News from the farm in 2022

December

Most of the melon and sweetcorn is sold in the local market, with some going to Juba. Transport is the next big hurdle to overcome, as well as the construction of the barn and a borehole for dry season production.

Merry Christmas to all, here is looking forward to a new year of growing!

November

The team continues to clear the field areas with the tractor and help from the community. The watermelons continue to do well, some blight on the plants to be dealt with. The sweetcorn is suffering a bit from pests, but a harvest is coming.

A new problem arrives in the form of monkeys! The local monkey population found the watermelon and sweet corn to be irresistible. The team hires a few watchers to chase them away during harvest.

October

First weeding of the fields, everything is growing nicely! The weeds and native grass are also growing, the team turns their efforts to weeding and pest maintenance.

September

Field cleaning and clearing continues into early September.

With enough land cleared, the team direct sows watermelon and sweetcorn to test the virgin soil. PH levels are good and the majority of stumps are out of the way.

August

Land clearing takes a big step forward! Compound and enough area for 3 fields is cleared. Hillary and Malish take turns plowing the newly cleared areas.

July

Test plots planted in the first field area, its obvious the clearing isn't going to be done by hand, back to Juba to look for someone with a machine willing to come to Aru to remove stumps.

Malish contracts with a company for a large wheel loader to do land clearing, the machines are scheduled for the first week in August.

June

Hand clearing continues, the movement of the boundaries causes a delay in most everything. The agreement still stands for the lease and the neighbors are not unhappy, problem resolved.

May

Well drilling contractors visit Aru this month, survey of the site and a final cost calculation now that they now where we are to dig.

Land clearing continues.

It is discovered that part of the land we now occupy belongs to someone else, requires some rearrangement of the farm layout and moving the containers 100 miles.

April

Regular visits to Aru, moving the last remaining material from Juba and organizing in Aru. Without the barn the materials need to be stowed in the contianers which are not big enough. The equipment remains outside until the barn can be constructed.

The team works to clear some field space, but the smaller trees prove to be a lot of work to remove. Hired help from the community speeds up removal of the smaller brush, but the tree stumps are too big for our equipment.

March

Everything is now in Aru. Construction of two small buildings for storage and sleeping quarter is underway, as well as setting up the greenhouse skeleton.

Hillary begins to clear beyond the immediate compound area into the first field.

The water tower is constructed while the crane truck is still on site.

February

Malaria comes for a visit this month, it takes its toll and slows things down, but everyone is better by the end of the month. Steve and Malish meet with the community leaders in Aru to inform them of their arrival with all the equipment and materials. Better to have good communication
so that the move is expected and welcomed. Much of the barn and water tower is moved, waiting on trucks for the remainder of equipment and material.

January

Preperation for the move begins in earnest. The fields were stripped of all the underground irrigation, the two containers that will go to Aru need to be cleaned out and reordered to make room for all of the irrigation, tools and materials that are in the barn. Some implements will also fit in the containers, the rest will be carried on a flatbed truck seperately.

Water tower is deconstructed and transported to Aru.

The team signed the lease agreement for the new property on the 21st January, making the move official, we have a new home!

The last week in January was busy, the barn was deconstructed this week and the materials were loaded for the trip to Aru. The final dissolution of our agreement with the Gumbo community happened on 28 January, the community asked the team to leave the perimeter fence in
place. We had planned to take it because the materials are very expensive, but in the end it was gifted to the community to keep the peace.