Let There Be Light!

The sun is shining. I’m planting lavender. And the solar panels are here. Diego and crew were here today and so were the solar panel workers. We inch closer to completing one thing – the first thing – on our project plan. And it’s a biggie.

Our business footprint needs to be as gentle on the environment as possible. Our well water will not be cleaned using chlorine, or other chemicals. It will be sanitized with UV light and water softening tech to extract any farming related chemicals – think fertilizers and livestock poo – ick – and it will pop out the other side fresh tasting, complete with all the things that makes Galician water so good. It is supposed to be installed next week. They promise. No really, this time they really promise. Pinky swear!

I Wear My Sunglasses At Night

Our twenty solar panels, infrastructure, and anchors have arrived. All the wires have been tunneled and run through conduit into the barn where the switch will reside and a battery array and rack will sit – when we can get a battery array next year. We focus on one thing at a time.

The guys are at lunch right now. When they come back they will begin assembling the panel structures inside an old animal pen so Sir Fergus, Lord of Destruction keeps his paws off them. Our animal pens are all ringed with concrete that goes three feet down like a maximum security prison. The rabbits have no chance of getting into my vegetable garden, or a hope in hell of digging down and coming up to chew on the wires supplying our home and business through the miracle that is the solar array harvesting the power of the sun. I love it!

Jeff is bound and determined to augment our leaning towards environmentally friendly off the grid living with wind turbines, but I have slowed that roll a bit. We need to walk before we run. And while I am fine with a long term plan that allows us to generate our full power needs year round, I just think we have other things we want to do before that becomes the first thing on the top of an ever growing list. I need the business entirely built out before we distract any one of these companies by focusing them on residential wind power.

Deep Breath

All my lavender starts are here on the hottest two days of the year so far. I have to get them in the ground, while at the same time not fainting as I plant them in the shadeless field where they will nestle year round. It hasn’t helped that I lined the furrows with black agricultural fabric to keep weeds down and keep them warm in the winter. And white gravel to reflect the heat. The plants and I are wilting a bit. Now, I need to go into Santiago to get loads of drip lines to supply them with water directly as we head into summer. This time last year it was cold and wet. This year it is more like June. But I won’t complain.

I was chatting with some American Pilgrims at the gate today. From California. They were sad we aren’t open. Diego, our contractor, had news today, as well. The Patrimonio discussed our project yesterday. We should know any moment if it is approved. We are all on pins and needles with our fingers and toes crossed. Please, please, please – let them approve it in total, and call me on the phone to tell me we are a-go!

A Dot On The Horizon

I find that it’s important to have short term goals and long term goals. Something to look forward to. My three month plan is to get the business back up and going. And to have the cabins and camping under construction. I have adjusted my expectation that we will not be accepting guests before October. That’s OK. But, after the past winter and all it wrought, I need to have another dot on the horizon. Something to smile about when I am deep in frustration with the pace of everything on the farm.

I have decided to walk the Via de la Plata in January of 2024. I’ve wanted to walk it for awhile and I’m not getting any younger. No time like the present. It’s time to take on this challenge. And I’ve asked some friends to come with me or join me at points along the way as their schedules permit. They have responded with an enthusiastic ‘We’re in!’ I love these guys.

The Via de la Plata begins in Seville and ends in Santiago de Compostela, entering the city from a completely different direction from the Frances. It’s a smidge more than 1000 kms and a quiet winter Camino. I won’t walk it like the published stages, some of which are more than 35 kms in one day. I’m not up for that. I will take my time, and likely between 50 and 60 days. This walk would be brutal in summer so I will leave right after Epiphany in January. Ready to complete the trek before opening the business up again for walkers on the Frances. I know very little about this Camino, so I have time to research and dream. To plan for the cold, but also to remember I can’t plan for everything and will have to roll with it as it comes. My favourite kind of Camino.

After decades being me, I know myself pretty well. Having mileposts over the next year, things I can hit, is important for me. I like forward progress. And now I have more than a few sign posts to help ground me. That doesn’t mean there won’t be other trips and other adventures. We’re already talking about a few. As well as additional hiccups with the biz. I’m a realist. But a few full diary pages gets my brain spinning with possibilities. Energizing. My sweet spot. But first, the solar panels. Let there be light.