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Published: February 17th 2011
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For the past month I was working at La Farfalla in Cañuelas. La Farfalla (Italian for butterfly) is on one hectare of land in the country two hours (by train) south of Buenos Aires. Owned by Matias and Mariana, La Farfalla is a wonderful little farm producing zucchini, pumpkins, tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and all kinds of different plants for the consumption of Matias, Mariana, Juan-Paulo (who also lives on the farm), and any WWOOFers or visiting friends. Along with the crops there is also a pig, named Piggy, four chickens, a rooster, and two dogs, named Greta and Chicita.
During the first week I was working with Raphaela, another WWOOFer from Switzerland, who showed me the ropes. Together we flattened some earth, cleared and formed some flower beds, and did other various tasks to help Matias and Mariana. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays Matias and Mariana go to the city to sell homemade vegetarian food, so this is the weekend for us WWOOFers and Raphaela headed on to other sights in Argentina.
After Raphaela left the farm became a different experience. I have spent my time reading, thinking and meditating. I really don't think I have ever had
so much time to think in my life (or at least did not take advantage of it), and I have been learning so much about myself and my view of the Universe. Some of the things that I have read are
Essential Ohsawa, The Smithsonian Institution, The Science of Self Realization, among others.
The Science of Self Realization, which I assumed was going to be the most revealing, turned out to be (in my opinion) a bunch of repetative BS that proclaims any kind of real thought. The only possible way to find God or Krishna is to chant his name over and over and over, any thought or meditation is pointless. I did not like this book a whole lot. Until I am taught otherwise the "Krishna Conciousness Movement" is more like a cult than a science of self realization.
The Smithsonian Institution is a fantasy/science fiction novel based around quantum physics and US foreign relations. It was an interesting book, well written and certainly got me thinking about world peace and the spacetime continuum!
But the crown jewel books so far have been Essential Ohsawa and Kaleidescope. Two books about Macrobiotics. Essential Ohsawa is a comilation of the essence of George Ohsawa's life philosophy, that is "The Order of The Universe." And
Kaleidescope is a collection of article's by Herman Aihara, one of Ohsawa's disciples. George Ohsawa is the modern founder of what is known today as Macrobiotics, a "diet" that is aimed at helping people to acheive absolute health and happiness. "The Order of The Universe" is the Eastern Philosophy of Yin and Yang forever flowing back and forth to create the whole. I can't explain the philosophy briefly or very well, but I definitely learned a lot from these books and from Macrobiotics! It has really got me thinking about my health, life, and relationship with others and the world in general.
Currently I am back in Buenos Aires for another day before heading out to farm number two in Tunuyán, about 80km south of Mendoza. It will be a whole new adventure. I am supposed to have a tent and I don't so I'm just going to have to string up my space blanket into some kind of a shelter! I am excited.
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