A New Friend

Guess who?

We have a new friend at the farm. Last Sunday, Sam, Christina and I decided to take the 1 1/2 hour walk from the main road back to the farm. Seems kind of silly because it only costs $1 more to take the truck from Canoa to the farm, but I was excited about taking time to enjoy the scenary too. About 30 minutes into our journey, a dog decided to join our trek. She obviously came from someone´s property, but nonetheless, she is skin and bones. I actually didn´t want to look at her during the walk because her situation is so desperate physically. Despite the fact that we didn´t feed the dog, she gleefully bounded along beside us all the way back to Rio Muchacho. The dogs who live at Rio came running towards our new friend when we arrived. Since she literally had no chance of defending herself by physical means, she just rolled over and let the dogs sniff her.

To make a long story short, it seems our friend is here to stay. During dinner one night we actually named her, Luna. The owner of the farm, Dario, believes the lunar phases influence the growth, production and decomposition of plants and other natural matter. Since Luna is white, the name seemed like a good fit. Everyone loves her and she adores people. We all want her to stay, but we´ll just have to wait and see.

After only four sessions of work this week (three mornings and an afternoon), I just about died. Okay, not really. But I was beyond exhausted. There was an area located near the cuy (guinea pig) compost that wasn´t being utilized as of last week. Dario came up with the brillant idea of putting the land to use for humans and cuys alike by creating a mini huerta (vegetable garden). Rio has a cuy tractor, which basically means a movable cuy house that sits on the ground. Diaro decided we´d dig out one large bed to grow lettuces for the cuys. Once the crops are ready to eat, the cuy house can be moved on top of the veggies for easy access. The cuy excrements will in turn fertilize the ground. The other main part of the huerta will be composed of smaller beds for growing kitchen food-corn, beans, watermelon, squash etc. The area is already home to a citrus tree and two cashew trees, which will obviously stay. A few papaya trees will be planted as well.

Cuy tractor and bed for cuy food

I won´t bore you with all the details of each sweaty back-breaking day, but here´s a taste. By far the hardest part is forming the beds. It takes such a long time and is physically arduous. Here´s what´s required: Hoe the bed areas, add compost, hoe again to mix compost with soil, hoe out pathways and add soil to beds, break up clumps of soil/compost with shovel, form raised beds and rake to even out the surface. Despite the toiling work, I´m glad to be a part of this project because I am truly helping to create something that will have lasting impact. Plus, there are very positive aspects to it as well. I get to talk a lot with one of the local workers, Edgar, in Spanish. The cold showers feel so worthwhile after work. And I´m learning about new tools as well. On Tuesday, we cut young bamboo branches at a certain angle so they could be used as stakes for the mesh fence that surrounds the huerta.

Preparing beds for planting

In other news...this week I worked with the chickens before breakfast. This rotation is super easy compared to horses and pigs. The main duties are picking food from the garden for the day´s volunteer meals, feeding the chickens, and cleaning the chicken house. This week we deep- cleaned the chicken house, which meant shoveling out the clumps of poop that had accumulated over time (not sure how long). The house gets raked a few times each week, but every so often a shovel and some muscles are needed to renew the place. Honestly, the first time I walked into the house and saw Edgar working, I thought he was romoving rocks not poop.

Kat turning our compost

The course ended yesterday. I have so many handouts to keep me busy and lots of notes to help me this summer when, hopefully, my best intentions of gardening come to fruition. This coming week will be my first without the restful breaks of class. Cross my fingers I´ll have enough energy to sustain me through the week. Speaking of sustaining (or sustenance)...I´m going to sign off now, so I can grab some lunch and chocolate at the market.

Cheers!

Becky