Sunday, November 23, 2008

November 17 - 23, 2008

We returned to Alfheim late Tuesday evening, around 23:00. For no apparent reason, though fortuitously as it turned out, we decided to take the Paraibuna route home, via Posso Alto and Bairo Alto. It had rained almost non-stop while we were away, and about halfway home the car's ABS braking system gave out...nothing like a little extra excitement on a very muddy road home. As it turned out, this was merely an interlude to what would greet us at the stone bridge on the entrance road to the main house. In short, there was no bridge, or rather we could not see it because the river had overflowed and the bridge was completely submerged! Unable to see anything other than rushing water in front of me, I stopped the car, put on my Wellington boots, fished out our trusty One Earth Emergency Wind Up Light and waded across the bridge to test the depth. The rapidly moving water reached about three-quarters of the way up my Wellington boots, approx. 40 cm. Probably against better judgment, we decided to risk the crossing. Given the fact that you are reading this blog entry, you have probably ascertained that we made it back to our house without a major incident. The next morning, I rushed down to take a photo of the scene. Unfortunately for reader's of the blog, for it was a truly spectacular sight, but fortunately for us, the water had already subsided and was again running through the enormous pipe under the bridge.

After this dramatic homecoming, Lone spent the entire week painting the house's interior, which is almost finished and looks terrific. I have taken a number of lovely photos of Lone this week, a seemingly simple task, though not without its own risks. Very early on Lone had complained about the dearth of photos of her in the blog. Only too pleased to oblige my loving wife of 22 years, I immediately took a handful of what I thought were beautiful photos, almost all of which were summarily rejected as unfit for publication. Thereafter, she issued me the following guideline: 'take lots of photos of me, but as I think I should look'. Talk about a Far Side moment (see: ... knowing exactly what to do, ...).

While we were in São Paulo, Lone's squashes began sprouting...in just over a week! The development of her squashes and seedlings once again demonstrated the breathless growth of pretty much everything at Alfheim, a fact that was brought home to me ever more powerfully on Wednesday morning, when I went out to feed the animals and found all of the chicks outside the hen house pecking and scratching with the two mother hens. Apparently, they had ventured outside for the first time already on Tuesday. Utterly amazing: barely four days removed from their arrival, which itself was only a matter of days post hatch. The chicks are fearless, and wander surprisingly far from the hen house, though always under the watchful eyes of one of the two mother hens. Unfortunately, three of the chicks have become "late" (Botswanan vernacular for having passed away), but the remaining 25 seem very strong and healthy -though there table manners are still somewhat unrefined. They are irresistibly cute.

Not to be forgotten in any discussion of rapid growth, the ducklings have quite nearly outgrown their makeshift, inverted concrete sink for a house. Both Lone and I tried, unbeknown to one other, to take a duckling out for a test paddle in a still part of one of the streams close to the house. Not a big success. Apparently, these ducklings do not yet take to water like...well, a duck.

Weather permitting, I will build a new hen house on Wednesday for our growing brood. As if in anticipation, the chickens undertook an early inspection of the building materials.

My entire week was focused on readying the farm for December's influx of large farm animals. On Wednesday, I secured the use of a tractor to help us distribute fence posts around the farm's pastures...and checked in with Chico to make sure that we were still on for December 1st. We are. I also closed the deal to purchase 20 sows from Fazenda Brasil. Delivery: Wednesday, November 26th.

The tractor made possible an absolutely brutal day of work on Thursday, when Clair and I, together with Dirlei, the tratorista, moved 600 fence posts to the various pastureland, where they will be readily accessible to Chico and his team. We loaded 50 fence posts into the tractor's trailer at a time, and then, according to Chico's instructions, we distributed them in piles of 25. Between loading and unloading, we lifted the equivalent of 1,200 fence posts. By the end of the day, I could barely use my left arm due to cramping. In spite of the physical torment, the end of the day brought a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment: an entire pile of 600 fence posts had almost entirely disappeared; however, as with all things in farming, the remaining 200 fence posts are already mercilessly awaiting their distribution next Thursday!

