Finca Las Koalas: Farm Fresh Fun!

Eventually, our stay at Villa Lupita came to an end. Continuing their exceptional hosting Ligia, her husband Luis and Andres asked if they could come by to say farewell on our last day. Once again we had packed up all of our belongings and cleaned up. As we said our farewells (and they gave gifts to our girls!) I was busy searching for an Uber for our next journey. Uber is a fickle thing especially in more remote areas; there were no drivers available. Without hesitation Luis offered to take us to San Isidro de el General near to where our next stay was booked as he said he was heading there anyway. We thought that we would get a lift into town and then call an Uber but he happily offered to take us the whole way. In the end we were incredibly fortunate that he did!

We had booked ourselves just a couple of nights stay at an organic permaculture farm called Finca Las Koalas. Our plan at this point was to loop around towards San Jose travelling on the Interamericana which goes up through the mountains. We’d booked another stay at a cabin near San Gerardo de Dota. This stop looked perfect and we were all really keen to get back to the land for at least a couple of days.

Our first little hiccup was that the location we had on our map took us to the wrong side of the farm. Sat in the car with Luis we were feeling guilty that he’d so kindly given us a lift and now it turned out we needed to go on even further. He didn’t seem to mind at all. We carried on to the new location that we had. The roads started to get bumpy at this point and we were feeling very grateful that we were in his 4×4 and not in a small town car which is often the case with an Uber. We continued and arrived at a river. There was a bridge going across the river. We paused and looked over assessing whether it was safe to cross. Luis had spotted another track going off to the left before the bridge and decided we’d back up and go through the river as it was pretty shallow. This was turning out to be quite an adventure!

We backed up and went down the track. I think the girls were a little concerned in the back as we started to drive into the river – obviously something they’d never done before back in England! Luis was reassuring – this was common practice here in Costa Rica – he certainly didn’t look concerned which was reassuring. We arrived safely at the other side of the river but hit upon a little problem. The track on the other side was badly churned up from tractors using the crossing. We spent a few minutes trying to fill the gaps with rocks and stones and had another couple of attempts but we weren’t going to get up. Now our only option was to go back across the river, in reverse! Within a few minutes of crossing their first river in a car the girls were now going to get to do it again but travelling backwards.

Luis did great and got us back over to the other side. Now we were going to cross the bridge instead. We jumped out and did a quick walk over to assess it. He thought it was fine but just to be on the safe side we all got out of the car to cross on foot. Luis crossed no trouble.

Continuing the journey along ever more bumpy tracks we kept reminding ourselves how we couldn’t possibly have made it in an Uber. Once we arrived at the farm gates we had to drive down a very steep access and then cross another river before a steep ascent up a very rough track. We couldn’t believe our luck really. We thanked Luis profusely and got ready to settle into our new home for the next couple of nights – El Rancho.

The owner of the farm, Sophia was there to greet us and show us around. After covering the usual basics of how various appliances etc. worked she also warned us about the possibility of finding scorpions along with what we should do if we do find one. At this point I should share that it was an ongoing joke for me to tell the girls to be careful about scorpions. We hadn’t seen one anywhere on our travels so far and I’d been having fun telling them to check their shoes all the time. It had reached a bit of a ‘boy who cried wolf’ point and they were probably doubting if there were any scorpions in Costa Rica so this was satisfying. Anyway, Sophia told us to check our shoes, shake out towels and sheets and also that if we did find any they were very slow moving creatures.

Our ‘rancho’ had fantastic views down the valley and we were right in the middle of the farm. Just outside the house there was a veg bed with kale and some salads and just beyond that were the chickens. As we’d arrived the chickens were just being fed and the girls went over to watch. A few minutes later we had fresh eggs. Food had been a big pull for us to visit the farm and in advance of our stay I’d been in contact with Sophia asking for any farm fresh produce that we could have so that we could be eating from our location and avoiding the shops wherever possible. We got ourselves settled and then walked up to her house where she had put together a selection for us.

We were over the moon with what she had. Two loaves of fresh bread (one sweet, one savoury), a big bottle of fresh goats milk, a large jar of goats yoghurt and a freshly made soft goats cheese with herbs. This was absolutely what we had looked forward to! She also had a zapote fruit for us which was something new for us to play with. We spent a little time talking about food. Us explaining how we’d found things up to that point and enthusing about how much we were looking forward to eating all of the delicious fresh produce laid out in front of us! Sophia told us her insights on the food system in Costa Rica and how she was trying to slowly grow her farm in line with creating supply for good organic products.

