Mini-Farming

The emphasis on this blog will now shift from South America to mini-farming, which was among the major purposes in the land purchase made six years ago. The property is now nearly fully equipped to become largely self-sufficient in plant food production.

The system employed here is biointensive agriculture, which is defined in the Wikipedia entry as:

"The biointensive method is an organic agricultural system which focuses on maximum yields from the minimum area of land, while simultaneously improving the soil. The goal of the method is long term sustainability on a closed system basis. It has also been used successfully on small scale commercial farms."

The system (best to read the full entry) equates to raised bed growing of vegetable and grain crops, the extensive use of compost, companion planting and crop rotation, the use of open-pollinated seeds and production of compost crops, among other factors. The reader is advised to read and study carefully
John Jeavons, How to Grow More Vegetables: And Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine ISBN 1-58008-233-5, among other respources. Spanish-speakers can download free an extensive amount of material at
http://www.growbiointensive.org/publications_main.html. 

I have a ten square meter plot of oats growing right now (it's late winter here) and am planting carrots, turnips and more lettuce next week. I have fava beans growing alongside, plus chard and lettuce. More beds will be dug next week and the greenhouse (photo soon) will be completed for planting as well.

I am also happy to report that following the two-week stay of the first Wwoof volunteer, an American couple have committed to come for as long as six months! I greatly look forward to working with these enterprising young people who are moving in the right direction with respect to the new paradigm necessary to live a wholesome and spiritual life in the stage of society into which we have entered.

Thanks to Dr. Pickerell!

I wish to thank Dr. Jenny Pickerell, a recent visitor who wrote up an account of her stay. Thanks to Dr. Pickerell, I now have a link to her blog (look to the right) as well as a number of valuable suggestions. And thanks to her encouragement, I placed myself as a host to Wwoof volunteers (see ARG109), the first of whom will be arriving 27 Sept. for a two week stay!

Things have begun to move as the coldest winter we've had here in years draws to a close, or so one hopes.

The Dome

As shown below, there is now a geodesic dome greenhouse on the property. It was built based on ideas gleaned from Growing Spaces, and begun by one Sergio Cohen Arazi, who left without completing his work, which was not of the best. He came totally unprepared and the business he began has already ceased to exist. I will have the work completed in a few days and can now design, plan and build these to a standard well above what the swindler was able to do. His web site no longer exists and when last heard from, he had left the country. It could have been worse, however, as most of the work was completed and he didn't even bother to collect all that was due, though the work remaining was of a lower value. The interior design originally promised by an agronomist was never completed, perhaps never begun, but no money changed hands there, so it was simply one more case of what is here known as a falluto, someone best described by the lyrics of a James Brown song: "Like a dull knife, just ain't cuttin', You juss' talkin' loud and sayin' nothing."

This style greenhouse is economic thanks to the saving in materials. It is also an ideal design for resistance to the wind storms we have here.

Next week the raised beds in the form of arcs will be filled with soil, then seeded. More about that as it takes place.

Would-be Emigrants’ First Considerations

There is increasing interest and even urgency on the part of no small number of residents of the Northern Hemisphere with respect to emigration to Latin America. As an emigrant who is now a permanent resident of Argentina, I understand many of the motives behind such thinking. My move, however, was made much easier by the fact that I am bilingual in Spanish and had lived previously for many years in Spain, the country from which I moved here in 2004.

Anyone seriously contemplating such a step must first and foremost assure him/herself that it will be possible to meet the requirements set by the nation of choice for establishing legal permanent residency. This information is more often than not available online, and if not, at the consulate of the respective nation. The process for obtaining permanent residency is time consuming and requires careful preparation in advance. If you are not able to fulfill the requirements, your search is over: you will have to stay put or seek a country whose requirements you can meet.

Ability to speak the language of the country of choice is the second major consideration, particularly if one is interested in rural areas. If you cannot speak the language and do not have a gift for learning a foreign language, it is likely that you would be best advised to cease fantasizing about emigration; Latin America does not provide to immigrants the sort of services provided to them by most Northern Hemisphere nations. Anyone considering emigration to Latin America should first take an intensive course in the language to make an honest self-assessment with respect to language skills, then, if the result is positive, continues intensive study.

No one should contemplate emigration without first having spent a reasonable length of time in the country of choice. Most Latin American nations grant tourist visas of three months, renewable for three more; a six month stay should be sufficient to determine whether or not a permanent move is advisable; three months is little time unless a particular area has already been decided upon as the result of an earlier visit; any shorter time is imprudent and likely unrealistic.

Those with very limited capital and no guaranteed income are almost certainly not going to be able to obtain legal residence, save if they have an extant contract for work in the country of choice. If a stay of six months is not financially viable, then one can be assured that emigration isn’t either. In the case of those with families, particularly if there are small children, only one parent should make the trip, though it would be preferable if both can make at least a three-week exploratory orientation journey. This journey is best made at the least attractive time of the year for the country in question, according to one’s personal preferences. Don’t go planning to see your possible future home at its best: see it at its worst.