It is probably worth noting that Negão was nowhere to be found when we returned to Alfheim on Tuesday. Apparently, he and Layla moseyed on down to Clair's sitio near Vargem Grande, approx. nine km from Alfheim, shortly after our departure on Sunday. Clair brought Layla back on his motorcycle...don't ask me how. Negão we learned, was born a ramblin’ man; he once found his way back to the sitio from Ubatuba, through the Mata Atlântica, a journey of not less than 25 km! Not surprisingly, Negão's departure left Layla crestfallen; she barely ate for two days and generally had a severe case of the mopes. So, like any warm-blooded dog owner, I drove down and fetched Negão on Friday afternoon, once the roads had dried out sufficiently for me to reach the sitio. Layla, who refused to let me leave without her, camping out emphatically on the backseat while I was loading the car, was so happy to see Negão that she quite literally jumped from the backseat out through the driver's side window in one motion to greet him (the car was stopped). Upon returning to Alfheim, they played like long-lost amigos miraculously reunited. Unfortunately, Negão and Layla disappeared again on Saturday, though thankfully Layla returned on Sunday morning, completely mugged but with her usual healthy appetite fully restored -though still clearly missing her playmate. We will prioritize finding her a more steadfast play pal this week.

On Sunday we visited a biodynamic farm near Jarinu run by Cassiopeia, a company founded in 1981 that produces aloe vera, natural phyto-cosmetics and the BioWash line of natural, biodegradable cleaning products, all of which became certified natural by IBD (Biodynamic Institute) in 2007. As consumers of the BioWash product line, it was doubly interesting for us to visit the farm and meet both the owners and staff. For our Brazilian readers, if you haven't already tried the BioWash product line, you should...an effective alternative to traditional cleaning products based on petrochemical derivatives.

We were given a wonderful tour and made to feel entirely welcome by the administrador of Sítio Veraloe, Carlos, a more diminutive incarnation of Tom Bombadil, a walking, talking lexicon of flora, fauna and all things organic/biodynamic, and hosted by his captivating wife, Sylvia. A most inspiring day!

Finally, the Fazenda Alfheim blog continues to gain momentum and has now attracted 485 absolute unique visitors from 19 countries, namely Brazil, United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Canada, Germany, Portugal, United Arab Emirates, Greece, Sweden, India, China, Romania, Belize, Belgium, Togo, France and Australia. We truly enjoy reading your comments (in any language), so please keep them coming!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

November 10 - 16, 2008

Lone spent Wednesday and Thursday planting various members of the genus Cucurbita, aka squashes, in the field nearest our house, where we had earlier planted soja perene, and seeding her vegetable garden. She decided to plant squashes in the part of the field where the soja perene has not yet sprouted. Clair planted this area on his own, while Lone and I were in São Paulo, and he either planted the seeds too deeply or he was too conservative with the number of seeds he sowed. Regardless, the principle of intelligent fast failure dictated that we should acknowledge our mistake and move on: the area itself is only a fraction of the entire field and the investment negligible.

This example brings to mind two of the three (rule #1 of consulting: always present the client with three options) guiding principles that I have always tried to apply in business -and now find highly applicable to farming. First, hire good people, something I am confident we have done thus far at Alfheim. Second, apply the principle of intelligent fast failure, i.e. move as quickly as possible from new ideas to new knowledge by making small and manageable mistakes — intelligent failures. Few errors are truly insurmountable, unless, of course, one fails to recognize them as such. For any number of reasons, George W. Bush comes to mind, but then as the old adage goes - people get the democracy they deserve.

For my part, I spent Wednesday and Thursday clearing more pasture. On Wednesday I got an early start and bogarted Clair's heavier scythe...very nice! On Thursday Clair got the jump on me, and I was again relegated to my Minnie Me scythe...what a bogart!

