Over the river and to the farm...Or not.

Hey guys!

So it has been raining like crazy for the past few days and it's starting to impact things around here. I got up early and went through my normal routine. It was really rainy on my way down to the farm, I poured hot coffee on myself, and I was just not having a good day. So in order to get to the farm I have to go down one hill and up the other. In between the hills there's a small concrete slate that bridges over a river which usually isn't that big of an issue. Well, I came down the hill to see that the bridge was engulfed by the river, which was moving rapidly and basically impossible to pass through on foot. I went back to the cafeteria and found Marianna and Arnoldo sitting down for breakfast. I explained my situation to Arnoldo and asked him if he could try to drive me through the river so I could get to work. Arnoldo was nice enough to say yes and once he and Marianna were done eating we got into Arnoldo's truck and headed towards the farm. We got to the river and it was still what I like to call "A raging river of death". One look at it and we knew that it would be risky to try and drive through it. 

So, rather than going back and doing book work, I went to the FIO with Arnoldo and Marianna! 

We got to the FIO and we went into Arnoldo's office which is in the front of the farm. I think his office is the nicest out of all the offices here at EARTH. It's really big and has a bunch of rooms attached to it, like bathrooms and a conference room. He's got a big bookshelf filled with books in English and Spanish about sustainable agriculture, microorganisms, and organic farming. On another bookshelf he has a part reserved for these really cool artifacts.

The view from Arnoldo's desk

Some of the artifacts

An artifact up close

We dropped off our bags and headed into the farm. The FIO is very different from the finca pecuaria. There's a lot more room, more botany, more species of animals, and everything is spread out. I walked around with Arnoldo and found the man who takes care of the animals. I forgot his name (I'm so sorry!) but I'll call him D. D really cares about the animals and it's plain to see. The water buffaloes here walk up to you and sniff you, the cows let you pet them and feed them by hand, and the other animals here are so healthy! The FIO doesn't have a big herd of cattle like the finca pecuaria, but they have a few cows, 2 or 3 water buffalo, 400 something chickens, 10 or so ducks, a pond of fish, 20 or so pigs, a few goats, a few turkeys, a horse, and about 6 dogs (I'm going to sidetrack and say that these dogs are adorable and made my day. I've missed my dogs so much, so playing with 6 dogs all at once helped fill the void. There was a golden retriever puppy, a great dane, a shepherd mix, and a few terrier mixes, so there were puppies of all different shapes and sizes. Ok, back to the farm stuff). D takes care of all of the animals by feeding them, administering medicine, cleaning their enclosures, and making sure that they're in the right places at the right time. We fed the ducks and fish, gave 3 ducks some medicine, looked at the chickens, looked at the cows, and talked about the difference between the way he handles the animals to the way people at the finca pecuaria handle animals. When D went into the corral with the cows to put them to pasture he used his voice, made himself look bigger, and splashed them with water. I was so amazed that he didn't hit them! I'm used to seeing cattle hit in order to move them, so this was a good bit of culture shock. The animals responded to him and willingly moved out of the way. D is the type of person I would want to have working on the farm with me. We talked about the importance of animal welfare and how that affects the farm. 

Once 8 came around, everyone went to the outdoor kitchen to have some coffee. The kitchen is a lot bigger at the FIO. There are 2 tables, a sink, a long tabletop for dishes and cups, a fridge, coffee maker, and microwave. Everyone sat down and enjoyed some light conversation and some good coffee. People on the farms are really nice and open to strangers. I didn't really talk a lot because I didn't want to speak in broken spanish and look stupid, but when people did talk to me, they were patient and empathetic when I messed up a word. It was funny to see how everyone got along so well. People were joking around, Arnoldo told a story about rafting, and even though I didn't understand everything I still felt like I was one of the workers. 

After coffee I spent most of the day chilling with Arnoldo in his office. We played some Pink Floyd, I read a few books on organic farming and agro-ecology, I worked on some of my plans for the next 4 weeks (I can't believe I'm halfway through??), and Arnoldo worked on the farm budget and answered a lot of phone calls. Even though Arnoldo's a very busy person he never seems stressed out. He takes pura vida to the next level! Honestly, he's one of the nicest people I've had the pleasure to meet here at EARTH. 

Lunch came around I decided to stay on the farm and eat with everyone else. We all met back at the kitchen and ate lunch together. The cafeteria delivers meals in a cooler to the farm in these plastic tins. Some of the workers even had their names written on their specific tin. We ate and talked a  little about the weather and about organic farming which was fun. People who work on the farms here talk very quickly so it's hard for me to keep up sometimes, but people on the FIO are easier to understand. Once we finished our meal we gave the meat leftovers to one of the dogs, Negro the shepherd mix, and the rest to the ducks.

Around 3 or so Arnoldo, Marianna, D, and I got in the truck and headed back to campus. Driving with Arnoldo and everyone else is a lot of fun because we talk in a mixture of english and spanish. Arnoldo's english is superb so it's easier for me to talk to him and learn more about organic farming and tico culture. We took some back roads and went to the packaging plant to drop off D and pick up eggs to bring to the cafeteria. I had never been back there before since it's behind a big nursery and greenhouse area, man is it beautiful! It was cloudy but you could see the mountains in the distance. Once we had the eggs in the back we drove to one of the buildings by the cafeteria. Marianna and I got out of the truck, thanked Arnoldo, and headed back to our dorms.

Even though things started out really bad today it all turned out fine in the end. This was a really great day and I'm thankful that Arnoldo let me hang around at the FIO for the day. I learned a lot about organic agriculture and I learned about the importance of animal diversity in an organic farm.

Well, tomorrow is the day I leave for a 4 day trip across Costa Rica! I probably won't write anything until I come back, so that's going to be a long post. I'm really excited about it and I can't wait to go!

Bye guys!

-Allie