On the Farm

The farm we are working on in Ecuador is called La Fundacion Brethren y Unida. It was started back in the 1950´s by two missionary groups. While a lot has changed in the last 60 years as it is no longer religiously affliated, the proof of what the organization has done is very evident in the community. The community itself is called Picalqui and consists of a couple hundred families. The living standards of this community, while still poor in American standards, are much better than many of the surrounding communities. The organization in its current position is a non-profit organization and has three basic roles. One is an environmental education program that brings children in from Quito to volunteer on the farm and help in local reforestation projects. The second is a volunteer program that brings in volunteers to either work on the farm or volunteer in local communities staying with families and helping in local schools. The third is the organic farm itself which sells its local produce in the communities each week and sells the cows´ milk to a local creamery.

The farm has a large area for growing vegetables, a small greenhouse for tomatoes, peppers and herbs, a blackberry orchard (that is going to ruin as there is a horrible drought here), laying hens, chickens for meat, 15 milk cows, 4 sheep, 3 pigs, rabbits and cuyes (guinea pigs) that are sold for meat. There is also a small tree farm as well, and a random llama and white donkey that hang around.

The work on the farm can range from shoveling compost for the garden, cleaning cow poop from the stables, cutting food for the cuyes, weeding, harvesting or planting the garden, making scarecrows, building fences, etc, etc. This week we even went to the local school to work on their school garden.

The living situation is that we share a communal house with about 10-12 other people. While Andy and I are lucky enough to have our own room, we share the bathroom, kitchen and living area with everyone. Cooking duties are shared among everyone, and so when you cook you are cooking for about 14 people. We eat loads of fresh veggies from the garden and eggs from the chickens. Milk is also available at breakfast.

Interesting Facts:
1. We sit in the shadow of Cayambe. It is a 5790m volcano (18,996ft). It is Ecuador´s third largest peak, and the world´s largest peak that sits on the equator.

2. Ecuador is in a huge drought right now. This is supposed to be the rainy season with storms every day. It has rained 13 times since July. Because Ecuador´s energy comes from hydroelectric dams and there is now a shortage of water, sometimes their is no electricity during the day do to rolling blackouts.

3. We do not have a refrigerator. This was a huge deal at first, but now we have learned to deal with it. Before we got here, I am pretty sure the leftovers were used over and over. The leftovers would continue to be put into the next meal, the leftovers from that meal would be put into the next, and so on. Since a new group has been here, we have been trying to watch this more closely.

4. There are roaming bands of children EVERYWHERE on the farm. There are two families that live on the farm with a total of 11 children between them. Other women and children stay a lot as well to help out with the school groups. They are constantly hucking themselves around from fences onto hanging ropes and playing with the fire. They are not shy and will run up anytime they see you. They are usually very dirty but undeniably cute.

5. Children on the farm greet Andy in a number of different ways. Many times if Andy is sitting outside the children will each come up and play with his beard. Other times children will start to sing about Papa Noel around Andy. Apparently Santa Claus is skinnier in South America. This is a pic of the children singing about Papa Noel at the community school.

5. We live with some intersting characters. Micah is a 19 year old German boy completing a year of service at the farm. He is a self-proclaimed communist and has pictures of Castro hanging on the walls of his room. Ironically, he doesn´t like to work much, so communism would suit him fine. Melia is a 22 year old from Sweden who hates to work and will tell us this often. She chooses to take many breaks in the house whenever she can. Her favorite food seems to be rice with ketchup, and plain sugar. She eats it by the spoonful. Billy is the newest member. An 18 year old from New Zealand. He is supposed to be there a year, but somehow did not seem to read the website before he came. He is not at all interested in organic agriculture and hates vegetables. He is at the wrong place.

6. We build things out of nothing here and deal with many obstacles. There is a new stable going up on the farm. The wood comes from the non-native eucaluptus trees. We watch a man cut down the trees and then using a chainsaw make perfectly straight boards. Andy has built a couple of fences using scrap wood and wire. We have so little water sometimes that we do not have water pressure to water the garden. We have watered it by hand with the 3 functional water cans, it took 4 hours to water half of the garden.

7. I have met my personality twin. Her name is Dana, she is 25 years old and moving back to Denver/Boulder area in April. Due to the fact that Dana has no secrets and Andy isn´t afraid to tell mine, we found out that we both have similar germ fears (we sleep in sleeping bags, and won´t get into the shower without flip-flops). We enjoy the same things, cook the same ways and on more than one occasion can finish each other´s sentences or thoughts.

8. We wash all of our clothes by hand....enough said.