Inspirational visit to a neighbor

Today we went to visit Jullian's mini farm half an hour from us.

We went to get inspired, to see how organic food growing was progressing on his land and how he deals with some of the challenges presented in this somewhat extreme climate. He and his family have been working their garden for the past three years, and they are doing a lot of the things that we are looking forward to get started with.

Their house is off the grid, using only solar power and gas. Their toilets are composting (liquids and solid separated and composted for six months to use in garden on NONE edibles), and all of their grey water (all waste water from within the house) is used in the garden, including on a patch of grass for their son to play football. 

Besides the mosquitos, which simply cannot be avoided these days, it was an inspiring visit,

we left with many good ideas. 

There was an abundance of goodness in the garden, pumpkin, sweet potato, okra, eggplant, peppers, kale, lemon grass, basil, mint to name but a few...

below is a wild spinach climbing

raised beds

baby arugula sheltered from the strong midday sun

A first year papaya thriving after a good dose of homemade compost and worm castings

pumpkins..

5 passion fruit vines were planted, and now create a living roof over two structures that are used as dark and shade rooms to grow mushrooms in. The vines not only offer shades but also lovely fruit and beautiful flowers, permaculture at its best, at least three uses for each plant planted. 

Jullian gifted us with a passionfruit vine when we left, looking forward to get it in the ground..

For a roof in the house they had the traditional Palapa roof, which we will also have on our house.

It has amazing insulating properties, withstands storms well, and is so pretty. The leaves that were used to shade the baby arugula are the leaves also used to create these roofs

The children really enjoyed exploring his beautiful surroundings...

and Linus too...

We left with many good ideas, having made a new friend and even a few baby plants.

~green blessings~

Around the Land

I have been checking in on Farmama's Around the Farm posts on Thursday, and while we don't have much growing YET, I thought I would still like to join in and share the progress in a weekly around the Land post.

The compost pile which I started last week is looking really good, I do so love the process of making good healthy humus for the garden, nothing like watching nature at work..

 While working on the main path to our homesite, Miguel disturbed a Tarantula who had made a home in an old rotten log. Miguel scooped her out only to find a toad hanging out just there, for a moment it seemed there might be a hunt, yet both scrambled off in opposite directions.

 Miguel saw these bugs on the Hibiscus, never seen ones like this before they do not look friendly, yet I do love the picture.. 

 I wish I would have taken a before and after picture, yet here is how far Miguel has progressed with the path to the homesite. While he is leveling the path, moving many rocks he is also planting along the sides with all the plants he is moving out of the way, as well as with cuttings from around the land, it is starting to look like a pretty path.

The rabbits have been moved to a large pen, mimicking their natural habitat. 

They now have little tunnels and caves and a huge area to run.

In the back ground is where the chickens live and the chicken house is in the process of being built.

 Keenan is becoming friends with the bunnies

 And here is Facundo and friend working on the chicken house, I really like how it is coming. All the wood is from the land, mostly from trees partly burned by the fire a couple of years back. This style of building is very traditional to the area, and blends in so nicely

 Before the chickens had their larger free range area behind the chicken house they lived here.

The area is nicely shaded and the soil nice and loose, less rocky and also nicely fertilized from the chickens, today I worked on enclosing little beds between the large immovable rocks, tomorrow I will continue on this project until it is ready for planting in the next few days.

 The main path leading to the animals is also coming along nicely, all this work was done between today and yesterday.

 In the garden so far we have only corn, peppers and pumpkins growing. These were all planted before we arrived, and we shall soon have gardens filled with herbs, veggies, fruits and love.

~Blessings~

The Land

I thought that I might make a formal introduction to the project that we are undertaking and taking part in. At times it truly feels more as a dream than as a "project". A dream in the sense that... well, more like a dream in the full meaning of the word. It all started as a concept, that came from a dream which brought up a"project" which became a plan of action, that then brought us here to this piece of jungle that we like to call; The Land...

A few years ago 5 friends got together and purchased about 4.5 hectares of jungle in Tulum Mexico.

The idea was to create a self sustainable beautiful piece of land, that could also somehow create and income, likely through renting cabins, offering seminars on permaculture and the like, perhaps a nursery and/or other ideas.

From what I understand two of the partners moved to the land initially (about 3-4 years ago), they built a very simple structure to live in and a simple kitchen. These structures are used today by the workers who currently live and work on The Land.

They (the two partners) stayed for a few months, leaving behind some very creative points of interest.

Most of the work that the workers have been doing these past few years, have been to clear the under brush, as well as take down dead trees, of which there were many, due to the forrest fire about two and a half years ago. There are between 4 and 8 workers, plus Jose who is the head of the workers, they work on which ever project needs attention at the moment, currently that attention has moved from the bridge to the chicken corral, hmmmm

All around the land there is pile after pile of forrest debris: "gold" once mulched.

There is also the free range chicken neighborhood under construction, complete with three different roaming areas, nesting house for laying hens, separate nesting house for expecting mamas, nursery for mama and her chicks and a separate area for young chickens. This is being built as we speak and was already in the process when we arrived.

