Archive for the ‘Ulaa Service’ Category

Ulaa is Oooh-La-La

Saturday, April 25th, 2009

When Nick and I went to Ulaa in March, we fell in love with the Enchanting Group’s organic farm and resolved that we would work as hard as we could to convert Ulaa into a volunteer experience so that volunteers could make the farm live up to its potential production.  Nick took on the task of recruiting volunteers, and boy has he been successful!!  He hasn’t stopped searching for potential helping hands, surfing and posting on volunteer websites such as WWOOF, GoAbroad.com, and Idealist.  Currently, there are 4 volunteers working the fields of Ulaa–a Spaniard, a Brazilian, a North American, and an Australian!!  In 2 weeks, another North American arrives, as well as a Croatian.  It is a multicultural farming family down there in the mountains of Chilean Patagonia.   

Currently, the volunteers all help each other in harvesting the produce and working together to cook communal meals 3 times a day.  However, there are some special projects that Ulaa needs in order to really come to her potential.  Some of these projects include building a dam, and finishing the construction of a deck.  Such projects will need people who are handy with their manos, people with backgrounds in plumbing, construction, engineering, and architecture.  So all of you potential farmers with those special skills, try your hand at Ulaa and put your specialties to an altruistic use!!!

In just over a month, Nick has received over 30 inquiries about volunteering in Ulaa.  There seems to be a social trend in getting closer to our land, a movement that is helped by inspiring books like Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma & In Defense of Food.  People are realizing the need to KNOW the story (and to be a part of that story!) of what we put into our bodies.  In fact, YesMagazine just published a very interesting article called Meet the New Crop of Farmers, a story that collages interviews with a variety of young people who are choosing to farm, changing the tides of how we view and value work. 

today's social trends: youth farming

today's social trends: youth farming

For a variety of reasons, people all over the world are searching for more meaning, and for more unity with the world and our co-existence.  One of the ways to find that meaning and to be a deeper part of that co-existence is through farming.  If you think this is one way you would like to help the world, contact us at Enchanting Challenge, and we can help you get to Ulaa for the time of your lives!!

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Ulaa Series: Why Agricultural Service Can Serve Our World

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

Too Much Urbanization…

To continue on with yesterday’s theme, our world has shifted heavily out-of-balance, with the majority of its weight officially city-centered.  This has left farmers out in the cold, leaving them to literally starve, and leaving many urbanites perilously close to starvation.  

A Loss of Agricultural Knowledge…

In our culture, and in our world, there has been a glorification of non-manual work, which has resulted in steadily subsiding respect and knowledge of farm work.  As Barbara Kingsolver writes in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, “Most people of my grandparents’ generation had an intuitive sense of agricultural basics…Few people of my generation, and approximately none of our children, could answer any of those [agricultural] questions, let alone all.  This knowledge has vanished from our culture” (8-9).  And that is endangering all of humanity.

 Yesterday we talked about how many farmers are forced to sell their farms and move to a city in search of money-making opportunities…Many never find their pot of gold, and end up living in a slum, paralyzed in their inability to use the agricultural skills they have.  But today I want to talk about the farmers who stay on the farm…

Farmers are Hurting…and Suffering…

 The ABC and BBC are doing a co-production on Indonesia.  This week’s focus was on West Timor, an agricultural center of the archipelago.  In the West Timor, the people, the farmers, are suffering rampant malnutrition.  The reality is a laundry-list of nutritional travesties:

  • 50% of children under 5 years older are malnourished
  • 80% of children under 2 years old suffer iron deficiencies
  • 35% of women are anemic
West Timorean children

West Timorean children

West Timor traditional home

West Timor traditional home

Why is this happening?  Why, HOW can the very farmers starve when the nutrients are all in their own backyards?? There are a variety of reasons.

a West Timor mother with her baby in the hospital

a West Timor mother with her baby in the hospital

 Why are They Suffering???

First: lack of nutritional education.  Recently, there was a widespread propaganda campaign in West Timor urging farmers to eat rice, rice, rice.  The propaganda left an imprint on the people, and now many farmers sell all of their produce to get more money, some of which they use to buy rice, which means they do not get most of their essential nutrients.  Therefore, if only there was more nutritional education in West Timor, perhaps many Timoreans would be better-nourished and have the vitamins they need.

