We bought the farm!
We bought the
farm!
Hi everyone! We decided to send this to all of our friends and loved ones in the form of a newsletter to inform you of our up and coming new adventure!
Upper pasture of our Finca with the
“Parque Nacional de
Amistad” in the background
Owning Land in Costa Rica
Bruce and I had been studying the possibility of owning land in Costa Rica for over a year and a half now. It has been our dream for quite sometime to own a good portion of land to live off of to grow our own food with a fresh water supply and fresh air supply. While we studied the entire country thoroughly, we finally narrowed our sites on the southern zone of Costa Rica.
We had arranged to meet with our Realtor and view different properties; in the middle of our quest we found our dream property! We knew right away that it was meant to be ours and that we would not need to view other properties from that point on.
We bought the farm! We are the proud owners of a 58.5-acre farm that has coffee, fruit and hardwood trees, pastures, waterfalls and 3 swimming holes. The farm has views of valleys, mountains, the Amistad National Park, sunrises and sunsets. The weather is spring like all year round. The temperatures range in the high 70s to low 80s during the day and mid 60s at night. There is a rainy season (May – October) known as “winter”, and a dry season (December – April, “summer”), but even in the rainy season you can expect several hours of sunshine every day.
Our very own waterfall on the finca
Some of you may be asking where on Earth would we find such
a Shangri-La? Biolley (pronounced Bee-o-lay), Buenos Aires, Puntarenas, Costa
Rica of course! Where else?
Biolley is nestled on the flanks of the Talamanca mountain range. It is a coffee producing area, which has more recently moved to producing organic coffee, fruits and vegetables.
Huge
swimming hole with one more below it!
Each farm (“finca” in Spanish) has a name and is incorporated in the country. Ours is called “Corporacion Finca Lilo de Biolley, S.A.” but for those who will venture to the farm, we plan to paint one of our lovely boulders in bright Tican (Tica or Tico is a short name for a Costa Rican person or object) colors to mark our spot as “Finca Lilo de Biolley”.
The
third swimming hole above the falls
Coffee Farm
Our farm produces a healthy bunch of coffee. We have arranged for the coffee harvests, (which produce an income) to be administrated by the former owner, don Domingo, who will also keep the rest of the property in tiptop shape. We have made a deal that don Domingo can keep his 19 cows on the farm for the time being, which works out well to keep the clearing grazed. Don Domingo is happy to have us as the new owners of the finca and to continue to work with us. We have also met and stayed with our nearby neighbors for a night and are very grateful for their incredibly warm hospitality.
Don
Domingo and doña Jennifer inspect the coffee
while don Bruce takes photos of
the coffee plant in
the foreground
are on our farm!
We will return to the finca during the dry season next year
to experience the coffee season between harvests. The country folk say that the
coffee plant produces a little white flower that opens up in the evening and
omits a lovely fragrance that fills the air during the dry season.
Coffee talk! Don Domingo and doña Jennifer discuss
coffee
growing at one edge of the coffee plantation.
There are plenty of hardwood
trees to shade the
coffee.
Banana
trees also provide shade for the coffee
and are part of a hearty breakfast!
Wildlife
And while we feel we have purchased the most beautiful spot on earth, we are also close to the coast where the jungle meets the beach! Just a few hours and we are in the jungle with the Howler monkeys! We have heard the Howler monkeys in the morning at the beach and they are incredible! What a great sound and wake up call! They are considered the loudest animal in the world and can be heard clearly from a distance of 3 miles.
White-faced
Capuchin monkeys live on
our finca!
Speaking of monkeys, we have some on our property as well.
We spotted some white faced Capuchin monkeys near the river. We have heard that
the jaguars and other cats in the mountains in our area like to eat dogs. So,
we will have to be aware of that when we purchase our pooches. It might be best
to consider the larger variety. There are an abundance of other animals and
insects in Costa Rica that we have yet to discover. Many of which will be on our
property.
A
happy don Bruce!
The don and doña
We are now considered don Bruce and doña Jennifer in Costa Rica, the patron and patrona of the finca. We plan to return during the dry season in March and will update you then from the “Finca Lilo de Biolley”. Until then as they say in Costa Rica…….
Pura
Vida!
Bruce and Jennifer
I added the newsletter to my blog to share with all my readers! Now that the finca is secured, it's just a matter of growing food here in the states until we can truly retire in Costa Rica on our farm. Until then, we will report to you for the rest of this garden season in Palo Alto on our small apartment patio garden. I'll blog on those updates in a few days.
Categories: small spaced gardening,community gardening,small farms,Costa Rica,container gardening,organic gardens
Trackbacks
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10/4/2008 8:18 AM
This Girl's Gone Green wrote:
Alas, another summer has come to an end! The days are shorter and the nights are cooler. After we added more fertilizer and mulch acting as compost to the over watered container veggies about 4 weeks ago, the plants have demonstrated their resilience by growing more, bearing more fruit and veggies and returned to growing greener leaves! We have added more mulch to each container. We add immature clippings from the plants themselves mixed with mature clippings already in the containers that are in the midst of decomposition. Biointensivegardening is all about growing your soil and not the plants. The ... -
10/3/2008 10:54 PM
This Girl's Gone Green wrote:
Alas, another summer has come to an end! The days are shorter and the nights are cooler. After we added more fertilizer and mulch acting as compost to the over watered container veggies about 4 weeks ago, the plants have demonstrated their resilience by growing more, bearing more fruit and veggies and returned to growing greener leaves! We have added more mulch to each container. We add immature clippings from the plants themselves mixed with mature clippings already in the containers that are in the mist of decomposition. Biointensivegardening is all about growing your soil and not the plants. The ...
