Our Humble Sacrifice to Summon the Spirit of Dionysus

This year we had a great harvest season for Strawberry Guava.

Odin and Mitra were eager to lend a hand to gather berries, one for the bucket and one for the mouth.

We developed a good system with the boys relaying the full cups picked by our woofer helpers to the master bucket. Below Stan and Mitra team up to get the job done.

Vince also lent a hand to gather fruit on our family farm.

After a hard days work, Mitra puts his feet up to enjoy the biggest and best fruit gathered.

And when there are enough fruits to fill a large vessel, we engage in the ancient and sacred art of fermentation.

Early Autumn Harvesting

Clearing the Jungle to Make Room for Fruit Trees and Gardens

So far we have cleared about 15% of our available land so far.  It is difficult and dangerous work.

Below Kristina gives some perspective to the scale of our jungle.

After clearing out the underbrush, we can find the larger trees that need to be cut down to compost over the next years.

The smaller trees that are in good health can be left for future firewood harvesting.  We remove all crooked or damaged trees as we clear.

Finding cliff walls and old retaining walls made of stone helps to illustrate the value of this land for agricultural use.

Below Stan tackles one of our worst invasive species, False Tobacco.  It is a plague on our ecosystem.

From inside our Zone 3, we can look out to our Zone 2 and the Wwoofer Cabana across our valley.

Late Summer Fruit Trees and Gardens

Our Zone 2 is steadily growing and improving as we clear more jungle from the adjoining  Zone 3 and replace it with edible plants.

Below Kristina transplants young seedlings around our newly established Golden Bamboo.

We added 7 new Tamarillo trees in addition to the 5 that are now producing fruits.

Below Konswan stands in a garden that was only underbrush earlier this year.  Already she has harvested from this land several times and now has freshly replanted it with Winter crops.

Below is the upgraded garden that we began clearing last April.  What was a scrubby mess a few months ago is now abundant in Eggplants.

Another newly created garden has just had the onions harvested and is now replanted with Red Mustard and Shiso.

Our Mulbeery Trees are thriving in the chicken enclosure along with the Strawberry Guava, both excellent for humans and foul alike to eat.

Konswan is tying up her plants in advance of the coming winds of autumn.

Our 3 lime trees are producing heavily this year, for the third year in a row.

Wwoofer Cabana Interior and Winter Proofing

The ladder to the sleeping loft is installed now , and the second wall is closed to the wind and rain.

Now two walls are completely closed to the elements and the other two are being framed for windows and doors.

Elit helps to install the sink in the new kitchen.

The south facing wall has a window being installed to allow natural sunlight to enter the kitchen. 

Eyal and Elit build a table and benches for the sitting space.

Mid-Summer on our Farm

Summer is absolutely beautiful on our homestead.  Below you can see our house in blue with the Woofer Cabana to the right, across the valley.

We are inundated with ripe bananas this time of year.

We eat them fresh, fried, baked in breads, fermented into vinegar, and soon dehydrated.

Newly planted sweet potatoes are thriving with the protection of a hibiscus and Camilla hedge to block the winds.

Our winter onions are ready for harvest and the ground is ready to be replanted for the next crop.

This is our first year to grow them and now that we know how easy it is, we will grow many more in the coming year.

Red Mustard and Aborigines are thriving in a bed of mulched earth. 

The jungle we cleared is now full of banana trees and gardens.

A closer look reveals tomatoes, beans, onions, squash, sweet potatoes and herbs thriving in the rich jungle valley.

The food has gone wild here, with figs, ground cherries, taro, peppers, citrus, comfrey, peanuts and coffee thriving in the sun together.

A closer look at the above gardens.

Our first figs are coming after waiting a few years for the trees to mature.

And of course we have more jungle to clear and plant until we have met our entire caloric needs and have a surplus to give and sell to the surrounding community.

Finishing Touches on the Spillway

This project was inspired by heavy rains last October, when a flood wiped out our roadway and deposited mud on our roof.

Phase one was implemented when we set new tubes in March of 2016.

Phase two was built in April of 2016, when we built an iron reinforced concrete structure.

In May we finished the bulk of the project when we covered the reinforcing iron and tubes in concrete.

However it was only in July, with the help of Wells, Hadas, Avichai, and our trusty little robot, that the 6,000 pound structure was finished.

Now we await the coming storms to test our new system.