Farming under the midnight sun (and wind)

As I stepped off the bus in Laguna Amarga (one of the two entrances to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine) I didn’t know what would await. I took in the vast and austere beauty of this southern region in Magallanes, Chile. I would be staying for the next month in the place that most Americans mean when they refer to “Patagonia.” Though, in reality, Patagonia is a much larger region that spans both Chile and Argentina. I would be staying and volunteering in Reserva Cerro Paine at the Hotel Las Torres and venturing into the national park which hosts the world-famous O Trek and W Trek.

Voluntaria en la huerta

¿Cómo llegaste aquí?

In response, I told Pablo about the trials and tribulations from my journey that I explained in Edition #2 of how I arrived at Las Torres. Then, he clarified that he wanted to know how I arrived to work at the farm. Ahh, a small miscommunication in Spanish. These have been plentiful the past few weeks. So, I explained:

I found out about the opportunity to volunteer on this Regenerative Organic farm thanks to a friend (I can’t thank you enough Will!!). There was a last minute opening in the month of January to volunteer and I applied - explaining why I wanted to work here, my experience running the Colgate Community Garden and volunteering at the Edible Schoolyard Garden, and my thoughts on agriculture’s role in fighting the climate crisis. Like I promised myself with my intentions for my sabbatical, this opportunity felt right deep in my soul. I was elated to be accepted in mid-December, leaving me only a few weeks to plan out how to get to this remote location. I’d be arriving in just a few weeks!

Prácticas de agricultura regenerativa, biointensiva, y orgánica

The other passengers were dropped at the Centro de Bienvenidos and I was the only one left. I asked the driver - can you drop me at “el casino.” He was surprised and said “sí.” On the walk in, I noticed the soil was dry, dusty, rocky and sandy - the soil undoubtedly left from glaciers of eons past. I was puzzled. How could anything be grown in such soil? Let alone a luscious farm I had seen on the website?

Over the past few weeks, I have seen the regenerative agriculture practices I read about in class last semester in practice. At la huerta we use regenerative practices to renew the soil by making our own compost on-site and adding it to every bed. We kill weeds the “old fashioned way” of pulling them out and “scraping” them out rather than using chemicals. The rows are 80cm wide with the paths at 20cm to give the roots plenty of aerated soil while we only walk in los pasillos. We use natural fungicides to kill the fungus on the potatoes. The living soil on this farm was thriving. I knew in theory what a regenerative, organic and bio-intensive farm could look like from textbooks and class (Thanks Dr. Blesh, Dr. Hoey, and Dr. Jones!) but now I was seeing them in real life. I am experiencing “muscle learning” to supplement my “cerebral learning” at the University of Michigan!

Rastrillar y la meditación

And so, as my muscles got to work, I began to meditate. The repetitive movements of raking, weeding, watering, and harvesting are a perfect accompaniment to focusing on this moment. It is, after all, the only moment I can control. As the days wore on, my mind relaxed into the tasks of the day. It turns out - life is a lot like raking. The less I tried to force the rake deep into the soil, and the more that I gently moved the rake, the more weeds collected fruitfully in my rake. By taking this time to reset my mental space and clear out the stresses and worries of grad school, I have allowed positivity and calm to enter as it does. Raking has taught me that life is going to happen; rather than forcing methods that don’t work or rushing to what’s next, I can invite what’s now and what’s good to arrive.

El agua y la sequía

In my week doing El Riego, we only had access to a full day of water the one time. On days without water we resorted to manual irrigation, hauling water directly from the spigot, which was a slow and mind numbing practice compared to drip irrigation, sprinklers, and hoses. The Magallanes Region which has always been really rich in natural resources is experiencing its’ first ever drought. So, it makes sense that water would be prioritized for the hotel, guests, and the restaurant.

January 20th, 2023 from my journal: “It isn’t often that I feel helpless. But today it hit me hard. Not having water, I took some data to give the good news to my managers that I have information. But knowing comes with the bad news of reality. If I give a garden bed a good soak, which it needs with this heat - it takes me 80 minutos to water one bed. So, maximum I can water 5 beds in a day if I water them well. And there are about 50 beds in la huerta. It is a race I can’t win.

I don’t often feel bad at my job. So, here I am, feeling helpless because the earth can’t give me the resources I need to do my job. And it isn’t her fault. My greed to fly places and consume, and the greed of people from my generation, and from the past few generations has summed to bring me here. To a reality where water is scarce. Helpless.”

I hope I can give back more than I take, but the physical heaviness of water weighed heavily on my mind as I thought of the likelihood that the presence and frequency of droughts is projected to continue to increase. What will a future look like with less water? How will we need to change how we use water? Thinking too much about this future often leads me down a dark path.

La Hermandad de Cabra

The idea of traveling “like a local” is always appealing because I yearn to understand the place, the culture, and the people; to know what makes it feel like home. To experience a place “authentically” my experience has been that it takes actually living somewhere rather than just passing through. So, here I am, rooming with 3 awesome Chilenas, who are also volunteers, and working alongside the 4 Chicos who support the farm full time.

