This was a questions I asked this time last year. Obviously then I was just about to go off to PNG, and what an experience that was. But this year I am trying not to go away to work so that I can focus upon and finish off the work at Farm Finn.

There are a few main reasons for this. The first is that I’ve had something of a financial reality check and by not going away to work, my source of funds for the farm are diminishing. This is of course ironic, but if I leave for work, there is only so much that I can complete on the project. If I stay, my available funds diminish.

Financial concerns

My real concern is that I budgeted mainly for the build of the house but because we’ve not been able to get the roxa, we’ve worked and spent far more on the garden. To some degree this didn’t matter in previous years as I wasn’t really aiming for completion. Being in Loubar was enough. But now the clock is ticking, both in terms of time and available finances. We need to get the job done by August and we’ve very finite funds to do it!

Getting technical

Equally as we move to things “technical”, I feel a need to be here to ensure that what little I know is included in the project, or that I am able to mobilize other actors, i.e. Alex, to be able to provide some support. We are now moving away from simple landscaping, to designing various facets of the eco design of both the land and the house.

To this end, I’ve started building the rainwater harvesting tank and we now have a design for the grey and black water reed bed systems.

However the reality is that there is a slow building pressure to find some sort of work not just for Farm Finn but also to support the move back to the UK and I fear that  may soon be forced to take some sort of employment.

How I would be able to manage that and keep the build of Farm Finn moving forward, I am far from sure.

And the move back to the UK is another reason to try to get the thing finished.

It’s called Farm Finn for a reason.

As I think I’ve eluded to before, this is the last year that Finn will be based in Moroc. Of course it fills me with sadness and will ensure a whole new level of complication. But when I bought the land, he was very much in my mind and he remains exactly there. Each time he comes up, he invests more in to what he calls “my farm” and I feel he has a genuine love of the place.

He wants to see different animals and plants and asks about “the water stuff”. I want this to be his and for it also to be an opportunity to learn about so much in terms of ecology, community development but also a different perspective on life, the world and our future, issues which will impact much more on him.

In another “life” he would have come away to work with me in international development and learnt by being there. This obviously hasn’t happened, but this is my alternative…both for him and myself.

From me to you my son.

I see this as far more his inheritance than anything else I might leave for him. Certainly, whilst I hope that it will make money, the real wealth I foresee is through it’s vision of the future and as a model for community based climate change adaptation. I want it to help Finn to have an opportunity to be part of a solution, rather than for him simply be another production line consumer.

But the bottom line with all of this is that with him moving back to UK, I need to begin saving on time and money by completing the foundations of the project, by completing it’s construction, and as such, instead of pouring money in to it, hopefully gaining financially from it also, both of which will support my being with Finn both in UK and Moroc.

The reduction in available funds for the project has also made me

focus upon a more efficient management of what remains available. The last few weeks have seen some really big and whilst not unforeseen, certainly under appreciated, expenditures.

Big expenditures.

This has included the obvious waste of money spent on Tori Suzuki, which whilst a good idea, was not suitably researched. Equally the cost of the “trax” was far more than expected and perhaps reflects my absence or lack of detailing exactly how much it would cost.

On the Rocks

Finally I’ve bought the greater part of the masonary materials required for the build and have used the piste access to bring these up on to the land. This includes not only a vast amount of rock that is and will be used both for landscaping and the house, but also the materials for the roof of the house. Thus I suppose I should see that finances have been invested and are thus available, but as materials, rather than cash.

I think I might have enough funds to complete the build, it’ll be a squeeze, but I think we can get there. The thing is, I’ve realized that of course I haven’t really been managing as I should have. Of course we’ve done really well, there really is loads of progress. But, in part because of the cloud of unknowing that hangs over the roxa, planning has been difficult.

My Sanctuary.

However I also know that I’ve also been using the project as something of a sanctuary, a refuge from the pain of a terrible marriage and acrimonious divorce. It was my retreat.

That first year, was such a life line. Just camping and living out in the mountains. Hard physical work and a diet of spring water and fresh fruit and veg. I’d forgotten happiness, but it was there. As it has been since I first came up here.

Future Plans

But now, both I and it, needs more management. More planning and direction, which I have now begun to focus upon. I’m developing the Grey Water Systems with Alex and should see him this week to finalise the details. I’ve also completed an initial time frame and budget against activity, which gives an idea of where we might be…. Or possibly get to with current funds.

Ongoing Developments

There’s more of a plan, that I understand and can give comment on for, for example, the garden and lots of practical ideas for enlivening the soil through deep compost or chicken tractor. And of course there’s more of a general idea of the water systems throughout the farm.

Completing Landscaping.

I’m hopeful that we’ll get to complete all of the building on the gardens by December/Jan, which is opportune for preparing and planting trees. Before then we should have been able to clear all but the top fields of construction debris and materials, thus making them available to begin planting food, or just composting and reinvigorating the soil.

And hopefully in that time I can get something moving with the roxa.

Community Based CCA is our goal.

Even here, it would be useful to develop some sort of briefing on what we are really trying to link to in terms of Community Based Climate Change Adaptation and what that means as a benefit for Loubar and potentially, the region. I’ve been looking at some papers on “Eco System Based Approaches to Climate Change adaptation”, which closely links to what we are trying to do.

http://www.iied.org/ecosystem-based-approaches-climate-change-adaptation

 

That’s also exciting, there are examples of this approach to link to and learn with. It’s there and the journey should be a great one.

Fingers crossed for the future.

But along with the challenges of time and money, there is of course the ongoing saga of the roxa, which has been refused so far. I’m hoping to meet with the Governor to see if it is possible to move on this, but it’s complex…and demoralizing…patience is a virtue, that is diminishing…..fingers crossed!