September 7, 2007
So this will be a big posting if and when I can ever get this thumb drive thingy to download the file to upload to our blog. It could be nice, type everything up on the farm and just slip the drivey thing into the internet café computer and off we go. Unfortunately it is not so easy. And I cannot understand why it is not so easy? I am out of touch with computers anymore. Pretty profound statement, out of touch with computers. I used to live by the computer! Guess I am glad to be away from them, but still I wish I understood why this drive is not working. Works fine here at home but will not read from other computers. Gotta go find me someone who knows about this stuff!
So this past weekend was Labor Day for all of you, and OTR for those in the know. I didn’t make it to OTR. But I was there in my heart all right! Oh Jeannie, Billy, Susan, all of you, I missed you so much! But- Saturday night there was a tremendous forest fire here. The mountain behind, that we border on, burned for two days. A huge fire. It burned right to our property boundary pretty much. Llano Grande, a mountain of Incan legend. The ruins are now cleared out of weeds and cool to see! And it will all grow back. But at this minute I can look out and up and see a scorched mountainside. A sad sight. Sunday night the fire crested the peak to where we could see it clear from Hans house. Then we slept a little and woke up at 4am. I freaked out, I have a terror of fire. Especially fire I am watching from my fucking living room! I woke Killo up yelling, he seems to be unfortunately accustomed to fire? There is so much slash and burn still happening here. I wish for a peace corps worker to come and teach kids and adults not to start fires, alternatives. I am trying but OUTREACH needs to happen. Any volunteer coming for 3+ months who might be interested in working on this let me know in advance and we can get into the schools. I have ideas how to, but not enough hands nor time. So, Killo took me walking in the totally red dawn and showed me where the fire would stop, and not come to us. He was actually right on the nose. But it took another two hours to prove him right, during which I was so worried I guess it made him sort of think I might not be so stable, you know, mentally? I have been so worried about this, I really had gone a bit overboard on the fire prevention stuff. All of the irrigation is running, our land is now wet. For a few weeks now its all been going, the irrigation. Its almost a relief not to worry anymore! Fire will no longer come here. Nice, wish we could have done that for our neighbor mountain. Now I start worrying about flooding, this years rains are gonna run right off that mountain. And a portion of the fire was bosque primera, original forest lands way up above us. It shouldn’t affect us too much, but man. I still hate hate to see it. Time to do some work on the leap of faith bridge!
At 5 am Monday morning Killo blew out the stereo and took me up and we DANCED! Seemed a great way to get some of that adrenaline worked out! Then he slept for another hour and I baked bread, stopping frequently to watch our little Mowgli cat give birth to 3 kittens, and stare at the fire raging above. One mini Clem and two mini Mowglis! So cute. Clem is being his typical abnormal self, he was right there licking the gooey off the kittens as they were born, couldn’t get him to get out of her birthing basket. He is still there, the kittens do not spend one minute alone. And mom and dad are bringing in a rodent twice, three times a day. I throw them out, ten minutes later here is another. These kittens are being nursed alongside dead rodents. Cool. Bet they will be good mousers. Have to wash the stupid house rugs everyday. Bleck.
Tuesday Arnufel and his oxen team finished plowing the rest of Lucas’ garden space. The big bulls were so interesting, they worked together so strong and even, it was a pleasure to see them in action. Kieth Wwoofer got to drive the team for a while. Our guys are missing him this week. Also we are missing Nina and Mateo, biodynamic engineers who came and composted so nicely. It came out so pretty. Huge space, rows and all done. Irrigation ditch that runs down for our neighbors surrounds it, constant water running thru. Killo wants to get some ponds set in place and planting can begin in a week (its almost the new moon right now). We are gonna plant everything! Everywhere! More yucca, chamotes (local sweet potato), potatoes, onions, garlic and asparagus beds, banana, café, more fruit trees, veggies of every sort. Wwoofers! Now we need wwoofers! This is gonna be so cool to get all planted and growing, rotations started, ponds collecting silt and growing algae. It’s happening! Come and see…
Charlie’s hobbit house is coming along, the space is now excavated and looks so big. Next steps will be gathering tons of sand (literally) and getting some materials into the farm. The road is partially open, so we can get stuff pretty close. All things being relative, pretty close is lots closer than when we brought in the sofa and furniture… Several different styles of alternative construction will be going into this house, adobe bricks and fireplace, cob and adobe walls, rock and cob walls being built into the mountainside. This is gonna be cool. If you are interested in alternative construction you should plan a longer stay and get into the real how to and sweat of building. Learn by doing. Killo has been working on several houses lately and his work is amazing to watch. Equal part construction master and artist!
