September 26 - October 5, 2008

Three significant events occurred this past week (listed chronologically):

First, on Wednesday, I bid farewell to the final two members of the construction crew, Marcos and Orlando, who spent an extra day making sure we were able to tick off all but the least significant of the then-still-pending phase I construction tasks. Marcos (think Andy Capp for the cigarette but autodidactic and industrious) will return in a few weeks, after we have lived in the houses and had a chance to kick the tires, to tidy up any loose ends. His final payment and bonus will be settled at that time.

Second, Lone arrived on Thursday evening from London via Paris.

Third, a former colleague and good friend, Leonardo da Cunha Pinheiro, spent Saturday with us as Alfheim's first guest. As such Leonardo was the inaugural signatory of Alfheim's guestbook. This is a Blichert-Hansen family tradition that dates back to the 1940's when Lone's grandfather, Charles Adolph (that name died out) Denis de Neergaard purchased a summerhouse in Rørvig, Denmark. For 60 years, guests added all manner of notations and salutations, which grew to become a part of her family's history. We hope to receive as many guests at Alfheim -and years to enjoy their company- as did Lone's grandfather, who lived to the ripe old age of 92 and was still bathing au naturel in the Kattegat well into the upper half of his 80s.

Lone's arrival marks a beginning, of course, but also the end of many things. Among those I will not miss can be counted canned tuna, canned corn and cashews for lunch everyday. On a more serious note, her arrival marks the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth. Before setting off for Brazil, I wrote down the following five objectives for my first three months at Alfheim:

• Map farm resources, e.g. farm perimeter, natural resources, fields
  
• Prepare soil, e.g. soil samples, biodynamic field preparations
• Renovate houses
• Construct basic infrastructure: source-of-water study, water analysis, road work, fences, gate, renewable energy options, septic tanks, corral, storerooms, hen house
• Trees and bees, e.g. fruit orchard, beehives
  

With the exception of repairing the gate and establishing bee hives, all of the above objectives have been completed or are well in hand. Inspired by this early productivity and the power of writing down your goals, not to mention the need to generate income at some point in the not-too-distant future, we have worked up a list of five fourth-quarter objectives:

• Establish a hog operation comprising 20 sows and one-two boars. The sows will be Piau, which, according to 'Culinária suína no Brasil', by Arthur Bosísio Júnior, et al., is the best and most important Brazilian breed, gains weight easily (by six months it weighs around 70 kg) and is the best meat producer of all the domestic breeds, while the boars will either be Poland China, widely known as one of the most durable of all of the swine breeds, or Duroc. At this point, we intend to raise approx. 315 piglets per year (8-12 piglets per litter, two litters per sow per year) to start. If all goes according to plan, we hope to end with a hog production of approx. 50-75 sows and 5-6 boars. This will generate between 788 and 1,181 piglets per year.
• Establish a cow-calve production starting with 20 Tabapuã, a variant of the Nelore, heifers and one Santa Gertrudis bull.
• Raise 10 Dorper, a South African mutton breed, for the family table and barter.
• Grow all of our own vegetables. Lone certainly has her hands full planting enough vegetables to fill her garden, but guided by the conflicting wisdom of the phrase the more the merrier, she has ordered the following non-hybrid seeds: Abóbora de Tronco Caserta, Alface Baba de Verão, Alface Carla, Alface Crespa, Alface 4 Estação, Alface Regina, Beterraba Itapuã, Cebola Juporanga, Cebola Madrugada, Cebola Petroline, Cebola Primavera, Cenoura Alvorada, Cenoura Brasília, Couve Chinesa, Ervilha Axé, Ervilha Crioula, Ervilha Samba, Feijão de Vagem Manteiga Baixo, Feijão Vagem Macarrão Rasteiro, Feijão Vagem Trepador, Melancia Crimson Sweet, Melão Carvalho, Melão Gaúcho Caipira, Melão Gaúcho Redendo, Moranga Pataka, Mostarda Crespa, Rúcula Cultivada, Salsa Lisa Comum, Tomate Cereja, Pepino Conserva and Pepino Caipira.
• Complete our few pending objectives from Q3.
  

One final note: it appears that we have won the first battle with the leafcutter ants. The trees whose leaves had been stripped bare are again beginning to sprout new leaves and, most importantly, there are no signs of any leafcutter ants in the orchard. Syv-ni-tretten as the Danes say, 7-9-13 or roughly the equivalent of knock on wood!