Day 7 Last Day at Rancho Margot! (Sofi)

Today we started out the day with a refreshing yoga class. We practiced connecting with ourselves and our breathing with help of calming nature sounds. This was very relaxing and helped wake the students up and bring them into the day with a calm attitude, and good intentions. After yoga, we had a breakfast of fresh fruit and eggs produced here on the ranch. The food was delicious, and we were all very satisfied and were ready to begin our day.

Our first-class of the day was a class on microorganisms. In this class, we learned about why microorganisms are important to the farm's work. One of Rancho Margot's main missions is to practice organic farming with no chemicals on the farm. Due to this, they must be careful about how they uphold cleanliness without the use of pesticides and chemicals. To do this, Rancho Margot has found a sustainable and environmentally friendly way to clean equipment such as the septic tank, by using microorganisms. To understand this concept, our teacher showed us a hands-on way to help build a solid environment for microorganisms to live in, so that they can reproduce and thrive when they are needed to clean the ranch. All the students participated in creating this habitat by starting off with the first and main “ingredient”, the microorganisms. These organisms were found living on dead leaves and tree branches under logs and rotten leaves. We collected the leaves and then ripped them into very small pieces. After this step we added sawdust, this is a natural component that the microorganisms will build off and creates a safe environment for them to thrive in. The next ingredient was yeast, this will serve to be the microorganism's food source for the next 40 days until they will be ready to use. Lastly, they added a molasses and water mix as an alternative source of food, and a glue-like substance to hold the created environment together. All the students helped to mix everything together, and then pack it so that it will be ready for use in 40 days.

After our class, students enjoyed some free time before lunch in which they played cards and visited with each other. For lunch, we enjoyed very good pasta, with multiple salad options, all grown on the farm. After lunch, some students participated in a horseback tour, in which they went to a viewpoint at the top of a hill, which had a gorgeous view of the Arenal lake and volcano. Afterward, the students crossed a river, on horseback, and then returned to Rancho Margot. This was an amazing experience that created many memories. While some students were participating were riding horses, a few students stayed back to help out in the gardens at Rancho Margot. Students were working on weeding, removing dead leaves and plants, and then transporting the leaves to the compost. Once finished with this they helped collect chicken eggs, 103 eggs in total, cleaned them and took them to the kitchen to be used in tomorrow’s breakfast.

Once everyone had returned from the afternoon activities the students participated in a soccer game and then had some time in the pool. At dinner, we celebrated Gabe’s birthday, with cake and meringues. After dinner we had a community meeting in the pool, the students swam for a while, and everyone packed in preparation for our next destination.