Happy Thanksgiving!
Today I´m very thankful that I am living this adventure with the support of all of you.
Here´s hoping every belly is full and each of you is surrounded by people you love.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
¡Feliz Dia de Accion de Gracias / Dia de Pavo!
It´s been a while since I´ve updated, (I have a lot to put up here but have been really busy on my in-town days!) but I wanted to drop in quickly to say:
Monday, November 16, 2009
Some Books I´ve Been Reading
I have quite a bit of free time here. The Chinchillas often spend their nights watching telenovelas, but I find them nearly impossible to follow. The most popular one in the Chinchilla house comes on every day, and I swear that someone dies or gets married or puts a voodoo spell on someone or changes their mind about being in love with someone every five minutes. That´s a lot to keep up with at half-speed Spanish!
So, I´ve been reading.
Here´s what I´ve read so far - have any of you read any of these?
Say You´re One of Them - Uwem Akpan
Short fiction stories set in Africa. Some are very, very hard to read, but it is a book I found myself thinking about days later, which says something good about how powerful it is.
The Geography of Bliss - Eric Weiner
This is a non-fiction book about a guy visiting the five "happiest countries on earth." I found it vaguely interesting and liked some of the common threads between the happy countries, but didn´t at all enjoy the author´s writing.
A Gate At the Stairs - Lorrie Moore
A novel by someone I had never heard of, this follows a young college girl through her first (?) year at school in the post 9/11 midwest. It is a strange story, and I think it could have been told well while cutting a third of the length, but I looked forward each day to the next time I´d get to read on in it.
Possible Side Effects - Augusten Burroughs
This was a nice break from the more serious reading I´d been doing - by the author of Running with Scissors and Dry, both of which I enjoyed. I liked having something light to sit down to, but missed the narrative that the other two books had. This one is more a collection of essays than the other two - but still very funny.
A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby
I really liked this story. Nick Hornby also wrote About a Boy and High Fidelity, and his love of music is in this book too. It´s a story about four strangers who all arrive at the top of a building one night as jumpers, and the friendship they begin from there. It´s lighter reading than it sounds like, and I devoured it in one hammocky afternoon.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid
This story is told entirely by one man talking to another (who never speaks) in a restaurant in Lahore, Pakistan. It´s interestingly done, and definitely an unusual way to tell the story. I found it a quick read, one that I didn´t want to leave to do my daily chores (which doesn´t sound like much, but I like my daily chores!)
So - let me know if you have read these, and if you have, what you think!
So, I´ve been reading.
Here´s what I´ve read so far - have any of you read any of these?
Say You´re One of Them - Uwem Akpan
Short fiction stories set in Africa. Some are very, very hard to read, but it is a book I found myself thinking about days later, which says something good about how powerful it is.
The Geography of Bliss - Eric Weiner
This is a non-fiction book about a guy visiting the five "happiest countries on earth." I found it vaguely interesting and liked some of the common threads between the happy countries, but didn´t at all enjoy the author´s writing.
A Gate At the Stairs - Lorrie Moore
A novel by someone I had never heard of, this follows a young college girl through her first (?) year at school in the post 9/11 midwest. It is a strange story, and I think it could have been told well while cutting a third of the length, but I looked forward each day to the next time I´d get to read on in it.
Possible Side Effects - Augusten Burroughs
This was a nice break from the more serious reading I´d been doing - by the author of Running with Scissors and Dry, both of which I enjoyed. I liked having something light to sit down to, but missed the narrative that the other two books had. This one is more a collection of essays than the other two - but still very funny.
A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby
I really liked this story. Nick Hornby also wrote About a Boy and High Fidelity, and his love of music is in this book too. It´s a story about four strangers who all arrive at the top of a building one night as jumpers, and the friendship they begin from there. It´s lighter reading than it sounds like, and I devoured it in one hammocky afternoon.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid
This story is told entirely by one man talking to another (who never speaks) in a restaurant in Lahore, Pakistan. It´s interestingly done, and definitely an unusual way to tell the story. I found it a quick read, one that I didn´t want to leave to do my daily chores (which doesn´t sound like much, but I like my daily chores!)
So - let me know if you have read these, and if you have, what you think!
A Note About Comments
I love getting and reading comments from all of you on here!
It makes my day.
I do not, however, know how to respond to them. I´ve seen blogs where blog owners can respond to individual comments, and if anyone reading out there knows how to do it, please teach me. :)
I also am sometimes not quite sure who it was that wrote a comment, since your name might not come up like you expect it to. Could you leave your name within the text of your comment? ¡Muchisimas gracias!
Sending all of you warm thoughts and balmy breezes.
It makes my day.
I do not, however, know how to respond to them. I´ve seen blogs where blog owners can respond to individual comments, and if anyone reading out there knows how to do it, please teach me. :)
I also am sometimes not quite sure who it was that wrote a comment, since your name might not come up like you expect it to. Could you leave your name within the text of your comment? ¡Muchisimas gracias!
Sending all of you warm thoughts and balmy breezes.
Earth Rose Farm
When I was first planning my trip down to Costa Rica, I began by emailing nearly all of the farms on the WWOOF Costa Rica list. One of the farms that really interested me was Earth Rose Farm, but at the time that I emailed, they were not accepting new volunteers. Rosi, one of the owners, was actually the one who pointed me toward her neighbors, the Chinchillas! So really, I have her to thank for my time here at Finca Chinchilla.