On Friday I went to Paraibuna to visit Fazenda Brasil to negotiate the purchase of 20 sows. Beto Camargo, a good friend and well-known fixture in Paraibuna, accompanied me. Fazenda Brasil is a closed production facility, i.e. one cannot visit or even view the pigs one purchases; Fazenda Brasil sells 700 pigs per day!

At present pigs are selling for approx. R$63 (€22 or $28) per arroba (approx. 15 kg), so assuming a sow weighs on average 90 kg, we will pay R$378 per sow (€133 or $168). For 20 sows, then, our total investment will be R$7,560 (€2,660 or $3,353) plus transport. We are counting on an average of 12 piglets per litter (the genetics of these particular sows should be top notch), meaning that sometime in the late first half of 2009, we should be the proud (and likely more than a little overwhelmed) owners of approx. 240 piglets, half boars and half sows. The boars will be fattened and sold, while the sows will form the basis for our production of piglets, which by 2010 should reach approx. 2,880 per year. This assumes two litters (12 piglets each) per sow per year. At today's current market price of approx. R$65 per (non-organic) piglet, this would yield approx. R$187,200 (€65,871 or $83,034) per year, more than enough to cover our monthly expenses and begin paying back our initial investments in the property (estimated payback: less than five years).

Due to heavy the rains this week, our weekend visit to Fazenda Zacarias (see Provence), an herb farm not too far from Rio de Janeiro, was canceled. Instead Lone and I spent the better part of Saturday, together with Dumb and Dumber, who we loaded into our Ford Ecosport 4WD 2.0 16V, in São Luiz do Paraitinga, where we purchased tools and materials at Deposit Cursino, our preferred DIY, to construct a bigger hen house. Why a bigger hen house? Because I purchased two hens and 28 chicks on Thursday evening from Rosana's father. In all I spent R$86.00, R$15.00 (€5.28 or $6.65) per hen and R$2.00 (€0.70 or $0.89) per chick. And he threw in a rooster for free! This brings me to the third guiding principle of business and farming, nicely summed up by George Washington Plunkitt of Tammany Hall fame: “I seen my opportunities and I took ’em.” In short, when opportunity knocks, open the door.

And knock it did again on Friday, when on my way back from hog shopping in Paraibuna, as I was driving through Pouso Alto, which takes a fraction of the time it takes Muddy Waters to make love to a woman in Mannish Boy (hint: less than five minutes), I saw him...Kong. Kong is, quite simply, the most imposing rooster I have ever seen, more than three times the size of any of the other roosters at Alfheim. As the 28 chicks are the same breed as Kong, and the ducklings continue to grow like agricultural crops after the accident at the Chernobyl NPP in 1986, construction of a new hen house has quickly risen to near the top of our short-term priority list.

In addition to getting "...a deal...a steal...the sale of the f*&%ing century!" from Rosana's father, I also learned that back when Alfheim was still known as Estância Maneco, it supported 300 head of cattle (at present Alfheim would support approx. 50). As it turns out, Rosana's father worked at Estância Maneco in a capacity similar to Clair today, and he has a wealth of information about our fazenda that will prove invaluable in connection with both the organic certification process and any topographical survey we carry out to determine the true borders of the property. Had I chosen not to purchase the chickens that evening, I likely would not have encountered her father for some time, if at all. Knowing that the property has supported a much larger number of cattle allows us to consider a range of additional business scenarios.

After purchasing all of the requisite tools and materials for the hen house, Lone and I lunched at Bar e Restaurante Familiar Comida Caseiro, our favorite restaurant in the center of São Luiz do Paraitinga, which incidentally allows dogs entry. At a total of R$14.00 (€4.93 or $6.21) for two, people not dogs, including two soft drinks and a coffee, the latter on the house, one can hardly argue with the price.

