Brazil 2: WWOOFing on the Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza

In the spirit of a rainy Sunday (now that my free time is mostly concentrated on the weekend, that really sucks) I’m catching up with my blogging. So these are almost real-time pictures from my current life and work on the Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza as a WWOOFer (these are the Brazil farms, mine is BRA108). Their main product is Bob-o-link Coffee, but they also have a range of „micro-lot“ coffees, specific beans in small quantities. And there’s a café in Freiburg using their coffee: „Elephant Beans“ in Basler Straße near Johanneskirche (for the locals ;) ), run by Jörg Volkmann who I had the pleasure to briefly talk to on Skype. Oh how the world is small!

So this is what I sort of saw on my arrival — sort of because it was actually dark then. The sign with „welcome“ in all different languages was made by the WWOOFers who left the day after I arrived, and I think that is a good symbol of how everything is still in a process of growth here. The house right behind the signs is the „WWOOFers‘ house“ where I sleep.

Also these decorations in the entry to the house are brand new, and this is the previous WWOOFers‘ luggage. Three lovely young Argentineans. By the way, the country flags are only from nationalities who have been there before, so even in a year or so a lot has already happened. The other picture is a maracuja (passion fruit) flower, and in the background my comfy double bed and net. Oh how glad I am I have it, thank you again and again Johannes!

This is an impression from the heart of the Fazenda, on the right of this picture is the „séde“, the main house, and to building on the left comprises the kitchen, a small library/TV room and the „salão“, dining and living room.

So this is the inside of the „salão“, first looking towards the kitchen then towards the couches.

An outside view of the salão building from where the other picture ended, and the back side terrace where we mostly eat. More on the jabuticaba tree right next to the terrace below.

Nice little details in and around the house: a coffee bag on an old-school coffee balance with a dead moth on it. The bell that calls us to the meals and has already given me a sort of Pavlov-Reflex.

This is the delicious salad buffet fresh from the garden we eat twice a day. Curious that people around the world use lemon juice instead of vinegar for salad dressings.

If a little hunger manages to show up between the meals, or if I’m smart enough to not eat until I’m bursting full, these fruit baskets are waiting.

This is the garden where the vegetables come from and where we (the WWOOFers) sometimes work, too.

Sebastien, „Francês da Africa“, and myself with a little harvest for our dinner on a weekend that we spent on the farm alone.

Pictures from the fruit tree of national pride „Jabuticaba“, which flowers and gives fruit directly on the stem. This is the tree right next to the terrace, stunningly beautiful and filled with the humming of bees.

And because this is tropical enough to not have strict seasons, another tree nearby already had fruits which I went to harvest with the wonderful Lucia who’s in charge of the vegetable garden and the chicken, and José the gardener, a man who definitely loves his plants.

A lake in the middle of the property, and some of the former workers‘ houses who are now mostly unused, waiting to be restored for an increasing flow of partners and guests into the Fazenda.

Another mostly historic structure, the big terraces for drying the coffee. In the far distance on the right the metal frames which are used for the higher quality processing of the present-day small quantities.

Storage rooms and an old-fashioned, loud and fascinating sawmill, in action.

A machine for sorting the coffee beans, at another farmer’s place which we used on the weekend. The bags piling to the ceiling are his, and the pile in the foreground are some of ours.

Another curious tree with the fitting name „Mamica de Porca“ (pig’s tits).

Some of the many many birds which populate the Fazenda, their songs and other sounds always filling the air.

An old tree nearby the houses.

And a few more nature impressions from around the house: A pepper tree and a wasp nest; the flowers of something similar to a banana plant.

A cactus flowering (well, what is there to say?).

The tree I planted on the first day, not my last one.

From a Sunday tour of the surroundings: A bigger lake, which shows how dry the last months had been.

The viewpoint is also some strange new-age temple-like thing, everything made to be symbolic of something, but feeling very random and eclectic to me. And a rattle snake on the property we saw from the car on our way home.

A little bit of work: we were putting up a bamboo mat ceiling in one of the houses to be used as a guesthouse, feeling our way „brazilian style“ as Sebstien and I would say — doing and trying things and changing the plan on the go instead of thinking about the process too much ahead of time… The two men here are Carlos and Marcos, very good hearts in a somewhat rough shell.

Me hammering on the ceiling …

… and posing for the picture. Burning our wastewood.

Our team while we’re waiting for the fire to do its work.

Now, off to the „real“ lake for the afterwork refreshment. So beautiful and remote.

Increadibly relaxing, and also the twenty minute walk back home is also filled with beauty.

And sometimes something just makes you think — me here: fences are bad.

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Datum: Montag, 14. November 2011 20:07
Trackback: Trackback-URL Themengebiet: English, Weltreise 2011

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2 Kommentare

  1. 1

    Wenn ich deine Bilder so sehe, würde ich dich eigentlich lieber in Brasilien abholen als am Frankfurter Flughafen. Ein Stück vom Garten Eden! — Weiterhin viel Genuss für alle Sinne und Inspirationen fürs Philosophieren!

  2. 2

    Habe gerade ungefähr ein halbes Jahr deines Lebens am Stück gelesen, so, wie man sonst Bücher liest… ein spannendes Buch :-)