Finca LILO de Biolley (Our farm) Updates: The road is in and the electricity is going up! That’s one of the poles for the electricity. We had to take out stumps for the road. The trees that look knocked back are being placed back in the ground again upright. And new trees called “Caño Indio” have been planted where the old stumps were lifted out.
It is the dry season now, and so the road still needs to be compacted for the rock and gravel brought in, but we need some good rain for that to happen. If you go back and look at our one of our previous posts you can see the difference between the dry and wet season. But the best thing about both seasons is that you can grow food year round and different crops too!
Don Roberto’s field is next to the road we put in and he is one farmer who borders with our finca (farm). Doña Elizabeth is the other farmer who will share the road with us. Both don Roberto and doña Elizabeth are wonderful people and great neighbors to have!
Photo of how dry don Roberto’s field is during the dry season! Another pole for the electricity. The electric lines will have protection on them so that if the monkey’s decide to climb the poles they will not get electrocuted.
Our worker Ricardo is busy working the coffee fields, clearing out the rows, trimming back the coffee plants and pruning the shade trees above. We are growing shade grown coffee and leaving the indigenous shade trees in tact but we have to trim them back some so that light can get in for the coffee plants. The partnership the coffee plants and the shade trees have works out pretty well.
Coffee field row groomed back. Ricardo our worker is a great help! He watches the farm and works it while we prepare to make our final transitions with work in the United States to make our move to our farm in 2011.
We are building a duplex for Ricardo and his family to live in on one side. The other side will be for us to stay in while we visit our farm.We will build our retirement home out in the field but not until it is close to the time to take off…. we are looking at 2011, but I might go sooner than my husband to start working the open fields for gardens of food. In addition, we plan on having goats along with some cows for dairy .
Soon Ricardo and his family will be able to move in to the duplex. Ricardo is being paid the equivalent to Costa Rican standard wages by law. We also pay 26% over the wage for his medical insurance and Ricardo pays 9% into the same insurance. His family is covered under this medical insurance. Costa Rica protects its workers and also raises the standard wage by 6% yearly if there is inflation. We are purchasing a vehicle for the farm so that Ricardo can maintain the farm more efficiently. We will provide a home, insurance, vehicle and a place for Ricardo to grow food. We will also give Ricardo more incentives to utilize our farm for his own profit, while he maintains our farm to make a sufficient profit to pay his wage and his insurance. Now that is what we call fair trade!
You can revisit our past blog posts regarding the farm from the beginning (we purchased the farm last June/July). Up until now:
You can do it too!
With a little effort and good people surrounding you, it is possible to build your paradise or fix up a home that already exists. You could buy a farm that is remote like ours, or live closer to the city of San Isidrio (the locals call it Perez Zeledon). The southern zone of Costa Rica is quite affordable and is still pretty much an undiscovered area in many parts yet it is near Panama and the town of David (third largest city in Panama). It has the pristine beaches of the south pacific and parks up in the mountains such as the Amistad the largest park in Costa Rica and one that has some of the most flora and fauna in the world (our farm is right up against the Amistad park), the charming town of San Vito or San Isidrio the fastest growing city in Costa Rica are all a part of the southern zone of Costa Rica. The majority of the population live in the central valley and the northern and central coasts, which are crowded and expensive.
A new airport for the southern zone is planned for 2010 and there is a new hospital already built that has great medical service. The medical services in Costa Rica are fantastic! My husband has had some serious oral surgery and all is well! Of course our insurance in the states would not cover the surgery he badly needed. The cost was less than half of what it would have been in the good old USA! And we don’t even live in Costa Rica yet! Pura Vida!
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