Bruce and Kelly from the Regenerative Pear: An update!

This past year has been a whirlwind for us, so many things changed. We moved from a farm management position in the Western Cape to a rental in our home province of Kwazulu Natal - dragging our small farm and homestead (sheep, chickens, ducks, cats, dog, child) and the bits and pieces tied to our numerous hobbies along the 25 hour drive to our new home in Lions River, KZN. As with many of our life transitions - I expected myself to recover a lot quicker and have grappled with levels of frustration, guilt and despondency over the past two months due to fatigue and slow progress. However, witnessing the unravelling of all the pent up stress of the past years has been enlightening. Kwazulu Natal feels like where we should be and what a breath of fresh air that is! People have been incredibly kind and generous and I'm honestly not sure how I would manage without our wonderful online and in-person community.

The last two years have been mostly focused on 'soft' skills of the internal landscape and only little bits of added farm skills to our existing knowledge. The two years before that were more farm skills - learning about cattle, sheep, ducks, blueberries. And now, I am stepping back into Regenerative Agriculture studies as as well flower farming, and so the spiral goes on...

Since having our child (5 years ago), we've really experienced the pulling apart of who we thought we were and then rebuilding of our self-image based on more of the reality of who we are, who we want to be and what is important to us and less of what people think we are and who they tell us to be. 

A massive learning that we've stepped into has been putting up boundaries to protect our peace and energy, and that of our child. Some people really don't react well to boundaries and it can be really hard, but I think it has been one of our most important life learnings that really protects the peace of our little family. Well-communicated boundaries really do keep relationships healthy and they're so important for farming and homesteading folks in order to prevent burnout and extra stress. 

Another lesson that we learned (through a spiritual course that I did) was that humility is being honest about what one can't do or can't do well, as well as what one CAN do and is good/apt at. Humility is not supposed to be self-degradation, but more so an honest view of oneself and one's capabilities. We tend to be quite hard on ourselves - which made us vulnerable to criticism and degradation from others. Over the past year or two, we've really worked on acknowledging our capabilities and stepping into a level of confidence in ourselves. 

Packing up our home and moving was a massive challenge this year - not only was it relentlessly exhausting and stressful, but it was really difficult to find a new place to rent where we would have space for our animals, especially the sheep. We found numerous 'lifestyle farms' up for crazy rentals but hardly any that would actually let us farm. The tendency of Estate Agents and Landlords to label manicured lawn type places with the word 'farm' really began to annoy me. A farm is not just a piece of land in a rural area - it's a place where food is grown and raised to feed a community, where people work hard and where aesthetics don't matter as much as what is produced. I emailed an Estate Agent about a 'farm for sale' ad, only to be told that we definitely couldn't farm there because it is next to a nature reserve!

On the day we left the previous farm that we were managing - at the last minute, we realised that half of our chickens weren't going to fit in the trailer and had to make the horrible decision to leave them behind and literally sell them via online groups while travelling to KZN. We also made the difficult decision to temporarily leave our beautiful, bottle-raised Nguni bull behind due to transport difficulties and worries about exposing him to Foot and Mouth disease. We're now hustling to save up to go and fetch him. I sobbed as we left the farm because it was just so much happening at once! So much to say goodbye to - animals and people and land - and so much uncertainty for the future.

Starting from scratch has been stressful and a lot of hard work. Financial struggles are real each month. However, amongst all the stress - the blessings have been numerous and they've all been due to individuals deciding to be kind.

An electrician moving out of the area passed his clients to Bruce, that enabled us to survive the first month. The owners of the farm we were previously employed at helped us with travel and funds, a bed, and provided so much emotional support while we were trying to choose a new place from across the country. The previous and current owners of our current rental decided to trust us to move here with all of our animals without ever meeting us. Our neighbour gave us so much mulch and hay, and a follower sent us seeds and seed trays! Bruce's parents drove all the way from KZN to the Garden Route to fetch a load of our stuff and to offer us emotional support.

We've had friends and strangers give us bits and pieces for our house and farm, and our house is starting to look like a home because of that. We started with a mattress and a stove, and loads of boxes with nowhere to put things - friends visited for dinner and ate off of pot lids with us (and they were very graceful about it.) As much as the financial stress has been a lot, we've been absolutely blown away by how kind people have been.

Ultimately, moving to KZN has been a great decision - we love the climate and the friendliness of people, the price of land is much cheaper than the Western Cape and the KZN Midlands is absolutely beautiful, we have supportive friends and family here and my sheep are getting fat on the green grass!