There are also a few goats intended for milk, some rabbits I believe for meat and a few turkeys.

The reason that we are here as seen through my eyes, is that while the partners are all excited to see their vision unfold, none of them really want to make the move out to The Land, being still so unfriendly and remote.

We, on the other hand love everything about the lifestyle of creating just such a place, in true Robison Crusoe style. We will be able to build our own home, building it as much as possible with what we can find locally and naturally, preferably straight off the land itself. We will Terra-form it into a sustainable piece of heaven, paying close attention to the naturally occurring tendency of the land. Preparing the soil, planting the seeds, tending the seeds and harvesting the mature fruit. Recovering and reforesting the jungle into a producing ecosystem, perfect and balanced... permaculture, Rudolf Stainer, medicinals, endangered species... We will be living with animals as friends, for eggs, milk and cheese. 

Everything about this lifestyle excites me.

I might have chosen a different part of the world to create this lifestyle had I had a range of choices, yet I have no doubt that life brought us here for a reason.

We have a lot of work ahead of us, and we do have a tight budget, we are not completely free to do exactly as we want without consulting the group of friends who are funding the endeavor, yet what an honor and a privilege to have this opportunity, to help make a realty of this vision.

At a point in our lives where we were completely starting over without clear direction, without capital, yet with an openness to be guided and a wish for a certain lifestyle, life brought us here.

It truly is a win win situation.

I trust we will create something amazing here.

~in gratitude~

A long day

Yesterday was a long day, I felt very overwhelmed by the magnitude of the work in front of us.

When we arrived at the land I looked around and for a moment it seemed almost impossible to do what we have set out to do, so unfriendly and harsh is the terrain.

Rocks are everywhere, and the first step is to be able to get around the land with a wheel barrow without braking it on all the rocks in the path, so in reality before anything else the paths must be formed. That job alone is huge as many of the rocks will not be moved easily, and we must instead fill in with gravel and such, and how to get any gravel to the back of land...well it is an organic process, and by simply moving forward one step at the time, we will work out how to best proceed. Patience and more patience!

But I am getting way ahead of myself, the day actually started by scavenging for food scraps at the local market, we were able to get plenty of fruit and veggie scraps for the chickens and the compost piles.

Then we went scavenging for other material to use, and found a big pile filled with discarded wood from a recently finished construction. Keenan was a great help, and worked proudly until we had finished.

 Ready to go..

Once on the land I did a simple soil test and found that the PH in our soil is just slightly acid, just below 7 and perfect, yet every other nutrient is depleted, so far as I could make out from the tests. To remedy this we need to create lots of good compost, as well as mulch everything heavily. I was able to get two good piles started, attempting a good balance between carbon and nitrogen material. That being one part nitrogen (chicken manure, fruit scraps and such) to every ten parts of carbon material (generally brown dry material, such as leaf litter, saw dust news paper , cardboard and such) We have so much woody debris on the land, but for the best result we would need to mulch it all, for now, we do the best we can with what we have. It is no problem keeping it moist as we are in the middle of rainy season and getting lots and lots of rain. We will 

be poking sticks deep into the piles everyday to aerate them and turn them once a week, hoping to have dark rich compost in a few months.

Keenan was again a great help getting sawdust to the piles..

 I am pretty sure it is not a good idea to put many whole citrus fruits in a pile, yet for now we will use what we have an observe the different results, also the big sticks will take longer to decompose, again using what we have..

Then, time for a swim and a snack in the shade by the cenote

Some planting of plants and little trees that we found discarded and broken. We created a whole garden at our house in Miami by using mostly abandoned plants and cuttings from all around us.

Then a last swim before piling in the truck tired, sore and plenty bitten by mosquitos 

The children and adults alike adore the freshness of the cenote, it really makes it all worth while..

My favorite part of the day was to see how inspired Keenan was from watching us work the land.

When we arrived home he brought out his wheel barrow and proceed gathering soil from around the garden, then with his boots and gloves he walked around asking all the neighbors if they needed any soil, when they did not, he asked Miguel if he would please walk around town offering soil to people. 

The two of them headed out, wheel barrow and all for a ten block walk to Frida's Garden, a little garden cafe, where I am right now using the internet, asking Rafael if he might need some soil. He happened to have a banana palm in need of soil, and in return for the soil Keenan was promised some bananas from the tree once it fruits.

It was the most precious thing.

Ahh and the other favorite part was a hot shower, yeah, it turned out we just needed a bit of patience to get the water heater working.

Now we just need internet at the house:)

 On the way Keenan found a bat that had been run over, he found a nice spot on the side to put the body to rest.

~in honor of the organic process~

Settling in

We have now been in the new home for a week, and we have settled in nicely.

Many people told me before we came here, that Tulum has a very dense energy that either takes you in or spits you out, and judging by our first week here we have been taken in.

Having a place for the first time in almost three years where we can feel at home 

is a blessing beyond words. We are slowly finding our rhythm and living the way we as a family would.

