Frame, walls and windows

Continuing with the frame we have 3 of the sides done and the walls half way up. Now to decide how to do the windows, Limon sourced used wooden frame windows with some of the panes missing from a taller and we found discarded glass, big cool pieces at a window and glass taller. We're using the old ones as a guide but upon more discussion have decided it's best to buy new windows just for piece of mind. The frame is gorgeous inside red mahogany, laurel and teak on the yellow laurel walls. We oiled the existing structure, floor and walls with impregnating oil, opting out of varnish or sealant. Now with a few random showers the wood is waterproof, bug-free and warp resistant (a big problem with not fully dried wood and killer mid-day sun.)

The four of us have been working hard, sun-up to sun-down and cooking on the land. Lots of fried rice and bbq's. The goal is to be done, really finished in two weeks!

We have Walls

Walls...yah.

We have a Floor

And they smell great. This is from its raw round state to the cut 4 x 4's to the 1 1/2" floor boards. So much work. But entirely worth it. Thank you to cuyler yogi, he flew down to help us build. Couldn't have done it without him. aloha floor.

First two WWOOF-ers!

Two rivers converge on a 40 hectare finca. Grassfed beef graze and free range chickens range free. We killed two chickens and made soup with onions we gathered, ajo we found and chili dulce

we picked, and the delicious weed culantro.

Traveling in Panama is great! We had an amazing time over the week and visited the most beautiful white sand beaches we've seen yet. Isla Grande on the Carribean and the water was crystal clear and the beaches were clean! I ate lobster and the boys found a boat that took all ten of us around the island on the craziest voyage of more than ten foot swells once we hit the open ocean. The Panamanians were scared- I could tell...it was hilarious.The boat was just a twenty foot fiberglass lancha and we were flying all over. Even I thought we would tip and I've survived the waters off of diamondhead! After that the caravan moved on to the 40+ hectare finca, all in the Colon region. They have more than a hundred head of cattle, 3 rivers converging, rolling hills and full grown trees as far as the eye can see. They have a rustic house there, an outdoor kitchen and a drop toilet that can easily be converted to composting. With no water running yet we talked to Noriel about a two into one pressure system where the pvc actually supplies it's own pressure without a pump- even uphill the 200'. We also discussed solar and wind and they're on board to fix it up a bit and hold retreats and presentations. This really opens a lot of possibilites and we're very excited. We're working on a presentation to give to the Villareals in hopes of educating them about possibilites at their disposal and becoming partners in the future. They're excited and just want more information and the resources to get themselves up to speed. Pretty sweet.

But the best news in months is that our first two visitors arrived! Cuyler Yogi and Limon's brother! They're here to learn, play and help us finish the cabin. We had a great dinner last night I was cooking all day in anticipation. After we ate our first round we went to see the cows and ducks and walk around the land in the starlight. When we cam back Shiva- damn she wolf- had pulled the whole roast chicken off the table and ate the whole thing bones and all. This was no small feet in under five minutes. But they brought new music and movies and energy and it feels so good. They both thanked us profusely for involving them and it made us both so happy and proud of what we've done, validated it, and really called my attention to the gravity of the situation. We're changing our life and through this affecting many lives along the way! The web has begun to spread and I'm overjoyed! Now I just need a few other choice people to get their butts down here!

We plan on starting WWOOF Panama. I have spoken with WWOOF International and we only need about 3 more farms to team up with. They have a world web of organic farms anyone can go volunteer on and room and board and opportunities to learn are always provided in exchange for work. It's swell. Go to: www.wwoof.org

Cabin Foundation

We got help from a local constructor to level, dig the holes and pour the cement as we weren't completely confident in our skills aquired online and through books. We used our initial design but in the end decided it was impossible to not use cement so we used as little as possible to construct the 25 columns on which the cabin will sit. We dug holes between 2 and 3' deep and reinforced the columns with rebar and a really rocky sand/cement mixture.

Once this is layed out we can put the 4" x 4" studs in each 5'x5' square. We managed to use 90% less cement than was proposed, in the end only 10 bags.

Happy Holidays from the Tropics

Love to you all. Please forgive me the spell check doesn't work on my comp or blogger! Oh and my ghost writer is in Italy! Thanks for reading and all the support! We love and miss you all- especially the followers...really special friends. Editing continues... 2010 will be a great year!

Orchid Hunting

Truly an amazing day. We left early with Nicho, Limon's 70 yr old uncle and went walking. We walked for 8 hrs and saw more of Volcan than most have seen, I'm sure. Nicho took us to the laguna and the bigger lake and we crossed many rivers and herds of cattle (ganado). He has an incredible eye and would pick out orchids from across the meadow, or 30 ft up in a very obscure location. He taught us the technique- he would use his machete to chop a perfect v out of a stick and proceed to carefully rock the orchid back and forth until it came to him- the "orchid whisperer".

We found the vampiro (vampire) it looks almost like a necklace, and an orange hanging orchid with tiny flowers, a large yellow one that almost looks edible, and I actually impressed our guide finding a very rare red with yellow and a small peat moss-looking variety with the smallest flowers of all! Nicho said he'd never encountered it! He participates in the annual Fiesta de Flores in Boquete and said we would probably win for rarity and might even have discovered a new orchid! We'll see in January- just have to keep them alive until then which is not easy! We also saw two more varieties of limon- limon dolce is like a water orange- crunchy not much flavor. Our favorite hands down is Persa, its big, very limey with a hint of sweetness, lots of juice, but sadly as it is a hybrid no seeds.

Creole and madarin with orange flesh, very sweet are close seconds and we have quite of few of these types growing.

Nicho says in December there are a few weekends when everyone goes down and camps around the lake and it's very safe and tranquil. We're going to go soon so we miss the crowds. We heard the coffee farm near there, instead of killing the snakes with chemicals, rounded them all up and released them at the laguna, although we didn't even see on snake, now we're going to be very cautious.

You can fish- there's trout (trucha) and carp and a few others. There's also coffee and tons of fruits- delicious oranges. It really opened my eyes up to how wonderful Volcan is. It's a veritable playground.

Lakes and rivers and water holes, even hotsprings for swimming, mountains for hiking and foraging, long routes for biking and exploring, EVERY PLANT YOU CAN IMAGINE to use for cultivation, even the beach is only a few hours away.