thefarmer's posterous

Two months in 20 minutes

I'm going to try and get you all ("yeall" or "all yeall" for my American friends) on speed with what transpired in the following two months since my first visit to Amazing Grace.

Werner, Elouise and I came to an agreement on the legal structure that will govern our relationship as co-owners of AG.
I created my first web-site (http://ecofarm.yolasite.com). Elo has since revamped and added her professional stamp on it.
We decide to apply for a consent use at the local council and offer 4 more opportunities to people sharing the same vision as us. It's an economy of scale type of thinking.
We have taken some of our friends to the farm, the reactions have varied from "wow you are so lucky" to "wow you are so brave" to "wow you are so crazy!"
We have started acquiring literature and books on various topics from permaculture, eco-homes to recycling, etc. Previously foreign phrases have now become commonplace: "carbon footprint", "off the grid", "solar power" and "eco-take-your-pick".
I must add that we have been fairly eco-conscious even in our urban home, by recycling plastic, paper and glass, maintaining our own compost heap, most of our water gets re-used in the garden, energy saving light bulbs etc. OK you can hold the applause.
We have one big problem on the farm, a pest called Acacia Saligna known locally as Port Jackson. It is a foreign tree/shrub specie that is highly invasive and is used in the Cape as fire wood. We contacted the Department of Forestry to assist us with the eradication of the trees and they have already given us the "poison" to put on the tree-stumps, to prevent future growth. We will start the clearing process in earnest over weekends as soon as the winter is officially over.
We completed the design of our eco-home and it seems in all likelihood the the frame would be from wood and the walls will be built by using sandbags.
We are now getting quotes for the various components of the house - this is exciting and also educational in terms of the upfront premium payable by implementing green components to your house, gas, solar wind etc.
Our city house has been put in the market and we will start showing (open house) next weekend.
Our focus on the farm for the short term will be, eradicating the Port Jackson, sorting out the fences, the roads and starting with the dam.
Well my 20 minutes are up and I think you are on track with where we are now.
I'll try and write at least once a week and please if you have advice please drop a comment here or on the website, we would love to hear your story.

The Owner

I met Werner Vivier at the Swartland Engen (gas-station). He is a big burly fellow, with a gentle smile and knowing eyes. On the way to the farm, we spoke briefly about various matters that has no bearing on the farm, like good Afrikaners do when they meet new people. We covered rugby, the weather, briefly touched on politics and I was pleased to hear that he is also a Christian.

"Welcome to Amazing Grace" said Werner. Wow, a farm with a name like AG, things can surely only get better from here.

Werner showed me the boundaries and the farm was much better located than I originally thought. The farm is in the shape of a triangle, the significance of which Werner would later explain.

I got to see the most of the farm, the stunning fynbos, the ravines and then the views over Table Mountain, the Atlantic Ocean and the Limietberge to the east.

We drove back to the Swartland Engen and had coffee. I explained to Werner what I wanted to do on the farm, he smiled and gave the indication that most of what I said and planned was also what he had in mind. It seemed that we where indeed kindred spirits as to our love for nature and wanting to change our way of living.

I'm not sure exactly how it came about, but I think somewhere between the 1st and the fourth coffee we realized that we will become partners in the farm and that was that.

I left with a sense of complete comfort and ease about the farm and the process ahead. The irony of it all, during all of this we have not once spoke about the price. The concept of the farm, what we intend to do and the way we will implement our plans seemed much more important.

We parted with the undertaking by me to present a proposal on the way forward.

The drive home was long, because I was thinking at breakneck speed, and missed the turn-off!

(download)

Meeting the farm

I just came back from a hunting expedition in Namibia. My hunting partner and friend, Casper, and I had lots of time to again discuss the idea of owning a farm and living off the land, on the way back. We shared ideas on how this could be achieved, discussed the various ways of how we can earn an income from the farm. We decided that we will indeed this time make a concerted effort to find our getaway farm, our place of solitude and piece of mind.

