The intro to this story, is in my New Year’s blog post Addressing Hypengyophobia – 2nd chances, dont fret the small stuff.
Here is what we were doing in the dead of winter on our Kalahari farm.
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As per yesterday’s post Addressing Hypengyophobia – 2nd chances, dont fret the small stuff, today I shall share a collection of impressions from the month of June 2023, to celebrate my eight months of full time farming.
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Genuine, I was going to start the new year with a bang – writing a post which I had not done for weeks, and activating my new YouTube channel with new videos, along with a cross revitalisation of my digital presence. And read to the end if you want to know what Hypengyophobio means.
Let me rephrase that – I was going to start the new year with a digital bang. Revitalising my blog, my YouTube channel and my digital presence.
But then life unfolded itself by way of surprise visitors for a late afternoon cup of coffee, that turned into a leisurely game drive on the farm, followed by an emergency Jaffels late supper because they had not left by 8.30pm yet. 10.15, PM!
So, the message is this, best laid plans…… must remain flexible. And cut the @#$!, very little of what we plan for ourselves are of such urgency and importance that they need to be done right away, at the expense of good neighbourliness.
Therefore, on the 2nd day of the new year, I am dedicating my morning to processing videos, and resetting my intellectual profile. Which turns out to be a good thing, because today I am full so determination to reach my goal, no matter what obstacles technology puts in my way.
And with that, I will end today’s post with a sample of photos of the last 8 months of adopting, and adapting to, a sustainable living off the land lifestyle.
For the month of May 2023, I selected photos from a variety of activities:
June 2023 follows in the same vein, but you will have to wait till tomorrow for that post. In fact, every day for the next 7 days, I will post a month’s memories.
Now get back to those new year’s promises you made yourself 2 days ago!
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PPS – that big word in the title? it means the fear of New Year’s resolutions. 
I am going to have to change that title, it is rather boring. But then again, I have not yet made up my mind on the direction, nor the speed of today’s flow of thoughts.
A rapid-white-river-rafting tale of dealing with sheep herding and training two rescue puppies, or a languid retelling of my latest all-consuming sourdough fixation.
Ah, can you tell? While I have sat down before to blog, with no idea what the topic of discussion will be, usually once I start, the thoughts just flow. But today, it is the first time this has happened to me. What a shock, there is a vacuum where the words usually come from.
Here are some random pictures while I stir the grey matter a bit.
And here it comes, the inspiration for today is kind of linked to the minimal words.
Making do, vs minimalism.
I don’t know where I was when I jotted this lighting bolt realisation down, but a quick search of document history shows it was on the day of some Independent Directors training, where we undoubtedly were discussing trends and changes, and how the world has become so bespoke, while at the same time trying to regulate uniformity.
So this close to my 6-month anniversary, I would like to share some thoughts about my self sustainable lifestyle, to give friends, family, and readers an inkling into why one would choose to give up things, shopping, the theatre, international travel, an ambitious career; and settle on a rural farm with a small old house, with very little storage space.
If you have some mind reading skills, you may have picked up that it is not all moonshine and roses. Sure, I miss having all the kitchen gadgets, a fully Le Creuset equipped kitchen, a convertible coupe, and a fully stamped passport. But really, I have perfectly functional roasting dishes, a gorgeous SMEG oven, and have visited at least 50 countries thus far. (Thus far…. Can you hear it, I have not excluded international travelling from future adventuring….).
Having more of the same, i.e., that perfectly colour coded pie dish to match the traditional orange roasting dish, means I then have 4 pie dishes to store, in the unlikely event that I will be baking 4 pies in one go, which will need me to build a second pantry, which will need me to work for someone else, to afford the things I would like. As opposed to loving what I have.
And that is a practical explanation of making do, as opposed to minimalism.
Minimalism: At its core, being a minimalist means intentionally promoting the things we most value and removing everything that distracts us from it.
https://www.becomingminimalist.com/what-is-minimalism/comment-page-9/#comment-2573606
I cannot say it any better, I can only share some more of those valuable joys that living off the land brings. With Intention.
My wish for you, is Deliberate Intention. In whatever you choose to do today.
I am so sorry; you must have thought that I had succumbed to some farming mishap. Fortunately, not so. I simply did not get round to an inspired sit down with my laptop to share new farming learnings.
But today was a great day of working the cattle and teaching my dogs how to ride a quad bike. So I am at peace, with no corporate obligations chasing me down. I can finally share with you, the importance of compost.
Let me start by saying how much more into “organic agriculture” I am getting. Originally, when we bought the farm, I had said I wanted to be self-sufficient, and equally important, not deal with “poisons or chemicals”. Then when I moved to the farm, it was about national food security, and our moral obligation to look after our battered planet.
To that end, I have had to learn some tricks of the trade, on dealing with pests in the garden, without reverting to carcinogenic compounds. Some tricks are quite simple, and yet effective. But, if I am to stay within 600 words for this post, I shall leave those tips & tricks for another post and focus on composting for this post.
Recently I had the privilege to attend a workshop hosted by Namibian Organic Association, and nahop, on organic composting. There I learnt that organic farming is all about the soil. It is as simple as that.
Shout out to the 26 participants on the Organic Agriculture Training-Stampriet WhatsApp group. We are learning from each other’s postings, and Eckhart & Tangeni share their knowledge and experience freely.
I must borrow from our lecture, because keeping it simple allows you to focus on what you must do, rather than worry about why.
In turn, the bacterial colonies feed off the sugars, and break down soil particles to produce nutrients. Fungi attach to the plant roots, and take those nutrients provided by the bacteria, and water, to the plants.
So, if your soil is poor, there is nothing to break into nutrients. And if you add “artificial nutrients” you gain in the short term, with a powerful boost, but lose in the long term as the microbes, bacteria and fungi have nothing to live off. And they need to help the plant become a robust pest resilient plant over the long term. Not just produce pretty, but ultimately poor-quality fruit and vegetables.
If you page through my blog, you may see that I am in love with the red Kalahari sand. It feels good beneath your feet. (Except in high summer when it is too hot to handle 
). I am always barefoot when it is socially appropriate, and sometimes when it not the social norm. 
So as beautiful as the scenery is, the soil (or in this case, I should rather call is sand) it is not particularly nutritious.
So, I have taken the time to gather materials in my environment, at no cost other than “sweat equity”, and invested it into my own soil wealth. Let me paraphrase the crux of the full day learning we shared that day in Stampriet.
Mattrass, water, brown, water, green, water, brown, water, green, water etc. etc, ending with a blanket. Leave for a couple of weeks, you will feel it heat up by itself. Turn it, leave for another couple of weeks, then its ready to distribute in your plant beds.
Matrass being the first layer of branches. Required to create airflow under your file of organic matter.
It needs to aerate, which is why I have repurposed this old container webbing.
It is also necessary to wet each layer as you put it down, to feed to microbes and organisms that will be breaking down the plant material. Hopefully also providing water to some grubs (good for compost but try and leave out of the ultimate bedding) and earthworms.
Brown layers are wood chips, dried leaves, and grass etc. Provides useful carbon.
Green layers can include Bokashi (well matured), manure (cattle, chicken (including feathers and all that comes when you spring-clean the chicken coup)) even weeds and any green trimmings from tidying the garden. Kitchen waste (but avoid oils, citrus, and vinegar) also good.
I have taken a week or two to create my layer cake, I would say it needs another couple of weeks before I will turn it.
So, when you garden, especially when you have your own little (or large) vegetable patch, think of “living soil” – the better you care for it, the better it will care for your plants.
Soil feeds the soul.
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