Finca on Friday: Farm on Friday

Finca on Friday: Farm on Friday

This Friday our team had a tour day, Friday was: Volcano Irazu and an Organic Farm, and it was a gorgeous day to spend traveling to a different part of Costa Rica.  Volcano Irazu was incredible, and we could see the volcano in Turrialba spewing ash behind it.  The Volcano was awesome, but it was the tour that had us all asking questions. 

La Flor farm is an ecological, sustainable farm that strives to use every part of their farm and waste nothing.  The people on the farm usually live and work there, specializing in one area.  The farm is also open for tourists, volunteers and vacationers, where students and adults can participate in farm activities, take classes at their Spanish institute and learn about the various aspects of the farm community lifestyle.  Although there are more than 3, I will boil the farm down to 3 parts I found interesting. 

Animals:

I come from a family that used to milk almost 1000 head of cattle, and I have toured Wisconsin’s largest dairy farms, but this one was different, it was goats!  The farm milks about 25 or so goats and houses 4 male goats for breeding.  The farm is completely vegetarian so none of them are used for meat, solely for milk….well and their manure.

Compost:

The two compost systems used on the farm were extremely interesting.  The manure from the goats and other animals is used in a worm composting process.  It  is processed and dried into soil once again with the help of the worms, leaving it with no bad odor, and sufficient nutrients in the end.  The liquid that is drained from this process is then mixed with water and used to fertilize the plants.  The other compost system is very similar to a backyard compost pile with dried leaves, and other compostable material that is turned and decomposes into soil again. 

Plants:

The farm is home to many vegetable crops grown in small quantitites along with a little more corn.  Outside of the vegetable garden area, is the medicinal garden where plants and herbs are grown for different types of ailments or sicknesses.  It was impressive to see the amount of plants that can be naturally used as medicines, from aloe vera to citronella. 

The farms production is consumed on farm by the employees and families that participate, and when there is enough it is sold.  Volunteers can stay, work and play on the farm, so here is to hoping I can be one of those in the near future!