It was Sunday morning 20 July, a week after returning from Namibia. You know that time on a Sunday, just after church in the morning and lunch, that time when you spend doing something, but you can never really recall exactly what you did. Well I picked up my Macbook and starting surfing the web. My browser normally went to auto-pilot when I entered the words "farm for sale western cape". It was so used to finding all the websites that had the one farm that you where looking for. This morning was no exception. The only difference it gave me a result of a farm in Klein Dassenberg. I had no idea where this could be, but the description of the farm made me take notice. Some game, two unfinished cottages, views over the Atlantic ocean etc etc.

I picked up the phone, called the agent and two hours later Elo, Casper and I was on the farm. Well it was nice, but being involved in property, in some form or fashion for the last 15-years, it didn't get me like in Blink. Blink for those that might not be familiar with the term is a book  written by Malcolm Gladwell about rapid cognition, about the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye. 

I dont think this is what we had in mind sorry. "Since we are here, can I maybe go and show you another farm, it's close by". Well we were there, nothing to loose but a couple of hours and it's something to do other than watching re-runs from Will & Grace.

The area of Klein Dassenberg is approximately 30 min north from Cape Town CBD on the N7 that takes you to Malmesbury and if you carry on for 650km to the border post between SA and Namibia, Vioolsdrif. 
But we will turn off 12km past the Swartland Engen, turn to the right on the R304, then 2km and we turn right towards a small kopje, koppie or heuwel in Afrikaans. It's a small mountain or a large hill, depending on which way you look at things (half-full vs half-empty kind of thinking get it). 

Now this property spoke to me at once, not only in my mother tongue of Afrikaans, but in English, Sotho and the bit of Dutch, Zulu and German that I can speak as well. The views where awe inspiring and the size of 60 hectares (for our friends that have not yet adopted the metric system, 1ha = 2.47 acres, thus the farm is 148 acres) was large enough to accommodate the various different farming activities that we had in mind.

The price was not asked, I think I was to scared to ask knowing the inevitable answer would leave me disappointed once again. The asking prices is......stop, stop, please, let me enjoy this for just another momen t before I get pulled back to reality. "The owner would of course look at an offer, with this being a recession and all".

The agent was not quite sure where the exact boundaries where, so we agreed that a meeting with the owner would be scheduled so that he can point out the correct boundaries. This would also give me one last chance to spend a hour or so on this awe inspiring piece of property.

Where it all started

I'm not sure really, maybe it was at conception, in my genes as they say, a function of DNA. Nevertheless, I'm a city child born and bred, but always loved nature. I couldn't wait to get my hands dirty, or spend some time with my dogs or my cats or my fish or my chameleons or the horses or whatever brough me closer to God's creatures.

I've been looking to get out of city living for the best part of the last 5-years. I've been looking at large farms that I cant afford, at small farms that are to far, at beautiful farms that were in the wrong province, at neglected and barren farms that were in the right location, I've looked at a lot of farms, and then I exclude the ones' advertised in the Farmers Weekly, Landbou Weekblad, Country Life and the local newspaper.

In retrospect, I think that even if I did find the right sized farm, in the right area and with the right price tag, I would still have found some excuse not to "pull the trigger" and make the commitment and from what I've heard starting a life altering experience. I think for most of us, when you have a dream, it's best to keep it in the realm of the dreamworld. Keep it where you can access it when you want, on your terms. Just don't bring it into the here and the now, where the dream starts confronting you with its constant nagging to be released into reality.

Well, the nagging worked or the DNA string that contains the farmer in me could not be kept at bay anymore. Eventually at the age of 41, I pulled the trigger.

This blog is more for my wife and I. It's intended as a dairy and a roadmap simultaneously. It will hopefully remind us of the effort already put in, the blood, sweat and tears that are bound to fall on the currently wild and dry farm soil and it will aim in being our conscience, our guide and sharing this adventure with those that care to read.

I trust that you will find something to take from this as we start this journey; I'll try and document as much as I can, sometimes I'll bore you and sometimes you will laugh at my follies, my mistakes and my simple-mindedness. One thread that you will notice is our acknowledgment that everything we receive, we receive out of grace, grace from our Father that is the creator of all things big and small.