmas cards, but am making sure they are handmade this year using recycled paper and cards. As a family we are going to be looking at how creative we can be with our gifts. I went to the “Kamersvol Geskenke” event outside Franschhoek a few weeks ago. The theme for the stall holders was “reuse, recycle and reinvent” and WOW, there were some amazing and inspirational ideas. Judging by the continual ringing of the tills, I wasn’t the only one inspired to stock up on original gifts handmade with love. So don your creative caps and have a wonderful GREEN Christmas.