A Fantastic Year of Serendipitous Change

In the United States and Canada they have a tradition of ‘giving thanks’ on one day out of every year. It is a time to reflect on the bounty and benevolence of our universe and to gather with friends in celebration of our unlimited grace.

So much has happened in the past years that it is difficult to know where to begin.  We have had a whirlwind of events, people and projects surround us and uplift us.

Our humble cottage in the forest could only be accessed via a foot path one year before, the nearest road was more than a kilometer away ‘as the crow flies’.  All materials brought to our farm had to be transported on foot or by using our zip line.  Deadly trees still hovered over our roof, making every storm a potential disaster.

In an amazing series of synchronistic events that defy human comprehension, the universe has blessed our humble endeavor with its grace.

This year we have a road to our house directly, all the dangerous trees are cut and have been safely moved out of harm’s way; and we have built an annex to our cottage.

In addition, we have received a beautiful baby boy to share our idyllic life with. 

Our gardens are thriving with the increased sunlight available due to the overhanging trees being removed. We were also able to build three new retaining walls that receive the maximum sunlight available throughout the seasons.

Our winter crops are more abundant this winter than we imagined possible.

Magnus was honored to be chosen as helper for the annual Holy Spirit Festival and Luncheon.  This ancient tradition deserves an entire blog post of its own to explain. 

In short, it has been a fun filled and adventurous year and we are Thankful for all the fabulous changes in our lives; and eagerly awaiting more!

Second Retaining Wall Completed

Another marathon week of construction has come to a close with fantastic results.
Happily, we discovered that below 60 cm of earth, the mountainside was in plain view. This allowed for our foundation to be smaller than the previous wall, saving time and materials.



Our second massive retaining wall needed a sturdy concrete footing for its corner pillar. We utilized the ample stones on our land in conjuntion with concrete to build up a low spot in the natural stone foundation.



We also added a 'deadman' midway through the wall to farther strengthen the central pillar and add weight into the mountainside to overcome a potential tip over during our rainy season.



We backfilled the wall with tons of stone to allow the water to pass through the many drain holes we placed strategically along the wall.



This wall ended up being slightly taller than the first since we had the option to add a fifth course of concrete block.



Here is our home, with both retaining walls seen behind the house and below the grade of the roadway. Soon we will be planting these new terraces with all manner of sun lovers.

Progress on Baby Room

The cement blocks arrived Monday. 

 We asked the Ribeiros to deliver as close to the construction site as possible.  Off picture, to the right and down the hill is our house.

 While all the exciting block delivery was happening, the farm keeps going.  The hens are also having babies, although their baby room is the entire property!

Winter Wet Weather

With the heavy rains and strong winds this winter, we are discovering that our mountainside drains out directly onto our newly built road.

We have been creating channels and canals in the stone and clay, in order for the underground springs to drain free of our new road.



The coast line that lies 2 miles to the East from our home is constantly white with sea foam. When the wind picks up, the foam blows around our gardens like snow falling.

Wall Building to Retain New Road

First we begin by excavating the job site to hold the new retaining walls above our house.



Unloading cement blocks is much easier this year, since the blocks can be delivered to the loading zone on our land directly using the new road.

Unfortunately, the road to our house is only accessible with 4 wheel drive, so we have to bring the blocks from our loading zone higher up on our property to the actual building site using our little jeep.



Once all the materials are on site, we will begin to build massive retaining walls!

Road Building

The CAT machine must first place a six meter long tube into the creek before constructing the road over and across the small body of water. The tube is about 70 centimeters diameter. It requires two men on the ground to guide the tube into the correct position, while the machine does the actual lifting and placement.

After crossing the creek and clearing-cutting trees ahead of the CAT, we begin carving out the mountainside, layering stones, clay, and gravel that comes out of the land. We were fortunate that we did not have to purchase any materials, other than the tube.

We cut the remaining eucalyptus trees, all but one, with the help of the CAT. It sounds simpler than it is. First we must get cable lines high up in the tree in order to get the best leverage while using the CAT to guide/pull the trees in the direction we want to trees to fall. Sometimes it means someone has to go up in the tree to make sure the cables are not twisted.

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With six eucalyptus now cut, there remains two, "Grand-Daddy" and "the leaner". Grand-daddy is 140 cm wide in diameter, that is a little less than Konswan is tall. It's branches sweep over the roof, allowing dead branches to fall and, at times, break tiles. Just a week ago, we had to replace two tiles. Magnus stretches out his arms to show the tree's girth.

Below he trims off the rest of Grand-daddy's stump after felling it. Magnus uses a 75 cm blade, but has to move around the trunk to do the required cutting. We do not have a blade long enough to span the 140 cm.

This is the house and surrounds after 7 eucalypti are cut. One remains, the leaner, above and to the left of the house. You can see that we have tied it off, in case of a hard blowing wind. The workers are now on their vacations and we will not see them for another 30 days. So in the meanwhile, we will de-limb the trees, pile up the "carcasses", and pray that we do not not get hurricane force winds.

The land has been remodeled on such a huge scale now, as you can see looking at the before picture featured below. If prayers can move mountains, they have done so in the form of a CAT machine helping us to have a safer surrounds to our little home. Now we can sleep better at night, unburdened by the worry of tree limbs landing on our roof.

For those interested in more detailed photos of the process, go to our detailed photo page.