Cuppa Daisies

Christmas Mini Market – 15 December

Following on from the amazing success of the Morning Star Market held on 4 November (you can read about it here), there have been many, many requests (from both vendors and shoppers alike) for another market before Christmas.

Arranging an event of that scale takes a fair amount of time and effort, so another big market just wasn’t doable this year; but we are thrilled to announce that we’ve been able to arrange a Mini Market instead.

Saturday, 15 December – 10am to 2pm

Cuppa Daisies will host around 15 vendors, on the grounds of our Thrift Shop, for some Christmas Shopping at it’s Best! You will be able to find directions here: https://goo.gl/maps/FTBDrvNLR2v

Our vendor line-up includes:

Cards by Tart’s Handmade Cards
Christine’s Gift Packaging
Circle of Love‘s Sand Art
Daphne’s Mixed Media Artwork
Ina’s Paintings
Joanne’s Pewter Gifts
Kerry’s Eco-Friendly Cleaning and Beauty Products (KIND)
Tupperware

There will be gentle activities for the children as well as a Snake Tank and Cuppa Daisies will offer Coffee + Cake. The Thrift Shop will be open for all your bric-a-brac shopping and this includes newly bought gift items too (including some Honey handbags).

Over and above the coffee + cake, we will have the following refreshments and treat stalls:

Big B Boereworsrolle Boerewors rolls, prego rolls, hamburgers, etc.
Caron’s Chilli Jams
Chrisna’s Homemade Rusks
Denise’s Koeksisters
Gillz Banting Brownies + Ice-Cream
Namaste Horses Cold Drinks + Tuck Shop (and they doing the Snake Tank too)

Please make sure to like the Cuppa Daisies Facebook page for all event updates.

mini market invite

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

Morning Star has a team of incredibly dedicated men, who give up so much of their personal time and money to protect both the Morning Star community as well as the greater Philadelphia area. This team goes by the apt name of Plotwatch.

When Cuppa Daisies opened their doors on 13 April this year, one of our goals was to assist with raising funds for this team; and raise funds we did! This was done via sales of donated items from the shop itself (over R9,000) and from fundraising events – see below.

On a mild winter’s evening in August, approximately 60 people gathered at Cuppa Daisies to enjoy a Boerewors Roll (or two) while sipping on the delicious wine and craft beers made at Olsh Homestead. Despite an unscheduled Eskom outage, the event was incredibly successful both as a community get together and as a fundraiser – R4,000 was raised for Plotwatch.

Spring Dance Invite

A short month later, Zonnekus Holiday Resort hosted the inaugural Spring Dance – tickets were sold out and community members and local businesses alike dug deep into their pockets with donation-after-donation ensuring that over 50 prizes were handed out to the lucky winners. KC Disco kept the crowd on their feet and the event raised R15,000 for Plotwatch.

market flyer Two weeks ago, the annual Morning Star Market took place. This year, it was held at Zonnekus Holiday Resort and hosted more than 40 stalls. There was something for everyone, including a magician, boeresport & tug-of-war and the best wine slushies this side of the equator! A team of roving videographers were on site and will make their outtakes available for purchase in due course. The market raised R12,500 for Plotwatch.

download To end off the year, one final fundraiser will take place: a Christmas Picnic to be held on Sunday, 9^th December. Watch this space as the details unfold.

In closing – thank you to each and every person who contributed to the success of these events, including all organisers, shoppers, sponsors, vendors, participants, onlookers … just EVERYONE!

Below is a list of sponsors and vendors for your interest. Contact details available on request.