Farming without owning land is interesting - on one hand it is frustrating because the hard work can be taken from beneath you really fast (and it has before) but, on the other hand we do not have many of the big costs that land owners have: boundary fencing, fire break maintenance, verge maintenance, rates and taxes, Eskom line fees, etc.

I think it's easy to only focus on the negatives, especially because it is a goal of ours to own land, but there are a lot of interesting learnings that come with this way of farming.

We have grown food and worked in places that grow food in 4 different provinces and a multitude of microclimates - I feel like that has really given us broad knowledge for the work we do, both farming for ourselves and consulting for others that wish to start growing food. We've also formed great connections across most of South Africa and it is really wonderful to know that there are so many people with hands in the soil all across the country. We have learnt to become both adaptable and resilient as we've left behind harvests, seeds, compost and hard work on multiple occasions. Each new place presents a unique set of strengths and we've learnt that it is best to work with what the land is saying - with the exception of tomatoes, which we have grown in almost every space we've been in (especially spaces where tomatoes "can't be grown.")

We've also learnt to spot universal patterns across spaces - a bad farmers' market or a good one, things that sell and which are more difficult, red flags in neighbours, etc.

Even with all of the benefits, we grieve having to leave a piece of land and each move makes us feel more determined to buy land and truly settle and sink in to a space and a local community. 

Enjoying the present while planning for the future is a big balancing act and I really don't always, or even often, get it right. I am a dreamer by nature, but having a child has forced me to be more present as well as to plan more practically for the immediate future. I'm currently studying Richard Perkins Regenerative Agriculture Masterclass which is teaching me how to plan the farm properly for good finances and efficiency. In the long term, I have a basic plan/dream outlined but I've also learned that the Universe often laughs in the face of our plans if they are too rigid, so I try to remain adaptable and appreciate the value of each curveball that comes our way.

What key skills do you think someone looking to farm should learn?

• Farm planning, plant growing and/or animal husbandry. These are all massive subjects and can take a really long time to learn, but it is so necessary to not only learn the theory behind what you aim to do but also to see what it looks like in practice through the experiences of others. There are some amazing courses and books out there, as well as lots of free resources like YouTube videos and blog articles. Another way to learn is to go and volunteer on farms and homesteads and learn directly from people who are already doing it.

• First Aid: Injuries happen, especially while working outside with tools. Having basic knowledge of first aid is super important and helpful, especially with things like cuts, rusty nails, insect bites, shock, etc.

• Time management and how to rest: Burnout can happen really quick to people that won't rest.

• Marketing and sales: In order for the farm to work, whatever is farmed needs to be sold. Especially for small farms looking to sell direct-to-consumer, learning about different options for sales channels and how to advertise and market products to consumers is really important. Again, this can be done via studying, reading books or watching YouTube videos and doing market research oneself.
  what is less necessary?

• An agricultural degree: unless you're adamant about farming chemically and commercially - a degree from an agricultural college is not necessary. (But putting time and effort towards learning in other ways definitely is!)

• A lot of money: although capital is really helpful, it is definitely possible to start small with very little and build up.

• Land ownership: like us, people can start farming on rental land.

What tools might help identify potential farms?

We found the small holding that we are renting through posting on as many Facebook groups in the Midlands area as we could find, and posting multiple times. Being able to discern situations where we would be exploited or would have a difficult time really helped us to find the right place (with a great owner!).

We were tired of putting all of our energy into working for other people and making their farms work - we wanted to do it for ourselves. So we avoided offers that wanted to own our time and energy, without space for our own activities - this included full-time farm management, land rentals that needed a huge amount of work done to be farmable, land owners that wanted to micro-manage our activities and folks with lofty ideas. These situations may suit some folks just fine, but we were strict on what would actually allow us to grow and what wouldn't.

We've only learnt to discern these types of people and places from experience on numerous pieces of land, and through learning to value our own time and space.

Social media is a really great tool for finding people, opportunities and spaces to rent. And having a page where one tells their story helps to develop trust in folks who may have opportunities available. We really didn't find rental agents and estate agents to be helpful when looking for farmable land to rent for a fair price.

What makes for a great relationship with a farm owner?

I can't claim to be an expert at relationships with people.  We are really honest - and some people appreciate that, while others are very triggered by it. But for me, it is important for my own ethics and I believe it lays a foundation for honesty in a relationship.
Mutual boundaries and respect for each other's boundaries.
Dogs that get along - or no dogs.
We work hard and land owners are generally happy to see that.