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.