As promised, here is a little bit more detail about EcoHostel Medellin and what kind of work we actually do on the farm. Paola opened the place about a year and half ago the farm is still young and growing.
The farm itself is quite small - no more than a few acres - but it packs a punch. Tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, yucca, mangoes, pineapple, avacados, peppers, onions, and a multitude of herbs and spices are but a few of the many items that grow here. The hostel isn't quite able to fully feed itself from the garden yet but should be able to achieve break-even by the end of Q2'14, with the overall goal of opening a vegetarian restaurant in town sometime in 2015.
Sustainability is unsurprisingly a key theme of the hostel. There is no trash nor is there even recycling: all food scraps go into the compost, and the few inorganic items we do use are stuffed into these bottles which will be turned into bricks for later use.
Accommodation is basic but comfortable. I have my own room and bathroom (I had to pay a little extra for that privilege but after 3 months of dormitories I was craving a little personal space), there is electricity 24/7, and a bounty of hammocks are scattered throughout the premises. I've even befriended a local bat who sleeps in the rafters and keeps the bugs away from me at night. However, the one luxury I truly, deeply miss is a tough one for me to cope with: there are no hot showers. That initial shock is cold, it gets colder, and yes, it stays cold. You know how Oedipus felt when he found out he was banging his mom the whole time? It's a lot like that.
Here's a few activities that we've been up to the past couple of weeks:
Machete Wielding: I had never actually used a machete before, and I must say it is fucking awesome. Just the slightest of swings slices branches with ease and it is incredibly satisfying reeling back and wailing on some thick brush. I've primarily used the machete for separating leaves from dead trees/branches; we use leaves for protecting young plants from being dominated by the sun and also mix them with fertilizer, and the branches provide bonfire tinder (the ash from the bonfires also goes into the fertilizer... everything here is interconnected, just like this atrocious run-on sentence).
Shoveling Shit: There are fields... endless fields. Volunteers pair up into teams of two - a shoveler and a bagger - and we hop over next door where the kindly neighbor lets us clean his cow pastures for him. We make our own fertilizer through a combination of said cow dung, grass clippings, dirt, ash, yeast, sugar, and water. Then we rake the monster pile for about two weeks, sprinkle it around the garden, and enjoy!
Terrace Making: As I mentioned earlier the farm is moving towards self sustenance. A big driver of that will come from these newly constructed terraces. These took a few weeks of the whole team shoveling and we brought in some professional help to craft the railings out of bamboo from the brush down the hill. Each of the terraces will then be layered with multiple layers of leaves, fertilizer, and dirt before the actual crops go in.
Staircase Construction: This goes hand in hand with the terrace making. Walking up and down a steep hill is treacherous, especially when the grass is wet (95% of the time). To alleviate this ailment we constructed a series of steps: used car and motorcycle tires form the shell, a clay brick helps the step hold up to the rigors of erosion, and dirt does the rest.
Straight Up Planting: The most obvious of all... you gotta plant things before they can grow. There are a few small nurseries around the farm - the plastic cups from fruit juices in town make the perfect first home - and from there we transplant the little guys to the big garden or the terraces. Most of the crops can circumvent the nursery and go straight from seed to stomach without the training wheels. Chief Garden Officer Fabian, Paola's boyfriend, makes that call.
There is always something to do around the farm and these are but a few of the many activities that have come up throughout my stay. I've admittedly lived a very white collar life and it feels good to work with my hands on something other than a computer keyboard.
The farm itself is quite small - no more than a few acres - but it packs a punch. Tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, yucca, mangoes, pineapple, avacados, peppers, onions, and a multitude of herbs and spices are but a few of the many items that grow here. The hostel isn't quite able to fully feed itself from the garden yet but should be able to achieve break-even by the end of Q2'14, with the overall goal of opening a vegetarian restaurant in town sometime in 2015.
Accommodation is basic but comfortable. I have my own room and bathroom (I had to pay a little extra for that privilege but after 3 months of dormitories I was craving a little personal space), there is electricity 24/7, and a bounty of hammocks are scattered throughout the premises. I've even befriended a local bat who sleeps in the rafters and keeps the bugs away from me at night. However, the one luxury I truly, deeply miss is a tough one for me to cope with: there are no hot showers. That initial shock is cold, it gets colder, and yes, it stays cold. You know how Oedipus felt when he found out he was banging his mom the whole time? It's a lot like that.
Here's a few activities that we've been up to the past couple of weeks:
Machete Wielding: I had never actually used a machete before, and I must say it is fucking awesome. Just the slightest of swings slices branches with ease and it is incredibly satisfying reeling back and wailing on some thick brush. I've primarily used the machete for separating leaves from dead trees/branches; we use leaves for protecting young plants from being dominated by the sun and also mix them with fertilizer, and the branches provide bonfire tinder (the ash from the bonfires also goes into the fertilizer... everything here is interconnected, just like this atrocious run-on sentence).
Shoveling Shit: There are fields... endless fields. Volunteers pair up into teams of two - a shoveler and a bagger - and we hop over next door where the kindly neighbor lets us clean his cow pastures for him. We make our own fertilizer through a combination of said cow dung, grass clippings, dirt, ash, yeast, sugar, and water. Then we rake the monster pile for about two weeks, sprinkle it around the garden, and enjoy!
Terrace Making: As I mentioned earlier the farm is moving towards self sustenance. A big driver of that will come from these newly constructed terraces. These took a few weeks of the whole team shoveling and we brought in some professional help to craft the railings out of bamboo from the brush down the hill. Each of the terraces will then be layered with multiple layers of leaves, fertilizer, and dirt before the actual crops go in.
Staircase Construction: This goes hand in hand with the terrace making. Walking up and down a steep hill is treacherous, especially when the grass is wet (95% of the time). To alleviate this ailment we constructed a series of steps: used car and motorcycle tires form the shell, a clay brick helps the step hold up to the rigors of erosion, and dirt does the rest.
There is always something to do around the farm and these are but a few of the many activities that have come up throughout my stay. I've admittedly lived a very white collar life and it feels good to work with my hands on something other than a computer keyboard.
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