Life on the Farm – Part I

Lago Rupanco, Chile

After our first volunteering gig in Valparaiso, it didn’t take Mac & I long to figure out that we had belatedly stumbled upon a new way of travel. By putting in a few hours each day, you are in turn provided with (at the very least) a place to sleep, and sometimes food as well. Volunteering allows us to stay longer in cities/regions we normally wouldn’t have otherwise. Though we did try to travel at a slower pace and not breeze through cities before we even really had a chance to explore, staying for weeks at a time in one location really allows you to appreciate and experience so many more things! Before we left Valpo, we already had another volunteering job lined up!

The Farm

We completely switched gears from the hospitality side of things in Valp – we went to a FARM! The farm is a 600 acre piece of land on the shores of Lago Rupanco – a decently sized lake in the Lakes District of Chile (about 12 hours south of Santiago). First of all, this place is GORGEOUS! Beside the lake sits a giant dormant volcano – Puntiagudo. It’s snow-covered peak was blinding on sunny days!

In addition to the beautiful lake & mountain, there are also several nearby waterfalls. One can be hiked to via a small trail off the main road, one is right off the road that leads back to civilization, and another can be seen up close via boat ride!

There is a lot more to this farm than its natural beauty. There are two main hubs: the lodge and the barn. We used the lodge as our main base (for sleeping, cooking, eating, lounging/reading/relaxing etc). It’s right on the water and is centrally located to the other main areas of the farm (which I’ll get to in a minute). The barn is currently used for storage, but the ultimate goal is to turn it into a fully functioning living space for volunteers as well as a base for future construction projects.

Located around the lodge are some key components to what makes this farm tick: the chicken coop (with 15 hens and one rooster), flower beds for herbs & perennials, another nearby garden for vegetables (much bigger & more robust than the herb garden), the bread house (for making bread… obviously. It also serves as the living quarters for one of the hired men at the farm), and the hot tub!

A little further away from the lodge are the main agricultural components of the farm. There is a smaller barn used for housing the sheep & lambs, and piglets, as well as a small field for the pig. There are also a few cows & horses that roam the property, but they’re not always the easiest to find. And no farm can be complete without farm dogs! Antia, Tunca, and Ivory were constant sources of amusement as well as fantastic walking companions (mainly Tunca & Antia though. Ivory is pushing 16 years old, and it’s considered a good day for her if she moves all the way from the front yard to the back yard).

As a vegan, I wasn’t sure of the specifics of the farm when we first signed up to volunteer, and so I was a bit leery about what some of the goings on might be. It turns out I didn’t have much to worry about because this type of farm is pretty ideal. The eggs that the chickens do produce are eaten by the other volunteers & staff, but the chickens have a pretty sweet life and are allowed to roam in the yard as well as in their spacious coop. The other animals (pig, sheep, & cows) are allowed to graze and roam freely throughout the fields. Now that’s what I call “grass fed”!! Though some of the animals are eventually killed for meat, it’s not done in a way that even closely resembles the factory farms you’d find at home. My stance on veganism hasn’t changed, but this farm is certainly a prime example of a very humane way to raise animals.

Stay tuned for some other posts about our farm life & what we actually DID while we were there!