Charlie

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Who I am Why I'm here What I would like to learn and achieve  Process Diary Evaluation Visits and Trips on the Island Others and Links

Was here sept-oct 2009, at the same time as Esther, Belinda, Maxine, Stella and Julio

**** I AM CURRENTLY UPDATING THE PAGE, THE NEW IMPROVED WONDER WILL BE UP SOON *** 

Who I am

I am Charlie Shuttler, a 23 year old musician from England. 

Why I'm here

I have come here for a few reasons - first I wanted a break and a bit of space from England and my life there. I´m from London town and life there, marvellous as it can be, can get pretty hectic! My brother had come to stay at Finca Luna about 5 or 6 years ago (2003/4) so i knew about it from him. He has a page on this Wiki under the name Archie.

Ultimatelty I wanted to combine some time out England - in a warmer, sunnier climate! - with learning some new skills, being more in touch with nature and living for a while in a place consciously trying to create something sustainble; somewhere that is also in touch with its surroundings in the world and is sharing & spreading some of its action and knowledge further afield. Also, being in a place with less external stimuli makes more space to notice things (in your surroundings and in yourself) ...

I´ve been interested in sustainabilty, permaculture and ways for humanity to live more harmoniusly with the rest of the world for quite a while, so I am here to, for a while, experience living towards those ends, to work and help out at the finca and also to learn - something I think is important for everyone, no?! ...

What I would like to learn and achieve 

-Growing and maintaing food/agriculture:  What to grow in this climate, how to create micro-climates without having a negative effect on the natural environment, how seasons and moon cycles etc affect growing, how to grow plants and trees etc while not damaging any of the natural environment, how to grow in accordance with - rather than disregard of - all life forms that already exist in any given place...

-How to use clay and how to build things with it. try to design and build/expand the oven!

-How to kill a chicken and if I can´t face doing it become a vegetarian again!!!

-Keep improving my Spanish, especially grammer and be able to know what´s going on when there´s no english speakers around. For learning another language creates a multitude of other people to communicate with and share experiences, innit.

...

-Make some sort of basic manual for Finca Luna for other people who arrive. This way they will know, for example, which way the water tap is on and which way it is off and won´t to find out by cutting off the water while somone is in the middle of having a shower!!

- Read some of the literature in the library

- About the history of the island - for any place that you farm, it is important to know the ways of the land ...

- have a greater understanding of permaculture

- be able to take away with me some of the skills I have learnt here, apply them in my life and be able to pass them on the other people till we all live happily ever after. The End.

Process Diary

Every week :  WHat I have done... Challenges, Satisfactions, What I have learnt. 

(mon)21st - 27th Sept (´09) :

28th Sept - 4th Oct :

5th - 11th Oct:

12th - 18th Oct:

Evaluation

(you can keep it up to date weekly, adding things, put dates - at the end it will be your overall evaluation)

Qué me está gustando del programa, de la finca, el sitio, etc.? 

What do I like about the programme ?

12th Oct: Very peaceful place to be and a very laid back approach. At the same time there is a definent consciousness of the wider implications of work like this and why Finca Luna is in existence. It is fantastic to be living so close to nature. I love my dome, equipped with chimney et al. (more for the look than the fire ;). It is great to be eating food that largely comes from the Finca.

That there is no feeling of a ´boss´ as such. Although we all have our roles, we all get on and organise stuff together.

The people here are kind, lovely, friendly, welcoming, thoughtful and respectful, glorius, splendifourous, fantabulastic and a host of other wondrous superlatives.

...

Qué me gusta menos y que desafíos tengo

What do I like least, find difficult and what challenges are there ? 

12th Oct - Doing tunos (prickly pears) and getting hundreds of spikes in my fingers and feet and everywhere!

             - Moving around the buckets of faeces to stew by the chickens - but we all share this task and it is important as the chickens love it and turn it into really good mulch for the trees and plants  -

             - Not being fluent in Spanish is a big challenge. A lot of the time there are English speakers around, but sometimes not - which is the best way to learn but can also be hard work when confusion or misunderstanding happens.

             - a big challenge sometimes not being 100% clear on what i´m meant to be doing.. trying not to mess anything up

             - it is very challenging living in a place with only a few other people and the same people all the time, having been used to seeing loads of people, and often different people each day. After a while little things can get on each other´s nerves, but more often than not this shows you your own issues which you need to address ..

Nuevas experiencias que he tenido 

What new expereinces have I had ?

LOTS!.... 

Lo qué estoy aprendiendo? 

What am I learning ? 

LOTS!...

Qué está siendo dificil?

What am finding difficult ? 

Que pudiera hacer de otra forma?

What could I do in another way ?

Que más cosas necesito aprender / experimentar 

What other things I need to learn or experiment with

Apreciaciones generales

General comments and appreciations...

Mis planes futuros 

My future plans  

drum roll please ... 

Suggestions  

Visits and Trips on the Island

Los Llanos

The first ecological banana farm on the Island

The maket at Puntagorda

The beach with Julio, near Tijarife

Cafe Aloe in a buranca

The Beach near Garafia which i walked to

Abuelas house :)

I spent a couple of weeks exploring the island, partly on skooter which was highly amusing! Notable places were the Caldera and all its majesty; being on top of the world at the Roque de los Muchachos; Playa de Nogales and Sauces (where i spent a night on a bandstand!) in the North East of the Island; Fuencaliente and the volcanoes to the south; walking (illogically) uphill from Fuencaliente to Pilar on the Volcano route, an incredible experience. At some points you can see La Gomera, El Hierro and the Teide of Tenerife all at once.

Ended up playing a gig with Eremiot y la Tripulacion at 'Noche del Rock' in Puntagorda!! And met some incredible flamenco musicians from 'Ziriab' who I am jammed with on a couple of occasions.  

Others and Links 

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