To the rhythm of nature

The days at the farm seem all the same and are all different. Every time there is something new to learn and Martin, who knows everything, is about to leave because he has found work for the summer season, in Pichilemu, a seaside village on the coast, in a beautiful lodge overlooking the ocean.
It is a little strange experience for us, for sure in Italy we would never have gone to spend the holidays working on a farm. Sometimes we also got a little bored, we often repeated the same tasks and we didn't share much with the family that welcomed us, but there is much more.

The feeling of living an unusual experience is pretty clear. The farm is really beautiful, green fields full of flowers and plants, with this view of the volcano Osorno in front of the house, that makes you feel a person so small, like a ant in front of a giant. It's like going back in time, getting your hands dirty working outside, something to which we are not exactly accustomed, nowadays in our society of employees and web designers. Also, very few got a grandmother living in the country! My fingers almost hurt, the hands are swollen and I can no longer clean well under the nails that somehow remain black!

In the volunteers' house where we live, we have a wood stove and if you do not light the fire there is no hot water and it is cold. Martin is so fast, in a moment he prepares everything, instead I need at least one hour and so much effort! But I'm stubborn and I don't give up and I don't mind having to do it every day, like a welcome-home ritual after work. Every now and then I shout out "Aaah, we're out of wood!", so I run to collect it in that kind of warehouse we have behind the house, and you have to beware that it is not humid otherwise you will eat only smoke for dinner!

Then of course we do not have TV but we are satisfied with a decent internet network, and sometimes we look at some old episode of our favorite series downloaded before leaving. We listen to music, sharing what we like most and we agree that Buena Vista Social Club it is fine for everyone.

But the most beautiful part of the day is picking the fresh vegetable from the garden and eat them with the good meat Katia provides us. We still do not recognize them all, some salad leaves are a little different from ours and often we do not know whether it is all edible or not! But when we want to have a snack, we can search for raspberry in the bushes and fill a cup, not even the time to get home to wash them and they are already finished!

We are a little isolated but we can reach the village Las Cascadas that is pretty close. The thing is that it is not so easy, first we have to get to the crossing by foot, then hope for a bus going in the right direction or hitchhike a ride. What you wouldn't do to go to the beach or the supermarket to buy something... No, it is more confortable our green lawn admiring the landscape with the vulcano.

In the end, in the rare moments of sunny weather, we run to the lake with the dogs following us and relax while the blue sky and the bly lake come together like in an embrace. Otherwise we are stare wistfully at the thunderous rain that starts and stops, more or less, every half an hour! But even a little loneliness is fine and we enjoy even the time while waiting for the soups to get cook that takes so long because the meat is still too hard!

A different life with different rhythms, spending time playing with dogs, reading, checking if the hens have spawned, separeting the organic garbage for compost, hunting giant snails in the shower and trying to get one out while five more are inside, filling the house with smoke so your landry just washed gets smoked ! But we realize that it is not so difficult for us to get used to this lifestyle, it is a dimension that fit us well, a balance that our body and mind have accepted naturally.

The photos are of the author.