The thing that really struck me in this conversation was that multi-layered nature of the food culture I’ve mentioned before. On the surface are the most obvious callings of the supermarkets with their huge colourful signs and massive buildings making them hard to miss. Like all supermarkets they contain a small section of fresh produce and then a lot of packaged and processed goods. There are the local shops which we’ve written about before. There are the ferias, local markets which we’d not yet managed to visit but are where you find the broad selection of fruits and vegetables which have become a big part of Costa Rica’s outward facing image. Hiding even deeper under all of this are the informal food networks which we’d discovered in our last stay. Speaking to Sophia it was made even clearer how lucky we had been to experience this hidden layer.

We went back to our house with all of our goodies and straight away set about tucking into them. The milk was tasted, the yoghurt too and the fresh goats cheese was spread thickly on the herb bread. Rachael got straight into the zapote which Sophia had told us needs to be juiced and then diluted with water and sweetened a little to make a refreshing drink. Once Rachael had extracted the juice and we tried it undiluted it immediately reminded me of Sea Buckthorn (hippophae rhamnoides) juice which we have used a lot back in England.

The farm is only 3 years into its development at this point and in these early stages, along with creating basic infrastructure, Sophia is slowly building the animal herd. The initial focus is on goats and she’d explained to us that she milks them at sunrise and sunset; we were invited to come up at the end of the day and watch. We went up and met all of the animals including a couple of lambs which had been born just a few days before! The animals were all fed and we were surprised to give each horse a whole banana (skin on!) before filling their hay. Then it was time to milk the goat. Suffice to say that none of us had ever milked a goat before but we were also definitely keen to have a go. Sophia explained how you have to be firm like the kid would be when going in for milk; if you’re too gentle then the goat will think it’s a fly under there and give you a kick!

The next day we’d arranged for the girls to have a ride on the horses so late morning we went up. The first step was to give the horse a good brush. We learned all about how to saddle the horse, where to hold on, how to mount them and the different types of saddle used. Zia was first up for a ride and of course she loved being taken around the farm! The ground was rough and rocky too and it was impressive to see how the horses manage the terrain. Next up was Rosa accompanied by Rachael.

We spent that afternoon down at the bottom of the hill playing in the river. The girls and I were off rock-jumping and finding thousands of tadpoles in the little pools. We played with shifting around rocks and seeing how the flow and current was altered. It was actually raining a lot of the time when we first got there but when the days are so hot that’s a very refreshing thing – plus we were in the river and wet anyway!

Considering we only stayed for two nights we had a very full time at the farm. It was a wonderful place for the girls to be with plenty of space and places to explore. For Rachael and I it was great to have such good food again. Even little things like being able to easily separate out our organic waste and put it into the nearby wormery to turn into compost for the raised beds, meant that it all felt a little more like life at home. We loved getting to speak to Sophia and begin to understand how the food system here in Costa Rica looks from a producers side: there is not a big demand here at present for organic produce and just like other parts of the world price is often the primary driver in food choices. Before we came here I remember being surprised to find out that Costa Rica has one of the highest uses of pesticide. After reading that of course it made complete sense: the huge biodiversity that the country offers also means that it has a plethora of bugs which attack the crops. Nevertheless, this fact seems to remain fairly well hidden from popular awareness which is still focussed on the variety of fresh fruits and vegetables available in the markets. For us it’s interesting to see that there is this double-edge to navigate – how to grow produce in harmony with that huge diversity of native insects?

Throughout our stay on the farm I’d carried on joking and teasing the girls about scorpions but we’d not seen one. On our last morning however as Rachael picked up a towel which had been on the floor one dropped out! We were lucky that it hadn’t snuck into one of our bags which had been open as we packed everything up. It was, as Sophia had told us, pretty slow moving and really nothing to be afraid of but definitely something to be aware of. She had also told us that it was for this reason that houses in Costa Rica were often quite sparse in their furnishings and with open cupboards – dark holes and little corners are perfect hiding places which you want to avoid creating.

All packed up we said farewell to the farm which we had enjoyed so much and off for our next stay, up in the mountains!