An Avalanche of Activity

First of all, I should say that it is completely insane to be blogging right now. We are leaving the farm tomorrow and, as always, there is too much to do.

Life has a way of sweeping us up in its path and all we can do is say yes.  For example, we have been preparing to plant 1,000 cacao trees. Our neighbor, Dianey, saw what we are doing and became interested in planting some of his own. So we talked to the biggest cacao producer in Costa Rica, Hugo Hemerlink, to find out what price he would pay for organic beans. When Dianey heard the price (more than twice what we are receiving now as the beans are sold into the conventional market,) he immediately thought of involving many more neighbors and starting a collective.

So now we find ourselves in the middle of the process of organizing the local farmers into a collective, building a new drying rack and figuring out how to do large scale, high quality fermentation.

At the same time, we are making chocolate here to bring back to the States. We made two batches, one from beans we bought in San Jose and one from our own beans. The beans from San Jose made fine chocolate but the beans from our own farm had such a rich diversity of taste - the taste was brighter and more colorful.

And then disaster struck! We opened the refrigerator door after letting the chocolate chill and it was suffering from bloom - big time! The worst case we ever saw.

It was a mystery. My best guess is that the fridge had been defrosting and the humidity in the fridge was too high.

Luckily, it is possible to melt the chocolate and bring it back to its original dark and glossy state. So, we’ve been staying up late, melting chocolate, pouring it back into the molds and crossing our fingers as we wait for it to chill.

We did not temper either batch so it means that we need to keep it chilled all the way to the United States. That is going to be a real challenge.

Another big shift that is going on now is that we are looking at selling lots on the Chocolate Farm.  As we walked the property with our real estate agent we realized once again what a special piece of property we are living on. But if we want to sell land, we need to get it surveyed, we have to get it registered, talk to lawyers, etc….

The way we both feel is that we are pushing ourselves right up to our limits all the time. In fact, it is the furthest possible thing from the stereotypical idea of a tropical paradise, lounging in a hammock with a daiquiri and paperback in hand.

Taking care of land out here is hard work. We are only now, after two years, beginning to understand what a difficult job we have undertaken.

We had to laugh a few weeks ago when we met a guy who has been looking for land for six months in Costa Rica. He told us that he finally realized that he wasn’t ready for the responsibility of taking care of a big piece of land - by which he meant 10 acres!

We have almost a hundred acres here and sometimes it seems that almost every square foot of it needs special attention.

In fact, this process of living a life in the countryside of Costa Rica has been one of the most intense growth processes of my life. There was a time two weeks ago when I got sick with bronchitis and a weird skin infection. Normally, I never get sick. The doctor said it was stress. Normally, I don’t feel stressed.

I went to bed for a couple of days after I got that diagnosis. I read, watched movies and tried to rest. But I felt so overwhelmed with all that needed to be done that I almost felt as though I was going through a physical breakdown in order to retreat from all the demands of life. I felt something growing inside me - something like a backbone or a strong inner core that is developing in order to deal with these new challenges.

See you in California!