Sustained

During the TAM class we visited a friend of a friend of a guy that we met in a restaurant who has a biodigester and some awesome crops! He is completely sustained by these things. He sells a small amount of milk and cheese in order to pay his cell phone bill. Other than that, he lives completely off his land! He grows over 15 things in his backyard. Most of them are shown below because I'm a nerd and think they're beautiful! He was also quite the host, serving us freshly pressed sugar cane juice! Also, sugar cane...mom make room in the garden!

The biodigester takes the organic matter (cow crap) and converts it into methane gas and organic fertilizer!

The neighbors larger biodigester

The neighbors house. Note the pipe running across to the house

The famous stove thats powered by the methane gas from the biodigester

Achiote! Used as food coloring and really pretty to look at.

Passionfruit flower

Passionfruit. Sooo good. Also known as bugger fruit.

Pineapple!

A random cool fruit

Papaya

 Sugar cane plant

Yuca, cassava. CR staple food

Homemade sugar cane press

Platanos!

Starfruit

Coffee

Chocolate. I'm tell you. He has everything.

Preparing the sugar cane.

Noni. 

Beautiful pigs.

Gorgeous chickens.

The man and his cow

mmm enjoying fresh cane and cane juice

Such a great experience to see the possibilities in rural CR for sustainable agriculture. He gets it. Trying everything is always a perk too. 

Au Sable!

Check it out, we're all over the website for the TAM class (scroll down for pictures, there are some winners!) !

http://ausable.org/students/campuses/costa_rica/

The Tree with the Lights in it

Now that I am three days into my internship, I have no excuse for not blogging regularly. I have so much to post from the TAM class and will be posting project updates as I begin to develop it. However, when I was organizing all of my pictures, I found a picture that represents what my time in Costa Rica is all about. I originally posted an excerpt from one of Annie Dillard's stories. The chapter is called the Tree with the Lights in it and it is all about looking at things with new eyes from new perspectives and interpreting it in significant ways. Although the snip-it and picture are posted on the right hand side, I will draw attention to them here. As I have lived in three different places the past week and gone through numerous transitions, I am compelled to see things with fresh eyes and an open mind. 


The picture was taken one early morning while we were taking the TAM class. This was the view out of the ADE center every morning and the infrequent sun was so welcome by this tree. 

When the doctor took her bandages off and led her into the garden, the girl who was no longer blind saw "the tree with the lights in it." It was for this tree I searched through the peach orchards of summer, in the forests of fall and down winter and spring for years. Then one day I was walking along Tinker Creek thinking of nothing at all and I saw the tree with the lights in it. I saw the backyard cedar where the mourning doves roost charged and transfigured, each cell buzzing with flame. I stood on the grass with the lights in it, grass that was wholly fire, utterly focused and utterly dreamed. It was less like seeing than like being for the first time seen, knocked breathless by a powerful glance.

Un Milagro

Although I haven't posted anything in over a week, I want to slowly update on everything thats been happening. There are some pics on facebook that show just the smallest amount of our many adventures. However, I want to thank God for actively answering our prayers for one of the Dozier kids, Nadia who now has 19 stitches, 4 in her ear and 15 in her head. While driving through a huge storm in Alajuela, we learned Nadia was on the way to the clinic over an hour away from Vara Blanca in Alajuela where we were planning on stopping for dinner. Fortunately, we made it in time for her dad and brother to be by her side while getting her stitches. The doctor said her accident could have easily been fatal. We all prayed fervently through the night. The Doziers, who are trying to live our the biblical model of development work, don't have medical insurance. However, God is good and not only did he protect Nadia and put a smile on her adorable face, but the Doziers were not charged ANYTHING for the medical service they received including service by a surgeon, CT scans, and xrays. What a blessing. The faith of this family is unbelievable. They are teaching me so much just by their example.

Casa

FINALLY! Some pictures of where I'm living. We are staying in the ADE Center in the rainforest. We take a long path to reach the bottom but it is a beautiful walk at 6000 ft elevation!

ADE Center

Coming upon the ADE center

The view at the road 

The path from the road to the ADE center

Beautiful hydrangeas line the way from the road to the center

Our school room, dining room, hangout room, etc.

Our wonderful front porch

Gorgeous vegetation on the way to the center

Our kitchen at the center

I will be living here for the next two weeks! It is definitely a place that fosters community and has brought us closer together!

Puppies!

I know I don't have any pictures posted yet of where I am living, what I am eating, the people I am with...you know, the normal stuff. But I do have pictures with ADORABLE puppies! So I am posting those until I have a little bit more developed pictures of where I am staying. I will work on that tomorrow. The Dozier's dog had puppies. They are going to be small dogs but they look like my dog, Lily, when she was a puppy. They are four weeks and adorable!

Also a random armadillo...

Vacas

I am in love with the dairy cows that live by the ADE center where we are living while taking the class. They are Jersey and adorable and several calves roam around the jungle pasture. They are beautiful. We got to watch the local farmer milk them although he uses pumps. I know I just got here and you'd probably like to see where I live, but this is much more interesting for me to tell you about. 

                                   

How can you not love them?