Where We Came From#

Starting in the late 1980's I began work as a programmer for a large IT company, long since broken into many pieces, the shards scattered to the winds. Starting in about 1992 I began yearning for a more fulfilling existence than punching a timeclock. I had progressed reasonably well up the career ladder to the point of being Team Leader and Account Manager, but was still deeply dissatisfied with my state of affairs, sensing a need for a life better connected with the Earth, wind, rain, sun and seasons. No doubt my colleagues grew heartily sick of me muttering on about greywater systems, solar heating, chicken tractors and the joys of gardening.

I found it quite difficult to articulate exactly what I was looking for; for most people, it seems, "farming" conjures up pictures of miles of flat wheatland, the farmer nothing more than a manager with an outdoor office. "Subsistence farming" brings images of poverty-stricken, parasite-infested halfwits, snotty babies on the stoep, and a burned-out pickup in the yard. Eventually I more-or-less gave up trying to explain, settled on the "self-sufficiency" tag, and accepted that most people simply don't (or can't) grasp why anyone in the late-20th/early-21st century would choose to live this way. Perhaps in a few years time, as oil supply shrinks and everybody is forced to go back to a much lower energy density lifestyle, they will begin to figure it out.

One Monday morning in 1993(?) I suffered a Spontaneous Pneumothorax -- a spontaneous collapse of a lung for no good reason that doctors can be bothered to figure out. After three days in hospital, and confined to bed by the quacks for a further six weeks, I decided that it was time to "put up or shut up". In short, time to attempt the dream. Better to fail, having tried, than to die never having attempted to reach the dream.

It sounds almost silly, in retrospect, but it is hard to convey just how much one's sense of security can be tied to the monthly paycheck, annual holiday, medical aid and pension plan. Now I can laugh at how easy it really was. Back then it was a frightening leap of faith and hope.

Now I see clearly just how insecure that existence is, and how much more secure we are being able to feed ourselves of our own land; how much better empowered we are to cope with the truly-likely futures we may face.

In truth, once such a decision has been made - truly made - and I think this is true for any venture, any dream, any plan - we unleash an energy of intent into the universe, and the universe responds by arranging things in our favour. We become unstoppable. Pinpoint focus enables us to literally move mountains; to demolish impossible obstacles against insurmountable odds.

Tough Decisions#

I more-or-less decided unilaterally that this was my path to be. If J and the boys wanted to come along, that would be great. If they didn't, that would be fate, but would not have swerved me one jot from my course.

In truth, the boys, being about 10 and 7 at the time, didn't really have much say in the matter, though we did involve them in the discussion. J agonised over it for quite a time. She was quite contented with her life and lifestyle, was figuring where to put in the swimming pool, and drawing-up plans for extending the house. In the mere whim of a moment I had put paid to all that. Eventually we agreed to give it a try, and, if the whole thing was not working after a year, we would sell up and return to a suburban lifestyle.

So began our search for land.