Finally, our fantastic fixed-mobile home telephone is working again and thanks to the help of a good friend, Jefferson Zanetti, we may well have cracked the code for Internet connectivity on the farm. The proposed solution involves a dual-band cell antenna, two repeaters and my Claro 3G modem. If successful, the payback will be approx. six months when compared to Embratel's more conventional satellite solution. Syv-ni-tretten.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

November 3 - 9, 2008

Saturday arrived and our sense of accomplishment was noticeably diminished. To be sure we were again busy all week, but mainly with facilitating tasks or mid- to long-term projects. For example, I spent all day Thursday chasing up and locking down, figuratively not literally, Chico the fencer. I picked up Chico at the BR Petrobras gas station in São Luiz do Paraitinga at 08:00 (his suggestion), drove him to Alfheim, walked him around the fazenda, agreed to terms and conditions and drove him home in the early afternoon.

Chico is one of those larger-than-life rural characters who defies description, though that will not stop me from trying: He is 61 years old, has been retired for 11 years and has worked as a fencer extraordinaire for equally as long. He is built like a dwarf, the Tolkien variety rather than the kind Ricky Gervais has a go at in his latest, hysterically funny, stand-up routine entitled Fame. Chico barely reaches my belly-button, but he is as wide as he is tall, barrel-chested, has a back that the Governator would envy and, much like Matthew McConaughey, has trouble keeping his shirt on. And to be honest, there is no reason he should...he is pure Geritol® beefcake. By choice Chico only works with other retirees, one of whom is 73 years old and, according to Chico, a bit slow -but consistent. In Chico's view, the majority, though not all he was quick to point out, of today's generation não quer trabalhar (do not want to work).

The result of Thursday's effort: Chico will finish up his current jobs, has promised not to take on any additional work in November and will begin fencing at Alfheim, with a crew of two or three, on Monday, December 1st. Lone or I will pick him and his crew up on Mondays and drive them back to São Luiz do Paraitinga on Thursdays. They will live in our apartment, which Marcos and the construction crew finished this week along with the other outstanding construction items, including a beautiful, retrofit brick staircase for the front entrance of our hosue. Rosana, Clair's wife, will prepare their meals, as she did for Marcos and his crew this week, and Chico and the boys will install approx. 300 fence posts, each with four-strands of Belgo Motto® Farpa Vermelha barbed wire, per week. In total, they will install almost two and one-half kilometers of high-quality fence per month...and probably spend between six and eight weeks working at Alfheim. In addition to the fencing, one of Chico's compadres performs arado de boi or plowing with oxen, eight oxen in all, four of which plow for a day and then rest for a day while the second foursome takes over. We have chosen to pursue this option in order to limit the likelihood of erosion on the steepest mountain pastures.

As promised, Negão, the mutt, arrived at Alfheim this week, and he and Layla became instant amigos. The only downside to their friendship is that Layla's IQ has plummeted by at least a third. I have nicknamed them Dumb and Dumber. Negão is shorter than Layla, but faster and has better endurance...and he does not chase any of the other farm animals. On the whole, both dogs are extremely well-behaved, with the exception of when they take our clothes down off of the clothesline.

Negão joined Alfheim together with Elle, Rosana's supermodel hen...long-legged, paparazzi-shy and skittish -and always stylishly dressed in black.

The ducks are growing by leaps and bounds; I would swear the three male ducklings have doubled in size in a week. Lone has gone completely bonkers for the ducks, her new brood (sorry, Johannes, Esben and Pelle!). The other day Marcos and I found her sitting inside the tiny duck pen talking to the ducklings. Needless to say, the image left us both speechless. Only when Lone realized we were standing next to her, and where she was and what she was doing, did it occur to her how funny it must look (unfortunately, no photo).

In addition to looking after the ducklings, Lone has been busy painting the interior of our house, still a work in progress, and seeding her vegetable garden.

