We were met by Rodolfo who seems to be an expert on this dairy. It wasn’t clear what his job/title is, but he seemed to be a sort of manager. He talked to us first about the kinds and number of cows in the herd, then about the need to have happy cows and he wasn’t kidding. He told us that horses usually make cows nervous, so no horses are used on this place. They seem to feed the cows constantly, mentioning that they were on their second breakfast. We were dispatched to “feed” them by moving the grass (African, they like it better) closer to them and pouring “grain” mixture on the grass. I suppose they are like Hobbits- didn’t they have a second breakfast or was it a second lunch? Anyway we fed, then we milked. He had 5 or so folks who had never been around cows take a turn at milking. He got a cupful of super fresh milk and offered it to whoever would taste it. Most weren’t too eager.
Rodolfo talked about cow’s life cycle from birth, having a surrogate mother who is one of the older animals, to what happens with the male calves. There is only one bull here, but semen is used from other dairies and from other countries.
He explained that Jersey cows are physically smaller so 3 can fit in the space of 2 Holsteins, the 3 giving more milk than the 2. Made sense to me. This farm also produces cheese and Rodolfo talked about the various bacterial additives that make cheese flavors and colors different. Also the age of the cheese affects the flavor.
As we were moving to the second part of the tour, the jungle portion, he spotted a nut to show us. It is the annatto nut. He opened it and the little seeds inside were bright red. This is what is used to make the cheddar color. He also mentioned that his mother used to use this for lipstick, and it is thought that the native tribes used it for war paint. Sorry I didn't get any cow pictures.
------------------------
For the second part of our farm experience,we got on a covered trailer with seats for with Rafael who talked about ecology, the crops and flowers and bugs.
The trailer was pulled by a tractor and when we had gone a little way we got out and walked. We were warned ahead of time to bring insect repellent cuz we were walking on a narrow path through a jungly area.
Most of Costa Rica’s major crops originally came from Africa, these being the coffee bean, bananas and their most important crop right now, pineapples.
He spoke about the massive Costa Rican pineapple plantations that mistreat the land and then in 10 years move elsewhere leaving behind soil that is depleted and not able to produce crops.
Since 97% of Costa Rican people are literate and trained for jobs not needing manual labor, the working of the crops is done by Nicaraguans. He said that about 20% of the population of Costa Rica at any given time is made up of laborers from Nicaragua. At times there may be up to a million braseros working the crops.
Walking around we saw the tiny red poisonous frog called the blue jeans frog cuz its legs are blue. They eat ants which have a venom when they “bite” and this venom is excreted thru the frog's skin pores. Rafael picked one up, because he knows how without being hurt. This little guy is so tiny you could put 2 on a dime.
We talked about leaf cutter ants, which were everywhere and how they are blind, but navigate by smell.
Bromiliads grow on trees, not as parasites, but as epifite plants. This means that they attach themselves to a living organism, but do not take anything from that organism as parasites do. They are just looking for a place to sit and live. I was wondering if I could encourage some to live in my oak trees at home, but I’d probably have to create a rain forest for them and there is probably not enough water in Arlington for that. Bromiliads collect water in their blooms and frogs and other insects (and monkeys) drink from these natural little cups.
We have seen many Birds of Paradise plants and flowers and they are incredibly beautiful. The many varieties just grow wild here making this place truly a floral paradise.
After our tour of the farm and the jungle we were taken to the restaurant run by Don Carlos Farm.
We had choices of food that had to be made before we began the dairy tour and my choice was not the best. We had several rice dishes and since I’m tired of everything with rice, I opted for the soup- more like a beef stew we were told.
The other food was interesting looking, with volcano shaped piles of rice and other accompaniments, but the stew/soup was not what we expected. The man across the table from me commented when he first began eating his “it looks like dishwater”. And he wasn’t too far wrong. Very HOT thin broth with herbs floating in it (that’s fine, so far), not many veggies and what were there were mush, and the beef was stringy. In each bowl (and the bowls were enormous- think salad mixing bowl) was an egg, that seemed to have been dropped into the bowl after it was poured. The yolk was solid, and the white was kinda stringy throughout the soup. This tells you how hot the soup was, to be able to cook the egg after it was ladleed into the bowl. I ate some, but didn’t finish it at all, when I stopped, it was still too hot to taste. I will say that some folks did finish their bowl, but I didn’t. Two really delightful parts of the meal were the fried cheese squares that were served as appetizers and the wonderful freshly made fruit juice Jose told us it was guanabana juice (accent on the first na) Throughout this trip we have been treated to amazing juices and I have only had one that didn’t appeal to me. It was Tamarind.
Some folks were taken to the hotel, 14 of us were taken to our next adventure---THE SKY TREK.
l
No comments:
Post a Comment