 Second: climate change.  Global warming is shortening, and in some years stopping, the rainy season.  Each year less and less food grows because of the decrease in rain.  Historically, there has been the growing season and the harvesting season.  Now, West Timoreans have added a third season: the starving season.  Now people in West Timor speaking of “the starvng season” as if it is a regular part of the year, something they have to work around.  Things like cattle ranching that used to thrive in West Timor are now barely able to exist because of the droughts, and the people really are starving.

How Can We Help???!!!

 Because of dangers posed in this region, there are fewer and fewer aid workers every year, and West Timoreans sink closer and closer to starvation.  People here speak of the Lost Generation, because the children of today are so malnourished. 

 This story is being repeated all over the world.  Because of climate change and because of a shift in the way we think about respectable work, the farmers are becoming more and more ostracized from society. 

 But we can all help to re-shift our world back into balance.  Yesterday, Nick wrote in his blog about how ecotourism, of which agritourism is a big part!, can reallllllllllllly help in our efforts to curb climate change.  He sites amazing examples of places where people used to make their money by economically devastating endeavors such as rainforest logging, etc., and now because of the rise in ecotourism, they make their living as guides for tourists through these very rainforests that they used to chop down!!  In many of these places, deforestation has stopped and has been replaced by a surge in ecotourism.

In my eyes, I believe that agritourism, or rather agricultural service, is the best way to be an eco-tourist.  It allows you to travel to exotic places, or places close to your home if you’d rather, while participating in ecologically friendly endeavors AND learning more about agriculture–the thing that keeps us all alive.  By being an agricultural service worker, you are helping to restore the urban/rural balance that our world desperately needs.

Come Help at Ulaa…

There are thousands of opportunities for you to volunteer on a farm.  Just check out WWOOF, and you can see so many listings in so many countries, your vision will blur!! Or move to France and apply for one of the 80,000 farm jobs they have open! But I am here to advocate for Ulaa because it has a special place in my heart…The week I spent at Ulaa was one of the best weeks of my life…I believe in the potential of Ulaa, but only volunteers can bring out its full possibilities.  So I am calling you readers to come to Ulaa, and help bring it to its potential!! I think, I know, it can be the experience of a lifetime.

To learn more about Ulaa, visit the following websites:

  1. The Ulaa Blog
  2. Our Intentional Community Page
  3. Our Facebook Fan Group
the fields of Ulaa

the fields of Ulaa

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Ulaa Series: Why Volunteering On A Farm Can Really Make a Difference

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
a crowded train in Mumbai

a crowded train in Mumbai

Each year, the human race becomes more and more urban.  In Hot, Flat, and Crowded, Thomas Friedman recaps how,

“In 2007, the United Nations Population Fund’s executive director, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, issued a report stating that in 2008, more than half of humanity will be living in cities,” (page 28). 

This is the first time in the history of humanity that we as a species have become primarily city-folk.  And, as Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said, “we [the cities] are not ready for them [the millions of migrants],” (Friedman 28).

an over-crowded Indian street

an over-crowded Indian street

 The reason for this mass-migration is the allure of opportunity.  Industrial agricultural giants make independent farming quite difficult.  Thus, millions of farmers are forced to leave behind their farms to try and stay afloat in the city, where there is hope of a different kind of occupation, perhaps factory work or domestic labor.  As Thomas Friedman sums up, “People in India and China leave their villages and cram themselves and their families into megacities not because they actually like living that way, but, in many cases, simply because that is where the jobs and opportunities are” (168). 