I’ve never been the person to have a gaggle of girlfriends. But, here I am with La Katy, La Pía, y La Vale walking arm-in-arm back to our cabin, and giggling about inside jokes late into the night until our bunk beds shake from our laughter. My journal entry sums it up well: It’s hard to describe people you just met and will likely only cross paths with for a few weeks of your life. But, I feel like I have known them for a long time.

I was with them when I had the breakdown about the drought. I was trying very hard to not burst out in tears in ‘el casino’ during ‘la once’ and then all afternoon. They all grabbed a hose to pitch in and aprovechar the one hour of water we had. They are team players who have your back - willing to put in the literal hard work and pitch in.

After finishing el riego, I answered to their worried faces, no I wasn’t tired, I was sad. After looking for the word ‘hopeless’ in my translator app, I explained my frustration. La Pía responded explaining la ansiedad climática - climate anxiety. While I’d heard of it, it was my first time feeling something so deep. They had words, hugs, and hands on my back as I cried for our Mother Earth. As I’d already nicknamed them, these chicas are the La Hermandad de Cabra - the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time) Sisterhood.

¡Miércoles! ¿Sé español?

I quickly realized that I had missed important sections of vocabulary because I felt like I didn’t understand anything in Spanish. I had no idea how to talk about things happening at the farm in Spanish! Over the past few weeks I have filled two new chapters of my Spanish vocabulary - farming terms, climbing terms, and parts of the body for yoga class. I felt so empowered to expand my vocabulary because, by learning just a few words, I was even able to tell someone his QuickDraw was back-clipped which is dangerous if you take a fall while climbing. Here are some of the new vocabulary words I learned, a few of which are included in-line above:

• La huerta: While it directly translates to “orchard,” it describes a garden that produces fruits and vegetables. I learned that the words “finca” or “granja” that I’d used previously are typically used to describe operations with animals.

• Regar/el riego: To water/to irrigate

• La regadora: Watering can

• La manguera: Hose

• Aporcar: To mound/hill up. Due to the strong winds, many plants get support from a mound of compost we add, pat down, and then water.

• El casino: Sadly, no blackjack here. This is the name of the mess hall where we eat four meals a day: el desayuno, el almuerzo, la once, y la cena.

• La once: I wondered why we ate our snack from 4-5 PM when this literally translates to 11. In asking around, I learned legend has it that the name originates from the word “aguardiente,” a licorice liquor people used to drink at this time time. And, this word has 11 letters.

• Miércoles: Shucks - as in a family-friendly way to say “mierda” (I’ll let you look up that foul word).

• Amigos por la ventaja: I literally translated the saying “friends in high places” to describe the benefits of getting to know the cooks when asking for toasted gluten-free bread. La Vale asked - oh, does that mean Amigos por la ventaja (friends with benefits?!). We all shared a great laugh about the difference in these two (somewhat similar) sayings.

• De lujo: Literally means “of luxuary” but is a way to say something is cool.

• Una Luca: The name for a 1,000 Peso note. Story has it that the word came from the word “peluca” because the colonizing statement who appeared on bills that wore wigs. It’s very common in Chile to cut off words, syllabus, and to drop letters.

• Po: the sound you use to add emphasis to anything. “Yes!” Is “Sí po” and “No!” Is “No po”

• Cachorros - Cubs! This word finally cemented as we shrieked over seeing a mama puma (mountain lion) with her cachorro from our front door! (See my Insta for the video).

As a first stop on my Sabbatical, this has been an amazing one. I have gotten to know this landscape deeply by staying put, working the land, and getting to participate alongside the Chilenos who make the ecotourism in this region special. From here, I’m excited to walk the 5 minutes from my cabin to start hiking La Circuito de la O at the beginning of February.

Abrazos,

La Yes/La Yessi

(How my names are pronounced in Spanish)

Agradecimientos:

• La Katy, La Pía, y La Vale: Gracias por ser las mejores chicas con quien podría imaginar pasar esa temporada. ¡Somos el mejor equipo de voluntarias! Gracias por darme una ventana para conocer la vida Chilena, para hacer trekking juntas, reír, tomar tantas selfies, y charlar sobre la vida y nuestras sueños.

• La Andrea, La Lau, El Gabo, El Juako, y El Pablo: Gracias por enseñarme tanto sobre la agricultura regenerativa, la huerta, las plantas, como hacer una cama, y mucho más. Aprendí mucho más de lo que pensaba aprender! ¡Estoy emocionada por hacer mí propia huerta cuando regrese a los EE.UU.!

• Will: Thank you for telling me about La Huerta! This has been an incredible way to kick off my sabbatical.

• Dr. Blesh, Dr. Hoey, and Dr. Jones, Bella & Kenneth: Thanks for teaching/learning alongside me about regenerative agriculture during EAS 528 at the University of Michigan.

• Erica, mi ñaña: Thank you for reviewing my first draft and providing great editorial advice, as always.