This is so exciting! Congratulations. I wish we had more farms here and everywhere! How else are we going to get our food? I have been to Costa Rica 2 times in the past 3 months. I love it there. I have lots of photos on my site. I saw the white-faced monkeys in the wild. It was amazing. Good luck and I can't wait to here more!
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Hi Maria!
Thanks! We are totally mesmerized by our property! That's great you venture to Costa Rica... I'll have to check out your site! The white faced monkeys on our finca are living in the wild too! We are right next to the Parque Nacional de Amnistad!
We will go back to Costa Rica in Feb. or March next year... until then I have my patio garden here in Palo Alto to tend to.
Keep growing!
Jubie
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Congratulations and good luck on this exciting endeavor! Will you be able to keep up your blogging? I would imagine you will have to give up wi-fi. A small price to pay for a tropical paradise...
Tragedy">http://tragedy-of-the-commons.blogspot.com/">Tragedy of the Commons
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Hi Chief!
Thanks! We are beside ourselves! We don't actually move on the property until approx. three years from now. Don Domingo will administrate the coffee and the rest of the finca until then. Well I say three years but who knows..... if McCain gets in or GWB declares martial law......
Wired! The neighbors down the street have wi-frigen-fi! Can you believe it? The tower is out there....
Best to you and keep growing!
Jubie
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Wow what a purchase! I wish you the best of luck with your farm. The pictures look like it's truly a beautiful paradise that you now own.
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Hi Cindy! Thanks! We are beside ourselves! We are on our way to the better part of our lives and looking forward to it! Thank you so much for the good thoughts and wishes! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment too! See you soon on blog catalog!
Keep growing!
Jubie
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Congratulations! Absolutely stunning property.
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Hi Nicole!
Thanks we are beside ourselves..... we just had a re-survey done and we gained 8.5 more acres!!!! We really lucked out on that! Would you believe our property only costed $140K?????????
We will report from the finca next March upon our return for a visit. Until then we're here in Palo Alto, CA growing our apartment patio garden.
Thanks for the comment and stopping by!
Pura vida and keep growing!
Dona Jennifer/AKA Jubie
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Hi Dona Jennifer,
Your land looks amazing.
Costa Rica is a beautiful place.
Congratulations!
Hopefully you can retire soon and live there full time.
Thanks for sharing the wonderful story and beautiful pictures with us.
Pura Vida!
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Hi Alex!
Thanks so much for your kind comments! We are working toward that retirement! But have to stay in the thick of things for approximately 3 more years before we can get out of it...
I'll keep you informed on the finca progress upon our return next March!
Pura Vida and keep growing!
Dona Jennifer/AKA Jubie
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congrats----you are living the dream. my husband and i honeymooned in costa rica 13 years ago. enjoy yourself---hope to read about the coffee, fruits and vegetables. do you have any cacao?
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Hi Miriam! I hope your sister's garden is going well! I will never forget the fact that you grow bananas in the Palm Springs desert! I hope all is well for you and your husband!
Thank you for the thoughtful comments and for stopping by! We are not growing cacao we are at a higher elevation and it would not grow well there. Beans, corn and yuca are growing very well there however. Lots of bananas, mangos, avocados, guava and citrus trees as well.
I'll keep you informed on regarding the finca next March during our next visit!
All the best and keep growing!
Jubie
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It is a really nice story. And I think the land is blessed with rich nature.
Good luck!!
Reply to this
Hi Nobu! Thanks so much for your nice comments and good thoughts! We are very happy to receive all the well wishes from our readers, family members and friends across the globe!
Best to you and all your endeavors!
Keep growing and pura vida!
Jubie
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I haven't been by your wonderful blog in a very long time, and woweee! So much has been happening!
Congratulations!! How exciting!
My husband I had talked about looking for land in Costa Rica a few years ago, too. I'm not sure what became of that. Probably because we decided to stay in New Mexico. Oh well.
Those pictures were gorgeous! I'm so happy for you and can't wait to read future updates.
I also wanted to say I'm impressed with how well your container gardeing is coming along.
You are truly motivating me to do this next year.
Thanks!
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Hi Twinville! Thanks for writing and stopping by! I love New Mexico! It is a great place. I always get a great feeling when I am there.
Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you! We were in China a week after being in Costa Rica! My husband's work took us to China and we also toured part of it for over 3 weeks! All the Olympic buzz was abound throughout the country but we went to attend my husband's meetings (he is an astrophysicist) and to view the solar eclipse in Western China.
The container garden is doing okay, actually my Chinese neighbor here in Palo Alto was watering it for me. But alas, it was neglected for other things such as adding more fertilizer and re-mulching.
I'll be blogging about this today sometime!
Thanks again for stopping by and perhaps one day I could stop by the farm in New Mexico. My husband is from there and his mother and brother live there too!
All the best and keep growing!
Jubie
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Wow! This is wonderful! A paradise on earth for you
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Hi John! Thanks for the comment and for stopping by! See you soon and.....
keep growing!
Jubie
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