Miss Massey, Clair's pig, gave us a scare the other day. Encouraged by my prodding, she let me give her a neck rub. After a few moments of rapture, Miss Massey collapsed without warning onto her side with her eyes closed...motionless. After the initial fear that I had killed Miss Massey had subsided, I realized that she was merely making herself available for further neck and belly rubbing. Further tests confirmed that her 'flop' is indeed a sign of contentment.

Clair and I continued clearing the pastures, and the results are very encouraging.

This coming week's biggest challenge will be distributing the 800 fence posts, in groups of 25, in each of the proposed seven pastures so that Chico and his crew can work efficiently. As he made repeatedly clear, he could also carry the fence posts from source to destination on his back, mais não por R$2.00 por mourão (not for R$2.00 (€0.73 or $0.95) per post). Fortunately, we have access to a tractor on Mondays and Tuesdays, so I hope to be able to limit the scope of manually moving fence posts, each of which is 220 cm tall and 10-13 cm in diameter, up the mountain pastures to no more than 200 fence posts.

Lone and I spent most of Friday in Ubatuba purchasing mattresses and pillows for our guest beds at Casas Bahia, where interest rates on store credit exceed 50% per annum! Fortunately, we paid a vista or in cash. While Lone paid for the bedding, I went to Banco Itaú and withdrew Marcos' final payment and bonus. Afterward, I went for a run on the beach while Lone napped, and then Lone and I took turns swimming in the ocean...nothing like salt water to mend scrapes, cuts and insect bites. We had the entire beach pretty much to ourselves.

On Saturday, Lone and I spent the entire morning completing the Associação de Certificação Instituto Biodinâmico - IBD form, which is a prerequisite for organic certification.
The main purpose of IBD is to participate in the development of organic, biodynamic and socially correct agriculture, processing, trading and its markets, through certification.
Thus far, we have been well-served by both Tom Vidal, whom we originally met online and later in person at BioFach, and Maria Carolina Wilmers Manço, with whom I had an hour-long conference call on Wednesday afternoon to lay the groundwork for our application. Unfortunately, no amount of technical support could help us to circumvent the 34-page form required to initiate the organic certification process, but between the two of us we managed to put together what we hope is a qualified draft document.

Finally, our fixed-mobile home telephone went on the fritz this week, so we have been incommunicado...apologies to any and all who tried to contact us. We have, of course, contacted Eugenio, Telefônica's third-party service provider, and hope to have it working again soon. Also, my mobile has changed to +55 11 9206-6927.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

October 27 - November 2, 2008

One dog, six ducklings and a pig. In brief, this week was defined by the three aforementioned additions to our growing menagerie. On Tuesday, before picking me up in Chácara Santo Antônio, Lone stopped and picked up Layla, a black Labrador, from our good friend Melissa. We then drove back to Alfheim, stopping twice, once for gas and once to change another flat tire, this time on rodovia Ayrton Senna (note to self: begin shopping for options to Pirelli). Layla is well-behaved, gentle, playful, a quick study, energetic and a serviceable watch dog. Her only downside was her initial fondness for playing with the chickens, particularly the roosters. Not surprisingly, the chickens did not reciprocate her youthful exuberance; fortunately we were able to quickly cure her of her joie de poulet.

Next week Layla should be joined by Negão, a semi-abandoned dog that lives near Clair's sitio just outside of Vargem Grande. Negão and Layla seemed to hit it off when they met earlier this week. We will, therefore, ensure that Negão receives all of the appropriate vaccinations, and Layla will gain a play pal more her size.

The timing of Layla's disciplinary rehabilitation could not have been better because on Thursday I bought six ducklings. The ducklings spent their first night inside, and the next day Clair and I fashioned a makeshift duck pen, replete with pond. Owing to their youth, Lone and I decided it best to continue to bring them in at night, where they sleep safely in a cardboard box (note to self #2: acquire a bigger box while in São Paulo this week). The ducklings will aid Lone immeasurably in keeping her garden slug-free as they 'devour slugs like mad'.