A very sad part of this reality is that millions of these migrants don’t find opportunity, and wind up living a slum life, a life filled with the violence and degradation that accompanies acute urban poverty.  As Newsweek writer Sudip Mazumdar, a former slum dweller himself, recalls:

“Slum life is a cage.  It robs you of confidence in the face of the rich and the advantaged.  It steals your pride, deadens your ambition, limits your imagination, and psychologically cripples you whenever you step outside the comfort zone of your own neighborhood.” (Man Bites ‘Slumdog’ 1)

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Another very sad part of this reality is that as millions of people are being driven off of the farm, many of those millions are losing their knowledge of our earth and the origins of our food.  Many people who have a vast knowledge of agriculture simply cannot afford to keep farming.  Thus, the ensuing result of this mass migration is that we as a human race are becoming more and more removed from the very thing that keeps us alive: food.  It is incredible that we all eat (if we are fortunate!) 3 times a day, and yet know very little about where each morsel of nutrients we ingest comes from…It’s actually a bit scary if you think about it! 

It surely can not be sustainable to have a society that ostracizes our very food producers. And people are catching on to that.  And so, thank goodness, there are many efforts going on now to empower the village, to empower the farmer.  A week and a half ago, I blogged about Fairtrade, and how consuming Fairtrade goods empowers the small farmer more than we can imagine.  So don’t stop buying those Fairtrade goods! :-)

But you might also want to consider spending time on a farm yourself, getting to know the work involved with growing our food.  Especially in times such as these, with a global economic crisis eliminating urban jobs left and right, the farm might be a good place to learn a few new tricks of the trade.  A recent article in The Economist magazine called “Back to the Farm” (from the print edition dated March 5, 2009) detailed how in France alone, there are 80,000 farming positions open across the country.  With unemployment at 8.3% and increasing, many French people are considering finding a job on the farm. 

This is not to say that a farming life is better than a city life.  I only mean to say that when we can allow small farmers to farm, there will be better balance in our urban areas and in our rural areas.  Working on a farm might not be for everyone, but perhaps you can give it a shot through a little volunteer time spent on the range.  It can only promote awareness of the importance of farming and heighten your own awareness of the balance within our world. 

Remember: the enchanting, organic Ulaa farm is waiting for you…

come open the gates of Ulaa!

come open the gates of Ulaa!

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Ulaa Series: Ulaa Farm Service Work in Summary

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Alas, our week at Ulaa has ended…Nick and I were both so sad to leave that little organic Chilean paradise…As we took the boat across Lago Puelo to the Argentine mainland, we looked back with longing, saying goodbye to all the passing scenery.  But our sadness was kept at bay because we have decided to return to Ulaa in July to work with Martin for the whole month, helping to keep the farm working, and helping to further develop the service project!  We are so excited. 

As I mentioned in past posts, Martin, the amazing Ulaa caretaker, is looking to host about 5 service workers at Ulaa at all times.  Each service worker can stay for as long or as short as they would like, as long as they work on the farm everyday.  Each service worker will be well-fed and cozy in their log cabin, which is equipped with a fireplace, comfy bed, and bathroom.

The tasks that the service workers will be charged with include picking berries off the trees, making jam, baking bread, fishing for trout and salmon, feeding the chickens, and brushing down the horse.  It’s a lot of work, but it is honestly so much fun.  Nick and I had hands stained purple from picking berries, and clothing with a constant coat of flour dust, but we were having so much fun!  Sometimes nothing beats working with your hands, working in the thick of nature, creating what you eat from the very ground up.

that's me making jam, some of which I got on my nose!

that's me making jam, some of which I got on my nose!

my jam simmering on the stove

my jam simmering on the stove

there's Nick kneading dough! check out the view he had while cooking!

there's Nick kneading dough! check out the view he had while cooking!

there's some more of Nick's great dough!

there's some more of Nick's great dough!

It was so much fun to be part of the Ulaa community, helping in our small ways to make things move more smoothly on the farm, and to share in the work that allowed everyone to be happily well-fed.  It really felt like being part of a collective unit, of a team, in which we were all core members.  We honestly can not wait to return for the month of July.

