Convalescing

Written to Chinatown by The Be Good Tanyas

Worth reading: Climate Change Deniers Without Borders

It has been a while since I last appeared in the blogosphere. Unfortunately my absence has had less to due with holiday downtime than the mother of all stomach bugs, one that has incapacitated Lone and me for the past week. Fortunately, we are on the mend, but according to Rosana, who was hit by the same bacteria/virus a couple of weeks before us, we can look forward to a very gradual recovery.

On a more positive note, Johannes arrived at Fazenda Alfheim on December 19th, his birthday, kindly agreeing to take a taxi from Aeroporto de Guarulhos to our dirt entrance road at km 66 on Rodovia Oswaldo Cruz in order to save his much-suffering parents a six-plus hour roundtrip. Johannes is in Brazil celebrating his first Christmas as a gainfully-employed Science teacher at New College Leicester. Needless to say, the rentz are thrilled to have him for a visit, if only a short one.

Prior to the onset of our personal plagues, Lone and I spent a day visiting Frigorífico Mantiqueira, a slaughterhouse in São Jose dos Campos. We were graciously hosted by Paulo Cesar, who spent two hours giving us a top-to-bottom tour of the facilities. All in all, very professionally run.

Other noteworthy events during my absence from the blogosphere:

• We enjoyed a visit from Katrine and Emil, the former the daughter of a friend of a dear friend of Lone.
  
• We planted our very own banana plantation containing almost 100 banana plants.
• We moved the hogs from Hogwood to Hog Hill. Interestingly, despite our initial, disastrous experience herding hogs, we have now discovered what appears to be a foolproof method. Seeing 2o-plus hogs moving in synch down a farm road en route to their new destination is indeed satisfying.
  

Finally, here at the dusk of 2009 it is worth remembering:

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.
- Epicurus

Alfheim & Son

Written to Graceland by Paul Simon

A father carries pictures where his money used to be.
- Author Unknown

Esben Hesketh agrees to join Fazenda Alfheim as Farm Manager

Vargem Grande, Brazil—December 10, 2009 —Fazenda Alfheim® today announced that Esben Hesketh, 21-year-old middle son of Rance Hesketh and Lone Blichert-Hansen, has agreed to join Fazenda Afheim as Farm Manager upon completion of his BSc (Hons) in Agricultural Management from Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, UK, in June 2010.

“Esben is obviously doing a terrific job at RAC, having completed his first two years at the top of his class, and we look forward to his contributions as a member of the Fazenda Alfheim team,” said Rance Hesketh, Fazenda Alfheim's Minister of Mischief. “We think Esben’s insights and experience will be very valuable in helping to guide Fazenda Alheim in the years ahead.”

“Fazenda Alfheim is one of the organizations in the world that I most admire,” said Esben Hesketh. “I'm really looking forward to working with Rance and Lone and the Fazenda Alfheim team to help with all of the amazing things they are doing.”

Fazenda Alfheim ignited the organic piglet revolution in Brazil in 2009 with its IBD-certified Duroc/Large White/Landrace cross, and it continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning restuarant partnerships.

Yule begins...

Written to Bing Crosby Christmas Album by Bing Crosby

Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. How on earth can you explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love? Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.
- Albert Einstein

With this blog post the winter festival of Yule has officially -albeit unceremoniously- begun at Fazenda Alfheim. I know this to be true because...

1. Lone demanded that I obtain some Christmas music for her iPod shuffle, hence the Bing Crosby.
2. Lone dug out, from where I have no idea, our kalenderlys, a Danish tradition that involves the daily burning down of one day of this special candle, beginning on December 1st and finishing on December 24th.
3. We made/had our inaugural holiday visits: the first on Saturday, November 28th, to Fazenda Santa Helena, where Beto prepared half of an Alfheim piglet, which we thoroughly enjoyed together with Emmanuel, Filipa and Filipa's mother and brother, who were visiting; the second from Leonardo, his wife, Tâmora, and their daughter, Cecília, who visited our fazenda on Sunday, November 29th. In best Saint Nicholas fashion, our guests arrived laden with gifts, including a 220 volt toaster, a real lifesaver considering that we only have one 110 volt outlet in our house. They were able to find this toaster because their city, Jundiaí, unlike most of Brazil, is 100% 220 volt. So not only did we enjoy their wonderful company, but we will be reminded of their visit every day for the next many years!
4. Lone and I finished our Christmas shopping for the boys today...ho ho ho!
5. Under the heading it is better to receive than to give, Lavrale finally delivered my trailer. My Lego tractor now has a sidekick. Despite their diminutive size, the company's deliveryman estimates their towing capacity to be in excess of 1,500 kg. If that turns out to be true, I will win my two R$5.00 (€1.96 or $2.93) bets with Clair and Dirlei, i.e. that my Lego combo will be able to deliver 30 or more fence posts to the far field. 7-9-13! On a side note, even without the benefit of the additional 10 hectares of pasture that the far field comprises, our Nelore were all lying down and chewing their cuds for the first time ever! Márcio has always told me that it is a very good sign if cattle are chewing their cuds by 11:00, so needless to say I was quite pleased.
6. Finally, under the heading it is better to give than to receive, here is the heartening story, compliments of Pelle, of an ethics professor who has vowed to give away £1 million - more than half of his future earnings - in a bid to help fight poverty in the developing world.