Organic Farming in Ecuador

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

neverland news!

Hi All! Just a fast update! This past few weeks have been pretty dry here. The country is experiencing country wide power outages as the major hydro electric plant in the country is out of water. It simply does not seem to want to rain.

Neverland has solar panels, and we are way off the grid, so it doesn't bother us much. And we have been getting rain for a few days now. We are around 4500. or more short of finishing the nicrohydroelectric plant for the entire neighborhood- but soon, I swear, very soon!

We did have a major fire. We lost more than half of our upper pastures to a wild fire, but no one was hurt and in fact we have Andres and Norman to thank as hereos! They went up the mountain and worked for more than 15 hours- but they turned that fire! Amazing shit.

I have been delivering babies and all in all too busy, so dramatic some weeks. A baby here, medical emergency there, customs disaster and a fire and I could write a book! But on the farm is calm, Killo is currently running the show with Silvia until I get home from the customs nightmare. We are receiving a container that is all of our stuff from the past many years in the US- it may not come before christmas, definitely not before Hanauka, but soon! And then we will have a super sweet new kitchen.

Internet to Tumianuma has been held up, literally. There was a hold up and now we have to wait a bit for our foundation funding- but it should happen this week- then Neverland Farm will have WIFI!!! And Tumianuma as well, along with an internet cafe that volunteers will be running to teach the local people some communications. Free lessons, compliments of the wonderful folks who come and volunteer their time helping others and learning where our food comes from, of course!

other news.

I have been injured in a car accident when I was in the States and am looking for anyone who is a lawyer type to help me. The insurance company does not want to pay for ANYTHING! I mean a guy hit the car I was driving from behind, he told the cops and signed a statement that he was laughing and joking with his uncle and did not notice I had stopped, he was convicted of careless driving. He had to pay a 122. fine. And I have had to pay over 9000. in medical bills that have not been reimbursed- these companies have rules like you would not beleive, its like everyone is a liar. And this Liberty Mutual Insurance Company has yet to pay even my emergency room expenses! Its been a lesson to me on how litigation has destroyed any chance of a sane insurance system in the US. What all of this means is that I, Tina, am on reduced farm work right now. My right thumb simply does not work and I have to have some surgery. So you all will see me there but not working so much! Come and visit and help me out! Look forward to meeting all of you- read on! Tina

Monday, November 23, 2009

HOME AT LAST!!

TINA IS HOME AND ON THE FARM! AND VERY HAPPY AND THE KITCHEN IS VERY CLEAN AND THE DOGS ARE HAPPY AND WE ARE GARDENING NOW! COME AND SEE....

Monday, August 10, 2009

New Volunteer Information

We have a fairly constant stream of volunteers and students coming and going, so I have decided to ask everyone who comes to stay at least 2 weeks, make sure you plan to be here for a minimum of 2 weeks. let us know when you are coming and if you come ealier please bring a cheese or 2 pounds of meat or some chocolate or something, everyone loves treats! Other than this you should not spend money on food, we buy almost everything in bulk, much less expensive this way.

By having a 2 week minimum stay we think that we will be able to complete more projects, the kitchen runs more smoothly and volunteers get a more complete orientation and are actually able to participate in, and even complete projects. Persons who come for 2-3 days or one week simply do not get the quality experience we want for every volunteer.

There's always something to do at Neverland Farm!!! We wake up at no later than 8:30 (ok, ish) so we can be at our work assignments by 9:30. There are usually a few options to choose from as to what you're doing.

Several ecuadorian men and women work with us, so the dominant language is spanish. No worries, you will pick it up quickly- some of our helpers also like trading english, french, german, whatever, for spanish lessons. But you have to go and work with them in the garden or field or on the mountain to learn! All really nice people, and pretty

fun, good teachers.

We have lunch at 12:30-1:30. Lunch is large- we almost never serve less than 10 people and we try to have soups and meat and vegie daily. We drink a lot of our own hand picked cafe. After lunch we work till 3:30 or so. This is Mon-Fri so it should work out to 25 hours a week although it is in reality closer to 18-20 hours due to weather, unexpected circumstances, and general lounging (that hammock is deadly, after lunch siestas can go long). It's relatively hard work (weeding, turning garden and compost beds, planting, etc) but, it's not a real long work day and we usually have some fun in the process. Bring gloves!!

Generally, we have between 5 -15 volunteers at any given time. Volunteers stay from a few days to a few months. At least a couple of weeks is preferred to give you time to really experience the farm but it's not mandatory. We have bunk house type accommodations with 4-6 in a room but also have rooms for couples and even larger spaces for families (we do have private individual rooms as well). We ask for a $35/wk contribution which helps cover food and operating expenses of the community, each person contributes equally in this community, and it IS an egalitarian community. It's nice, since we all put in equally no one has to ask permission to make a snack or bake cookies, all food is communal. Include

d in this are candles, laundry for sheets and most everything else.

We eat VERY well!!! Vegetarians and carnivores alike are accommodated (fruitarian, too). At this time we buy most of our produce off the farm from organic growers but are aggressively trying to bring our self sustainability up to at least 70%. We are fairly remote, being a 45 minute walk to the nearest little barrio Tumianuma which has a usable telephone most, but not all, of the time and snacks, beer, soda etc. as well.

Vilcabamba is the closest town of any size and that's an hour bus ride from Tumianuma (population 300 +/-). It has telephones, internet cafe', an ATM, and some of the comforts of civilization. Loja, another hour ride from Vilcabamba, is a larger city and is where you'd need to go to find harder to find items. We don't have electricity yet but hope to get our hydro-electric unit on line in the not too distant future, work to gather rocks for the wall to support the big water pipes is ongoing! Tumianuma and Neverland should have wireless internet by Sept. 1, 2009, thanks to a lovely donation from globalgiving.com. We do have a pretty good solar panel for charging batteries etc.

Speaking of, PLEASE do not bring non-rechargeable batteries to the farm. They tend to accumulate (disposable batteries are NOT) and we have no way of disposing of them properly.

Please do not attempt the path out at night for your first time, you will get lost. Our neighbors will save you but its better in daylight. If your bags are too heavy for you, 35-45 minute walk, leave them at the store in Tumianuma, with Gloria and her family. They will be safe there and you can get someone to help you come in with a burro

to pack your things out. Don't try to be a hero carrying a monster weight. And try not leave your things sitting beside the path to retrieve later, many people walk this path, and while they are not thieves a big pack just sitting there in the middle of nowhere does look kind of like a nice gift, no?!

I hope this answers most of your questions. If not, just drop me an email. Please refer to the rest of this website (www.neverlandfarm.org) for detailed lists of what you need to bring, directions to the farm and lots of other useful info!!! Peace, and happy travels!