Name	Activity
Beaded	Prize – Spring Dance
Blu Approved	Vendor – Market
Brights Hardware	Vouchers – Market
Brown Family	Sponsor – Boerie Evening
Cape Applicances	Prize – Market Auction
Cape Splendour	Prizes – Spring Dance
Change for the Better Foundation	Vendor – Market
Chrisna Smith – Homemade Rusks	Vendor – Market
Crazy Pit Lady	Vouchers – Spring Dance
Die Dam Huis	Vouchers – Spring Dance
Faithful to Nature	Prize – Spring Dance
Francis – Wire Artist	Vendor – Market
Friends of Blaauwberg Conservation	Vendor – Market
Green Hygiene	Vendor – Market
Growing Greens	Vendor – Market
Grubs Up	Vendor – Market
I Felt It	Vendor – Market
Jeanious Creation: Honey Jewellery + Educational Items	Vendor – Market
Joanne Keet – Pewter Gifts	Vendor – Market
KIND – environmentally friendly products	Prize – Market
Linda Everitt – Tooth Fairy Items	Vendor – Market
Lions – Christmas Cakes	Vendor – Market
Magic Minerals	Voucher – Market
Mind Body Spirit	Voucher – Spring Dance and Market
Mom’s Kitchen	Voucher – Spring Dance
Mucking Afazing Soaps	Vendor – Market
Namaste Horses	Vendor – Market
Nestle	Prizes – Spring Dance
Ninja Equestrian	Vouchers – Spring Dance
Olsh Homestead	Sponsor – Boerie Evening Prizes – Spring Dance Vendor – Market
Power Tool Repairs	Prizes – Spring Dance and Market
Protea Delights	Vendor – Market
Raw Dog Food	Vouchers – Spring Dance
RMC Videographers	Vendor – Market
Russell Fox, Magician Insane	Vendor & Auctioneer – Market
Sam Divinity Photographer	Photo Booth – Market
Swart Family	Prize – Market Auction
Tauna Collier	MC – Market
The White House Stables	Sponsor – Boerie Evening Vendor – Market
West Coast Feeds	Vendor – Market
Why Not Body Art	Vendor – Market
Zonnekus Holiday Resort	Sponsor – Boerie Evening Prizes – Spring Dance Prize – Market Auction Vendor – Market

Why Cuppa Daisies?

My mother was one-of-a-kind-person: patient, loyal, helpful, gracious, faithful, dedicated.

While writing this article, I stumbled across this meaning for her name, Joan:

“honest, benevolent, brilliant and often inventive, full of high inspirations; you are courageous, honest, determined, original and creative.”

Wow – how true! Joan’s courageous spirit was evident as she struggled through her ovarian cancer and she passed away at the age of 60 on 18^th August 1996, leaving behind a distraught husband and three children. Sure, we were adults, but we were left bewildered and confused at the sudden loss of our matriarch, the person who kept it all together, who only ever showed kindness and compassion, who loved us so deeply that she never-ever had to say it out loud; we felt it at our core. (In fact, I’m glad my parents didn’t feel the need to over use the word LOVE. I’ve seen the effects of the misuse of this beautiful word, but that’s the subject of another blog).

My father remarried in 2000 and lived a very happy life with his wonderful wife. My father’s wisdom was amazing … he was “my wise old man”. He passed on 11 May 2017, just one week shy of his 85^th birthday. Not only was Dennis wise, he had a huge appetite of acceptance and the last time I saw him, he shared how this trait had benefited him his entire life. It’s become our mantra in our home now.

My childhood was a happy one while my husband’s was a mixture of happiness and sadness. However, in 1988, we connected at a church camp and I was very taken with his dream to one day own a large property that he would use to give needy people a hand-up. Such big dreams for a 20 year old!

Andy and I married in 1990 and were the typical young family living in the suburbs. But after just too many challenges (retrenchment, major car accident, death of a parent, child with mental health condition, emotional abuse in the work place, child with Type 1 diabetes, major financial issues, family challenges), we really lost our way. Fortunately, we received help from a variety of sources but ultimately, a change was necessary.

Finally, in 2016, the planets aligned and we had the opportunity to start again: I gave up corporate work, we sold our house, settled our bond and we moved our family to a small-holding. Andy called it The Plot Dignity.

This piece of land has been the major catalyst in giving us the chance to regain our dignity and in the process, we have been able to help others regain theirs too (both people and animals – also the subject of another blog).

So what does this have to do with Cuppa Daisies? While Andy is given back on a larger scale, I am so happy to be making a difference in my community: I started a small thrift shop that is enabling our local workers to purchase items for their homes at very low prices. At the same time, this is providing an additional income for PlotWatch.

