The 3 hour hike up the mountain placed me at about 2,200 meters. This meant that the days were pleasant for being outside and working without it getting too hot and unbearable. I have no real sense of temperature aside from me being either too hot or too cold but I found the weather to be moderate and enjoyable. I believe it was usually around 75F give or take a few degrees in the daytime with varying levels of sunshine. Most afternoons, around 3pm, it would get cloudy and ominous and we played the weather game, wondering whether it would in fact rain and if the rain would hit us or somewhere else along the valley. There were many afternoons when the clouds would shadow the farm and the thunder would turn Rumbi, the dog, into a shivering mess and lightening bolts seemed to be only a few feet away, and yet the rain would miss us and we would watch it drench some nearby part of the mountain of valley below. Other days the rain would hit us as expected or often unexpectedly. We´d run to cover the adobes and oftentimes go search for the horse and donkeys and put the goats in their corral early to escape the incoming downpour.
The nights could be chilly at times and the clouds would creep their way up the walls of the valley and into the open kitchen, pleasantly causing the lights of Vilcabamba below to disappear. The lows would fall to about 50 degrees overnight, never so cold that another layer wouldn´t cure you. I´d fall asleep bundled under two heavy blankets listening to the owl who took up residence nearby. A few years prior all wildlife was vacant from the area, but thanks to the progress on the farm birds and other animals are slowly returning, worms are beginning to live in the now fertile soil that was once only clay.
When I first arrived at the farm I stayed in ´the dorm´, a 2-level building with the ability to sleep 6 people. The other volunteer at the time was staying in a private room called Trin´s Room, so I had the dorm to myself. It was a cloth and post structure with a wooden deck area that I would use to stretch in the morning and before bed. If I knew Yoga I probably would have practiced there daily. I stayed in the dorm for a few days, after the volunteer staying in Trin´s Room left, and another volunteer, who moved into the Yurt, arrived. Eventually a group of kids I knew from Neverland came to the farm and though I enjoyed their company very much I needed my privacy. Even the most mature 19 and 20 year olds still act their age when surrounded by their peers. So I gave up the stretching deck for privacy and Trin´s Room became my room.
The gardens aren´t producing enough food to sustain 7 or 8 people so every 5-7 days Yves and/or Jenn take the horse, Joe, and the donkey´s Pasito and Bonita into town on a food run, returning with a bounty of fresh fruits and veggies and dried legumes and grains. Breakfast was a free-for-all and everyone catered to themselves. Most people ate eggs from the chickens who worked the chicken tractor, bread, oatmeal, fresh fruit, or sometimes leftovers from the night before. I usually had bread and butter and oatmeal or fruit and my special stash of granola that I brought with me from town. And coffee, of course.
Lunch was always shared as a community and it was one of the daily chores for one or two people (depending on the number of people currently staying at the farm) to prepare lunch for everyone. Lunch was usually some delicious concoction of fresh veggies and a salad, sometimes accompanied by rice or beans, but the veggies were always the star. Green salt (salt mixed with a crazy combination of ground green herbs and sesame seeds) and Ají (a type of hot pepper ground and mixed with vinegar to keep) always shared the table. Lunch time also served as a time to discuss the activities of the farm. We´d talk about what projects we worked on in the morning and what our plans were for the afternoon. We addressed any questions and used lunch to learn more about our projects and their greater connection to the farm which in turn connected us to one another.
Dinner was also shared as a community, though it wasn´t required. Dinner prep was also a daily chore but was really easy as lunch was always the most substantial meal of the day and dinner was always light and usually only involved making a fruit salad and some kind of soup out of the leftovers from lunch. I feel like I lost weight on the mountain, and I definitely felt really good while I was there. But it´s hard to say whether the fresh fruits and veggies or the daily work and climbs up the mountain side were responsible. Maybe it was just knowing that my days were spent accomplishing something and contributing to something important. I have decided that there are really not many things better than eating good food and playing in the dirt all day.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Sacred Sueños and Never Never Land
After spending over 3 weeks either in a valley or up in a mountain without electricy I have now returned to babylon where I am just another consumer...though a conscientious one, and getting moreso every day.
