Farm life - With photos!

I really have procrastinated too much on this and now I either have to write a huge post or just be super vague... I guess we'll see what happens.

Here are some pictures...

This is the house I'm staying at! I've been able to chill on the porch during the late afternoon and it was especially nice when it rained on Sunday!

Under the porch during the first rain of the year!

This is the Guanacaste (national tree) that I sat in on the first night- you can see the big tree trunk that Felipe was resting on.

a bit of the view near the Guanacaste

On Tuesday (my first morning), I got up relatively late and got ready to work with my host brother Oscar. I didn't know exactly what we were going to do but we got on a motorbike while I had to hold a 20 foot pole with a blade on the end for harvesting something... I know you fear for my life now, don't worry, I was fearing too. We went for about 5 minutes around dirt mountain roads, dropped off the pole, and then went to a local guy's house who fixes motorcycles. I sat pretty quietly for about an hour and a half while they talked girls and life while fixing a little leak in the motorcycle. After that, we went back to the place where we dropped off the pole and started working; looking for a certain type of tall, skinny tree with spikes on the top that grow a big bunch of white flowers. The ones that we found with flowers were cut with the long pole and usually I tried to catch them- we collected them in sacks. We did this for a while but after lunch we relaxed.

On Wednesday I went with Felipe (my host dad) down the mountain-side part of the farm while he repaired a water pipe that brings water down the mountain to little watering tubs (for the cows). We followed the pipe all the way down the mountain and then, a little anxious because the cows were at the edge of the property, we want even further down until we got to the cows (this took a couple hours at least). He led them towards a source of water to make sure they knew where it was and then we made the trek all the way back. I was beat and my feet were killing me. Felipe told me to rest for the rest of the day.

This is a hummingbird nest that I found in a little plant while Felipe was repairing the waterline (The waterline begins in a foresty area before it gets to the crops/grasses)

On Wednesday night, a forest fire was brewing probably 4 miles away on a near by mountain and it was headed seemingly directly for us. I asked Felipe if he'd seen something like this before and when he said no, I got a little nervous. Not to mention that all the men were getting on horses and stuff to go like secure the animals or something. I was able to get to sleep well but I was thinking it might end up being a huge problem.

On Thursday morning no one woke me up and after Maria Del Carmen (my host mom) made me breakfast, I went down to meet Felipe at the corral (right by Mr. Pig). All of the cows that I'd seen at the bottom the day before were in the pen eating because the night before, Felipe made the trek all the way down the mountain and then lead all of them back up. When I got there, Felipe was cutting down old banana plants (they are basically trees) and then i'd help carry them to the coral. He'd then use a machine to cut them into bits- it also spewed them into the food trough.  We did this for a while and then went to repair the waterline again (closer to the source this time). I chilled the rest of the day.

The bulls eating from the trough! There were 2 younger ones that weren't tied up- so 6 in all.

This is Mr. Pig (they don't actually have a name for him). He completely snarfs down the chubby bananas and they also give up corn meal stuff (seen on the left). His pen smells pretty horrible because there is a gigantic pile of manure/pig poop just a few feet away... not to mention, he's a pig which implies stinkiness. I do find him kind of cute though...

This is from Thursday as the forest fire was making it's way

After finally fixing the water line, a second time, we rested - this is Felipe!

If I can recall, Friday I didn't do anything except help take the cows back down the mountain a little ways. The forest fire was still coming slowly but I guess they had all decided that it wasn't going to be a problem. I also started carrying around a walking stick which gave me a lot more security around the bulls/oxen. Having big old oxen staring at you when you walk through their area is quite frightening to someone unarmed and unaccustomed to farm animals.

On Saturday I didn't get woken up like I had hoped. Felipe had gone down alone to take the cows the rest of the way back to where he got them from on Wednesday night. I felt bad that he wanted me to rest and I ended up just watching Mr. Poppers Penguins with a grandkid and chilling most of the day.

On Sunday we didn't actually do anything to celebrate Easter although the family believes in Jesus, considers themselves (more or less) Catholic, and has been enjoying the 3 hour bible movies on tv this past week. In the morning I went down to the corral with Felipe and a younger relative. First we mixed up all the old dry cow poop with pitchforks/shovels and moved it to the center of the coral. Afterwards, they yoked the 2 bulls and then we began walking with the bulls up and over towards a neighbor who had bought them. One of the bulls had some stool issues and while I was following behind it, it began splurting out really liquidy poop with the most generic poop/fart sounds ever... I almost got hit but luckily moved out of the way when I started hearing the sounds. The farmer we delivered the cows to let us pick oranges on his property (they were great!) and we took a bunch home- orange juice! We rested for most of the day after.

And finally, today. This morning Felipe and I went down near the corral to begin clearing for an area where he is going to be planting sugar cane. The area was covered partly with a local weed I guess- it seemed more like a vine than what we think of with the word weed. Either way, we spent the first part of the time cutting up the plant and trying to get rid of the roots. I was bad/inefficient at this and had a popped blister on my hand within 15 minutes flat. He let me use a shovel instead and after clearing the area (he probably did about 90%), we began clearing the terraced area below us where coffee plants were growing. Felipe began cutting down the coffee plants (because they had already been picked this season) and I would strip them off all their limbs and throw them into a pile (to eventually be burned for cooking). I liked this a lot more than the clearing job before because I had a better idea of what my duty entailed. However, It was really tiring and my knuckles were struggling pretty much the whole time. Looking back, before we left I felt good on our progress- and normally, he would have done it all himself anyways. Although Felipe told me we'd go back in the evening (working during the hours of 12-3 is just too stinking hot), he ended up telling me I should just rest while he goes to fix the water line again... tomorrow we will be going back though!

This is from this morning, after feeding the pig, we were walking up towards the brush we needed to clear. This is also a good example of the type of path that we go down in between the sugar cane crops. The purple plant is in lots of places on the farm and is used specifically to feed the animals- the sugar cane is growing behind it. Both of the plants get taller when they are in prime harvest time.

All in all the family is really great. I've been a little restless with so much chill time but I doubt I'd prefer to be out there following Felipe around while he does 1 man jobs. I think the language barrier is a little more frustrating here for me because people tend to enunciate worse and use vocabulary/phrases that I have never heard of. However, I'm not regretting my time here whatsoever. It's beautiful and peaceful, the food is good, and the people are all really friendly and welcoming... although I do definitely wish I knew more about agriculture in the United States because that's the main thing people are curious about... oh well!

And here are some more pictures

This big white rooster sits across the street outside of my room and cockadoodles every morning before I get up.. and wakes me up (the hour varies a lot). He's the biggest rooster I've ever seen, not that I've seen many! However, I have no hard feelings, I've just had to start putting in my ipod when he starts singing every morning... Thank the Lord for noise canceling headphones!

On Saturday, out of the blue, some relatives or friends, not sure which, showed up for dinner.  In case you were wondering: my host mom is in the yellow and my host grandpa that lives net door is on the far right. The woman and two men closest to me were the guests.. and Felipe took the picture.

This is the view looking left from the farm... this is down past the coral and right about to the part where it becomes grasses, some trees, and little foot paths (the grazing area)


Hope the pictures made this blog more interesting than the last. I hope to keep taking them. I'f you'd like more pictures of a certain area or even a video, let me know and I can try to take some. I think Felipe is happy to have me taking pictures of their way of life.