Well after being at Estancia Ranquilco for the last three months, I have emerged from the difficult to communicate range and am on holiday from my duties renewing my visa and visiting other Permaculture projects (CIDEP) in southern Argentina.  It’s an interesting life of cutting firewood for cooking and showering with hot water which really gives you perspective on energy and our fast forwarded life thanks to natural gas and electricity.  While we do have electricity produced from micro-hydro and delicious but iron laden spring water, our remoteness is challenging yet insightful at the same time.

Our original mission was to grow food for 50 people for a March gathering of thinkers about the looming energy crises.  We also are growing food for the staff and volunteers of this ranch where young people can gain access to the gaucho culture of the rural Argentina.  Thus we have been digging and weeding, sowing seeds and broadcasting, transplanting and watering, composting and tea feeding.  Farming in an oasis in the desert is a surreal experience, so dry yet a virtual endless supply of water but the rapid evaporation does yield salt. So when I left a few days ago the tomatoes and zucchini's were starting to come on just as the peas and carrots were because of greenhouses and thermal mass walls creating micro-climates.  

We also hosted our first attempt at a 16 course PDC (course recap blog here: http://treeyopermaculture.wordpress.com/november-2011-16-day-pdc-at-estancia-ranquilco-neuquen-argentina/ ).  Small group with 12 people but 6 different countries which yielded good cultural exchange and more one on one attention especially in our multitude of hands on projects.  We are about to begin a new format as well which is an 8 week PDC practicum which after the first week of getting people up to speed on the principles and patterns will feature gardening, food preservation, and natural building practically everyday there after for the remainder of the course.  

Well looking forward to the rest of the growing season and the challenges of summer with bichos (pests) galore and the possibility of frost at any moment because of farming in the cordillera. The beauty and remoteness are a challenge and blessing all at the same time as popping over to the super market simply isn't possible when one wants to indulge into one of our normal guilty pleasures.  However staring out at an inspiring and uplifting mosaic of greens and browns over a mountainous and dry landscape filled with flowers blooming and puma's hunting awaits once again.