Guinea pigs and the beauty of poo at Rio Muchacho!

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We recommend this farm as the best place to learn organic farming and to immerse yourself in farm life with an amazing group of people - WE LOVED IT HERE!

Thoughts/stories from the farm.....

There´s quite a bit here.....4 weeks on a farm...so our suggestion is to grab a coffee, a water, a cuppa tea or a lovely glass of wine.....or beer for that matter and have a read...


* Favourite story from the week....Local remedy for bringing on breast milk - take some guinea pig poo, blend with milk and drink!!!! A a lady on the farm did it and sure enough....her milk flowed!!!!!!

* Journeys to and from the farm involve us hanging on in the back of a pick up truck.....with the wind in our hair (well mine at least!), getting covered in dust going over NZ style dirt roads

* Rio Muchacho - is an absolutely amazing sustainable organic farm....hopefully the photos will do it justice...(keep in mind that its been running for 20 years....prior to that the land was pretty much all desert like)....which is pretty amazing, and thought provoking about all the ´clutter´we have in our lives that we dont´need

* The farm has composting toilets (which I got to clean out.....see photo! he he), solar powered showers, grey water recycling, biodigestors bringing power to the kitchen, random power cuts, stunning accommodation in rustic bamboo rooms.....there is so much to rave about!

* farmwork = cutting bambo with machetes, a LOT of weeding, skanky helping nurture the baby chooks (super cute and talkative!), 6am starts to clean out the pig pens, cow and horse paddock (yes we shovelled poop first thing in the morning!), feeding the animals, cutting down feed, digging, mixing, bagging up and carrying many forms of heavy compost/worm food around the farm, planting and harvesting food, carrying rocks up from the river (hard day!), washing the horses in the river, chasing run away pigs, marvelling at the pigs playing with their ´toys´(gumboots and plastic lids hanging in their pens!), checking out muma pig and her piglets, working in the massive vegetable garden

* We all quickly came to the conclusion that the farm revolves around poop!

* Our permaculture course ran 3 days a week with practicals on the farm mixed in - really interesting course - we recommend this! We´ve learnt a lot that we plan to bring home and put into practise

* On our last day of the course we doned beekeeper outfits and headed down to collect honey! This was a pretty surreal experience.....carrying back heavy honeycombs....and it tasted sooooo goood!

* ´cultural´days on the farm = roasting and grinding chocolate beans into scrumptious chocolate, making rings out of seeds, bowls and cups out of mate (a fruit), riding the horses to the waterfall (yes Nic I did it on my own!)

* weekends = surfing in Canoa, cocktails on the beach, bamboo style paper thin walls in hostel, bonding with our new farm buddies, time on the beach, eating nut balls and fried bananas

* We continue to try to practise our non-existant spanish, we even spent a few hours with a teacher one week so we can now understand a lot more..say a bit more but are nowhere near having a conversation sadly!

* The Ecuadorians we have met are really happy, always laughing and joking and enjoying life....inspirational for us all......what´s important is who we have in our life...not what....



Our month was spent with an amazing group of people, both working on the farm and volunteering to whom we are forever grateful for sharing their home, lives and knowledge with us, as well as patiently explaining our work to us......it was a sad day today when we left......the experience is unforgettable and had such an impact on us.......always in our hearts Rio Muchacho!

Muchas Gracis especially to Dario and Nicola, the owners of the farm.....if you get the chance go and visit and volunteer!

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