small world she said: Carlos and the one-eyed cat

The loud and proud sunflower, the mighty lion of the garden (two Spanish names: mira/girasol:face the sun and maravilla: marvel).

He kinda of looks like an older version of Henry Fonda from the 1940 movie adaptation of Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath! Right? Anyone?

Meet Carlos. Carlos is my organic* farming mentor. Soft-spoken, patient almost beyond reason, he exudes an admirable calm that can only be molded by a lifetime in the countryside. He's 60-something but looks and works as if he were decades younger. He rides at the local rodeo, builds houses and furniture with his bare hands from minimal materials, and looks after a bedridden schizophrenic wife. I like him a lot. From years as a gardener and farmer, he's acquired an acute knowledge of how to work the land in the purist tradition of farming(small scale and no artificial pesticides or fertilizers). There's a rustic twang in his Spanish. I've got a decent command of the language, but I can barely grasp half of what Carlos says. No matter- most effective learning is visual anyway.

*I almost hesitate to use the word "organic" because at least in this remote Chilean countryside community, there's never been any other way of food production to necessitate the distinction.

Carlos puts up tomato supports

I work with Carlos everyday; it's just the two of us tending the gardens and caring for the farm. While he takes his midday break, I sit at my laptop and write a couple articles for the Santiago Times(the journalism portion of my internship). He shows me how to prep dry earth for cultivating and drops tips on optimal watering patterns and seed-sowing techniques for better yields. He teaches me how simple mindfulness of changing seasons and the sun's daily path can promote a prosperous farm. How preserving and sowing seeds produced by already harvested crops keep it self-sustaining. He's given me invaluable advice for the modest home and greenhouse I dream of one day building on my own. How the proper use and layering of salvaged materials can keep a house warm in the winter, cool when it's scorching, and earthquake-resistant. Who knew Styrofoam made such effective, breathable insulation?

It's remarkable how much this man knows- with a brilliant resourcefulness I can only hope to emulate. The other day, we took a break from our chores to share a couple beers under the pear trees. He'd buried the beers in the sand by the creek to keep them cool. I couldn't ask for a better teacher.

Around the farm...