Pesach pests

In keeping with our Jewish roots, we had our own pests to deal with this Pesach: head lice (apparently quite a plague in town at the moment). This recurring infestation which has caused a great deal of anguish to the children (especially Mila with her mass of thick, curly hair). So when they phoned me again on Friday to tell me that the children are infected, I decided to take some drastic action…we all shaved our heads!

I look quite funky, Luke looks naughtier than he is & Mila is sporting a new boyish charm. I’m sure we’ll be able to make a statement at the upcoming Gay Pride Pink Loerie parade if we all go in drag!

And we’ve had 30 mm of rain in the 2 days since we became a family of skin heads…interesting things happen when you shave your head.

Kevin is in Jo'burg on business for a few days, but will certainly take a picture of us when he returns.

Trudy passes

Our recent weekend trip to Cape Town was interrupted by the devastating news that my mother (Trudy) passed away peacefully in her sleep at the age of 59. Needless to say, this has been a shock of such gigantic proportions that I am still experiencing waves of disbelief two weeks later. It feels as though my previously volatile life has become completely unhinged.

We had to make a quick departure from Cape Town to Pretoria in order to settle her affairs, pack up and vacate the little cottage she was renting and organise a memorial service (all done in less than a week and wearing only the clothes we packed for the Cape Town weekend). Thankfully our friends and family rallied around and provided immeasurable amounts of love and support for which I am eternally grateful. We then flew back to Cape Town (to fetch our car) and then drove back home to Knysna after spending a few days in the mother city. Having visited 3 cities (Johannesburg, Cape Town & Pretoria) and returning home to Knysna and the farm, I can honestly say that no place feels like home anymore. This is quite an alarming realisation for a Cancerian – but I find that watering my plants keeps me sane and grounded.

I have had the occasional “inter-dimensional” communication with my mom, interspersed by times of extreme loneliness, turmoil and chaos – I suppose all normal parts of the grieving process. Kevin has been an absolute rock and my kids have given me a reason to get out of bed. I even had what I thought was either a nervous breakdown or a stroke: a 24 hour period during which I could not open my eyes or communicate except for nodding my head. I could hear everyone around me but was completely incapacitated – apparently an attempt of my soul to find equilibrium. I did feel rather rested after that.

After a week of adjusting on the farm, I am back at work. Taking it one step at a time. We are planning to build a basic structure on the farm so that we can get onto the land – we are aiming for end of June. Even if we decide to return to the city after that, we would have at least lived on our own land for a while. Our budget is down to the bone (at around R150,000) and we have finally decided on the dry toilet (using the basic but effective bucket system!). This means bucket changing duty for Kevin once a week or so…if anything will drive him back to the city, this may do the trick!

We await Trudy’s ashes which will be buried on the farm & a family tree planted in her honour. She will finally find a resting place with us and her grandchildren whom she adored so much. Her wisdom will hopefully be transferred to the tree in years to come and will provide something to hug once again.

Here's a picture of her with the kids on her last visit in December, followed by some recent ones us and the office complex on the farm.

Bright city lights...

We are off to Cape Town for the weekend where we'll be visiting friends in Camp's Bay - the prospect of having unlimited electricity and hot water has me more excited than I'd like to admit! Living off the grid has really made me appreciate the simple things in life. Viva Eskom!

Camping forever?

Breaking news is that our full-time maid-nanny-painter-cook-laundry-cleaning-angel, Bongani, has decided that it’s time for her to return to the bright lights of big city Jozi. This will provide me with ample opportunity to practice the art of patience, cleanliness, etc. as we take over all the domestic duties with 2 little people in the household. We are open to all good advice on how to get them involved without conflict/bribery/corruption…Maybe I can also make a more focused practice of my telepathic capabilities while I wash the dishes every day – I sadly admit that my new year’s resolution of intuitive communication has been severely neglected. And if you live in Johannesburg & need a fantastic live-in housekeeper/nanny, please let me know. 

Having the office on the farm is becoming more bearable everyday. Or so I hear from Kevin, who has been enduring baking hot days in the steel container complex, ravished by flies amongst the incessant mooing of cows. He has been rather lonely since I’ve started working in town (in a comfortable air-conditioned accounting office). Luckily, he has upcoming trips planned to Cape Town & Jo’burg, so some city buzz will do him good. The office now has a north-facing covered porch and the temperature control has been improved substantially…the construction is still very much a work-in-progress.

We are still trying to figure out the easiest and cheapest way of getting ourselves onto the farm (as we are still living the rented farmhouse down the road). The current plan involves turning the maid’s room into a sleeping room for the entire family (we mostly sleep in the same bed anyway) & creating a shade-netted environment in the adjacent double carport which would serve as a living/dining area. The kitchen will fit very neatly into the original container (which is somewhat of a chameleon space – changing constantly in function and purpose). 

Sanitation will be taken care of in a timber “bathhouse” containing – bath, basin, outside shower, & separate toilet (flush or dry is still an area of great discussion and difficult decision-making). I’m a bit overwhelmed by the plumbing & septic tank undertakings as we experienced the results of malfunctioning septic tanks too often in the recent past. 

