LA GRANJA CONTINUES

The construction of the new animal barn, La Granja in Spanish, continues. The construction has been delayed by a few obstacles. First there was/is the rain. As the foundations for the support posts were excavated, they quickly filled with rain.. Every morning began with bailing water out of the holes so that the concrete footings could be poured. There are 32 of these foundation holes so it was a slow process.

The next obstacle was the lack of electricity on site. At first the construction relied on hand tools and lots of manual labor. This was not a real problem because the vertical posts are wood. When we started the roof beams it quickly became a problem The roof beams are thick metal. The cordless drill didn’t stand a chance against the thick steel beams. The drill lost its charge after just a few screw holes. So, we brought in a mini generator to construct the roof. In just a few days the beams were up and the metal roof was installed. We are no longer at the mercy of the rains.

We are now beginning the interior spaces. We will begin by dividing the space into separate animal areas. The first to be built will be for the adult and baby goats. I will keep you posted as the progress continues.

RAPPELLING OR ROCK CLIMBING ANYONE?

Last week when I was working in the studio it started to rain. I didn’t think anything of it. After all it is the rainy season in Costa Rica and it rains in the afternoon. Then, Carlos called me from Café Blue to see if I was OK. Apparently down at Café Blue which is only 300 meters away, quite a storm was in progress. Not only was it pouring but there were also very high winds. Usually when it rains, no matter how hard, the rain comes straight down.

At Café Blue, the winds were gusting, limbs were falling off the trees, chairs were tipping over in the restaurant, glasses were being blown off the tables and crashing onto the stone floor, and a large tree behind the restaurant fell over taking several shrubs, vines and bromeliads with it. All of this while very little rain and no winds were blowing at the studio. Then, across from Café Blue a large wall of vegetation fell from the cliff. This cliff is totally vertical and over the years all types of plants have grown onto this vertical face of rock including trees, vines, flowers, orchids and shrubs. No rock was ever visible.

The wind from this storm loosened the wall of plants and it detached from the rock in one big sheet of twisted plants and roots and fell to the ground, all in one single motion. The result is a perfectly clean rock face of approximately 120 feet tall.

Even before the cleanup of the vegetation began, which included Carlos in his best clothes dragging logs in the rain and Cristobal chopping away with his machete, ideas about setting up rock climbing and rappelling activities began. Adrian the hotel manager was immediately on the phone calling experts to make a site visit while Carlos was emailing a well known rappelling company near Arenal. One of the exciting things about living in Costa Rica is that you never know what will happen and where it will lead you. I will keep you posted on when you can expect to experience rock climbing and rappelling at Monte Azul. Or we may just light it up with pretty lights at night instead.

LA GRANJA BEGINS

This week the back hoe arrived at the site of the new animal barn – La Granja in Spanish. The area needed to be leveled slightly so that we can begin construction of the barn. The site was chosen for its proximity to the open pastures that existed at Monte Azul from its previous life as a dairy farm. The site is at the top of the hill near the coffee plantation.

A new barn was needed to house our ever growing family of goats. We currently have 11 goats. However, 6 of the females are pregnant and expecting to give birth in mid November. Since 4 of the goats have had twins previously, there is the potential for 10 new goats. Goats usually give birth to a single kid in their first pregnancy and twins thereafter.

Any way you count it, our current goat facilities are just not adequate. Hence, a new barn is in the works. It is large enough house more than just goats too. I won’t let you know all of the animals that we planned for these new facilities but I will keep you posted of the progress. There is a deadline. The goats are going to give birth whether we are finished or not, so we need to keep moving forward.

A WALK IN THE FOREST

I few days ago Carlos and I went for a short walk along the River Edge trail here at Monte Azul. We were scouting for the perfect location to build a river viewing platform. Along the way we spotted several interesting plants and views. I thought that I might share just a few of them. The orchids show are endemic to this area only and have a sweet smell - an uncommon trait in orchids.

We did find that perfect spot for our viewing platform. We hope to start building it in the next few months and have it ready by December. It will be a fantastic spot to relax by the river, read a book, watch the birds and other wildlife or have lunch from Café Blue

I will be sure to keep you posted as we progress with this project.

CAN YOU SPOT THE SNAKE?