Ulaa is currently ready to host service workers.  If you are interested, please contact me and we can discuss all the details!! You can join our Facebook group here, or you can research more about volunteering on an organic farm at WWOOF.  Ulaa is currently listed on the Chilean WWOOF site, but you need to become a WWOOF member for $15 if you want access to the entire list of Chilean WWOOF farms.  I am available all the time at sarahannmaxwell@gmail.com or via Skype if you would like to chat more in depth about volunteering on the beautiful Ulaa farm!  Ulaa is honestly a magical place, but it needs service workers to grow to its full potential…

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Ulaa Series: Voyage to the Alerces

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

All week we have been hearing about the alerces, the giant trees in the forests surrounding Ulaa.  For the past few days I have been really looking forward to our trip into the alerces forest, but nothing could have prepared me for the incredible reality of the journey…

The day began at 8 am, when Nick, Martin, and I walked to the Rio Puelo.  We crossed the river in a small rowboat and waited at a neighboring farm for Emiliano, the alerces guide, to pick us up.

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The morning was crisp and we watched the fog roll through the moutains as we sat in the dewy grass.  Pretty soon we heard Emiliano coming down the mountain, and sure enough, there our guacho guide appeared–wearing a woolen poncho and a wollen cap–a true Chilean gaucho.  He was guiding 4 horses, which he then helped us mount, and then turned around and guided back up the mountain.

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The four of us clambored up the mountain until we reached Emiliano’s house, a lovely farmhouse with beautiful surroudning farmland.  There we tied up our horses and took a break, drinking coffee and mate (a traditional Argentine tea) with Emiliano and his family in their cozy kitchen.

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Check out the sheep on Emiliano’s farm!!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyLZAofHo5k]

After enough coffee and mate to revive us for the rest of the trip, we hit the saddle once again.  Then we climbed higher and higher, trekking across rocky ridges and through creeks.  It was unbelievably beautiful.  For a fleeting but exciting second, we felt like the guachos we have always imagined being.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXt4U4DLdiw]

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We finally reached the forest, a virgin forest dense with brush.  We tied the horses up and marched through, climbing over and through thick plant life.  Finally we came to the alerces.  They stood so high that I couldn’t really see where they ended!  I had to sit down and tilt my head all the way back to see where their height stopped!

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Knowing it takes one year for an alerce tree to grow one millimeter, and seeing how tall these trees were, we asked Martin how old he thought they were.  It turns out that the younger ones are 1500 years old!!! But apparently that was not that impressive…We were soon directed to the oldest of the trees, which is a whopping 5500 years old!!!  One living thing that has been in the same place for nearly 6 millenia…The history held within that wood is hard to imagine…Seeing such a precious and unharmed living thing felt very sacred in a way…

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After spending some more time in the forest, we walked back to our horses and began descending down the mountain.  Down we went through the creeks across grasslands and rocky lands, past trees dripping with blackberries, past farms with cows and pigs and sheep, until we finally reached the river.  We had completed our journey.  And we will never forget it!!!

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***

Martin, Nick, and I decided that the voyage to the alerces should accompany every service worker’s stay.  At the end of every volunteer’s time here at Ulaa, each service worker should take part in this beautiful journey…It will change your life, and remind you of the beauty of the land that you are helping to cultivate.

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Ulaa Series: The 4 Pillars of Ulaa

Friday, March 6th, 2009

Today Nick and I worked with Martin at length to start planning the Ulaa service sector.  It is exciting and beautiful to see this plan come together, and we all hope so much that some of our readers will be interested in the program we are constructing.  Below I have written the four main points of our plan.

Las Paisajes–The Landscape

The farm is the heart of Ulaa.  It is most important to realize that we are here for the farm.  Ulaa’s fields grow walnuts, apples, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, pumpkins, potatoes, onions, garlic, lettuce, basil, tomatoes, and more.  Chickens roost in their hen house and trout and salmon swim in the lakes.  The landscape is very, very alive, and we are here to keep it vibrant.

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La Gente–The People

The people who come to Ulaa to serve on the farm must come with a proactive attitude and a hard-work ethic.

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Ulaa is beautiful and it is impossible not to feel at peace here.  BUT, it is important to realize that volunteers can not come simply for relaxation.  Their stay here will be free or at a minimum cost, but they must come prepared to be a core part of the hard work that keeps Ulaa healthy.

