Day Four -- Sustainable Eco-Tour

Warning: This post is long, but only because of the pictures. Enjoy!

(Ali in the restaurant/community center having an after breakfast cup of coffee.)

After yoga, Ali and I showered and ate breakfast. It's amazing how many times a day we change our clothes and shower here. What's even more astounding is that despite sweating through entire shirts, if we hang them on the porch, they dry and aren't stinky. We can re-wear them the next day. Miraculous.

We wandered down to Lisa's place, as she was going to guide us on the eco-tour and waterfall hike (pictures from the hike will be in a different posting). She's been incubating eggs for the farm in her living room. Two had hatched the day before, and were already out of the incubator. The chicks need to stay in the incubator after hatching for twenty-four hours, or at least until there feathers are all dry.

Before I take you on our eco-tour, let me explain briefly about the food production here at Osa Mountain Village. Their goal is 100% food security for all the residents. There are thousands of fruit trees, several tilapia ponds, and multiple gardens. The residents leave a basket with their name on it in the community center, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the baskets are filled with all the harvest the Tico workers have collected from the farm and gardens. Any leftovers are just left on the table for anyone to pick up. While I was there, I saw a big bucket of chicken eggs just for the taking.

Another thing that Osa Mountain Village does is embrace edible landscaping -- whether it's mint planted in a container at the bar, or chard planted underneath the shade of papaya trees. 

On to the eco-tour:

 You must always carry a walking stick, and a machete. Residents here can harvest anything they want, whenever they want. Here Lisa is cutting up a cuadrado. They are kind of like a mealy banana. But bigger. Yummy in smoothies and on your morning yogurt.

Banana plants grow way tall -- and are often confused with trees. They grow one (not sure on that) bunch of bananas, and when it's harvested, the plant dies and falls over. A new one grows among the mulch of the old one, and the cycle begins again. If, however, you want to plant one in a different place, you cut up the stalk of the banana plant that died, and plant that where you want a new one to grow. The new plant grows out of the old base. (I will check with Lisa to see if I remembered this correctly.)

(Ali picking a limon dulce -- sweet lemon.)

Chickens! 

(Flaka means skinny in Spanish. She's taking the lead here.)

(Beans amend the soil and make great ground cover. They are also a main staple for this region.)

(Even though harvesting amaranth seeds and processing them by hand into flour is uber labor intensive, and frankly no one does that here at OMV, they sure make pretty purple plants.)

(Some of the gardens here at OMV.)

(Lots of people think pineapples -- pina in Spanish -- grow on trees, but they don't.)

(Lisa and the medicinal herbal garden.)

(Jim, his dad, and Christian netting fish out of one of the tilapia ponds.)

(This is the freezer/fridge for the chickens and the goat milk collected for the residents.)

(Ali with the sugar cane press.)

(These are the laying hens.)

(Residents voted to raise rabbits for meat.)

(More gardens!)

(This is Charlotte. She was slaughtered the day after this picture was taken, and we are eating her tomorrow.)

The next post will be a combination of photos from two separate days of waterfall hiking.

Pura Vida.

Day Three - Arrival

I've been blogging in my personal blog during my vacation, but since it takes place in Costa Rica, I think I'll switch over here. You can read about our journey to our destination here and here.

**

Lisa and Mark picked us up in Palmar Norte, which is the closest town to Osa Mountain Village. We stopped at the BM, a brand new grocery store, to pick up a few things to snack on in the villa, and then trekked up in 4WDLow to the eco-resort.

We stopped on the way at Mitch and Charlene's place to deliver some groceries to them. and got a spontaneous tour of their amazing home. Ali and I want to use containers in our place, too.

(Dave, Mitch, Mark -- in the reflection, Lisa and Flaka The Dog, Charlene, and Ali)

The lot I have for sale at Osa Mountain Village is the one right above Mitch and Charlene's, so the view is the same. Breathtaking.

After checking in to our villa, and unpacking, we met a handful more people that lived there (or owned and were visiting, like us), and went down for a community dinner.

Two days a week, the restaurant in the community center serves a community dinner where everyone sits down and has a family style dinner; two days a week it's ordering off the menu; and two days a week it's closed.

The bar is open every day. Of course.

After dinner we went "home" and watched a downloaded episode of Downton Abbey. I bought it from iTunes for $2.99. Netflix doesn't work here. First bummer.

Bedtime comes fairly early here (mostly because the sun sets at 5:30 pm every night), and once it's dark, it sort of feels like you should be in bed.

Plus, the next day (which happened to be my birthday) was slated for: yoga in the community center, a eco tour of the gardens, a waterfall hike, and dinner with Lisa and Mark. Very full. So I didn't mind hitting the sack.

The Haphazard Gardener

My first fail as a suburban homesteader this week was to NOT accept free edible landscaping. I DID NOT go to a friend of a friend’s house and dig up her unwanted raspberry plants and plant them in my garden. I just had too much else planned that day.

And some of those plans included a nap with my boyfriend after eating Sunday brunch at a local restaurant. It was the first day alone with him in fifteen days. These were important plans.

