Do it yourself

We are already building a few things ourselves. That is to say, Kees is doing some simple carpentry work. When you have your own farm, becoming a handyman is inevitable (although it takes rather long in Kees’ case). We already have a large wooden box for composting organic waste and Kees also constructed a pergola to provide shade to saplings before they are planted. On the steeper sections of the paths on our property we have constructed steps with wood and stone. The place where we take water from our little stream has also been stabilized with wood and stone to prevent erosion.

There are some deep gullies on the farm, caused by overgrazing. When it rains, the water runs off very fast through these gullies, washing away fertile soil. We are slowly filling these gullies up with stones, palm leaves, dead wood and just about anything else we can lay our hands on. In some cases we also filled up the gullies with soil from another place and we have planted trees at the head of these gullies. This way, we will slow down the water, which will result in less erosion and more infiltration of water.

In the near future we are going to start the next project: to build a small bridge over our little stream. For the time being Kees is mostly thinking and gathering courage to start, because it looks like quite a job. We also want to make a proper work bench. We soon hope to connect electricity (that is another story maybe) and a stable bench where you can safely use power tools seems like a good idea. For the time being we are using the furniture which was left behind: Loes on the table and Kees on the bench (see photos).

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/loesroos/album?.dir=/ec88re2&.src=ph&.tok=phUnHdGBDwR_UgvK

Another project that is looming in the future is the construction of a 3 feet high wall along the front of our farm. We want to build it with natural stone in such a way that small wildlife can easily pass over and through, but cattle and wild fires cannot pass. We also think that a low wall looks more friendly and welcoming to tourists than barbed wire.

Since the dry season is dryer than we thought, we want to improve the natural supply. The stream that runs through our property has mostly dried up now. A few pools are left, one of them actually dug out by us. We use the water to water our trees and quite a few birds come to drink and bath in the small pools that are left. We intend to increase the pool we have dug quite a lot, until we have a more or less natural looking lake with a sandy bottom and one bank clad with stone where one can sit and dangle ones legs in the water to attract alligators and such.

We are quite busy. So busy that we missed most of the carnaval at the end of February. We only went into town the last day and saw a (lousy) band and the princess. Compared to Holland, where carnival is always led by a prince, Panama appears gender sensitive. But appearances are quite misleading, even though the princess is very beautiful. Because being beautiful, swaying her hips and getting kissed by important people are the only tasks the princess has to fulfill during carnival. These tasks should not be underestimated. Getting kissed by drunk sweaty mayors and such can’t be much fun and swaying your hips during a three hour parade in the town is probably just as tiring as digging a pond.

Measuring, analyzing and building

During the last month we contracted the Technical University of Panama to analyze some soil samples. If we want to build a canopy tower with four floors, we need to know what the physical carrying capacity of the soil is. So one day we had a team come around to drill a hole of about 4.5 meters deep to take soil samples. When they came, I wondered why the scientist had brought two bodyguards. But those guys were not bodyguards, they were the drill operators; the drill is driven by human power. And part of operating the drill is repeatedly lifting and dropping a 60 kg weight to hammer the drill into the soil. So now we know that the carrying capacity varies from 7.5 to 28 ton per square meter. Carrying capacity appears to increase with decreasing water content.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/loesroos/album?.dir=/6d43re2&.src=ph&.tok=phRdvYGBIPA7HAcB

We had already mowed the grass and measured the height differences on the hill where we want to build the tower. But we needed to have more information about surrounding altitudes to decide where to locate the tower. At the moment, most of our treetops are less than two feet high, so the view is the best selling point. Therefore we have to make sure we can look over the next hill to the sea and Cébaco island. So we contacted the university again and arranged for someone to come and measure altitudes etc. on part of our land. And now we have a map of 1.6 ha of our land, scale 1:400. We have sent this map to the architect and are now waiting for a first design.

In the mean time we have found a carpenter in Mariato who can build two wooden ‘ranchos’ for us. Basically this consists of a wooden platform a foot or two above the ground with a thatched roof. The platform is large enough to accommodate a roomy two person tent and a verandah with a hammock. Finding the materials to build these rancho’s is very much like trying to get something done in Mozambique: I was taken by somebody who knew everybody to someone who could certainly get the wood. However, this someone was busy doing something else. But he knew a second someone who could surely help me. This second someone would gladly do it, but his chain saw was broken and he did not know when he would get the spare part. But he had a friend who had a brother in law whose third cousin once removed probably knew someone….etc.
After doing away with following all these intricate family connections, we finally found someone in Arenas who will get us the wood. We have ordered ‘nispero’ (Manilkara zapota) and it will be delivered at the end of February. Getting the 500 palm leaves for the thatch is also not easy, but we have made that the carpenter’s problem. He will contact us as soon as the thatch is ready to be delivered and we will pick it up (that will probably need a few trips between our farm and the pick-up spot, but so be it). In the mean time, we visit the carpenter regularly, he lives along the way to our land, to make sure he is actually doing what he says…