Immersing myself
It took me a while to understand how the ranch worked. Visiting the ranch for 30 days made a lot more difference than
going on a ranch tour. I had a lot of questions in my mind from the beginning.
For example, after I first went on the ranch tour, I was sceptical of how the hydrogenerator in Rancho Margot can
provide enough electricity for such a large tourist operation. Then I came to see to the canals separating a portion
of the water out from the stream and channeling it into a temporary tank from where the water ran down with great
force to turn the turbines below. I saw the intelligent use of sloppy terrain at play.
Day after day and week after week I witnessed the factors that made this place sustainable. Until going to Rancho
Margot I thought the whole concept of sustainability was about adopting an attitude where one expressed and felt
concern for resources and nature. But after going there I realised there are some people who take it as a design
challenge.
Juan, the owner, has established some interconnections between various departments in the ranch to bring together
an ecosystem where things which are conventionally regarded as waste are being utilised elsewhere to close the
loops of energy flow. Realising such a vision must have taken a lot of experience and organisational expertise. That
inspired me to try and learn the inside out of the working of each and every department in Rancho Margot.
From then onwards I had set the goal of translating everything I learnt about the ranch into works that could share
this knowledge. Such as info graphics and movies.
By the beginning of the 2nd week, I was asked to make maps for the vegetable gardens in Rancho Margot. I gladly
took up the activity. I walked around each of the 3 gardens and made fairly accurately proportioned maps of the
gardens. Not only did it give me a chance to get back on ‘Illustrator’ the software but it also gave me the opportunity
to look more closely into the garden in itself. For someone who knew nothing about gardening, the 2nd week gave
me a huge jump in my understanding and interest in gardening.
One day, during my 2nd week of my time there I noticed the gardeners putting black colored soil into a huge dish
and burning it. Usually I would just ignore such a sight but on this occasion, I went ahead and asked Kelly, one of the
volunteers working in the garden why they were doing that. She told me it was to kill the weeds in the soil before they
planted baby plants. Although it left me with a bunch of new doubts. Like I began wondering whether the organic
content in the soil would be destroyed while burning the soil. Asking questions helped me broaden my perception.
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