This week I received a call from our hotel manger Adrian saying that a big snake had been spotted along the road by our groundskeeper Cristobal. All of Monte Azul’s employees know that whenever an animal is spotted that I want to see it, if possible. Our property is full of animals but it usually takes a trained eye and being in the right place at the right time to see them. That and sitting still and patiently waiting for things to walk by.

After receiving this call, I immediately ran down to the area where this snake was spotted. When I got there, Carlos, Melissa, Alvaro and 2 visiting artists, Karla Solano and Luis Diego Ramos, were already on the scene. Everyone was looking up. I looked up and couldn’t see anything. I was expecting a “big” snake. After having everyone give me instructions on where to look, I finally spotted the snake. It was a the very top of the tree, long and thin like a tree branch. It didn’t help that I was looking up into the sun but after a few moments I located it.

I had brought my camera and started taking a few photos. I did not hold out much hope of getting a good shot but thought that I would give it a try any way. I was really surprised that some of them turned out. Here are a few of the photos I took. In the first one, can you tell which part is a branch and which part is the snake? I still don’t see how Cristobal was able to spot this snake, especially since he was in his car driving down the road when he saw it. I guess it just takes experience and living here your entire life. Maybe one day I will be able spot forest creatures this easily and call others to come look.

ANOTHER GOAT?

As a result of our ever growing goat herd and our goal to continuously improve our sustainable practices, we have turned our focus on the goat’s house. We currently have 10 goats and are preparing for the next breeding season. Our facilities cannot support any more goats. With 6 goats old enough for breeding this season we need to expand our housing for this year’s new arrivals.

This week Carlos, Asdrubel (our goat herder) and I went to see a farmer in Quebradas that has more than 40 goats. He invited us to visit his farm and see his operation first hand. It was a very informative visit. We got many great ideas about how to build our new goat facilities. He has raised platforms to house and feed the goats. There is also a special platform for milking. The goats are trained that when he opens the pen's gate and calls the goat, she runs out and jumps up on the platform ready to be milked.

This facility didn’t house just goats. He also had a place for dairy cows, pigs, chickens, ducks and pigeons. There were also guinea hens. These birds are fascinating to watch. They have large bodies with short necks and small white heads. They roam around the yard looking for insects.

Part of this animal barn included a pen for the yound kids - 6 month olds. There were about 12 of them. Each one was as adorable as the next. As much as I try to be a true farmer, my emotions sometimes get the best of me. I fell in love with each of the kids. There was one that was especially cute. Long story short, Carlos was just as touched by these baby goats as I was and he bought her before I knew what was happening.

Her name is Cachita. She was named Cachita because she has only 1 horn and it is very small. Cacho is Costa Rican slang for horn. So her name means little horn. Cachita’s markings of black, white and tan make her especially adorable. Here are a few photos of the newest member of the Monte Azul family. She makes goat #11.

SOLAR WATER HEATER INSTALLED AT MONTE AZUL

Monte Azul continues its mission of sustainability. We are always looking at ways to improve our use of resources and reduce, reuse and recycle. On May 12, 2011, we installed the first solar water heater on the roof of the studio. This is solar water heater was installed by a company in San Jose call Solray. The system consists of a series of heat collection tubes, a storage tank and a monitor.

The array of heat collection tubes is approximately 6 feet long and 7 feet wide. These tubes are specifically designed to maximize the suns energy and heat the water inside the the tubes. As the water in the tubes is heated, it rises and flows into the storage tank that is located above the tubes. The storage tank holds 300 liters (79 gallons). If there are several days of no or little sun, the system has a back up electric heating element in the tank. This coil slowly heats the water up to a desired temperature.

There is also a digital monitor the lets you know the temperature of the water in the tank at any given time. The water temperature has been fluctuating between 50 -70 degrees Celsius (122-158 degree Fahrenheit) depending on usage and amount of sunshine. This temperature range is definitely hot enough to take a shower.

It has been 3 weeks since the unit has been installed and it is working very well. We will test it for 3 months and make sure that it continues to work properly. We also want to check and see how much money we are saving by eliminating the traditional electrical tank water heater. We goal is to eventually replace all our electric water heaters with solar water heaters. I will let you know in a few months how we are doing and the actual savings in electric usage we experience.