This week's final animal addition occurred on Saturday, when Clair brought his pig to Alfheim. He had earlier told us that he would not be bringing her to Alfheim because he intended to slaughter her. However, when we visited his sitio on Thursday on the way back from São Luiz do Paraitinga, where among other things we purchased 200 citronella and 400 lemon eucalyptus saplings (to produce organic, insect-repellent oils) and dropped Clair off at the bus stop so that he could take the bus to Taubaté to sort out some paperwork, we saw that his pig was very much alive. It was during this visit that his wife, Rosana, informed Lone that she did not believe that he would have the heart to slaughter his pig, a fact that he himself, somewhat sheepishly, has since confirmed. Seizing this opening, Lone and I encouraged him to bring his pig to Alfheim to root in Lone's vegetable garden. And so it was on Saturday, when Lone and I were returning from a long walk with Layla to some of the more distant corners of the fazenda, where among other discoveries we chanced upon a previously-overlooked pasture, that a truck arrived with Clair, Dener, Kaoê and a driver to drop off Clair's pig, since renamed Miss Massey (think Massey Ferguson) and collect all of the scrap iron and metal tins for recycling. Miss Massey, who is fed thrice daily, seems to have adapted quickly to her new environs, but is quite indifferent to Layla, who initially wanted to play, but who since seems to have acknowledged that in this game she neither defines the rules nor sets the pace.

In addition to all of the animal fun, Wednesday was spent helping Clair clear another pasture -very physical work, but less difficult than hoeing. In the farming equivalent to rock-paper-scissors, hoe still tops scythe on the degree of difficulty scale. Note to self #3: buy a heavier scythe. Clair's scythe weighs almost twice as much as mine, a fact that I jokingly used to justify his clearing twice as much pasture as me.

Lone, Clair and I spent Friday painting and liming (aka whitewashing) the main house. More specifically, Lone spent all day painting our bedroom while Clair and I limed the exterior. Lone's task is by far the more time-consuming. This truism led me to question why we don't lime houses more often. Lime costs approx. 10% of what paint does and is infinitely more user-friendly, i.e. it applies more easily, dries more quickly and cleans up effortlessly. On top of everything else, it is more environmentally-friendly.

Friday was punctuated by a late-afternoon visit from a new friend, Emmanuel Rengade, a Frenchman who owns a pousada in Picinguaba. Emmanuel is a friend of the brother of Karen, with whom Lone attended the London Waldorf Teacher Training Seminar. Emmanuel was joined by his Portuguese wife, Filipa, their French-Portuguese son, Felix, their Brazilian babá or nanny, Flávia, and a French friend, Lois Jammes, a bush pilot who lives in Bolivia.

In between liming the exterior and negotiating the delivery of 14 rolls of Belgo Motto® Farpa Vermelha barbed-wire, I cooked my favorite Austin chili for our guests (note to chili-interested readers: drop the flour and add carrots). For her part, Lone baked another flat loaf of her corn and oat bread. All modesty aside, both were delicious. If anyone is interested in a wheat-free alternative to bread, Lone is generously offering up her recipe below free of charge:

INGREDIENTS
1 cup (2.4 dl) cornmeal
1 cup oatmeal (2.4 dl) oatmeal
1/2 tsp (0.05 dl) baking soda
1 tsp (0.025 dl) salt
1/2 cup (1.2 dl) buttermilk (or equal parts yogurt and milk)
2 eggs
0.9 stick (100 gr) melted butter

DIRECTIONS
Bake in a preheated oven (200 degrees C or 400 F) until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Today, Sunday, Marcos returned to Alfheim to review the relatively short list of pending construction items. He and his crew of two or three will spend this coming week completing these tasks and, on Friday, phase I construction will officially come to a close.