We hope, maybe, we have found an engineer who is installing micro and mini hyrdo systems in Ecuador. Maybe this can finally happen, a micro hydro that will not only provide power for us but our neighbors below. And also provide a working model of micro hydro systems for nearby places who are pretty isolated. I am so opposed to the installation of more huge dams and hydro systems when the same result can be achieved for these small villages at 1/1000th of the cost. No more international debt- this is how third world countries are abused. There is talk of a big project a few hours away. Nice propaganda has been distributed. Our current president has tabled it for the moment, but big money companies are wanting it to go thru- hope pres keeps them out. Poor fuck is trying, but rich people in Ecuador also stand to make more money so it will be practically impossible. But at least one dam project has been stopped, so hopes carries on. And maybe our little hydro can teach folks how to do the same thing without outside intrusions? I dream on!...
Our café export idea is being terribly thwarted by my inability to get an export authorization. I am not sure where I fail, but man is it a bitch getting anything out of this country. Import I can do, have done. And will do again soon! But export has been kicking my butt. Still trying. Much as I hate to admit it, the biggest fault in living in Ecuador is getting papers done. It just takes an eternity. Last month, August, after trying for 5 months, 27 (!!!) visits to the transit police, I finally got my friends truck registered. We had a celebratory lunch! The national pastime seems to be waiting. And everyone is so patient! I hate it.
The laptop computer is now working on the farm. So I am sitting in our tree house listening to Paige Wwoofers mix CD she left me (man, thanks Paige, your mixes rule the world- Dolly Parton and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, all that bluegrass and old music, you are woman come after her time, feels like home)(Hows Molly?). The kitchen and the treehouse have lights and music, and the Charles and Natalie Cutting Honeymoon Suite and Planet Room (catchy name huh)? (We hear Natalie and Charlie are expecting any time now) so that room has lights and can have music easily, with any CD player or Ipod. All wired and running from 3 little solar panels and the coolest circuit box in history.
More later! Hope everyone likes my updates. Please blog answers to me!! Tina
July 24, 2007
Hi All! Well, things on the farm are going great. We are sometimes full but rarely, it seems new spaces are opening all the time! Full means 8 to 10 or more wwoofers on the farm (depends how many couples). Charlie, my best friend, Shay and Emily woof, Amy and Rochelle woof and of course our own Killo have done some pretty fancy paint and cob work and the parachute room is now a real room. Nice walls, no more parachute for a roof! And then Killo made a sweet new bed and TA DA! New space! We now have more space for all. Even Hans has a new roof, thanks Nathaniel and Lyndon (and to the damn wind that blew it away!).
Work on the farm is ongoing. The garden is almost hibernating, producing some salads, turnips, yucca, carrots, all of our herbs. Fruit production is so high we can’t seem to harvest enough! Good juices tho. I am waiting for Alaina wwoofer to return with her Pop and all is well! Later note- We have rain! July 23, 2007 we got a pouring rain, and a smaller one the day before. It never rains this time of year, but it was so nice. A couple of weeks of this and no more big dry. Not much hope of that but the fire risk to nearby mountains has certainly been reduced this week.
Upcoming projects are getting interesting. Charlie wants to build a little round house and a pavilion for yoga and maybe camping. Angel has plans to be working with wood, cob, adobe, rock. There are two or three fireplaces to be built, the sweat lodge needs to get finished. For those of you interested in building with alternative materials we have killo, a local maestro in alternative construction, working pretty much full time (when we aren’t crashed out on the super sofa making out). Always room for folks to jump in and learn! Killo is known for his decorative touches in building- he says he likes sexy, curvy construction!
I hope you all enjoy the new way to present information and come visit!
Info fer yer familyOK! Anyone with parents who are hesitant to have their kids come so far- write to me! Several parents have been here lately and can probably write to your parents if you like! Not to mention my kid Molly, from Virginia, currently at George Mason U, 21, was just here. And as a parent I can say her stay was safe and fun fun fun!
