Today was a very soil-centric day! Last night after Dahoon’s post we watched the Documentary Dirt, an excellent film about the importance of dirt to our planet, food, ecosystems, and personal lives. When I woke up this morning, the hills were covered in clouds. I’ve been living in a little outdoor loft, so watching the sunrise is always beautiful. We did eight sun salutations with Teacher Alan, meditated while listening to the birds and chickens, and then did our chores.

We have ten chicks right now and they are adorable! They’ve been eating multiple bowls of feed a day and are growing rapidly!

After chores we returned to the house and ate breakfast cooked by Gloria and Alba, two amazing Mexican cooks. They brought their granddaughter/daughter Maite with them today as well and gave us the gift of amazing eggs, tortillas, and beans.

After breakfast we walked down to a field to meet Angel the farm manager and learned that we were going to be making dirt! We used machetes to cut down an entire row of Flemingia. Flemingia is a windbreaker plant that is cut-and-come again, meaning that even though we cut it down it will grow back in the future. It is especially important because it is a nitrogen fixer. Once it is cut, all of the nutrients in the roots go into the soil, while the top pieces are used in compost piles.

After we cut the Flemingia, we met Mauricio and Eduardo, two campesinos about our age. We all worked together to build square compost lasagnas with layers of Flemingia, dried grass, earth and water. We added humus from previous years’ compost piles to introduce bacteria. This was the most beautiful compost I have seen it my life! I was paired with Eduardo, so we had a conversation about compost and compared the fertility of the soil at Westtown Mini Farm, the soil at other farms I have worked on, and the soil at Las Cañadas. I was so impressed by Eduardo’s physical strength, kindness, and ability as a farmer. It was great to practice speaking Spanish and make some new friends.

While we were composting, Eric Toensmeier walked by! He is a visiting lecturer at Yale School of forestry, and he talked to us about carbon sequestration, compost, and nitrogen cycling. You should look him up! Here is the link:  http://www.perennialsolutions.org/

After the compost project, we went down to the bamboo bridge to go for a swim. Teacher Alan was a very impressive swimmer because he just jumped right into the cold water. The rest of us were a bit more hesitant. I was attempting to boulder on the side of the pool when a rock broke and I fell in! I am happy to say that this was my first (pretty shallow) deep water soloing fall as a rock climber. I also found some roots to climb on. The water was cold, but refreshing. After our swim we went back up to the house and ate some amazing rice, salad, beans, and malanga patties prepared by Alba and Gloria. We took a short nap, and then it was time for Teacher Alan and I to catch the chicken!

Our dear chicken friend has been eating ants in the blackberry patch for several days. It was time for her to come back to the coop, so Teacher Alan and I headed down the hill to collect her. She did not want to come back, however. We spent twenty minutes herding her around through the blackberry rows. The bushes were prickly, so I nudged her with a stick to chase her to the corners of the field. After a very long time Teacher Alan finally grabbed her and I carried her up to the coop. We decided to name her Zarzamora for her blackberry-like personality. After the chicken adventure, we all went on a tour of the sewage system.

The sewage system is made of compost! We learned about several different types of composting toilets, as well as the mechanical, solar and wind laundry system. All of these processes use zero fossil fuels, while the sewage actually contributes to the soil! Every factor of the process is taken into account, from air circulation, to solids and urine separation and fly capture. I was completely blown away by the beauty of these processes. After our tour and a short walk through the food forest, we returned to the house and watched an amazing TED Talk about humus. We learned about the importance of living soil and how it can help our nutrition, reduce climate change, filter and store water, hold the soil together, and sequester carbon. We discussed steps that individuals and communities can take to promote humus cultivation and solve climate change, and how we can apply these ideas to our own lives. If you haven’t seen this TED Talk, you definitely should! Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q1VnwcpW7E Overall, today we learned a ton about humus and living soil, including how to create it, integrate it with the waste from our bodies, and how it could save the Earth. I can’t wait to see how we can use this knowledge to improve sustainability at Westtown. Thanks so much for reading and remember: compost is important!

-Leif

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today was Teacher Paula’s birthday! We woke up a bit later than usual at 7:30 am and Teacher Alan leaded us in singing happy birthday outside of Teacher Paula’s window to wake her up.                                                             Afterwards, we went about our daily chores and got ready for breakfast. On top of getting ready for breakfast, Sam prepared some wonderful Banana bread inside the solar oven for T. Paula’s birthday. I’m very excited to eat some of that later tonight.

For breakfast, Mekhi made most of the very delicious pancakes, which we had with either honey or store bought “maple syrup”. Along with the pancakes we had the usual yogurt with fruit and granola. After clearing up our breakfast meal, we devoted the earlier half of the day to learning more about the Grey Water system which, in short, filters the grease from the water so that the water we use in the house can be recycled for the plants and local vegetation. First, we added more rocks to the one that was just built down by the tiny house. Then, we left the sinks on in the tiny house so that the Grey Water system would fill up with water. While waiting, we hiked down to the creek where we crossed the bamboo bridge that was built in 2005 by the senior project that came.

2005

2016

Down by the creek we discovered a pump that was bringing the water from the creek up to the house we were living in. The pump operated by using the power of a water wheel which powered two pistons, which pumped the water up the mountain to a very large water container which we also hiked up to.