Assuming the above considerations have been met, one should also consider strongly not burning one’s bridges behind one. There are those Northern Hemisphere emigrants to Latin America who experience “buyers’ remorse,” after living here for a year or so, but find themselves unable to return to their countries of origin owing to poor planning. Do NOT allow this possibility to occur! If you are employed and can take a leave of absence, do so, once you are strongly convinced a six month exploratory residence is worth the risk; as stated previously, a complete move without having done a short residency is very unwise.

Investigate carefully the costs, legalities and logistics of moving household effects long in advance of making a move, though of course prices are always subject to change. You will almost certainly have to employ a customs agent if you plan to move your belongings, and you must be prepared for delays in any case.

Investigate carefully the possibilities of remunerative activities in the country of choice, unless you are completely convinced that your guaranteed income from abroad will always be sufficient to cover your costs of living and those of your family in the event you have one. Those considering agricultural activities should engage expert advisory and technical help before seriously contemplating such an investment; failure to do so can be very costly. Subsistence farming, livestock included, is viable in certain areas, but it will not likely allow you legal residence based on investment.

It is my intention to develop a far more detailed—perhaps book-length report—for potential emigrants, but it will require payment, nominal though it may be. I am also open to being hired as a consultant, one-on-one, to assist those who realistically qualify as potential emigrants, though this would be on a case-by-case basis, as it would not represent my principle activity.

Back in the Saddle!

I have received enough expressions of interest in relocation to South America that I am reactivating this blog and introducing a new one, the latter to be "job-specific." It is called Safe Haven: South America Rural Relocation and can be accessed at www.sa-rural-relocation.blogspot.com/.

Since I last posted half a year ago, the situation in the northern hemisphere seems to have worsened significantly for many folks, who would now like to seek greener pastures. I am willing and able to help them for an extremely reasonable, flexible fee. If I were able to do it free, I would, but unfortunately I cannot, given that I have an income well below the US federally determined poverty level for one person; I live well, however, and would like to see others follow this example, given my belief that the greed-based paradigm of finance capitalism is entering its death throes and major social disruption will be caused as it either croaks or transforms itself into something even worse: legally imposed collectivism.

All inquiries welcome, honest and frontal answers given: if your circumstances make considering a relocation to South America imprudent in my opinion, I will tell you so and charge nothing for doing so, will not in fact accept you as a client. It's a major undertaking, and few than one might wish are financially and emotionally equipped to do it.

I did it, have no regrets, and continue to expand my nascent agricultural activities. Here is my latest undertaking in photo form, a geodesic dome greenhouse, ten meters in diameter, one of the largest if not the largest in Argentina. Those with an interest in this method of construction and/or style of greenhouse may contact me for information and an estimate should they wish one constructed on their property.

As mentioned earlier, I have a second house on this property and unless I have a rent-paying tenant before our winter is out (Sept.), I am willing to entertain a mixed barter/low rent arrangement with possible apprentices. We are doing interesting things with open-pollinated heirloom seeds of varieties of vegetables that heretofore haven't had much market acceptation here, as well as with amaranto and quinoa, two sources of plant protein that will have increasing importance, particularly now that the mono-cultivation of soy is beginning to show it dreadfully destructive effects om soil fertility.

Let's hear from you so we can develop some momentum!

Signing Off

The photo to the right, a television test pattern perhaps remembered by any older readers, was placed on screen while the station was off the air. Regrettably, I too am going "off the air," having decided that words no longer matter; what matters is work on things that grow, things that are real, not abstractions.

The Western world seems to me to be circling the drain in a death spiral of despair that I have chosen to avoid to the degree possible. I have moved to a rural zone in a so-called Third World country in which modern consumerism is far, far away. I am every day more content with the choice I have made and hope to live out my life on this small plot of ground which I've been permitted to use for my needs on this pilgrimage. I till this land and it produces food, if all goes well. I manage to earn enough money to subsist, though at a level well below that of poverty level in "developed" countries. My needs are small, and I make a constant effort to reduce them still further.

I thank all those who have read what I've written here, and hope I may have been of some service to those who have written me with questions. I can offer no more suggestions, save that
for those who have ears, let them hear that the footsteps seem to be growing louder... and closer. Act accordingly. Best of luck and Godspeed.

This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.

I'll Be Good, I Will!I Will!

Too much time has passed since the last entry and guilt is eating away at me. What's more, today is Labor Day in the U.S.A., and I feel as if I must do some work. I have been remiss, and in the long-remembered promise of the childhood hero pictured at right: "I'll be good, I will, I will."

Caveat: Froggy the Gremlin was a notorious liar.


I am adding a link at right for those who might wish to test themselves as agricultural workers here in Argentina: http://www.wwoofargentina.com/. This link will be placed permanently om the site sidebar as well. I may include the Catacombs as a host farm at some point, but I am not quite ready to do so. Persuade me!

I am hoping against hope that the cold south wind will die down and tonight's threatened frost not occur, as all my fruit trees are in glorious blossom, the veggies growing like mad, and there is much work to be done here. In fact, the chores have kept me from the computer these past two weeks, about which I'm not complaining, mind: it's healthy!

Things out in the wider world seem to be worsening weekly, folks, and I'm redoubling my preparations for what I expect to be some hard times ahead.