Before looking forward, let us first take you back to the beginning.
Our journey began in March 2020, during the first lockdown following the outbreak of Covid-19. With supermarkets closed, we were having trouble finding a steady supply of vegetables that were not ‘drowned’ in pesticides. This inspired us to grow our own veggies, fruits and herbs – chemical-free.
We started reading up on how to go about it and watched countless YouTube videos. For lack of a suitable garden, we soon had boxes and pots lined up in our front yard. We were immediately captivated by the thrill of planting seeds, waiting eagerly while wondering if they would sprout, and doing a happy dance when seeing the first bits of greens come up. The rewarding feeling once the veggies landed on our plates and the added joy of discovering their true taste, pushed us to want more. We quickly realised though that to be truly self-sufficient we would need more space. The idea of Just Natural was born!
After some months of searching, we finally found a suitable plot of land and Just Natural became formally the owner of the land in March 2021 just when the second lockdown started. Very slowly the farm started to come together. We put up extra fencing, created the main entrance and a driveway, did a lot of landscaping and planting trees, put up water storage facilities, storage for tools, created a composting area, a chicken coop and pen, office/reception area…. the list is long! It took us all of 2021, as we both have full-time jobs and could only work at the farm before and after office hours and the weekends. It became a year of many “firsts”: our first beds, first harvests, production of our first liters of honey and first eggs from our free-range chickens. It was also a journey of trial and error, learning from the failures, and getting better with every step.
Today, at the start of 2022, we are almost finished setting up the infrastructure and are getting ready to ramp up production and start building our community.
Exciting times ahead!