I got an email from my landlord the other day saying he’d decided to NOT sell the house after all (unless I personally wanted to buy from him.) Apparently he was contemplating a move out of the city and that was really why he was selling the house. I guess that’s not happening anymore.

I think I’ll go ahead with the VA loan process – but slower, and without the anxiety and threat of having to move behind it. If I get the loan, and the monthly payments stay the same, or are cheaper than my rent, I’ll go ahead and buy. I do like this house. But the main effect this change has on me is I don’t have to wait on my gardening intentions.

I’m going to rent a rototiller, plow up my miniature garden space and get some seeds in the ground pronto. I’ll have the raised beds made as soon as possible, and that will make weeding easier down the road – not to mention the dogs can't trample the seedlings – but the gardening can start now.

My next plan is to move the yard debris I’ve collected from around the yard. I can drop it off at Rexius for $5. Done. I also want to plant those tomato and pepper seeds in my kitchen. Of course, that will mean keeping the house warmer. I tend to wear layers in the house and use the woodstove to generate heat only when I’m going to be in the house all day. No use lighting a fire if I’m only going to be around for three hours before or after work. But these seeds will need warmth. If my house is cold enough that my nose is running, why bother planting the seeds inside?

The Costa Rica vacation will warm me up though. A wonderful change from “I need to chop more kindling.” March 25th can't come soon enough. I think Ali and I may even brave the $12 four+ hour bus ride from San Jose to Uvita. We'll stay at Osa Mountain Village Resort in a villa for a few days, and then decide if we want to spend the last three nights camping there. An OMV neighbor has offered to drive us around the week we're there so we don't need to rent a car. Sweet!

Chris (from Osa Mountain Village and Serenity Gardens Eco-Village) emailed me photos taken of some of the lots we are interested in. One has a particularly pretty view of the valley below us. And all the lots have a little jungle left on them. And two have a bunch of smaller trees on the property, as well.

I just got them this morning (or as my Indian friend says, “today morning”) so I haven’t had a lot of time to pour over them. For once a fun thing to add to my to-do list.

I’m leaning towards this one…

because of the view

…but it’s impossible to tell for sure until we walk on them ourselves. Another has more usable land for what we want to do with it but no creek running through the back of it. Hmm. 

In the interim we’ll just pick one (we have it narrowed down to four), and when we get there we can solidify the choice on paper, with signatures. Our first step towards Pura Vida! 

In other news, Ali and I are trying on business ideas for Costa Rica. We’ll both have some sort of writing/editing freelancing we’ll do, but we want a local business to run there, too. So far we are leaning towards hosting all-inclusive retreats in our piece of jungle paradise. Healing retreats, Artist retreats, and Writers retreats.

Also, mushroom farming.

Jungle Goodness

 I would sink my toes in the organic soil and breathe in jungle goodness. Pizotes would beg for food -- until they realized we had dogs on the property - and scarlet macaws would fly overhead. I'm pretty sure that whatever lot we lived on would be "good."

(Taken on the road up to Osa Mountain Village by Betty McGee.)

I don't want to jinx it, but Happy Birthday to me! And I'll tell you why in a minute.

In some recent correspondence with the land developer, I was invited to pick out my home site (even though I only have a deposit down). He was concerned that all the "good" ones would be taken. I smile at this because any land at the eco-village would be grand.

Nevertheless, I had a survey map sent over and -- lo, and behold -- about half the lots already had dibs called on them. Eeek! I sent a mad scurry of emails to determine what wavy green lines, white spaces, blue and red lines, and blue triangles all mean on survey maps, and have requested pictures or video of four or five of the lots that Ali and I have narrowed down. 

Despite this, and despite the knowledge that all the lots would be "good," Ali and I are seriously considering a quick trip down to CR to make sure the lot we pick out will be the best for us. (!!!) I do have some specific intentions for the land, and it would be a bummer if the thing I wanted to do with it wouldn't work. I want to have the space to have a large garden, a bee hive, a chicken coop, a yurt and a wooden house, and plenty of room for doggies to roam. Also, a covered area for eating/dancing/yoga-ing outside.

My kids are going on a vacation with their dad and nana during Spring Break. Ali was thinking we could go to CR at the same time. (What a birthday gift to me!) He needed some time to get some things in order before we went -- projects to finish at work, etc -- but the good news is he doesn't need a visa to enter Costa Rica. So we don't have to wait (or pay extra) for that.

I emailed the community at Osa Mountain Village today and opened a dialogue up for finding creative ways to make this impromptu trip an inexpensive one for us. (Which translates to: begged for cheap, shared, or free accommodations, and car rental and food discounts.) We'll see what happens. There are benefits to living in community, you know?

Things are moving along at Serenity Gardens Eco-Village. 

They are building roads,

marking off home sites,

and they've finished the community center design rendering.

The community center will be at the upper-most lot on the property, with the only ocean view. Originally, Jim Gale (the developer) thought about having a couple of high-end homes built there, but decided it would be nicer if we all got to share that view as community members instead. Win!

Dreaming of House Designs

Look at how much space a thousand square feet can give you!

