Posts Tagged ‘insects’

November has been a very busy and, at times, exciting month for us. As we pass further into spring time, more birds and insects appear on the farm as well as a surprise visit from a wild cat kitten (Geoffreys Ocelot or Gato Montés).

One of the many insects that appear in spring time

Earlier in the year we had decided to plant a cash crop to provide us with an income for the forthcoming season. So we
ploughed and prepared some ground and hand planted around 2000 melon seeds (honey dew) and butternut squash seeds, plus a couple of rows of sweetcorn and a part row of small, sweet, red peppers. An irrigation system was dug and after a week the first seedlings appeared -  and then some disappeared, thanks to the local hare population! Which means we will soon have to re-sow the ‘missing’ plants.

Watering the melon field before sowing

Late one afternoon we saw smoke above an adjacent farm. As most of the locals burn their fields to remove stubble and dried grass, we were not at all worried. However, as time passed, we could actually see flames quite close by, and spread over a very wide area. On investigating we found that a wild fire had started and was covering most of the 60 acre farm opposite us. Graciela asked if the fire brigade had been called and offered our help. The local policeman told Graciela that the brigade were on standby and would come out if it got serious! Five of us neighbours put out the fire with our shovels and pitchforks. That took us just over two hours of very hot work. Once the fire was out, everyone thanked each other, and went back to their farms, job done. No excitement, no shouting, no orders, just everyone pitching in and quietly getting the problem sorted as a team. A very down to earth approach.

Fighting the fire on the next door farm

The fire was spreading across the farm

Spring not only brings new plants, birds and animals to the farm, it also brings weeds in vast quantities. If we take even a week off weeding, the irrigation ditches soon become choked. Not surprisingly we have spent some time cleaning our 5 kilometers of internal ditches.

Ditch cleaning

Not all the ‘weeds’ are unwelcome though. The irrigation water brings with it a whole host of seeds that self set in its edges. So far we have harvested many handfuls of asparagus (more of that later) and we have mint and fennel growing on the ditch borders as well as some grapes!

Wild asparagus picked on the farm

Our old apricot trees and quince trees have blossomed and it looks as though we might get a good harvest from them this year. The large fig tree is not doing very much at the moment, but the four smaller trees are heavy with green figs which will be picked soon.

Quince tree blossom

Our area once grew asparagus and all the irrigation ditches in the area are covered in asparagus plants, ours included. These plants are wild, but the asparagus spears are of excellent quality which we have tried and thoroughly enjoyed. However many of the public know that wild asparagus grows here too. They come and pick it from the public supply canal, and since our farm was not farmed for many years, they have been picking it from our ditches too. So we have been plagued with people coming onto our farm to collect asparagus (sometimes to sell later in the street). All have left the farm when asked and we have had no problem, but we have decided to put up proper perimeter fences to replace the single strand of barbed wire that currently defines our borders.

Putting in fence posts and cleaning ditches

Our farm entrance has had a face lift too and now sports a set of wooden gates with our farm logo carved onto the top bar of each gate.

The new wooden gates at the farm entrance

And, of course, we take time off to enjoy ourselves too!

Graciela, Nenina and Titan

Having given up any hope of our container with all our possessions arriving in time for Christmas, we replanned what to do for the holiday period.

Our neighbours Ernesto and Victoria asked us over for Christmas Dinner, and we gladly accepted their kind invitation.  Here, Christmas Dinner is held late at night on Christmas Eve so it made sense to sleep on our farm instead of driving back to the hotel El Paso in the small hours.

In the evening of the 24th December we drove to the neighbours’ farm, dropped off the drinks and ice cubes that we had bought in the town, and then set up camp on our farm.

The back of the pickup was covered with blankets and sleeping bags to act as a mattress and the all important mosquito net was tied over everything in order to ward off determined attacks by starving insects.

Temporary bedroom

At about 10 pm we crossed the fields and joined Ernesto and Victoria.
An ambient temperature of about 20 degrees centigrade at night meant that the Christmas Dinner could be cooked outside in a clay oven.

Clay oven

Everyone sat around in the dusk talking and drinking with only the stars, moonlight and huge fireflies lighting up the scene. That is something we cannot see in the towns due to the light pollution.

As the food started to be ready it was taken into the farmhouse where everyone congregated, guided by the smell of empanadas, asado and wine.

Christmas Dinner is ready

As midnight came and Christmas Eve changed to Christmas Day we all toasted each other.

The Toast

All the food was grown and cooked on the farm. Only the drinks came from shops. And it was seriously tasty food too!

PS: If you look at one of the photos of Graciela outside you will see something hanging from hers belt. It is a swiss army knife which she received from me as a birthday present. Why such a romantic and girly present? A colleague from work kindly gave me one and it has seen much use. And Graciela wanted one too!!

In the early hours of the morning we walked across the fields to our ‘bed’ in the pickup by the light of an oil lantern. It was a wonderfully romantic experience.
As we lay in the back of the pickup we could see nebulas, planets and stars with incredible clearness and brightness. Also being 2000 feet up with no city close by helps enourmously.
Then, covered by the mosquito nets we watched the stars until we fell asleep…..

…. only to be woken up by something sniffing in my ear.
“Regalito*”, one of the neighbouring farm dogs had decided to guard us. And obviously part of this duty  neccesitated seeing we were OK by putting his front paws on the side of the pickup and looking inside.
Eventually Regalito went to sleep under the pickup, but we were still occassionally awoken by his tail thumping the underneath or the side of the pickup as he stood guard!

Our volunteer guard dog

Sunrise was a pleasure to watch and we were surprised at the amount of dew on the grass first thing in the morning.

Dawn

Time to undo the bed, pack up and head back to San Rafael for breakfast and Christmas Day.

Late Riser!

An outside toilet with full do it yourself facilities was also available to the early risers.

Outside Toilet

Finally, when packing up the bedding we discovered a recluse spider had joined us in the night despite the netting. As these spiders are venemous, it calls into question the efficiency of Regalito as a guard dog!!!

Unwelcome visitor

* Regalito means “Little gift or present”. In this case he really was one!!!!

On Friday we bought some tools in a large tool shop called MACO and started work clearing the entrance.

The farm entrance

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