The first farm I arrived on was called Never Never Land. I was attracted to this farm because the write up about it mentioned that it was an organic farm that used the antique methods of farming. It was said to have a composting toilet and was run my a local midwife who was involved with empowering and educating the local community. After spending some time at the farm I realized that it was a far cry from the organic farm run by the community organizing midwife that I have envisioned. Instead the woman running the place was more like a chain smoking, over the hill, mostly miserable, energy sucker. The composting toilets were merely latrines, the gardens were in complete disarray, and everything seemed disorganized and lacking vision and purpose. Portions of our $35 weekly food donations were used to purchase cases of box wine (gross) and sometimes weed and I didn´t agree with many of the things I saw happening there. No work seemed to get done and it seemed not to matter as long as the money kept coming in.
In any case, though it had gardens (sort of) and was rustic without electricity and many comforts of home, it was not the right placement for me. I decided to leave Neverland and check out another farm near Vilcabamba called Sacred Sueños (Sacred Dreams). Getting to Sacren Sueños involved walking 45 minutes from town (or taking a $3 cab) and then hiking up a mountain which could take anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours. The hike was almost entirely up, without much relief. Upon arrival, the view alone made the grueling hike worth it. Then I saw the farm and talked with Jenn, one of the two full time residents.
But I was pretty terrified at the same time. The worked described was pretty structured. You must be active before 9am (not hard except that it was the complete opposite of my bartending schedule), you were expected to work 4-6 hours on top of your share of the daily chores. There was only one volunteer there the night I visited and I saw him building and moving adobe bricks all day, pretty heavy duty work. I was worried that I wouldn´t be able to keep up with the pace and demands of the farm. It was built into the top of a mountain and everything was at an incline. Physically I knew it was going to be a challange.
I spent the night and then hiked back down the mountain the next day. I thought about not returning, the hike itself was deterrent enough. I talked to two other nearby farms but I knew that this farm was the one I was looking for. I returned to Neverland and gathered my things and the next morning began another hike up the mountain.
Sacred Sueños was started about 4.5 years ago by Yves, a Swiss-Canadian and everywheresman. A son of dairy farmers, he hitchhiked and WWOOFed his way from Canada through the US, Mexico, Central America, and South America, eventually finding a spot in Ecuador. He then went to Japan for a year a whored himself out teaching English to save enough money to buy the farm. Ever since he has been working tirelessly to restore a degraded mountainside, destroyed by slash and burn agriculture, by planting exotic and native tress, building earthen structures, using permaculture methods, growing organic vegetables and so much more in the hopes of eventually being completely self-sustaining. In 10 more years he will donate the entire farm to the community as an example and educational center of an alternative to the harmful practice of slash and burn agriculture.
I spent the past few weeks shitting in a bucket, emptying my shit along with everyone elses into piles to then be composted and turned into humanure. I wake up early every day and stare out over the valleys from this amazing mountain that I somehow managed to be lucky enough to find myself upon. I take care of the goats, make cheese and kombuche, and hunt for the donkeys in the afternoons. I work in the orchards and prepare soil in order to plant dynamic accumulators. I wait for the perfect time of day and weather conditions to transplant little plants being ever so caring with their delicate little roots. I harvest beans and uvillas and agchochas. I stop whatever I am doing when it starts to rain and run with the rest of the community to cover the adobe bricks before the get too wet and ruined. I learn about using recycled plastic to build cobb walls, about contour bunds and grey water systems. I share delicious food and stimulating conversations and read every night by candle light. I´ve showered once in the past 2 weeks and am hairy and greasy and I think I smell like onions but it´s okay, because there are no mirrors on the mountain and everyone else is dirty and smelly and greasy. I have dirt under my fingernails and callouses on my palms. I feel happy and centered and alive.
I am sitting at the bus station now and will be boarding something that isn´t at all similar to a donkey. It doesn´t leave until 11pm and I haven´t been up past 10:30pm in weeks. I am sad to be leaving Sacred Sueños but I am on my way to Peru to meet up with Mike for a few weeks and I am very excited about that. Besides, I am fairly certain I will find my way up that mountain again in the near future. They´ve made a comfortable community up there and it is rewarding work that I truely felt good about at the end of the day...and I have so much more to learn!
