On Our Toes

 On Our Toes

This week's theme is toes. Here in el campo, we are always being kept on our toes! You never know what you might come across, be asked to do, or what the day will bring. Also, due to the amount of walking and wearing rain boots everywhere that don't quite fit our feet, our toes are hurting! I have noticed that both the toes/feet as well as the hands/fingers have been experiencing new ailments and sensations just because they are being used so dang much. There has been a lot of flexibility learned this last week, especially as we see even clearer the cultural differences between here and the United States. Connor and I are learning that we don't always need all the "comforts" that we typically have on a day to day or moment by moment basis. This, of course, includes all the larger items I've already discussed such as not having a heater in our room or as many material items that we typically do in our usual life. But, we have found this theme on a much smaller scale. For example, we were told one morning to go with the other workers with the machete and other items. My initial question was "What do I need to bring?" He responded with nothing, just ourselves. So off we went! Connor and I contemplated how much "stuff" we typically require even when we may just be leaving the house for 3-4 hours. Always having extra snacks, water, clothing, etc. to ensure we would be okay and comfortable. Besides people's thermoses for hot water for mate, I have yet to see anyone carrying around a reusable water bottle! Here, all you need are your two hands to be able to work and your two legs to be able to move. 

Things we did this past week: 

• Placed the frozen meat from its temporary spot back to the functioning storage container
• Moved all pigs to new pasture/grass areas
• Retrieved cow heads from the back of the truck to give to the dogs/freeze them (just farm things)
• Painted more of the walls white at the meat plant (getting creative with how to reach the tall ceilings/walls 
• Hiked to various areas to help clear brush areas for a new gate/fence (mucho machete)
• Carried fence posts and other miscellaneous items to build the new fence 
• Babysat children and the new puppy (got to watch the movie Spirit which is just such an underrated movie!)
• Harvested pears that have fallen from the trees (good ones for the humans, gross ones for the pigs!)
• Helped set up coffee/tea/mate for a Scouts tour that was coming through the farm
• Ate a LOT of delicious meat - including oxtail, heart, and marrow!
• Had some rest and relaxation time for reading, journaling, chilling 

It has been great to learn more about the regenerative farming lifestyle, even on a small scale such as moving pigs. Typically the gauchos (the other, more experienced guys) will get on horses and move the large animals of cattle and sheep from one pasture to another quite regularly, maybe once a week plus or minus a few days. For the pigs, they may stay in their area for a couple weeks, but it all depends on the area and the grass depletion. The goal is to have the animals graze on the grass, but not have the area get overly muddy and grass die off. As the animals graze, they poop and move soil and seed to help the grass continue its cycle. From a Birds Eye view, you can see the fields that have just been grazed upon and the ones that are super fresh and green and ready to be eaten. This is the whole purpose of regenerative farming - so the cattle is only eating grass (hence grass-fed beef) and it is quite literally regenerating/renewing the land so the soil does not dry up and become depleted of nutrients. Pretty dang cool! 

Overall, life has been good and we have really been enjoying being challenged in a variety of different ways. We are slowly chipping away at our Spanish and other goals we had coming over here. Excited to see what the next place will bring for us. Love you all! 

Con amor, 

Abby y Connor