Having been at the farm a few weeks though, I was in the mood for something a little different. Everyone at Earth Rose Farm has to pass through our front yard here to get to town, so I was often in contact with the caretaker, Steven, and the owner, Mario (Rosi´s husband.) When I asked if I could come spend some time up the hill, they welcomed me. I waited until Mario headed back to the States (long story), and then huffed and puffed up the substantial hills that lead to Earth Rose.
Earth Rose is a very different farm than the Chinchilla´s - it is based around a traditional wooden Tico house and is (theoretically) 100% organic, vegetarian, and cruelty-free. In short, it´s sort of the farm I formed in my head when I started dreaming about coming to Costa Rica. The land is truly beautiful, and there are inumberable resources that could be harnessed to produce a peaceful, productive space. Unfortunately, the reality isn´t quite the same. Due to lack of care, lack of man-hours, well-intentioned but uncompleted projects, and questionable leadership, the farm is a shadow of what it could be.
I arrived at the farm at a time when only myself and the caretaker were there, accompanied by a local day-worker. The caretaker is an older guy who has been at the farm for four and a half months now. He is the polar opposite of the owners (think traditional-practical-conservative vs. hippie-visionary-free spirits), and is very, very ready to move on. He will be heading out next week and was in "do the minimum necessary and get ready to go" mode while I was staying there.
But! There was good to be found there. Having spent the last few weeks in the constant company of at least one and usually three or more members of the Chinchilla family and their TV, the intense quiet that prevailed at Earth Rose Farm was like a warm bath.
I had a blast learning to care for the free range chickens and meeting my first rooster (huge!) I fell in love with the rickety old house with its wood-burning stove and outside sink, and I loved the exposed tin roof during the rain.
Would I stay again at Earth Rose Farm? Perhaps with a different cast of characters, but I don´t have much faith in the farm to become the functioning place it should be under current conditions. It gave me a lot of what I needed at the moment, though, and for that I´m very thankful.
And finally, the biggest roach(?) I´ve ever seen, ever. Next to it is a big kitchen serving spoon for reference.
The front of the house as the sun rises.
Having been at the farm a few weeks though, I was in the mood for something a little different. Everyone at Earth Rose Farm has to pass through our front yard here to get to town, so I was often in contact with the caretaker, Steven, and the owner, Mario (Rosi´s husband.) When I asked if I could come spend some time up the hill, they welcomed me. I waited until Mario headed back to the States (long story), and then huffed and puffed up the substantial hills that lead to Earth Rose.
Earth Rose is a very different farm than the Chinchilla´s - it is based around a traditional wooden Tico house and is (theoretically) 100% organic, vegetarian, and cruelty-free. In short, it´s sort of the farm I formed in my head when I started dreaming about coming to Costa Rica. The land is truly beautiful, and there are inumberable resources that could be harnessed to produce a peaceful, productive space. Unfortunately, the reality isn´t quite the same. Due to lack of care, lack of man-hours, well-intentioned but uncompleted projects, and questionable leadership, the farm is a shadow of what it could be.
The living and dining room.
But! There was good to be found there. Having spent the last few weeks in the constant company of at least one and usually three or more members of the Chinchilla family and their TV, the intense quiet that prevailed at Earth Rose Farm was like a warm bath.
My bedroom while I stayed at the farm.
I had a blast learning to care for the free range chickens and meeting my first rooster (huge!) I fell in love with the rickety old house with its wood-burning stove and outside sink, and I loved the exposed tin roof during the rain.
The rooster. He scares me a little.
We picked all of this in a 20 minute walk around the farm!
You can see starfruit, guava, oranges, and limes.
Makin´ guava jelly!
And finally, the biggest roach(?) I´ve ever seen, ever. Next to it is a big kitchen serving spoon for reference.
How to Pick Coffee
You will need:
2. Approach coffee tree.
3. Pick any berry that has blushed red. If in doubt, give the berry a hard squeeze. Could the seed pop out? Good, pick that one too.
4. Do not slip on the banana leaves that cover the ground of the cafetál! This is all shade grown cofee, so there will be plants of all kinds scattered among the coffee trees. Take a moment to look upward. What a peaceful day.
7. Bag up the coffee and take it to the co-op´s sorting machine. Mixed with all the surrounding farm´s coffee and processed to remove the meat of the berry, this coffee will soon head off (still green) to all corners of the world.
- a coffee grove
- a laundry basket with a sack attached as a belt
- hands
2. Approach coffee tree.
3. Pick any berry that has blushed red. If in doubt, give the berry a hard squeeze. Could the seed pop out? Good, pick that one too.
4. Do not slip on the banana leaves that cover the ground of the cafetál! This is all shade grown cofee, so there will be plants of all kinds scattered among the coffee trees. Take a moment to look upward. What a peaceful day.
5. Picnic lunch with Memo - beef from our farm, a fried platano, rice, beans, and cabbage salad. YUM.
6. If you come across a coffee flower, for goodness sake, smell it! It will smell wonderful.
7. Bag up the coffee and take it to the co-op´s sorting machine. Mixed with all the surrounding farm´s coffee and processed to remove the meat of the berry, this coffee will soon head off (still green) to all corners of the world.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Paisaje
Costa Rica is beautiful. Shockingly, wonderously, invigoratingly so. I wish I was able to describe how alive and gorgeous everything is, but I´m going to try and show you instead.
The very first picture I took in Costa Rica.
This is taken along the road leading to the Chinchilla´s house.
The view from a hammock filled hut at a neighboring farm.
Here, Memo and I are one our way to fix the water pipe.
Till next week! (Miss you Mom!)
P.S. THANK YOU Bek and Ben for the mail!!!! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
