November went by fast!

What a wonderful and good working month, shared with lovely people and good times!

The gardens are gorgeous ! We have a new shade structure to block out some of the hot sub-tropical summer sun, and so far the veggies are loving it.

…mmm, such delicious harvests…

We also put in the floor of the Cosmic Cabin. Last steps before its ready to live in!

Touching up the community bathhouse with natural paints.

Our day of Giving Thanks… with deep gratitude for good people and fun energy…

We spent a weekend in a Permaculture course held at O´PAYBO school for natural healing in a neighboring town here in Misiones. (That’s where the peacock in the first picture lives…) Gracias Elda por toda la informacion y buena energia!

Kitten Update, as promised: fat and rowdy, and cuter than ever.

Bonus: Can anyone identify these mushrooms?

Cactus Blossoms and Farewell to Friends

Spring is heating up into summer, flowers are bursting into bloom, fruit is poking out from our gardens, and the jungle is full of her sublime wonders.

What a lovely internship we had! A fantastic group of individuals that will no doubt go back to their places in the world and spread the good practices of sustainability. Thank you everyone for your participation, hard work, and good energy. We had a blast!

The Cosmic Cottage got plastered and is almost ready to living in... just going to put on the final touches this month-- cosmic orbits and flying stars!

We also painted the Garden Guesthouse with clay-lime paint and homemade pigments.

And the infamous costume party…

Now to do some work... haresting our experimental wheat crop-- enough for seed saving for next year's planting.

And the kitten update, as promised (Daniella!) They are in that delectibly cute phase, and using their itty bitty legs to scurry all around the patios. We have to watch where we walk or a little claw might just grasp hold! MAmanita is still a good little mama, lounging in her little love nest-crates and purring out the milk.

Bonus Photo: Caterpillers everywhere, like all good springs, promising butterflies and itchy surprises in your clothes! This green fellow is climbing in the elephant garlic...

Cosmic Cabin and Hip Happenings!

Almost at the end of the spring Internship, Mama Roja has a budding garden, a gorgeous adobe cabin, new kittens, and many new stories and friends…

The little Earthen cabin tucked in the jungle:
The adobe walls of the cabin go up…

The roof goes on, framed with local hardwood and made of recycled Tetra-pak cartons…

And we plaster with earth, sand, pine needles, and cow dung…

And we make sculptures too… Mud art for all-- even Rambo!

And the cabin was dubbed the Cosmic Cottage... for aesthetic reasons, of course...
Other hip happenings at Mama Roja:

The community workshop brings lots of folks from all over to participate. Even a local t.v. crew came out to do a little piece on our mud-house making. We will try to get that uploaded soon.

A batik workshop at the farm—a mellow artistic Sunday.

Our outting to the Chacra Suiza—Thanks Paulina and family for a great time!

And let’s not forget the goings on in the garden and surroundings. Corn, squash, beans, tomatoes, mandioca, etc, all bursting from the earth—even in some surprising places!

And of course the new kittens… eyes open to the wonderful jungle world, and to “MAmanita” and her great mama skills.

Spring Busy-ness

We are a few weeks into our spring Internship and having a wonderful time with a great group of people. The sun is shining, the flowers are bursting, the trees fruiting, the birds singing… just a heavenly springtime delight.

The gardens have been getting a lot of love and compost, as well as some new additions including a medicinal plant bed and an herb spiral.

In the background you can see mounds of dirt and a giant hole we had dug for a future fish and duck pond. It hasn’t been sealed yet, but our last big storm filled it up… and it even got tested for swim-ability! Our neighbor did us the favor of bringing his oxen back for a visit and they plowed up a little piece of land near the river. We planted mandioca, corn, squash, and peanuts in the field.

The seeds are in the ground and starting to sprout! What wonders will come, and when?

A bean-and-squash teepee for a shady retreat later in the summer…

The Earthen cabin is underway, and going up gorgeously with adobe bricks and plenty of bottles.

During the springtime rainstorms, we have been keeping busy in the kitchen making peanut butter, jams, cheeses, and Marcelo’s favorite, lemoncello.

We are making fermented fruit medicines (E.M.), herbal tinctures and ointments, and (in the photo) medicinal mud for internal and external therapy.

Other farm news, we have several new chicks (yes, Nurkle’s finally a mom) and maybe some baby kitty’s coming soon…

We started the adobe bread oven in the kitchen. The base is done, but we are taking our time on the rest, so the actual oven will be a project for the near future.

More updates to come as our spring blooms.