Certainly it is not without "problems".  I have not had a warm shower since being here, and I LOVE my warm showers. Also we have no internet although the house was supposed to have wireless access, and for that matter my computer has been acting up again also.

We are on a tight budget and our meals have been very simple and repetitive, and also a lot of our luggage is still at our friends house 45 minutes away.

Even with all of these little inconveniences our little tribe is thriving. 

We have been without a car most of the time and have not been able to get to the land as much as we would have liked, yet have used the time to settle in nicely and doing lots of research. 

The plans for the initial house which had already been done before we arrived turned out to be for a far more expensive house than the budget could hold, so Miguel has been designing a sweet little house, that we are hoping will fit within the budget.

Besides that we are realizing that the first step in creating the gardens and growing food successfully, will require lots and lots of compost, as we have next to no topsoil, in fact we will need to grow mostly in raised beds, to avoid hauling massive amounts of rock all around the land.

So here we are, settling in in Tulum, getting ready for the creatively fun work ahead of us.

Cherishing being all together in our own space!

Grateful!

I have not had a chance to upload any pictures, so they will follow later.

~Blessing to all~

Our new temporary home

While we build the first house on the land we will be renting a house near by.

We have been looking around for the past few days, and ended up with two options that were both tempting. One was "on" the beach, primitive, off the grid, solar wind power and an immense amount of mosquitoes, the other was in town, more spacious and comfortable and with pool access.

While the beach community in Tulum is very appealing, we decided to go with the place in town.

Having moved around so much over the past  couple of years I felt that a more homey feel, 

with children around to form friendships made more sense. Had it been just Miguel and I, I think we would have certainly moved to the beach, yet this way the children can make connections with other children before we move out to the mangroves in a few months.

Below are a few pictures of the new "home" as well as the surrounding area of Tulum beaches and pueblo.

The front of the house..

Inside....

La playa

El pueblo

~feeling grateful~

In Mexico

Following three months in Venezuela, a short solo trip for me to Denmark, one week in Miami and here we are, ready to begin a new adventure.

Like I mentioned in the earlier post we are here to help create an eco village in the jungle of Tulum.

An eco village in the sense that we are a group of people coming together with the intention 

of creating a low impact way of life that integrates various aspects of ecological design, permaculture, ecological building, green production, alternative energy, community building and much more.

We, our family, will be the Robinson Crusoe family of this project. We will be the first to move unto the land, to start creating the gardens, the orchards. To clean and to build.

The land which we saw yesterday for the first time is hostile at first impression, not friendly in the least.

A fire cleared many trees a couple of years ago, and left big parts of the property barren of vegetation.

Now trees are growing back among the rocks, yet it is still far from the lush oasis and sanctuary that we envision it be. There is a big Cenote (deep natural well ) on the land which provides a clean fresh water source, as well as a swimming hole.

First step is to build a house for us to live in, before we can get started with that we need a bridge over the cenote, and this project is already under way. We hope to get started building in one months time.

As you will see in the photos below we have our work cut out for us, failures as well as successes, and I intend to document the process open and honestly here..

Below is what most of the first hectare looks like

 this is where the bridge is being built

 lush environment around the cenote

 the children have already fallen in love with the cenote...

 and this is the site where we will build the first house, the house where we will live

~Blessings~

Joy and sorrow

It has been a time of very mixed emotions.

At the beginning of March our little family was all reunited following 27months of separation. It was a joy filled moment, the children and I, Papa and Linus all back together after such a long time, so many uncertainties, so many journeys to different places in search of the place where we would once again be together.

Miguel was deported and will no longer be allowed to enter the United States, hence the search for a place to reunite. 

Here we are in Venezuela staying with Miguel's Mom, who has been so generous as to leave us her place and moved in with her sister. Spending time with the extended family is wonderful and the children are really enjoying getting to know their cousins. 

Initially we had planned to stay here for 2-3 years, work online as well as fixing up a downstairs apartment that used to be Miguel's grandfathers.

We were busy at work downstairs when an old friend out of the blue calls up Miguel and offers us to come to Mexico where he has just bought some land and wants to create a permaculture farm, eco tourism venture, and he wants us to be part of it. He will in fact with our help build us a cob house, a house that we design. We will be paid a salary to help create exactly what we have been dreaming about and planning for years now. Wow, I feel so blessed!!

Right around the same time as we receive this news, I also get news from my Dad back in Denmark that he has just been diagnosed with a very advanced colon cancer which has spread to his liver.

Just a few days ago he started a harsh chemotherapy treatment and my heart is hurting  from being so far away. I feel helpless, and the frailty of life is made painfully obvious as 

I struggle to trust that all is as it should be. 

The joy of being all together again, the sorrow of being so far away during my fathers time of need.

The joy of new possibilities, the sorrow of the pain my father is going through.

All of it seems two sides of the same coin, the front and the back of this thing we call life.

I will be back here with a step by step documentation of our upcoming venture in Tulum Mexico.

Self sustainability, cob building, permaculture gardening, farming, homeschooling and more.

Till then..

~Blessings~