The kitchen, bathhouse and living quarters will be loose-standing structures, maybe connected via shade-netted greenhouse walkways… 

Before we can get to that however, we have the rather fearsome task of sorting out the entrance gate and driveway. The digger loader dug a 1 m deep trench all along the fence in an effort to capture the run-off from the road to fill our new dam. But the ditch had to cut through the entrance and now runs much too close to the driveway…This caused the moving truck to drive into the gate which turned a previously badly hung gate into something pretty defunct. The driveway requires some form of gravel or covering to prevent getting stuck in the mud (which happened the last time we had little more than a light drizzle). Such an uninviting entrance must surely be bad Feng Sui. 

We definitely had no idea whatsoever of what we were getting ourselves into when we bought the farm in such an “open canvas” state! So much of our budget has been spent on infrastructure which we never considered, that we will probably end up living in a camping-style reality for the foreseeable future. But with a functional kitchen, a luxurious bathhouse, a dry cosy place to sleep and a star-gazing deck, what more does one really need? Oh yes, the electric fence… 

The act of contemplating our living arrangements from the ground up, has brought up many mirrors and realisations about how we construct our reality (especially when it comes to ablutions!). I aim to be constantly vigilant about my assumptions and keep an open mind…

Adjusting to the working world has been a lot more enjoyable than I anticipated with many unforeseen positives. The job has become somewhat of a stable element in this current free-fall we find our lives in. And I am guessing that we are not the only ones feeling as if someone forgot us in the washing machine on the “spin” cycle.

Solar power - the rude awakening...

It's been a week or so since we've moved into our new office on the farm & already we've run out of electricity (and all the days have been sunny!). Kevin has quickly realised that his machines use quite a bit more electricity than anticipated & so he's been running the generator to download his emails.... until he ran out of petrol!

Otherwise all is well - we are contemplating how we will be able to move onto the farm without a house. It seems that wendy houses and shade netting structures may be the order of the day - a permanent camping-type of situation. We've even thought of buying the neighbour's caravan which is on offer for R500!

More news soon...

Boxes & karma...

Just a quick "hello" from amongst the boxes. We are packing to vacate the old barn which has served as our office/home-away-from-home/source-of-Eskom/DSTV zone for the past 18 months. We'll be moving into our new container complex on our farm tomorrow, which means that we will finally land on "the property". (Maybe we'll stop referring to it as "the property" soon.)

The new building looks amazing! I've had some serious doubts about the containers & recycled materials, but it's come together in a very weird, but utterly enjoyable way! Chunky has really delivered and the building process has been beautiful & utterly enjoyable. Looking forward to a little roof wetting as soon as the deck has a roof - pictures to follow soon.

Kevin has been dealing with the entire move by himself, as I have been busy with my new job. He's having to repay some karma, since he packed very little on our exodus our of Johannesburg. In the meanwhile, I've been working on my employment karma. It's been quite an experience to get back into the working reality, but I'm starting to get into the vibe.

My next report will be from Farm 119!

(My cousin who visited recently referred to it as: "The opposite of 9-11!")

“Off-the-gridder” finds a job

I’d like to clarify the concept of “off-the-grid” in order to give a clearer picture of our experience. There’s the off-the-grid reality of our esteemed neighbour Mr R (who is fast becoming our guru of self-sufficiency). His setup includes 40 water tanks with a storage capacity of 230,000 litres, 62 solar panels capable of operating a small factory, 4 wind turbines, large dams containing thousands of tilapia fish, fruit and nut orchards, worm farms producing litres of liquid fertilizer per day and more vegetables than his household (of 2) can consume. Not to mention the hundreds of quails, ducks and fowl which produce protein rich eggs and “waste” which in turn feed the fish. (Needless to say, his property is surrounded by a serious electric fence).

Our current living situation on the other hand:

12,500 litres of water storage for a household of 5 (the current level which is about 2%, equating to enough water for 3 days), 5 solar panels, one tomato plant (which got raided by baboons last week), 3 very small moringa trees and 2 avocado tree shoots (grown from pips). Although our sprout yield is almost enough to survive on and I harvested a handful of green beans yesterday, we clearly have a long way to go!

And don’t think we are immune from any of the economic fall out affecting the rest of the world’s population. The fine art photography market (which constituted at least half of our income) has taking a knock and our commercial clients are applying the expenditure brakes. In an effort to get onto the land, we are building (tiny and modest) and excavating a dam which in turn leads to an ever-increasing bond. But there is light at the end of the tunnel: I’ve finally found a full-time accounting job in town!

The thought of having a boss after 8 years of being self-employed is quite bizarre, but strangely comforting. I’ll have to ditch the hippie wardrobe, get up early and adopt the lifestyle of “fine upstanding citizen” (whatever that means!). My intention is to bend like a willow tree and embrace the change with gratitude and joy.