Welcome

Welcome to the “Half Way There Blog”, entitled so because on a small farm most jobs are usually half-way-there but not quite finished yet. There is always lots of work to be done so half way done on most of them is an accomplishment.

The blog is written by Joanne Delaurentis, a wife, farmer and work-from-home mom of 2 precious little girls - Eva and Bethany. The farm is also populated by Lorenzo, Joanne's husband and the MacGyver behind everything that has been built on the farm, Grant - a friend and border with a passion for uplifting and equipping rural subsistence farmers, 4 dogs, 6 sheep, 15 chickens, 2 rabbits, one cat and a peahen.

It is the beginning of October – the start of the Southern Hemisphere's summer and everything is green and blooming. However, for vegetable gardeners it is still a time of labour without harvest. The seeds have been sown and the little seedlings are going into the ground and starting to get bigger but it will be a while yet before we can enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of our labour – guess that’s why organic is called the ‘slow food movement’
Today I planted out my peppers and the last of my tomato seedlings. Peas, beans, pumpkins, lettuce and marrows are already in the ground and taking off.

My husband has just about finished covering our grape vines so that they will not be devoured by birds before we get a taste of them this year. And our new owl house is up but no feathered friends seem to be showing any interest in nesting there. However, a family of blackbirds has made a home in our workshop and their 3 little ones are growing every day.

We continue to prepare our maize field to be planted before the summer rains come, whenever that will be. ..(now I wish I had kept that rain diary so that I could refer back).
My husband is working on a wind turbine and some solar panel units to power a new development on the property. But as with all new projects - not much goes according to plan and it would seem that although it blows gales out here most of the time, our turbines is battling to overcome some friction and weight problems so my McGyver husband is wracking his brain for a solution.

Our other new project is Grant's new mud cottage that he is building. He laid the foundations on the weekend and has begun to lay the completely mud bricks. So we are on our way to having our first totally natural and self-sustainable accommodation on the property – hopefully by the end of December 2009 (more details on this exciting project to follow).





Until then it is all hands on the hoe...