At that point, the water traveled through pipes down to the house. After learning about how we were getting our water, we looked at the Grey Water system already in place up at the larger house. Not only did we get to see what a complete system looked like, but we also got to harvest some water lilies from the older system to bring down and plant in the newer system. The water lilies are placed in each tank to filter the soap and grease from the water that we use in the house.

After learning about the Grey Water system, we came back up to the house and had lunch. For lunch we had delicious spaghetti, which put us all to sleep for a quick nap. After the nap, we set out on a hike to the original cloud forest, which was about 30 minutes away. About 10 minutes into the hike, we encountered Vigo, a neighborhood dog who then followed us on the entire hike and back. We enjoyed his company very much.

When we got to the original cloud forest, it was amazing to see almost untouched wildlife. We crossed swaying bridges and several of us slipped multiple times. The hike was great, as we took in the beautiful surroundings in the company of good friends.

Once we hiked through the cloud forest and hit the road, we turned back around and returned back home. Now as I am writing this, I can’t wait to eat the delicious dinner and sleep like a baby until tomorrow morning.

-Dahoon

The day began at 7:00 AM with the daily chores. Since it was the first morning here, we did a walk-through of each of the morning jobs. First we went through the chicken coop—let them out, gave more food, changed the water, and swept up. Then we went to the geese coop—let them out, gave them food and changed the water, as well. The geese are definitely a lot less friendly. Afterwards, we went to the mushroom log area where it was my job to remove the logs harvesting in the water and replace them with new logs. Mushrooms are a perfect crop for this humid climate. Finally, we harvested a plethora of veggies, for the salad that we planned to eat for lunch and dinner. At this point, we finally got to eat breakfast, which was beans, Mexican styled eggs, and tortillas. The food, of course was delicious.

After breakfast we headed down to the mushroom log area, once again, to rearrange and label some of the log pieces. We established a nice system where some people wrote labels, some nailed the labels, and some carried them over to the new location.

After the logs, we went over to work on the grey water system. On our way we crossed several leaf cutter ants super highways. Take a look. Ants, it turns out, were the first farmers – harvesting leaves to create compost to grow mushrooms in the underground homes!

One of our themes this week is appropriate technology. One of the buildings we are staying in (Sam is there now) has been recently build. We are working on the grey water treatment system for this house. This task consisted of finding fairly large rocks and placing them in a series of 4 circular ferro-cement containers. Once completed, water from the kitchen sink and the shower will flow through these containers. The rocks we gathered and put in the containers plus the aquatic plants (which we will add later) will serve as a filter. The end result will be re-use of the household’s waste water to either water fruit trees or return harmlessly to the soil.Eventually we ventured over to some neighbors who had the coolest house that I have ever seen. This savvy house was built in a way so that there were plants growing straight out of the ground right inside the house. In the photo you can see us in the center of this home. Hopefully we will get the opportunity to visit again.

On our way back we picked up more rocks and then we had lunch. We ate some more tamales and the beans with tortillas. After lunch we had the opportunity to rest for a little and soon thereafter, we went on a five kilometer hike in a recovering 250 acre patch of cloud forest. It was only the four of us guys, machetes in hand, trekking though the woods. It was a beautiful sight, with many hills, bridges, and trees. After the hike we returned, put the chickens and geese in their coops and got ready for dinner.

I also tried building the fire to take a warm shower, and it didn’t work out well; the wood just didn’t catch (high humidity makes fire starting a real challenge in this climate). Sam eventually got it, and I was looking forward to that shower. We ate dinner first, which was customized pizza in a wood burning barrel oven and the huge salad assortment. After dinner I got to take that shower and then we did an interesting exercise to figure out some goals for the week. After a long day, I sure am ready to head to sleep, ready for tomorrow.

-Mekhi

Early morning for the Mexico crew – we ended up packing the van and leaving Westtown by 4ish. A smooth drive later, we were at the airport. We got through security, found our gate, got a quick breakfast, and boarded our plan to ATL. Other than a crying baby, the flight was smooth and gave us a chance to catch up on sleep. Once in Atlanta, we literally walked straight on to our next flight; no time to sit down or get food. We got on the plane, and were off to Mexico.

Once in Mexico, we made it through customs (barely) and exchanged our money so we could buy a quick lunch in the airport.

After eating we got into a taxi that took us to a bus station. That taxi ride was our first real look at the city, although the view from above provided us with a preliminary glimpse of its beauty.

After the taxi we had a short walk through the bus station before reaching our bus. After a few minutes, we were off to Huatusco. 5 ½ hours later, we were at our rally point, waiting to meet up with Alan. After a few strokes of luck, we were reunited, and were off to our new home. Before reaching home, we made a stop to a local friend to pick up forty or so tamales.

We went through some gates, and made it home in complete darkness. After moving all of our stuff in, we went to the back of the mini house and got acquainted with the tamales. After dinner we were invited to and went on a short, back-of-the-truck ride to the middle of our campus, where we took off on foot and went a short but very sweet night hike through our new home.                            After 20 hours of traveling

After getting back, we laid down together outside with the sky over us. We took deep breaths and mentally prepared ourselves to truly give this week our all. We shouted to the world, “ITS OKAY TO BE FULLY ALIVE”. The silence after this may have been more powerful than the shouting itself. With that, we were off for our first nights rest with our minds set on the day to come.

– SAM