As 2021 is already in its 3rd week, I realised an update is due. We are busy selling, or attempting to do so at this stage, so things are in limbo. An adventure and tremendous challenges lies ahead in the Karoo. I will have the same heat and wind to deal with in terms of food production, but we will also have even less water than here. Here we go, thinking back – 2020.
Tulbagh is fairly rich in high-quality water, but we have used our water sparingly. Wasting water is like throwing away food, and just because we have the benefit of ample water for our needs, doesn’t mean that we should waste it. The commercial farming around us is already doing that for everyone.
I’ll use this update post to go over a few things about our property and how we handle them. Considering that we bought this piece of land with NOTHING on it, I am very proud of what we achieved and how it maintains itself (almost!) thanks to permaculture and regenerative practices. No use of chemicals anywhere, because we want our soil microbes alive, not dead. We also never use fertilisers, because we didn’t destroy our soils, we regenerate them!
2020 in Images – thinking back
We took our soil from dry and dead to alive with fungal hyphae and bacteria. Hand worked, double dug and painstaking removal of Bermuda grasses paid off as the soil took life with food crops. Insects moved in, skinks and frogs, grass snakes and anything else that works together in our biosystem. We even work with the termites to help process humus and move nutrients around.
We fought fires in the community, as it goes every summer. Sick animals healed and helped, and those who couldn’t fight hard enough became compost and committed their souls back to our circle of life. This duckling is still alive and well. Puffadders have been relocated and cobras chases away. We do not kill snakes; we are not savages, and we know our place in the ecosystem. Grass snakes, whipsnakes and the other fellows are more than welcome to integrate here.
Our infrastructure was meticulously planned and built by hand. The water system is fully flexible to work between our solar powered pumps or when times are tough, gravity fed. Water wise, power wise: Wind and Solar installed our 700watt turbine, and we finalised the rain water tanks to harvest as much rain as we could. Free water from the skies. In fact, 200 litres per millimeter of rain. Swales harvested water naturally, allowing bulk water to sink in, instead of running off with our precious topsoil.
We grew and harvested a LOT of food. Radishes (Helios, hailstone, cherrybelle, black spanish etc), Cucumbers (Jelly melon, Crystal Apple, etc), Mission Olives which became many litres of Oil, Marrows, Tomatoes of all sorts, Glass Gem corn, Barlinka grapes, Eggplant, Strawberries, Blueberries, Bishops Crown chillies, Venus melon, Cauliflower, Tasty Bolete Mushrooms and much more!
Grass snakes from outside became our security guards, Pekin chickens had to become mother hen to abandoned ducklins and goat births that were complicated all made the year interesting. Our call ducks became a part of the furniture as the dogs and goats got used to them. The chicken flock had some ups and downs, but we gained a prize winning Barbu d’Ucle and our big boy Araucana rooster is still around – running the show like a boss!
We made our own brews… ciders and pomegranate wine. Thinking back, our own breads and meals helped the cold days of winter go by. Other things, like cheese and meat, we could get from the homesteader and self-reliant community of survivors and permaculture folks! (Thanks Hillbilly Farm, Peter & Arthur and all the others we traded with). Nothing beats a hard day of work like a cold home brew and a meaty braai accompanying hearty vegetables!
Finishing off here with a few images that struck a note with us. Pioneering principles attracted wild and self-arriving species of flowers. Sunhemp, Vetch and other greens fixing nitrogen in the ground while feeding our goats and chickens! The introduction of prickly pear species (Meyer, Roly Poly and Algerian being the most prolific growers it seems) to aid our secure-scaping [Food and Security Fence and Fire retardants]. Seed saving took off for us, insect species are increasing and construction of our poly tunnel nursery made a LOT of things possible! A must have.
We hope you enjoyed our photo tour of the year 2020. We have accomplished more than we could have hoped, and we did it with the help of friends, permaculture and working with the environment instead of against it. Thanks for reading “Thinking Back – 2020”.
May 2021 be the same or better for you! See you in the Klein Karoo.
A land steward in training, figuring out self reliance, subsistence and simplicity on the Karoo farm that he lives on. Searching for balance, abundance and sense in a shrinking world. Marlon is a skilled software developer, electronics enthusiast and enjoys his deathmetal, electronic music and rock. Hailing from the Freestate, now lost in the hills of the arid Karoo, keeping it real (apparently).
