Posts Tagged ‘woodland’

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

It is now winter here in the southern hemisphere and, once again, there is a marked variation in the season’s weather.
The cool nights and quite warm days of autumn have given way to freezing nights with cold but still sunny days. A lack of rain continues to amaze us. Since moving out here 8 months ago we have only seen about 6 or 7 rainy days.
Today it was around 2 degrees centigrade with a tiny sprinkling of snow which did not lay, thank goodness.

But work on the farm has to progress despite the weather.
Whilst the days and nights remained above freezing we continued with the demolition of the “Casita’s” insecure walls

demolishing the insecure walls

Footings were poured for an internal wall which will become a small bathroom at the back of the Casita.

Footings for an internal wall

One of the new external walls has the wooden formwork fitted ready for the construction of its “anti seismic column”. This column is made of steel bars set in concrete and is part of the box like structure to help make the building survive an earthquake.

The wooden formwork for the column

One night we heard weak, plaintive meows coming from the street. The noise turned out to be a tiny, fluffy kitten which
had been abandoned. So our family has now grown in size by one ginger tomcat named “Titan”.

Titan, our ginger tom

Our dog Nenina is an angel and took to the kitten immediately, even to the extent that the two of them often share the dog’s basket at night.

Our trees, mainly alamos and acacias, were beautiful just before they shed all their leaves.

Nenina running across the farm as the autumn colours appear

But as they shed their leaves it became a chore to keep the irrigation ditches free of the fallen leaves.

Fallen leaves in the irrigation ditches

With around 1.5 kilometers (almost 1 mile) of irrigation ditches to keep clear of leaves this took a fair bit of time. But the views of the Andes on a crystal clear day made up for all that hard work.

Snow on the Andes

Talking of trees and leaves, as we continued to clear land and ditches unfarmed for years, we decided not to destroy any young saplings, but to dig them up and transplant them.

Collecting saplings which are in the way of farming

So far we have transplanted around 100 young Alamos (Poplars) to line our western boundary on both sides the irrigation ditch. This will fill up the gaps left by fallen trees and provide a double curtain of trees near the fence.

Planting the saplings along the boundary in a double row

At the end of autumn we planted some tulip bulbs to provide a bit of colour later on in the year.

Planting tulip bulbs

As we entered winter we started ploughing the land ready for planting grapevines. The site we had chosen for the vines had not been farmed for many years and was covered with a very invasive grass known locally as “chipica”.
We arranged for a neighbour, Julio, to come along with his large tractor and a cincel plough to rip up the deep grass
roots.

Julio's tractor and cincel

Although we intend to plant only 1 hectare of vines this year, we decided to clean up 3.5 hectares to allow us to plant some form of yearly crop to give us an income.   The land needed a total of four ploughs to clear the grass!

Ploughing up the chipica

Whilst winter progressed and Julio repeatedly ploughed the area for the vines, we started to plough deep furrows with our own smaller tractor in order to irrigate the woodland that we wanted to preserve and expand with fruit trees.

Ploughing in the woodland for irrigation

Cleaning the land for planting crops meant that any irrigation ditch feeding that land needs to be able to cope with the
increased demand for irrigation water. So back to the spade and hand deepening one of the main supply ditches.

Hand deepening one of the ditches

There was a brief pause in all this work to watch any matches involving England or Argentina in the world cup. But as both teams failed miserably it did not interrupt work much!

An Argentine football fan!

As planting time nears, the large wooden stakes which we need to support the wires for the grapevines have been delivered.  The lorry broke down on the way to the farm and it eventually arrived, with only the driver, just as it was getting dark. Robin and the driver had to unload over 700 wooden stakes in the pickup headlights and near freezing temperatures. Despite us not have a risk assessment, PPE, or a mountain of paperwork instructions we did the job in just 55 minutes and with no significant injuries either.

Unloading the stakes

And finally the task of updating the blog.

Robin and Titan update the blog

All our energy is now focused in getting stakes in place, stringing the support wires, then planting over 3000 vine
plants. As well as planting yearly crops for an income, building the casita and … the list is endless, but we do not regret it at all as we love our new lifestyle.

The day starts with everything we could possibly need for the day (food, working clothes, spades, saws, tools, first aid kit, water, etc etc) being loaded onto the pickup which is then parked in the forest “garage” on arrival at the finca.

Pickup packed for the day

Work starts early in the morning before it gets too hot to do anything. At the time of writing we are experiencing noon time temperatures of around 38 degrees centigrade which persist until at least 4 pm. ( 100 degrees F).
So it makes sense to do exactly the same as the locals do, start work early, have a long siesta, then carry on working in the evening and finally have dinner late at night.

As temperatures on the finca rise we withdraw to the the shade, in this case below an algarrobo tree which is growing by the ruins of a house at one edge of the finca.

These ruins make an excellent windbreak (and fire break too) for the camp fire which is lit with wood from the surrounding woodland.

Camp fire ready for the asado

Sweetcorn and eggs are boiled on the flames.

Sweet corn and eggs

In the adjacent section of the fireplace the wood has burnt down to embers and the sausages and steaks are put onto the grill (with a squeeze of lemon) and are all cooked to perfection.

Our dining table is a fallen tree trunk and the seats are two piles of bricks. Very basic but it suits the surroundings and style of cooking perfectly. Why buy plastic tables and chairs and sun shades when you have everything you need already to hand?

Dining out

After the meal a long siesta is the order of the day. However if you are an artist this is the ideal time to study and contemplate the surroundings for ideas for future paintings – and maybe a sketch or two? Note the black sketch books close by.

A siesta

Eventually the temperatures start to fall, the food has been digested, great works of art have been planned and it is time to go back to work.

Our single row of apricot trees produced huge fruit this year, although a frost earlier in the year had caused many of the buds to drop.

There were not enough for commercial use this year as the trees have not been looked after for a number of years, but even so,these are real organic apricots, unsullied by any sprays or chemical fertilisers. Full of taste and very, very juicy.

We have found that if we do not watch the time we can work until is suddenly starts to get dark. Sunset here tends to creep up on us without being noticed. Especially as watches and clocks no longer rule us. Just the demands of our bodies and the work which needs to be done.

Sunsets and skyscapes here up in the Andes cannot be easily described. I have tried to take photos of stunning skies but the digital camera cannot do them justice.
It needs oil paints in order to capture the brilliance and intensity of the colours. Many a time Graciela or I have noted that the scenes and colours change in minutes, and the colours we see in the sky would not be believable if you painted them.

Sunset over the Andes

The drive back to the town is towards the Andes. On a clear evening we can see the main chain of the Andes behind the foothills (pre-cordellera) capped with snowy white fluffy clouds next to clouds ablaze with red and orange, further away clouds ringed with bright yellow, all set in a cobalt blue sky below which are the purple grey mountains in the distance.
Beautiful.

Back in the town, San Rafael has many plazas, but for us, the most beautiful is the Plaza San Martin where every evening families congregate and where, in holiday times, the equivalent of Punch and Judy shows are set up (free) for the children.

Plaza San Martin San Rafael

Plaza San Martin

As we are still in the hotel (late December 2009) we eat at one of the restaurants near to the plaza.