Please give parents or mates my cell phone number, 593 93500990. They can leave me a message and either kid or mate or I will call back. Be sure to let your folks know that we live pretty far from the phone and computers. So sometimes we are out of touch for a week or two. You can give anyone MY email,
chirusco@yahoo.com. This is checked on by volunteers and myself just about everytime someone goes out for groceries, so it’s the way to get the fastest answer. I only answer the phone when I leave the farm, and sometimes I don’t care to leave for a while. We sometimes get calls and messages from the Consul of whatever country looking for so and so wwoofer. This is OK, but its prob better to avoid panic.
Our mailing address is-
Tina Marshall, Neverland
Yer name here
Casila 1101-812
Loja Ecuador
Letters and packages often take three to four weeks to arrive, although some come pretty quick. You never know, this is why it’s called snail mail. And a few times things have simply failed to show up. I cannot be responsible to forward mail. Sometimes someone from your country or state is here and can send stuff on, but sometimes it takes a while.
MEDICAL INFORMATION!!Tina is a Wilderness Emergency Technician, with various experiences in search and rescue and hospital medicine. Also a midwife here to neighbors and I do occasional emergency assist ( wwoofers recently helped transport an invalid neighbor). We have an emergency evacuation plan and the place is safe, except that it is in a third world country in the secondary forest a few kilometers from the road or the telephone! We have snakes and bugs, but no incidences of trouble. Antivenom for any poisonous snake is available in Vilcabamba and the snakes are not aggressive. Sightings are very rare. We have no problems with crime.
We are at 1552 m., or around 5252 feet. Mosquitos bearing Malaria and Dengue DO NOT OCCUR at this altitude. I guess malaria preventative is a good idea for the coast, but not needed here. No special vaccines are in order to come here. None. Do not risk your health getting unnecessary vaccines, call or write me and ask for more info. Many Doctors will not understand that your risk coming to altitude is minimal and advise vaccines and preventatives. You don’t need that to be here safely. There is a hospital in Vilcabamba, any serious injuries we take into Loja. An orthopedist and emergency room doc in Loja cares for us, 2 broken legs (one was me) and a few bumps and bangs. I fell on a slippery rock and broke my tibia, a wwoofer stepped off a platform one night when we were having a fiesta. Shit happens, but not very often, thankfully. Mostly we get wwoofers who have eaten in the bus station (starve! Do Not Eat in Bus Terminal! Weight loss by diarrhea is unpleasant). We treat mostly with herbs, natural homemade remedies and some homeopathic. We are not opposed to any western medicine, please bring your medicines if needed. And loads of medicines that are costly in the west are pretty cheap here- antibiotics are cheap and readily available, bring your prescription here to get filled rather than pay a mint there. We have a lab in town, in case of bad stomach more than a day or two I help you get your shit specimen to the lab for a 2. microscopic exam to find the culprit. Mostly papaya seed takes care of these troubles!
EPI KITS; PLEASE TELL TINA IMMEDIATELY ABOUT ANY FOOD ALLERGIES, especially nuts. We have never had an incident, I keep epinephrine and a syringe in the kitchen. But if you have bee allergy or other bad allergy, please bring an epikit. Bring an extra for me to have on hand for a year or two! Ask your Doctor for a prescription and get it filled. We are too far away from help in case of anaphylactic reaction (you have 4 minutes). With information on your allergy and medication you will be fine. So rare, those things.
ORGANIC GARDENING IN THE MANERA ANITGUA DE ECUADORI am Tina, I have been living here at NeverLand since 1999. I named the place NeverLand because I always loved Peter Pan and the idea of never growing up. Always living in a treehouse, never hesitating to stop anything to play Indians and pirates, licking my plate when the food was Goooddd. Sharing my life with other lost boys, and girls, who want to play and live happily and simply. I came here to live in an egalitarian intentional community, LINK to FICS.org, and, in spite of my best efforts, have kind of managed to do it. I live with, currently, Hans, a retired German walking man, Angel, aka Killo, an Ecuadorian and maestro of building and gardening (and my boyfriend), 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 mares, a still pregnant goat and a burro. We share income, responsibilities and privileges. And one hell of a beautiful farm. We laugh a lot, drink and smoke a bit, play in our gardens and trees and never hesitate to stop and fiesta. We believe in eating good food, as much as possible from our own farm or neighbors. And in good stewardship of the home entrusted to us.