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The people, the volunteers of Ulaa, together will make a whole unit, with each person an integral part of the unit.  The sucess of the whole depends upon each person fulfilling his or her tasks.  For example, Ulaa is far from any major road or market; basic supplies that can not be made on the farm–like toilet paper–are delivered regularly; but other basic items–like bread and jam–that can be made on the farm must be made on the farm.  Getting bread and jam at Ulaa is not a simple short-trip-to-the-store endeavor.  Instead, for the jam, someone must pick the berries, take out their thorns, and boil them with sugar until they resemble jelly.  For the bread, someone must mix the flour and yeast and let it rise, and then bake it.  These are simple examples, but I mean to paint the picture of how everyone’s well-being, in addition to the well-being of Ulaa itself, depends on each person helping out where they can.

 

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The collective contributions of everyone make Ulaa a beautiful experience.  In our normal lives, things like bread and jam are items we buy at the nearest grocery store.  At Ulaa, they are things you make from scratch with your own hands.  It is all hard work, but the reward is priceless: you learn where your meals come from; you feel close to and a part of what you eat; and you gain a deeper respect and understanding of our relationship with nature and our place within nature.

Las Cabanas–The Cabins

All of the volunteers will stay in log cabins on the Ulaa property.  The cabins are gorgeous–rustic, wooden, and overlooking the two lakes Ulaa sits between.  Each bedroom has an incredibly comfortable wooden bed with a fluffy warm comforter.  Each cabin has a bathroom that can be shared between the 2 or 3 inhabitants of the cabin.

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Eating, like the farm work, is also a collective endeavor.  The kitchen in the main lodge is where all the group meals are cooked.  A gigantic oven and a whole lot of counterspace make it hard to have too many cooks in the kitchen.  Like always, everyone will be a part of the meal process, and all the volunteers will eat 3 meals together everyday–and all of the meals will be made from food grown right from Ulaa’s soil.

Los Alerces–The Alerces

The Alerces are giant, ancient trees growing in the forests surrounding Ulaa.  It takes one year for an alerces tree to grow a single milimeter.  These trees loom high into the sky, giving you an idea of how old they really must be.  Their majestic beauty helps to connect you to nature and remind you of the wonders of our natural world.  Seeing them will make you excited to be cultivating the land in this beautiful place…

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***

We are so excited to put the Ulaa service project together.  It is something so close to our hearts, and something we know will be enriching to anyone who takes part in it.  In the coming days, look for my posts that will detail exact volunteer duties, the costs of this experience, and more details on the fabric of Ulaa…

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Ulaa Series: Volunteer Opportunities at Ulaa

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

img_3376Life at Ulaa

For the past three days, Nick and I have been doing our city-slicker best to help out at the Ulaa farm in any way we can.  These are some of the tasks we have been charged with:

  • Picking apples, plums, blackberries, walnuts, tomatoes, and peas
  • Brushing down the horse
  • Feeding the chickens
  • Fishing for our dinner (rainbow trout!)
  • Helping to prepare all the meals (which include cobblers made with hand-picked fruit from the garden, baked pumpkin also picked from the garden, and fresh, home-made bread)

Not too bad of a life, eh?  I have been going to bed each night completely tired, feeling like the day was completely lived, and waking up completely ready to begin a new day in this beautiful place.

The History of Ulaa

Martin, the amazing Ulaa-caretaker, arrived on the banks of Lago Puelo Inferior 10 months ago.  It was then that he found Ulaa, beautiful and majestic, but sad and lonely with no one to tend her fields.  So Martin the Mountain Man set to work.

His first order of business was to clean house.  He took action beautifying the log cabins for the tourists and volunteers.  His second order of business was to give the farm some tender loving care.  He and his sidekick, Chardo, planted gardens and nursed the potato and raspberry fields back to life.  Now, not even a year later, the potato beds are thriving; heads of lettuce are popping up out of the ground; tomatoes and basil are growing side-by-side; the trees are dripping with apples, plums, walnuts, and blackberries; onion bulbs are bursting through the soil; pumpkins are plump and ripe; the roosters are cock-a-doodling, and so much more…

The only thing is, Martin needs help!!!