I particularly like this video because my boyfriend is an artist and avid collector of art. He's got his art, and I have my books. Culling those collections down to move to Costa Rica will be uber-difficult. If not impossible. The house in the video shows how much art can actually fit in a house this size. I'm inspired. I still think we could get by with less though, personally.

At this point, the plan is to put a yurt on the land (with hydro and solar electric) and plumbing (off the grid, of course), and vacation in the yurt until my boyfriend and I make the full time move down there. Once there, we'll live in the yurt while our house is being built. Something smaller than is depicted in the video. Like 700 square feet, maybe even less. (I'm really inspired by the Tiny House movement.)

With the mild and warm climate up on the mountain, we'll be doing a lot of living outside anyway. I see a large covered, open-aired, courtyard area for being outside even in the rainy season. For dancing, yoga, partying, reading in the fresh air, and dining.

Pura Vida. I can smell the soil even now.

After the move into the house happens, the yurt will still be used frequently. If we have a small house, I can see sometimes when one of us will want a space to get away to. Maybe the yurt can become a yoga/meditation room. Or an office (both of us will be freelancing for part of our income). And it would make a GREAT guest home for friends and family that visit us.

I'm so happy that my boyfriend and I have these similar dreams. That separately we've come together with bucket lists that included yurts and intentional living and sustainability. And dogs.

Model Home for Serenity Gardens

Proof.

They wanted to prove that they could build a house for thirty grand. They did. And here it is.

Prepping My Oregon Yard

Somehow I think that planning a garden, and readying the backyard for Spring, will be a far more enjoyable task when I live in the Costa Rican jungle. A cold, wintery Eugene, Oregon doesn't instill the necessary oomph. I am simply not inspired to rake wet leaves and mow and fill the yard waste bin.

Fifteen minutes a day. Just fifteen minutes a day. That's what my boyfriend, Ali, says. So last Sunday we spent a short amount of time on the front yard. He loaded up the yard waste bin with tree limbs and blackberry bramble vines that had been stacked under the now-naked cherry tree from last summer's pruning, and I raked about a quarter of the yard's leaves into the street for pick up -- careful to avoid the water run-off drain.

And I felt good. I mean, Yeah, the front yard doesn't really look like it's been touched, but I know it has been. And I know it's fifteen minutes closer to being done.

A recent snag in the homesteading efforts includes my landlord telling me he wants to sell the house I live in. (Sigh.) I had envisioned staying at this house that I've grown to love, for all the years until I moved to Costa Rica. The back yard is huge, and full of edible landscaping. There's room for chickens and a garden. I like the neighbors across the street, it's near a playground that both my older children like to go to -- for separate reasons -- and I have a great dog-walking route I use in the neighborhood that I really like.

My landlord has offered the sale of the house to me, and it is possible if I can qualify for a VA loan. Paperwork must ensue. And that means finding the necessary documentation from the attic, filling out forms, and waiting. Lots of waiting.

Which is my very favorite thing to do.

Also, it means waiting on the gardening plans. I don't want to have garden beds made, and soil delivered from Lane Forest Products, and seeds purchased from Territorial Seeds -- not to mention the time and energy of planting and weeding and caring for a Winter/Spring garden -- if I can't buy the house and it's sold out from under me.

I haven't told my children about any of this. I don't want them to either worry, or get their hopes up.

One step at a time.


One thing is certain though. I will have a garden. Even if it's in containers, or at my boyfriend's house. I've used the excuse before that I was moving during the growing season, and so couldn't have a garden. But not this time. Even if I do have to move this summer, I'll at least plant some strawberries in a strawberry pot, and grow some flowers and a tomato plant. Plus, in the Willamette Valley, there are loads of local farms where I can U-Pick a grand harvest of blueberries, peaches, apples, corn, or strawberries and can or freeze them. If I can't grow more than a pot or two of something, I can at least share in the local harvest and preserve it.

There are blackberry bushes everywhere in Eugene, and I can pick for free and make blackberry jam, and freeze any leftovers for making blackberry crisp, pie, and yogurt. Mmmm.

Every year I have such great plans for growing, harvesting, and preserving food. I don't even feel like they are out of line, or over the top, goals. Sure, challenging, but definitely doable. And every Summer and Fall I forget that I need to stop socializing or taking on ANY new projects until the harvesting is over. That's how they did it way back when, and that's still how it needs to be done today.

Despite the pattern stated above, I have a good feeling about this year. I really do. I could not qualify for purchasing my house, and I could have to move my little family yet again. But I'll have help through all of it, and whatever happens isn't a giant roadblock. It just might mean that my urban homesteading efforts will be summarized into a couple of terracotta pots with basil in them, instead of the growing little suburban farmstead I envisioned.

But that's okay. Everything happens for a reason. So, we'll just wait to see what transpires.

And then I'll figure out why it happened.

~~

In Costa Rica news, I got an email today with a new YouTube video that Christian Mena made. (He lives and works at Osa Mountain Village, and is helping to get Serenity Gardens Eco-Village up and running.) The video is ... amateur ... but certainly better than I could do. It's not of great quality, but I loved seeing the potential of the place, and the work they are starting to do on it.