With the increase of mechanized farming and the loss in our communal memory, or maybe just the loss of oral tradition, of how to do things simply, how to tread lightly on our mother- in general the loss of knowledge in the history of agriculture and the way things used to be commonly done- came the need to relearn and practice the old ways. Rudolf Steiner called it Biodynamics. I call it the Manera Antigua. There are similarities I suppose, but its different. Learning by immersion how things are done by the moon, with the tides of plants and trees and in harmony with the forces of nature. As a people once upon a time we all possessed the common knowledge of when it was good to plant, to weed, to prune trees, to cut your hair even. With the loss of stories and the migration to urban centers most people have lost the old way and no longer are even aware of moon cycles.
In immersing yourself in this farm, living the life, walking the talk, the hope is that each person who comes to join us and work with us will learn. Learn Spanish as it is spoken here (mixed with Quechua), learn farming and harvesting the old way. We practice organic farming and use the land here in the fashion of yesteryear. We use an oxen team to plow, weed by hand and shovel. Plant and harvest in accord with the natural cycles of this place. And we do it relaxed, using the instinctive knowledge and the stories of locals who still and always have farmed this way. Hopefully helping visitors to relearn and recognize lost intuitions and abilities. To learn things they never thought they could do!
The past few weeks have taught me that I need to make some changes in how the farm is running. We have decided to have a full time local instructor come to teach all of you volunteers 5 days a week. Its not that I don’t love the job, but I have just been too busy. I actually have come close this week to being stressed out! I don’t like stress. Its against my never grow up code! Only grups have stress. I want to play a bit more and enjoy all the new people who come.
The new employees aren’t really new. Its Andres and Silvia. Andres has been loving life with us for a long time, he knows the farm, born and raised in our valley. Andres has been my friend and helpmate, he has literally carried the load on the farm for a long time. He needs and wants more education, we have been showing Andres how to do some things, but he is a born farmer and knows more than me! Killo and Andres use biodynamics extensively. But they don’t call it that here, here its just common sense to know what the moon phases are and plant, cut, prune and water accordingly. Everyone knows that! He just finished a course in how to control the wildfires and how to teach others this skill. Wildfires here, along with slash and burn agriculture, are the result of poor education and cultural training. Every year- wait, when you get here we will discuss this further! But Andres can teach you!
With the addition of Andres and Silvia to our farm crew we gain a lot. Silvia comes if we have 8 or more volunteers. She works for tips, .75 a day per volunteer is a nice tip for Silvia! First, Silvia handles breakfast dishes, lunch and lunch clean up. Sometimes she starts dinner as well. She will almost always need someone to help her in the kitchen, and she is a damned good cook. Silvia and Andres are also encouraged to bring the kids at any time. One person in the kitchen frees us all up to play more n the gardens and orchards. What was happening is that breakfast was lasting until 11, then began lunch. By the end of lunch everyone was so tired from all those dishes and cooking that it was nap time. Then dinner. Leaving everyone up for the night, making all tired in the am. And so on! SO, we now ask everyone to finish up breakfasts by 9:30.
Andres will always have a list of farm projects, from digging irrigation to garden beds to collecting compost (aka horse and burro manure) and planty more. Angel and I are also almost always available to show ya how its done. But having Andres means if Angel and I want to sleep in everyone else on the farm does not have to wait for us to be doing something! So finish breakfast around 9, then check in with Andres or Angel or Tina for projects for the day, week or month.
Some people come with special wants, want to learn double digging, want to paint or sculpt, want to build furniture, want to fix compost, start a chicken tractor, want to learn to cook or bake… And most come wanting to be helpful in gardens, orchards or with animals. We are trying to accommodate almost every ones wants and all the needs. So far so good! But patience on all sides is always in order.
EXTRA NOTE ON COMMUNITY SERVICES In the past year some volunteers have been helping Andres and Silvia, its our hope in the next few weeks Andres and Silvia and their 4 gorgeous kids will have their own home, purchased with aid of a bunch of wwoofers. Volunteers have pitched in, some of you who love Andres and know what a major cool guy he is! He is still short some, but I know you all will kick in! If anyone wants to make a donation to the house Andres fund just send me a note and I will send the info on transferring money to Andres. Those of you who have been here know what wonderful news this is to us all!