The first farm I arrived on was called Never Never Land. I was attracted to this farm because the write up about it mentioned that it was an organic farm that used the antique methods of farming. It was said to have a composting toilet and was run my a local midwife who was involved with empowering and educating the local community. After spending some time at the farm I realized that it was a far cry from the organic farm run by the community organizing midwife that I have envisioned. Instead the woman running the place was more like a chain smoking, over the hill, mostly miserable, energy sucker. The composting toilets were merely latrines, the gardens were in complete disarray, and everything seemed disorganized and lacking vision and purpose. Portions of our $35 weekly food donations were used to purchase cases of box wine (gross) and sometimes weed and I didn´t agree with many of the things I saw happening there. No work seemed to get done and it seemed not to matter as long as the money kept coming in.
In any case, though it had gardens (sort of) and was rustic without electricity and many comforts of home, it was not the right placement for me. I decided to leave Neverland and check out another farm near Vilcabamba called Sacred Sueños (Sacred Dreams). Getting to Sacren Sueños involved walking 45 minutes from town (or taking a $3 cab) and then hiking up a mountain which could take anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours. The hike was almost entirely up, without much relief. Upon arrival, the view alone made the grueling hike worth it. Then I saw the farm and talked with Jenn, one of the two full time residents.
But I was pretty terrified at the same time. The worked described was pretty structured. You must be active before 9am (not hard except that it was the complete opposite of my bartending schedule), you were expected to work 4-6 hours on top of your share of the daily chores. There was only one volunteer there the night I visited and I saw him building and moving adobe bricks all day, pretty heavy duty work. I was worried that I wouldn´t be able to keep up with the pace and demands of the farm. It was built into the top of a mountain and everything was at an incline. Physically I knew it was going to be a challange.
I spent the night and then hiked back down the mountain the next day. I thought about not returning, the hike itself was deterrent enough. I talked to two other nearby farms but I knew that this farm was the one I was looking for. I returned to Neverland and gathered my things and the next morning began another hike up the mountain.
Sacred Sueños was started about 4.5 years ago by Yves, a Swiss-Canadian and everywheresman. A son of dairy farmers, he hitchhiked and WWOOFed his way from Canada through the US, Mexico, Central America, and South America, eventually finding a spot in Ecuador. He then went to Japan for a year a whored himself out teaching English to save enough money to buy the farm. Ever since he has been working tirelessly to restore a degraded mountainside, destroyed by slash and burn agriculture, by planting exotic and native tress, building earthen structures, using permaculture methods, growing organic vegetables and so much more in the hopes of eventually being completely self-sustaining. In 10 more years he will donate the entire farm to the community as an example and educational center of an alternative to the harmful practice of slash and burn agriculture.
I spent the past few weeks shitting in a bucket, emptying my shit along with everyone elses into piles to then be composted and turned into humanure. I wake up early every day and stare out over the valleys from this amazing mountain that I somehow managed to be lucky enough to find myself upon. I take care of the goats, make cheese and kombuche, and hunt for the donkeys in the afternoons. I work in the orchards and prepare soil in order to plant dynamic accumulators. I wait for the perfect time of day and weather conditions to transplant little plants being ever so caring with their delicate little roots. I harvest beans and uvillas and agchochas. I stop whatever I am doing when it starts to rain and run with the rest of the community to cover the adobe bricks before the get too wet and ruined. I learn about using recycled plastic to build cobb walls, about contour bunds and grey water systems. I share delicious food and stimulating conversations and read every night by candle light. I´ve showered once in the past 2 weeks and am hairy and greasy and I think I smell like onions but it´s okay, because there are no mirrors on the mountain and everyone else is dirty and smelly and greasy. I have dirt under my fingernails and callouses on my palms. I feel happy and centered and alive.
I am sitting at the bus station now and will be boarding something that isn´t at all similar to a donkey. It doesn´t leave until 11pm and I haven´t been up past 10:30pm in weeks. I am sad to be leaving Sacred Sueños but I am on my way to Peru to meet up with Mike for a few weeks and I am very excited about that. Besides, I am fairly certain I will find my way up that mountain again in the near future. They´ve made a comfortable community up there and it is rewarding work that I truely felt good about at the end of the day...and I have so much more to learn!
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