"A Boer Maak a Plan"

In Afrikaans this means "A Farmer Makes a Plan."  It's akin to the saying "there's more than one way to skin a cat," but appropriately more austere.  Brett unleashed it on me in the midst of one of many mini-crises suffered on the acreage.  And it resonated as, over the course of 10 days, we farmers had to go from Plan A to Plan B to Plan C, using the materials at hand.  It’s appeal to me was both innate and romantic—I felt as if I already understood it as a way of thinking (problem solving 101), but was humbled still by Brett’s ability to graft his entire well-being (financial, physical, mental) around it.  Perhaps a farmer makes a plan for no other reason than that a farmer HAS to make a plan.  This tautology in no way detracts, though, from the respect I give to Brett and those cut from the same cloth who work within their means to the point of exhaustion--both of those means, and often, themselves.   

It's with that reverence I wish to share some of the tasks I undertook, or assisted in, or merely observed.  The common thread, from gardening to construction work, was the knowledge throughout that I was living and working and helping on someone else’s plan, and that plan was as complex and fluid as the life it supported.  It WAS life. 

 

An "orange dog" caterpillar--they feast on citrus trees.  You must hand-pick them and squash them before...

...this happens.  No pesticides means biological control is a must.  Right now it's up to us humans.

Pruning and training the grape vines--a very zen task.

Closer to the house, vines provide shade and aesthetic value.  Further away, they are planted with tomato and herb plants in permaculture fashion.

Brett and Jacob the laborer in cottage #4, in what will eventually be Brett's daughters room.  As of now, its just the rustic shower.

A friendly fellow reflecting off the door he helped hang the day before.  Doors are a piece of work!  Mortar and brick had since closed the gaps.

Compost ingredients:  water, greens (nitrogen), natural mulched material (carbon), grape skins (already fermenting a bit), and sawdust (emulsifier?)

Just made pile--now cover and wait about 3 months.  Just 2 days later, though, the temperature in the middle was hot to the touch.

A "sleuce gate," just finished.  Wood planks will slide in here to restrict or allow water to flow onto the field during flood irrigation.

The participants. Jacob is in the shadow on the left.  Bretto!  JG.

The next night between 1 and 6AM, and two nights after, I would help open and close the gates on this field and another.

Brett grinding away some scrap metal, making a plan come together...

...on the room of cottage #1, so that we could attach the solar geyser mount at the angle that optimized sunlight during winter, and was relatively simple to attach to the building.