Additional service stuff- plenty of children here lacking SHOES and clothes. Any gently used quality kids shoes that you bring can be fitted to some kid in our neighborhood. Kids shoes are often really cheap at the Salvation Army or thrift stores, if you are traveling here direct from wherever consider loading up that extra duffel bag with some kid shoes or clothes?! You can spend 10. And get a great return on your investment, you get to see some kid get out of mismatched flops into your gift. Boots, sneakers, river shoes, black for school. Whatever! Just an idea. Toys are nice, too.
SEASONS & ATTIRE- OR WHAT THE FASHION CONCIOUS WOOFER WEARS IN NEVERLAND
Most of the year temperatures here are not very cool. Occasional nights can drop to 13 celsius or even a bit lower. Unless you are sleeping nude outside you should be fine with a sleeping bag in one of our rooms. And I sleep nude and outside most nights. I almost never get sick. Rainy season is usually a few weeks end of October (invernilla, the small winter, the planting rains), real rains from January thru May, sometimes later or sooner. Rainy days are very sunny and warm in the am, collecting moisture for afternoon rains. Some rain can be pretty strong. Then we have summer, dry and often quite windy. Very little rain, so we run heavy irrigation (mostly ditch or flood irrigation, few sprinklers).
Rainy season you will need;
Extra pair of shoes for hiking, so other pair can dry
Rubber boots, available nearby for about 6. Usd- we have several pair so if your size is available you luck out.
Tevas or Chacos or some sandal that will stay on your foot in strong current. We live in harmony with a year round creek that runs down the center of the land. Sometimes it is not so sedate.
Flops are nice for around the houses. But early evening and morn you need to wear socks and leg covering (leg warmers work great). The bugs here seem especially fond of ankle meat.
Rain jacket, lightweight, preferably rip stop.
Warm socks, 3-4 pair at least.
Rain hat, sunglasses
DRY SEASON you will need a windbreaker and hat that stays on and gives shade!
All Year round;
YOU WILL NEED A FLASHLIGHT. We cannot recycle or dispose of batteries! Please bring rechargeable batteries or solar lights!!
DICTIONARY! Don´t travel 1000´s of miles and not be able to communicate, bring a dictionary or pocket translator.
Sun hat and sunscreen and sunglasses.
Moisturizer for skin and lips.
Some pants, skirts if ya like, swim wear, t shirts, all the regular stuff. A big sweat shirt or fleece jacket is a good idea for cool nights. We rarely wear shorts! Yucky clothes, or good ones, that you get at the thrift store to work in!! Any extra clothes are gratefully accepted donations for ME, Andres, Silvia, kids and so on WHEN YOU ARE LEAVING. You might want something nice for nights when we go to a local fiesta.
We have wish lists, things that we always need from the states or Europe. Things like
CONDOMS! I give them away. Grab an extra 100 (or 2) from planned parenthood, they are free. Birth, and disease, control are difficult in 3rd world countries.
nutritional yeast, dark chocolate, biodegradable soaps (like Dr Bronners), natural shampoos or toothpaste (Toms of Maine, WITH FLOURIDE). Flops, size womens 7 or 8, mens size 9 or 10, work shoes (like yer old ones that you never wear) make nice gifts. JEANS! Tina is size 4, killo 32 w, 30 l. T shirts, blouses… Kids clothing and shoes, all sizes, are always welcome. Kids toys are especially nice, the old tonka truck your nephew no longer wants… Thrift store kitchen stuff! Dish towels, cheese cloths, stainless steel anything, a small or medium size sauce pan, cast iron skillet, anything cast iron for cooking, spoons, we could use a lot of silverware. Anything that would be nice to have in your home kitchen we will love here. But we have most things so do not spend much! A rolling pin for Tina’s breads and pizzas would be great, dough scraper, a pastry brush (ours got used for painting). If you can fit a cookie sheet in your flat suitcase, cheap coffee mugs, put socks in em to travel well. Towels, sheets in full size or twin. I guess we need a lot. But we certainly have enough to get by. Extras are simply nice! This is an if you have time thing, and please do not buy new things, too costly!
Hope All this info helps! Happy and safe travels to each of you. Dont forget you all to LIK YER PLATE! It keeps ya young! Tina