The Future of Ulaa

Ulaa is currently open for travelers and tourists to stay and enjoy a cozy, natural setting and home-cooked meals.  Tourists and travelers can stay in the rustic and gorgeous Ulaa cabins for only $70/night, and enjoy home-cooked food picked from none other than MARTIN, and of course picked fresh from the Ulaa gardens.  It really is an incredible experience for travelers and tourists…

However, with so much growing, and so much potential to grow more, Martin and Chardo don’t have enough hands to cover it all.  They would LOVE if volunteers came to help them out.  We are currently in the process of planning the service sector of Ulaa, but here is the general idea:

The goal is to have 5 service workers here at all times, helping this farm world go round.  The service workers would live on the Ulaa site, eat here with the Ulaa family, and of course contribute to the daily work (such as those not-so-bad tasks I mentioned before, like picking succulent fruit from the vine and fishing in a pure mountain lake).  We are aiming for agritourism, and hopefully volunteers could stay for free, although nothing has been officially decided.  (I will let you know as soon as it is in stone!)  Service workers could stay for as long or as short of a time as they would like.  We at Enchanting Challenge will use organizations like WWOOF to get the word out, but if any blog readers out there feel that this is the opportunity for them, please at sarahannmaxwell@gmail.com.

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Ulaa Series: Tracing Our Path to Ulaa

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

Our journey to Ulaa began in crazy, crowded, and cosmopolitan Buenos Aires.  It was there that we hopped on board a crowded bus that would take us to the international bus station in 45 minutes time, where we would then board a double-decker cross-country bus that would take us on a 20-hour journey southbound.  We were armed with a hiking backpack loaded with hiking gear and warm clothes for the Patagonian mountains, and enough food to last us until we arrived in Ulaa, an estimated 30 or so hours away.

At 5 pm on Saturday our bus pulled out of the station and hit the road.  As the sun set, we sped through the Argentine pampas, farmland run by gauchos, or Argentine cowboys.  Cows grazed freely across miles of fields, drinking from pure water ponds. 
Night fell and we could no longer see the animal characters of the landscape.  We closed our eyes and fell asleep.

We opened our eyes just as the sun was rising above the farmland.  The terrain had become more desert-like, and the vegetation looked a little parched.  Soon we were passing by massive rock formations that gave way to imposing, jagged mountains.  The bus wove its way across the mountain roads, kicking up dust and sand in its path.

Then we reached Bariloche, with its green mountains and clear lakes.  At the bus station in Bariloche, a backpacker’s hub to be sure, we boarded a smaller bus to take us 3 hours south to Lago Puelo.  The bus scotted through the rain down even more isolated mountain paths, massive ridges surrounding the valley roads we took.

We arrived at Lago Puelo at 5:45 pm on Sunday, 25 hours after we had left Buenos Aires, but the journey was not yet over.

We hopeed into a remis, or an unofficial taxi, and our driver, Sergio, ferried us to the port.  There we boarded a small motorboat driven by a Senor Claudio, who guided us across the waters of Lago Puelo.  We flew up and down with every bump and every wave.  When the water got too rocky to motor through, Claudio parked the dinghy and led us to the beach. We all helped each other jump from stone-to-stone until we reached a calmer part of the water where Martin would come pick us up from the other side of Lago Puelo, the Chilean side.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CviKRxOmFaU]

“Okay, chicos!” Claudio said as he bade us farewell kisses, promising that Martin was on his way.  We certainly hoped that he was right because all we could see were rocks and lake!  And sure enough, within minutes of Claudio’s departure, Martin arrived on another small motorboat, the one that would carry us to Ulaa.

We boarded the second boat and cruised across the water, surrounded on all sides by majestic mountains and low-lying, mysterious-looking fog. 

And there she was: Ulaa.  The wooden cabin arose out of a mountain at the edge of Lago Puelo.  Martin docked the boat and we disembarked.  After three bus rides, one taxi ride, and two boat rides, we had found Ulaa!  And we were ready to begin planning ways for you to see her beauty as well…

Keep your eyes peeled for tomorrow’s post on the Ulaa activities we are taking part in and plotting for you to take part in!! 

PS: I promise that your journey to Ulaa does not have to be as complicated as our’s was…For instance, you could take an airplane to Bariloche, cutting about 18 hours from your journey…However, taking the long way certainly does add a sense of adventure to the whole journey!!

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