Farm Update For May 2023

An update has not been written since February 2023. A lot of work has happened on the farm, we have been to Israel twice for Passover and the second Passover, and got pneumonia once.

Excavation of the ground began on March 13, 2023. The caravans (trailers) have been in production all this time. The ground must be level and solid for them to sit on which takes dirt work.

This is what the dirt looked like before the excavation.

This is what the dirt looked like after the excavation.

The day after this excavation was done, it rained. And it rained and rained. We tried to get on the farm with the bucket loader operator on March 16, 2023 to arrange a roller to compact the dirt for the caravans but our friend’s car and our truck were getting stuck in this mud.
That is when we decided this dirt had to be paved. We arranged for the entire farm, including the central lane, to be paved with crushed asphalt.

We began having loads of crushed asphalt delivered in the rain. Why didn’t we wait until after it stopped raining? If we didn’t take the asphalt when we could get it, someone else would have. There is a limited supply of crushed asphalt here so it is in high demand. We really needed it if we are to get heavy construction equipment, cars and pickups in during the rainy season and afterward to continue construction on the house.

Also, we anticipated the arrival of the caravans sooner than they are arriving now. The 20 ton trucks carrying 8 caravans onto the property, along with the crane needed to set them, could not possibly get onto the property wet or dry. It was necessary to prepare the ground and paving was the best way to do that.

It rained for 4 days. That was good for the trees. The people said they have not had this much rain in a long time. YHVH blessed us!

The crushed asphalt runs the entire length of the interior property from the house to the road. Here is a view from the road to the house. We can now drive in and out without getting stuck in the mud.

The dirt work continued after the rain. The entire back of the property was asphalted.

Plumbing and electrical trenches were dug. This trench will serve caravans on both sides of it and there is a trench along the side of the house, too.

The trenches will have plumbing for gray water, black water and electrical conduit serving the central kitchen and the caravans with electricity from our new solar grid.

The slab has been built in.

The house is under construction to remodel to become the central kitchen.

What a mess!

The central kitchen will seat 40+ people for meeting and eating. It will be open to the public to come have tea and coffee as a service to the hard working Jordanians in the area. It will be our Shabbat meeting house, too.

We are getting an estimate for the kitchen cabinets which will go at the far end, the part left unfinished to now.

You see boxes in the photo above. That is solar equipment – batteries and inverters. Those are being installed in the equipment room which was built on the slab. See the photo below.

Half of the new space (which was built on the slab) is for solar batteries and inverters, and food storage. The rest is part of the large open space of the dining area. That’s what all the mess is about in the 3 photos above. Two walls that got knocked out. The first was the wall separating a bedroom space from the living room and the other was the exterior wall before the slab was built in.

Eighty-two solar panels have been installed. Some are on the central kitchen roof.

The trees have been treated for gall. See the white “paint” on the trunks? That’s medicine!

This is an organic olive grove. The tree trunks were painted with the organic medicine to stop the gall from spreading. The trunks are white but that will fade to the natural gray color of the trunks as the medicine absorbs into the trees.

We are treating for flies and aphids, too. Both are common pests with olive trees.

Our irrigation system is running and we have now watered the trees a few times. They need to be watered once a week during the dry season from May to October.

And see! We have olive buds!

The buds are tiny. Increase the size of the photos to see them.

So we now have a leveled and paved area beside and behind the house/central kitchen for the 8 caravans, a paved central lane up the middle of the property, a new solar system (which is still being installed), irrigated trees, treated and fertilized trees and a central kitchen which is still in progress being remodeled. All of this has happened since the rainy season which ended around the end of March. It is now mid-May. That’s a lot of work which has been done!

I mentioned Michael Qudah to you in a previous post. This man is amazing! He is Jordanian-American having lived 47 of his 55 years in America. He inherited his father’s house in Kerak and now lives here. He speaks fluent English and Arabic and, because of this, has been able to get things done on this farm that we could never have accomplished. YHVH blessed us with him! He has become a wonderful friend and has caught the vision of the farm! He understands that Russia and China will one day destroy America and her allies, and out of that destruction will come people seeking refuge. We will call those people “the Ingathered”. The world will call them refugees. Nonetheless, Qudah understands what is coming because, in Islam, they also believe this will happen! The Hadith (commentary on the Quran) teaches that Jesus will come when they see people arriving in Jordan from the West!

Under Qudah’s management, everything you see has been accomplished. Qudah doesn’t just get stuff done. He gets it done by the best people he can find. For instance, the trees are being treated under the advice of the head of the Kerak Governorate Department of Agriculture. Qudah simply asks and asks until he gets to the right people and then goes right to the top.

His cousin just retired last year from the local agriculture university last year where he was a professor and is an expert in olive tree care. He is the man treating the trees according to the instructions of the head of the Department of Agriculture. YHVH has sent us the best help for our farm!

Qudah arranged all of the heavy equipment to level the land and dig the trenches, hiring of farm workers and supervising their work and, most importantly, explains in Arabic what we want everyone to do. The list of tasks he accomplishes every day is long. He has spent his nights on the farm guarding the equipment and his days making sure the work gets done. We thank YHVH for bringing him to help us!

As I said above, this farm will be open to all Jordanians to come and sit, have coffee and tea, and just be neighborly. While we are preparing for the influx of people from the West, we’re not just going to sit here waiting for that. It could be years before America is destroyed. No! The open farm is what we can give back to the local community and the nation of Jordan. The local people will benefit from the farm through jobs and friendship.

Keep us in your prayers. Donate money to help us continue in the work. Come visit us when you can. You’ll have a place to stay when you come visit Jordan.

Hallelujah!