And what have we been up to since the run?

Well we have been really busy with guests, so not much really.... BUT....

Tom has put up the lightning conductor: HOURAYYYYYYY! I can't tell you how relieved I am that it is in place :)

We have had our 25 year concession renewed so we can finally make plans and start building a house: Now this should be shocking news for those of you who have known us a while. Ever since we met you we have been talking about building a small house (behind the current lodge), so we have been going on about this for years! Finally, the lease has been renewed.

To be fair, it was renewed in July, but we were so wrapped up in Run stuff that we couldn't concentrate on anything else, and yes, the R4R was so consuming that even such a momentous event had to be put on the back burner.

So far, towards the building of the house, we have levelled the area, moved several tonnes of stones and hacked at the cypress trees that are between the lodge and where we want to build the house. We need the light so the trees had to be decapitated :/ Also a huge pine tree needed to be taken down as it was leaning towards where we want to build. And they all needed to be cut up. So every day we now go on stand on our levelled piece of land and imagine a house there :)

This is what it currently looks like standing "inside" our house and looking towards the lodge...

The debris has now been moved but the trees still look like they have been attacked - which of course they have. I am told they will grow back and I am sure they will :)

Run 4 Reforestation 2019

It has taken over 9 weeks to recover from the R4R, I also didn't realise that it has been so long since I had updated the blog :/ Poor show on my part, and spectacularly disorganised! Maybe organisation was one element of my life that went into a dormant state once the R4R was over... Maybe it is just me :/

Anyway... depsite my fears, stress, tears of frustration and general "agggghhhhhhhh", the Run 4 Reforestation was AMAZING.

Here is a snapshot of what it was like, curtesy of Old Mutual :)

Somehow and despite major fears, nearly everything went to plan - well 95% went to plan, which is not to be sniffed at. The fact that for the second year running the competitors didn't get any t-shirts (last year we ran out, this year there were none ... :/)

Aside from that, we had plenty of water, there were first aiders on hand, the Sustainability Fair and the Blantyre Farmer's Market were brillient, the auction (thank you Phalombe Hardware) was great, the raffle was a huge success, the helpers all did an amazing job and no one got lost - Bonus!!

IMG-20190910-WA0038

Screenshot 2019-08-23 at 21.26.52

IMG-20190910-WA0024

IMG-20190910-WA0018

IMG-20190910-WA0032

IMG-20190910-WA0037

IMG-20190823-WA0008

IMG-20190813-WA0007

IMG-20190817-WA0004

IMG-20190823-WA0003

IMG-20190916-WA0025

IMG-20190910-WA0034

IMG-20190916-WA0015

Screenshot 2019-08-23 at 19.44.57

IMG-20190916-WA0035

A BIG THANK YOU to Old Mutual, to CFAO Malawi, to Sunbird KuChawe, to Energem, to Pick A Part, to Agora, to DAPP, to Phalombe Hardware, to Be Forward and to all the participants and spectators, for making this event such a success :)

I feel daunted already, but bring on Run4Reforestation 2020 :))