Our House, 2018

When we bought the farm, there were no water pipes or electricity. First, we had to apply to Eskom for electricity and get permission from one neighbour so Eskom could link from his power line to ours. Then we had to get permission from our other neighbour to put the poles and cables on our farm, because they were near his border. To keep the Eskom installation as cheap as possible, the overhead cables only ran 150 metres into our property.

We decided to use aluminium cables. They are less expensive, and we thought cable thieves would not be interested in them. To put the cables underground, we hired an excavator to dig an 851-metre trench to the house and the borehole. We bought the cables in Somerset West and brought them to the farm on a trailer, a drive we will not easily forget. In total, 1,018 metres of cable was used.

We also started rebuilding the old worker's house, with a builder from Montagu. We planned a flat at the back of the house, a place where friends could stay when they visit. Since there was no shed on the farm yet, we used the flat as a storeroom.

For our first Christmas on the farm, my wife got a cement mixer. Hahaha!

Because we had some time on our hands, we planted the first trees on the farm. Well, we tried. It was hard work, because we didn't know the soil was very shallow, with big rocks hidden below the seemingly soft surface.

In the same period we laid more than 2 km of water pipes, from the borehole to the two 5,000-litre water tanks and back to the house. Great was our joy when the Eskom power was switched on and the first water was pumped from the borehole into the tanks.

We call our Mahindra "Skottel" because he sounds like a tin bucket, but he is the perfect bakkie for the farm.

Moving in

It was the second week of December 2018 when we moved into the house. The months of waiting were over: staying at the Montagu Country Hotel on weekends while the house was being built, and living in the Strand and working in Stellenbosch during the week. The house was 95% finished, but we just could not wait to move in. As we pulled up to our new home, a wave of excitement washed over us. Though not entirely finished, it was more than we could have hoped for. With hearts pounding and a mix of anticipation and trepidation, we stepped through the front door, ready to begin a new chapter in our lives.

That was also our first encounter with a very big spider in the house, one of those "now you see him, now you don't" ones. I think he did not like the new owners and moved outside; we never saw him again.

That first night the water suddenly cut off, and we had to go out into the dark to fetch water for the toilet.

Our first coffee on our stoep the next morning was something you cannot describe. It was a new chapter in our lives, the beginning of our walk in the clouds.