Every day I am grateful for a kind and caring mother and a wise and sensible father who, with the help of the legacies they left behind, I am finally able to Pay It Forward, for all the help we ever received, and be that kind and helpful person that my mother was.

Why a Thrift Shop?

garage-sale For as long as I can remember, I have always enjoyed the intrigue of second-hand shops and garage sales and the excitement of finding something precious, at a jaw-droppingly good price. I especially enjoyed the White Elephant stalls at the local church fetes or charity events and for a while, I took my children to every fete that we could find – so it’s not surprising that my passion for thrift shopping became a family obsession.

Fast forward to summer 2017: when I heard that we were having a Christmas Market in our community, I jumped at the opportunity to manage the White Elephant stall. Up till now, I had always find these stalls to be somewhat messy and chaotic and here was my chance to create an organised stall with everything in categories and well priced; you know … how it should be!

Well, the joke was on me: I received so very many donations and such a wide variety of items, that there was very little chance for any sorting or pricing and the stall was one chaotic stall, just like every other one I have ever been too. However, it was also a very popular and busy stall and raised a very decent amount for our community PlotWatch.

So, I did it again two weeks later: I hosted a Flash Sale/Open Day in the local clubhouse and after another round of successful financial takings, the thrift shop bug had seriously bitten.

me in front of shop.jpg Enter Cuppa Daisies stage left: with the left-over items from the December market, I had the start of my very own little shop and as I had already been selling coffee at fundraising events since our arrival in Morning Star a year before, it made sense to combine a coffee bar with the thrift shop and so Cuppa Daisies Thrift Shop and Coffee Bar opened its doors on Friday, 13^th April!

With promotions taking place every Friday, our tranquil little place has developed a following of wonderful, lovely visitors coming to enjoy the delicious home-baked goods on offer – brownies, carrot cake, cup-cakes, savoury muffins, vegetarian quiche and gluten-free brownies. We’ve also had Soup-for-the-Soul and and Home-Cooked-Meal days, promotions that have been well supported and thoroughly enjoyed. A random selection of photos can be viewed here.

The shop offers a variety of thrift items, mostly donated, that are sold for the benefit of PlotWatch. We also sell items left with us on consignment, that offer our buyers even more goodies including hand-knitted finger-less gloves, sun-catchers, home-made rusks and we even had some items from a pet-shop for a few days!

We are open every Friday afternoon and occasionally open on a Wednesday or Saturday as well. Our opening times are shared on our Facebook page regularly by the delightfully enigmatic Emily Longman; who not only is one of my amazing daughters, she’s also well versed in writing her own blog posts and is currently upskilling herself in the field of social media marketing.

Till the next cup of coffee …
Michelle Longman

Soup for the Soul

Cuppa Daisies will be serving Soup for the Soul this weekend in order to raise funds for the Morning Star PlotWatch. Soups will be served in 200ml take-away cups and two flavours will be available to buy on the day.

cuppa soup small

Soups are personally made by Shannon Steyn, a gourmet cook (and landscaper) and soups are available from her on an order basis. Please see her menu below.

We will have limited stock available to purchase at Cuppa Daisies (soups are sold frozen, in zip-lock bags). See (number in brackets) for an indication of stock we will have on hand.

Butternut R15 (9 x 250ml)
Sweet Potato and Ginger R15
Roast Tomato and Basil R15 (1 x 250ml)
Potato Broccoli R15
Vegetable Soup for Vegetarians and/or Slimmers R15 (1 x 500ml, 4 x 250ml)

Carrot and Coriander R20
Mushroom and Sherry R20

Chicken Noodle R20
Potato and Bacon R20
Tomato and Bacon R20

Morrocan Lamb / Red lentil R25 (1 x 500ml)
Smoked Ham and Pea R35

Prices are per 250ml portions.

Portions can be packed into bigger portions viz.:
500ml – multiply 250ml price by 2
1 litre – multiply 250ml price by 4
2 litre – multiply 250ml price by 8