NAMPO 2015

    “In winter’s chill or summer’s heat farmers work so that we can all eat.”

Do you ever think about where your food comes from (before you buy it from a shop) or how it’s produced?  

Last Thursday we went to our first NAMPO skou.  I didn’t quite know what to expect and kept getting confused with Nampo and Mampoer.(which is a type of traditional South African alcoholic drink.) But NAMPO stands for NAtional Mielie Production Organization or Nasionale Mielie Produsente Organisasie.  It is one of the largest agricultural exhibitions under private ownership in the Southern Hemisphere and the first one was held in 1967.
There was an overwhelming amount of farming equipment on display.  Huge machines, silos and tractors were everywhere.  Stuff the ordinary (non-farming) citizen, like me, never thinks of but stuff, or equipment rather, used to produce the meat, cereal, bread and flour we buy in the shops every day. It was pretty interesting.  It would have been nice to drive away in one of the fancy, new cars that Mercedes, Mazda  and the other famous car brands had on display.  
There were demonstrations on cereal making, sheep sheering and Carol says there were people doing an autopsy on a goat! (I luckily missed that one.) There were all sorts of live cows, sheep and horses on display as well as miniature horses. I liked those mini horses! Marc also had his Leatherman’s blade replaced at the Leatherman stall.
When we got there at 6:45 am it was freezing outside but it quickly warmed up and turned out to be a very pleasant day.  We parked our car amongst the other hundreds of Toyotas and when we wanted to leave Marc had to pull a Rambo move to get us out of the parking because someone parked right behind us!  We had a few yummy snacks to eat at the skou but for lunch, because the Nampo restaurants were over-crowded, we drove to one of our favourite restaurants, Oppie Stoep, in Marquard which was on our way home.  

I now have a renewed appreciation for our farmers and what they do.  

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you sow.”-R.L.Stevenson