News Update from Yves

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News Update
(written by Yves, 18 December 2007)

It's getting close to those holidays again, says my calendar. i imagine
many of you, walking through the streets in your warmest outfits,
lights blinking everywhere, the same basket of music playing over and over,
the stores reminding you that you'ld better have remembered to have
spent money on everyone you know. Crazy time, and i don't miss any of it.
Well, i guess i got enough of a dose while walking through Loja a few
days ago (warm outfit unnecessary). i think i'm going to enjoy the
holidays like i enjoy everyday; working on the farm, eating a humble meal
from the gardens, enjoying the company of a few good volunteers. i will
miss the old family and friends, though...

Anyways, i should update you on the little i've been up to since my
last `friends of the farm' email back in the beginning of October. i
wanted to give a quick note not long after sending that email, since i got
many people expecting me to be heading north any time (which i didn't).
Never got to clarifying things...until now.

Well, i was planning on taking a little trip, but while hiking up the
mountain the next day after i wrote, i had a little mishap trying to get
around a donkey beside a cliff. i ended up falling down the cliff a
little, and my left knee ended up in bad shape. i guess i tore quite a
bit of cartilage. i didn't want to go back to canada until i could walk
(if i ever end up going at all), so i canceled that idea. After a week
in bed, though, i decided i needed a vacation after all, so Silvi and
little Maia and i headed to the beach so i could start my rehab on the
sand. We had a lovely time in Canoa, then headed to Quito so Silvi could
extend her visa for a week until her scheduled flight to Germany. That
idea went bust, the immigration police informing her that it would be
$400 if she and maia stayed one day past the 2 more days they were
legally allowed to stay in the country. She didn't have the money, so our
only option was to run for the Columbian border that day. That way she
would be allowed to return to ecuador the day before her flight and leave
without a fine. i wasn't going to let her go across the border alone
in the night, but i didn't have all my ID to be given permission to
leave (that's right; residents need permission to leave the country), so i
ended up having to go into columbia illegally. It wasn't as difficult
as it seems, really. i just played it cool, and nobody asked me
anything. i only stayed around the first town, Ipiales, though, fearing the
army check points on the highways beyond (for some reason beauracrats make
me less nervous than kids with automatic machine guns). A couple days
later, a friend of Silvis´, Birgit, came, and the three girls headed
off to Popayan while i returned to Ecuador. It felt so strange, on the
bus back to Quito, to think that it could be a very long time before i
ever see Silvia and Maia again... They'd become an important part of my
life. i headed to Baños to soak my knee, soak my soul. Meditated in the
baths for a few hours every sunrise. Went for a lot of strolls around
town, seeing what was growning in the rural backyards. Watched too much
cable TV. After a few days, i felt i'd had enough. i felt better. Both
my knee and my soul felt renewed. i was walking firmly but painlessly,
and my heart felt calm and open to a new stage in my life.

Back at the farm, i felt completely renewed. The view seemed more
splendid than i had remembered. Maybe it wasn't just me, perhaps it was a
synergy of all the great people who'd come through since i returned, but
i felt a much more positive vibration than i had in a while. The
greenhouse that had been started was turning into a nightmare, engineered
wonkeyness, adobe walls sagging inward, but stubborn perserverence and a
positive outlook has kept it alive, covered, and ready for raised beds,
for dug and compost-filled shrub basins. The main gardens and orchard
now have a huge gorgeous map, the stone terrace is progressing, as are
the roof rainwater harvesting systems. The trail's being fixed up,
compost hills are growing steadily, and the garden is beginning to thank us
for our loving work. The other day, we harvested one white carrot plant
with a root that put anything i've seen in any market to complete
shame. i never imagined one white carrot root could get so immense. It
filled up five of us, and tasted better than potatoes. It'll still be years
before we get to have regular meals from the garden, but the
occasional harvests we have been having recently are a great start, a sign of
good times to come. The times could be changing for the farm in other
ways as well. On a sad note, Trini will probably be leaving the farm for a
long while, come March, to take care of her ailing parents in Spain.
On a bright note, the farm is on the path to becoming a foundation. Not
only will that get the title away from that untrustworthy Yves
character, but it'll also be able to sponsor visas to anyone wishing to stay
longer than their 6 month tourist visas allow. Problem is, the president
of Ecuador has been talking about doing in foundations (they're a
popular way to avoid taxes and launder drug money). Just have to wait and
see...

So, enjoy the return of brighter days, all my friends to the north.
Revel in the heat while you can, the few to the south. i wish you all
joyful festivities and surprisingly light hangovers. And i look forward to
hearing how you're all doing. i know i'm horrible at responding to all
of you, but really i do enjoy hearing from you and finding out how you
beautiful people are living and growing. Take care,

yves

Oh, and if any of you just feel like you haven't done enough last
minute, frivolous consumption, and happen to be near an REI or MEC store, i
would like to mention that i made a cob Santa Claus and sat in his clay
lap, and told him about how the hand operated blender is on it's last
legs, just as my naranjillas and tomate de arbol trees are starting to
produce. Santa didn't answer. So now i ask you. Purchase and shipping
can be reimbursed or facilitated. Those interested in supporting the
humble cause of the home grown hand blended juice, please contact me...