Fantabuloso Friday - Into the jungle

I visited an organic fruit farm in La Laguna on the island of La Palma in the Canaries. It is the creation of Martina Rasi-Rüger who gave us the grand tour on Monday 24th November 2014. The tour was given in German, but very kindly translated by the other guests. 

Martina loves her finca very much and I can see by the presentation and practices that she uses. This is one of the few permaculture farms on the island, the other farms being monoculture banana plantations using more water and heavy uses of chemicals to fertilise and control pests. Martina uses very little water in comparison because her soil contains the perfect amounts of nutrients needed to feed the plants, which is all thanks to her organic practices. In terms of pests, she combats the very few that occur using a very potent chilli and water mixture. 

From what I can remember Martina's working hours are Monday to Thursday 9am - 12.30pm (please correct me if I'm wrong), however she is now bound to this island because of the size and demand of her finca. I think the maximum time she can leave is 1 week, but when you visit you'll understand why she has given it her full commitment. 

The atmosphere inside is amazing, the video doesn't do it any justice and I recommend coming to look for yourself. I felt like I was in a jungle in another part of the world. The smells, sounds, birds, butterflies, trees, herbs, flowers, everything tickled my senses. I wanted to photograph everything and to a certain extent I did! I wanted to put it in my pocket and take it all with me, if I had a shrink-o-meter I would have done! 

Martina mainly grows organic bananas and apparently they're the best on this island. I haven't tried one, but hopefully I can soon! I saw papaya, guava, herbs, lettuce, chard, lots of different flowers, nettles and other plants I'm not certain about. 

As you can tell with this description I really had an amazing time visiting this finca, I would love to move the tree house I'm living in to it and live there instead. It gives me an idea about having my own plot of land to grow fruit on, at first I thought it was too much hard work but after reflecting I can see that it is not. Plus I would grow other fruits too. I am excited to start my own finca and I hope that it won't be long before that happens. 

Check out more photos on my Instagram page instagram.com/happyhealthyrawvegan 

OK so I copied and pasted my YouTube video description but they are my words! I am sorry I've abandoned my blog yet again but I'm pretty sure that it hardly gets seen! If you read this give me a hello below and if you miss my posts then say so! I think I prefer to post photos instead of writing as it's quicker and much more fun for me! 

Well I hope you're all well, I just devoured 6 mangoes for breakfast, I only got a slight melon belly afterwards but it wasn't the worst I've had. 

Check my YouTube channel too, I've posted a few videos recently :) 

Love

Jennifer xx

Soulful Sunday - November update

Well hello there. I have been in the Canary Islands since 31st October and I've been making more YouTube videos as opposed to blog posts! This adventure was last minute, like a lot of my previous trips. There's nothing more exciting than booking a flight less than a week before you fly! 

So what's been happening? Well I arrived in Tenerife in the morning and had to catch a ferry at 6.30pm I had lots of time so I found a fruit shop and ate cherimoya and papaya. After arriving in La Palma I stayed the night in a very quaint guest house. Unfortunately my trip has been full of noisy nights and a lack of sleep. My first night was Halloween and that meant lots of partying on behalf of the locals. 

Since arriving in the campsite 9 days ago (which was an adventure in itself!) I have had approximately 2 decent nights sleep. I'm living in a tree house that sways with the wind and makes loud noises when moving and is directly above the communal area so I've been kept awake from people eating late, playing music and drinking. 

I really like the tree house, it's perfect with the exception of noise and swaying, but I am considering asking to be moved because I'm fed up of having broken sleep. Especially as I'm cycling and today I went jogging. I'm physically tired and mentally drained so I need this time to recover and I will NOT sacrifice sunshine just to catch up on sleep. Night time is for sleeping! 

The landscape is beautiful, the weather is good, fruit is amazing and cycling around is brilliant although hard work coming up the hills. 

I am really enjoying this place apart from what I've mentioned. There's papaya, mangoes, bananas, persimmons, bananas and avocados. There's also more fruit and vegetables but the ones listed are my staples. It's the perfect place, with the exception of no durian! 

If you want a great winter getaway I highly recommend La Palma. 

Jennifer x