happy holloween!

Happy holloween! We had a sweet Fiesta with fajitas and Vino and Beer and the whole works.
Earlier in the day we took two of the Roosters for the fajita meat( it was kinda tough but seasoned very well). I got to take part in every part of the process. some of it was a bit grusome and I´ll just leave it at that. R.I.P Mario and other nameless rooster your contributions are appreciated.

pictured here is Ashley dressed as a mexican luchador Gringa muy Fruerte.







Here is Marcello dressed as a gringo tourist and Im in the back with the Pancho and the hat, cooking the meat. We also had in company Moses, and Jesus, A Mama roja Princess, a fourth grade crossing guard, a catapiller, a guarani mythical entity, and a mexican field worker. It was an awsome good time.











This is some of the framing work that we did for the earthen house that we will be creating. Yes that is me balancing on a steel drum with a chainsaw cutting the tops of the post to the right hight. All of the framing cuts we did with a chainsaw or a hand saw and fastened with big nails. The roof framming is now up and we will be making the wall out of a mud mixture.
The white bags are acting as the foundation, they are filled with earth and lime. I believe the lime is to stabalize the clay in the earth as well as act as a water barrier.

Here is me and Gustavo mixing the earth with clay and sand and aged manure and alot of water. as explained before we will also be adding cactus and pee and then fermenting it for two weeks. this part was alot of fun. Playing / working in the mud. when it was done the mud was almost as deep as Ashley´s waist. Mud fights and wreslting insued.

Bottleing the beer. This is a very dark beer brewed with Malta and a plant called Carcaja. Carcaja is a very bitter sweet plant that I used in place of hops. this should work very nicely. it also has some medicinal uses but Im not sure what they are. The whole process has been a bit trying givin that I have very little to work with but I think it will be a success in the end.

This coming week is our week off and we have all sorts of fun things planned. today we are headed to Posadas the capital city of Misiones. Im not sure what we´ll do but it will be nice to sleep on a bed and hopefull take a hot shower. Although bathing in the river is actually very nice and probably more refreshing than one may think.

Stay tuned

Peace and love

Un dia en la vida

Life is going well here in good ol´ Argentina. We´re more ajusted to sleeping on the hard earth so that good and we´re having all sorts of fun digging holes and starting structures. As you can see here im working very hard at trying to get in a good siesta.

Karen and Kim are wielding mecheties to get down the path wear we harvested the grasses to mix with earth and pee and sand in a giant hole that we all dug. These things will have to ferment for two weeks before we can use the substance for creating the earthen structure.

Amanita el gato

here is Ashley hacking away with a dull machete trying to harvest the dryed grasses

Our home away from home

Most of the group at the top of the ridge overlooking the valley of Mama Roja

The yoga Shalette is a great structure. many of us practice here in the mornings and last sunday Kim lead and awesome session of Ashtanga yoga. This place also serves as a library and occational retreat from the rains. we have discussions here as well. there is a great veiw faceing north towards a very high ridge on the other side of the river.

our cooking stove. very old but it works great. you consatly have to feed the fire or it will take forever to anything. this is were all the awsome food is prepared.

Building a fence around the garden out of woven strips of Bamboo

Here is Ashley enjoying some Mate at the group watering hole durring the heat of the day. This spot is also were we bath. Ashley built a sweet shelf that we can set all of our stuff on ( Towels, soap, Mate etc.)

This is a shot of me and Adam at the other watering hole which is a bar at the top of the hill. It takes about 35 sweaty minutes to walk here and when you get there you have to clap ( argetine´s way of knocking ) and the husband will open the bar. That first sip of ice cold Quilmes makes the hike seem all worth while

Food and fun

this is the first meal I had in Obera the night befor we went to the farm. underneath the egg is cheese then ham then a battered and fried piece of beef. MMmmmm very good it was even better sence we had been eating airline and bus food for the past 2 and a half days.

Food at the farm on the other hand is very very different. everthing is bought locally or grown on the property primarily vegitarian. Everything is So muy muy delisioso we have some great cooks in our group and the food taste soo good and fresh. I sort of though that we would be a little hungry every so often because it all vegi´s and what not, but we are getting fed very well. there is no chance of mal nutrition. we have learned to make our own chese from Peloma´s milk , as well as yogart and dolce de leche which is kinda like caramel sauce but made from boiling milk untill it carmelizes. we also eat plenty of eggs from the chicken. On a side note Ashley has not yet warmed up to the Rooster which keeps trying to attack her hehehe!

Here is Mario whom is the bain of Ashley´s existance at this point. yesterday we recieved 12 more hen´s and 3 more roosters so hopefully these ones will be a little nicer to her.

this is a shot of Ashley & Gustavo (from Paraguay) being taught By kim how to make cheese.!

Hopefully this saturday, which is personal project day, Im going to teach the clan how to make Beer.. This should be interesting sence I´ll have to substatute both ingredients and equipment with what we have avialible here. Stay tunned for the results.

very close to nature

hello every one

so at the farm we are experiencing all kinds of great things. I dont know how to upload pics very well and shrink them and all that stuff so they look right but I have a couple up I think. anyway we have plated crops and learned about composting our poop and we have done alot of exploring of the property. The 1st night at the farm it rained like freakin crazy and everything got wet. The river swelled up to 3 times its regular size which was awsome. Mostly we are living very simply and learning how to maintain a natural system as we live in it. there are 2 dogs a cow a calf a cat 10 or so chickens. The property is about 80 acres with two rivers flowing through it. there are all kinds of crops. We tried Yerba Mate for the first time ( its just like a tea) and we poop in a bucket in the tool shed and then cover it with saw dusts. sweet right! also earlyer today we found the waterfall on the property .. mama roja falls estas muy muy belisma. standing under it is like a religous experience. we are kinda learning some espanol but every one speaks Engles here so it makes it harder to learn. there are 6 other interns from all over the world and Kim and Marcelo are super awsome people with a wealth of knowledge on permiculture and much more.

hopefully I will figure out how to post more pictures in a different format or something but untill then I guess I have to discribe every thing. O and we saw a Coral snake in one of the fields it was awsome. I wish you all could be here with me to experience that is this place

much love from jake and ashley

departure

hey ya'll Ashley and I are just about to embark on our journey south we will miss everyone but we are also very excited. thanx for all your support and love. keep it real and may the gods be with us all

peace and love
jake and ashley