Farm Update June 2023: Hooked Up And Off-Grid

It has been an exciting and busy month. The farm looked like this in April.

It looked like this in May.

It looks like this now, in June.

The caravans are now on the farm. It looks like a compound of some sort. Look at the equipment room with inverters and batteries which were not yet installed in May.

The solar panels which were installed in May on the ground and on the roof of the newly built-in slab are now in full operation.

On June 4th, came 8 caravans on 8 trucks along with one crane.

The trucks arrived early in the morning from Amman, a 2 hour drive by car, but probably about 1 hour more for loaded trucks. They lined up in a row along the east fence until it was time to come up the center lane for the crane to lift and place the caravans. Unfortunately, the truckers did not follow the construction company’s instructions to line up in a particular order so the caravans could be off loaded in a specific sequence. See the diagram below for the prearranged sequence.

Number 1 caravan for the west side of the central kitchen had to be delivered first followed as shown in the diagram. Right click on the image to open it in a new tab. It will be easier to see the numbering sequence. It had to be done this way because of the lack of maneuvering room the trucks and crane would have as each caravan took up space.

Because they arrived and lined up along the fence in whatever order they wanted, they then had to spend 2+ hours rearranging their order along the main road. Had they followed the construction company’s prearranged order, they would have waited along the fence each coming inside the property when it was time. Instead, they caused chaos by not doing what they were told!

What happened next was interesting.

Their arrival, plus them blocking the road as they maneuvered for over 2 hours, had the whole rural area and the neighboring town in an uproar. Imagine this place where nothing happens, ever, and then suddenly one day 8 caravans arrive on your neighbor’s property AND they’re blocking the main road!. What would go through YOUR mind? Here are NEW foreigners in the area putting 8 caravans on one property. What are they doing? What is in those caravans? What will they be used for? We have assured the people and the government there is no contraband in those caravans. And yes, we did have to assure the government about this.

There were some mishaps, too. The trucks ruined our front gate.

The construction company said it will fix the gate. So far, that has not happened but the company still has to return to finish the job. More leveling of the caravans is needed and the skirting has to go around the bottoms.

The truckers also ran over some olive trees.

Three or 4 of us watched as the truck driver back over this tree.

It was the first tree in the first row on the right side of the lane. It was a nice tree, too!

He had pulled up too far but didn’t have enough room to maneuver. Remember I said this would happen, that maneuvering was going to be a problem? Well, it was and, apparently, this guy was not a real skilled driver so he missed his proper trajectory and needed to adjust.

We were hollering “hollis” (stop!) and “la” (no!) as he just kept backing up. We did not get his attention until he had ripped the tree right out of the ground!

The construction company will pay to replace these trees.

Now the caravans are in place but plumbing and electrical wiring has to be installed. Ditches were dug in front and in between the 2 rows of caravans.

The first image is the ditch in front of the first row of caravans. They are on the right and the central kitchen is on the left.

The second image is the ditch between the 2 rows of caravans. The third image shows the ditch between the only red caravan on the farm and the west side of the central kitchen. The plumbing and electrical wiring use the same ditch.

We now have fresh water to all the caravans, and black and gray water from all the caravans. There is also a rainwater catchment system to be connected. This cannot be connected until the construction company puts skirting around the bottoms of the caravans. As you can see in the photos, there is no skirting yet.The rainwater downspouts will be connected once the skirting is in place.

Take a look at our gray water system for conserving sink and shower water to use for irrigation.

The gray tank was buried in the ground. Two concrete filtering tanks were dug to clean the gray water before entering the tank on the far right of the photo.

This image shows the plumbing coming out of the back of Michael’s and my caravan. All of these ditches, the plumbing and wiring pipes, and the clean-outs will be covered up as soon as all of the infrastructure is finished.

The central kitchen has made progress.

The three views give you an idea about the look of the kitchen. Plumbing still needs to be done at the sink. The hole next to the sink is for our dishwasher. With as many as 20+ people staying on the farm, we will have a lot of dishes to do! The dishwasher will not fit in our little caravan, anyway, so we will use it in the central kitchen.

The image on the far right is the buffet section from where people will serve their food. We will put the food there in crock pots and food warmers so people can serve themselves.

Oh! That black thing sitting there is an iron cook stove in case the grid doesn’t produce enough electricity for our electric stove and oven during the winter months. We will store wood and jift (dried olive pits pressed into rolls for burning as fuel). I need to figure out, now, how to operate an old fashioned wood burning cook stove. Oh my!

Tables and chairs will be added where the junk is now sitting. It’s not junk but, really, I can’t remember what all is stored in those boxes and bins. There is bedding and bath towels, some clothing, kitchen items and more. It has to be unpacked and each item dispersed to a location, stored under a caravan or given away.

Ten tables and chairs are planned to accommodate those staying on the farm in the caravans along with local people who come to visit and have coffee and tea with us. The central kitchen will be a place to both prepare and serve meals but only to those who are staying on the farm. Meals will not be served to the local people. Only coffee and tea will be served to them when they visit. It will be just like your home in which visitors are served a beverage, possibly along with some kind of snack when they visit. But meals will be reserved for those who live here.

We widened the slab in front of the central kitchen and installed a wheelchair ramp.

The wheelchair ramp still needs finishing and the handrail installed. Notice the dark gray area. That was the door to the inside. We had it moved to free up space for tables and to make the traffic flow better in the kitchen and getting to the buffet area.

Next, here are 3 trees. Two have olives and 1 does not.

We have many more trees without fruit than with fruit. I recall trees with fruit last year (when we were walking around the place to buy it) that do not have fruit this year. Olive trees are called “alternate bearing” trees. It is normal for this to happen. Also, weather affects fruit load. We had high winds after the initial budding and some of the buds literally disappeared into the wind.

Olive trees are a symbol of Israel. These trees have gall, a tree cancer, as you know. Olive trees worldwide are suffering from gall, tree cancer. Imagine that! Biblical Israel is scattered worldwide and YHVH’s people are spiritually sick!

And now we find out that olive trees are on and off in the bearing of their fruit.

Read the Book of Judges. The people were on and off, on and off with YHVH. Obedient, then rebelling, then obedient and then rebelling. Fruit in one season and none in the next. Imagine that! No wonder the Father gave us this farm! It is teaching us the way YHVH teaches His people using agriculture examples. And this lesson about olives is a good one!

And now… The solar array has been connected to the inverters and batteries in the equipment room which is at the east end of the central kitchen. The wiring to the caravans is complete and on June 25th the main breaker to the electric municipal utility was flipped off and the solar array was flipped on. The Return To Eden Farm is now off-grid! We are generating our own electricity.

The goal is to be self-sufficient but not just for us or those who may arrive once Russia and China attack the US mainland and US allies. The goal is to 1) not be a burden to the Jordan government and 2) to be a blessing to the community with jobs and a community room where anyone can come for coffee and tea.

Jordan has borne the brunt of refugees from Palestine since 1948, and from the recent Syrian and Iraq wars. It has been hard on Jordan’s economy. Also, Egyptian men come to Jordan to work so they can send money back to their families. There are few job opportunities in Egypt for working age men so they come here. The people here are poor. Some live hand to mouth. Some are able to have some money put aside for emergencies. Few get ahead here. The goal of all 3 of our farms is to be a blessing to the surrounding community and also to the Jordan government when people start to flee the West and come here. Not everyone will come here but we know our Bible says many will. We are preparing for that eventuality.

It was hard work and sometimes chaotic transforming the farm. It is still in progress. Keep praying for us and come visit! Yeshua YHVH is greatly blessing us and we want to show you what great things He has done.