We are now entering our eighth year as stewards of this little patch of earth we call Hebron. We have experienced highs, lows, a drought, abundant rains and through it all we have been guided and provided for by Yehovah.
At the outset the primary purpose of Hebron was community - a self-sustaining, torah abiding fellowship who were passionate about the ways of Yehovah and being prepared for the days that lie ahead. Developing inter-dependence has been, and will continue to be, a journey of reliance on Yehovah and His scriptures, as well as each other. This path of living according to torah and His ways is not intended to be journeyed alone, so how blessed are we to have the fellowship of like-minded people.
Here at Hebron we experience the seasons of nature as well as being able to identify with the agricultural cycles of the Yehovah's festivals. As Passover is approaching we are able take our selected sheep to slaughter for our meal together, confident in the knowledge that they have been well taken care of. It adds to the experience and meaning of the memorial meal as we give thanks for our Passover Lamb, Yeshua.
Speaking of our flock, I moved them into the middle paddock as feed is getting low where they are currently (the Bidgeebah paddock). The middle paddock doesn't have shade trees but as this is a reasonably mild week it was worth moving them. When it heats up again we'll move them to a more shady paddock.
Unfortunately we've only had 11ml rainfall this month. We usually have more rain in January so this excessively dry month has meant that our dam water is even more precious, which is why water leaks are to be hunted out and eradicated zealously. Neal and I tackled a few leaks the other day and we were confident we had been successful. However, today I noticed that two rows of capers had not been watered. After some experimenting I found that a pipe had become disconnected. (You can insert frowny faces here) Yet more random pipes going nowhere and connectors failing. I've highlighted some other joins that I will replace when I get the right size clamps this week and hopefully pre-empt any further issues.
The picture below is our irrigation station for the capers. The blue wires hook it up to the computer system in the house, which reads the moisture and temperature and then if the soil is dry it will trigger the irrigation. The round devices in the front of the box are the taps which are turned on and off by the computer. Of course Brendan is responsible for creating this clever little set up.
We can see if the irrigation has triggered by checking the Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/hebronfarm The irrigation Twitters when it's checking moisture levels and if it irrigated or not. This clever set up in the caper paddock and orchard helps alleviate the workload but it still needs a human eye to make sure it's ticking as it should be. Perhaps we need a roaming robot as well :)
You can keep an eye on Hebron's weather statistics by checking in here http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=ISOUTHAU60 or here http://192.168.1.10/
So together we are developing this plot of land to be self supporting, as well as a pleasant environment for everyone to enjoy. Considering we spend one day a month up here a phenomenal amount of progress has been achieved. Yehovah has gone before us, has sustained us and will continue to make provision when necessary.
We are truly blessed and highly favoured!
Shalom
At the outset the primary purpose of Hebron was community - a self-sustaining, torah abiding fellowship who were passionate about the ways of Yehovah and being prepared for the days that lie ahead. Developing inter-dependence has been, and will continue to be, a journey of reliance on Yehovah and His scriptures, as well as each other. This path of living according to torah and His ways is not intended to be journeyed alone, so how blessed are we to have the fellowship of like-minded people.
Here at Hebron we experience the seasons of nature as well as being able to identify with the agricultural cycles of the Yehovah's festivals. As Passover is approaching we are able take our selected sheep to slaughter for our meal together, confident in the knowledge that they have been well taken care of. It adds to the experience and meaning of the memorial meal as we give thanks for our Passover Lamb, Yeshua.
Speaking of our flock, I moved them into the middle paddock as feed is getting low where they are currently (the Bidgeebah paddock). The middle paddock doesn't have shade trees but as this is a reasonably mild week it was worth moving them. When it heats up again we'll move them to a more shady paddock.
Unfortunately we've only had 11ml rainfall this month. We usually have more rain in January so this excessively dry month has meant that our dam water is even more precious, which is why water leaks are to be hunted out and eradicated zealously. Neal and I tackled a few leaks the other day and we were confident we had been successful. However, today I noticed that two rows of capers had not been watered. After some experimenting I found that a pipe had become disconnected. (You can insert frowny faces here) Yet more random pipes going nowhere and connectors failing. I've highlighted some other joins that I will replace when I get the right size clamps this week and hopefully pre-empt any further issues.
The picture below is our irrigation station for the capers. The blue wires hook it up to the computer system in the house, which reads the moisture and temperature and then if the soil is dry it will trigger the irrigation. The round devices in the front of the box are the taps which are turned on and off by the computer. Of course Brendan is responsible for creating this clever little set up.
The little station below is the moisture and temperature sensor unit which feeds the information through to the computer in the house.
You can keep an eye on Hebron's weather statistics by checking in here http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=ISOUTHAU60 or here http://192.168.1.10/
We are truly blessed and highly favoured!
Shalom
Once again Annette, thanks for the update and encouragement in our endeavours to serve the purposes of Yehovah in community mindedness, feasts and the uncertainty of the times we live in. Our endeavours are spiritual as well as practical and relational, but with somewhat different values and approach than normal Christian churches and fellowships. Shalom. John
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on 7 years guys! Was your 7th year a Sabbath year for the land?
ReplyDeleteSo much technology installed for your watering. I feel a bit, well, agricultural by comparison. Elijah, Gabriel, Joy and I have to walk around turning taps and holding hoses etc. It's a bit analogue. But I love it anyway.
We're coming up to 3 years at Zarephath in March. Not a huge amount of food to show for it yet, but hopefully we're building a good bed of hot coals and will be really cooking in the next couple of years. Since you Hebron He-Men gave us Zarephath Zingers such a good boost with the first goat paddock fence and water trough, I thought I'd tell you that the gate for that paddock finally came on friday and my friend Justin and I hung it that very morning. We now have two contented goats getting used to their new home, and I've even raked up the manure from around the house and piled it onto the compost in the veggie garden! So, thanks again for the work day!
As we don't really harvest anything off the land you could almost say every year has been a sabbath for us :) Although we did intentionally destock it completely at the end of the drought to allow it to recover.
ReplyDeleteThere is something very nice about watering a garden manually isn't there. Even though the irrigation system is a real bonus because there of the lack of manpower up here, it does require me to go ahead and make sure there's water up in the tank and everything is running smoothly. We installed the irrigation pipes about 3 years and now we are finding most of the joins are failing, so that's been a nuisance.
Glad to hear your goats are enjoying their new home and have contributed to your compost heap :) Blessings to all you Zarephath Zingers and look forward to catching up again soon.