2021 - No Water, no Way

In Australia, a plan had begun to take shape. Stefan and his family would soon join, and together they would open a cellar in the Hunter Valley. The future seemed certain.

Then 2020 came with a sudden and heavy hand. Covid. Travel was banned completely, and separated families became reality. It truly exposed how fragile human plans could be. What looked like a sure path closed suddenly, almost cruelly.

In 2021, grief deepened when Martin’s mother passed away in South Africa, and the borders kept a son from burying his own mother. At the same time, grandchildren were expected, with no assurance they would ever be held. The fracture of distance became unbearable for everyone. So the family chose again, together: return!

In December 2021, they boarded a flight back to South Africa and resolved to seek a place where they could live simply, sustainably, and close together. The search for land began quickly. On the 28th of December, they visited their very first farm. It was dismissed as “too hot, too dry, no water.” So, no way! They looked at nearly thirty other properties after that. All promising in their own ways, but none carried peace. A decision seemed impossible.

Then, in July 2022, at dawn by a quiet dam, came another act of surrender. It was as simple as it was complete.

Within a week, the call came from Stefan. A neighbour had asked for a family to take stewardship of the first farm they had visited, and the once-dismissed land resurfaced. “If it is meant to be, who can call it too dry?” Thus, “no way” became, the way!