African Wildlife & Environment Issue 84 2023

FAUNA, FLORA & WILDLIFE

My father Hugh was a keen birder and could mimic birds' calls, he always knew exactly what was nesting nearby and what the birds were feeding from around us. In the mornings and evenings, it would be a feeding frenzy for the birds. A special memory was that of the wild sesame ( Sesamum indicum ) growing 2-3 feet tall on the edges of the veld and in my father’s lands. Unsprayed and organic, these lands were a perfect place for sesame to thrive. I would see these swathes of bright green upright stems with small trumpet like edible, mauve flowers growing up the stems, perfectly proportional- in pairs, growing opposite one another, spaced intermittently, a glorious attraction to bees. From the mauve blossoms, and in a few weeks later the green seed spires would develop and ripen into 2 cm long, brown pods where their aperture at the top would split open making little birds hungry for those tightly stacked nutritious little sesame seeds. In delicious anticipation the wild birds would swoop down to hold onto the long stalks with their little legs and expertly pull out the matured, dried seeds. Seeds would always scatter back onto

FORAGING FROM THE VELD WILD SESAME AFRIKAANSE BRANDBOONTJIE I grew up on a farm outside Rustenburg along the Magaliesberg mountain range. This was the foundation of my passion for nature, a treasure trove of information, animals, wild flowers, medicinal wild plants-herbs, and, most of all, the cycles of seeds. What were the birds feeding on? What was the new season bringing in foraging from the veld? One just had to watch what was happening in front of you, and it would all link up into a chain of nurturing sustainability on all levels. This was foraging at its best!

Sandy Roberts

21 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 84 (2023)