Looking for a Farm

 

Some new friends arrived in Cuenca sight unseen for their new adventure.  We met them at California Kitchen in their new location for a nice, quiet dinner. 

Eating dinner with Linda and Bruce.

     We could NOT figure out this picture. 
What the hell is this little boy doing?  And what
is the expression on his face saying?  This is
really a bizarre picture.
 

 Through a woman online who sells goat milk and cow milk cheeses we were put in touch with her goat milk supplier, Miguel.  We found out that Miguel had a farm for sale so we called him and he drove us out to San Fernando to see it.  San Fernando is about an hour and 15 min. outside of Cuenca.  45 min. to Giron on a nice paved road and then another 30 min. into the mountains on half paved/half dirt road. 

The farm is gorgeous - 7 hectares, which is about 17 acres.  The surrounding countryside and view of the mountains is spectacular.  We were enamored from the get-go.  And the price is right.  The only caveat was the fact that an indigenous family lived right smack dab in the middle of the perfect building site for a house.  The only other place on the hill for a house would have to be cloyingly close to their property.  Then there was the concern of there being no internet.  We had to go home and sleep on it. 

Looking from the road towards the property.  Finn,
Mark and Tali are very tiny figures in the background.

 

 

Looking out the side of the property.

Looking towards the left of the property.  You
can see the house already there.

 

Looking from the property out over the mountains.
What a view!

San Fernando tucked into the valley. 
 

Looking towards the back of the property.  This is quite a
steep hill.  The reservoir would be built on the
opposite hill.

Another view out the front.

Driving home out of the mountains towards Giron.

The small town of Giron.



 After taking us to see the farm, Miguel drove us to his goat farm in the flat lands outside of Cuenca.  Miguel raises Saanens, with a few Nubians thrown in.  He really wants to start a dairy in Cuenca.  He bought his buck from a woman in Quito who has a really nice goat dairy operation and she is selling to our local supermarket, Supermaxi.  She is making $25,000 a month.  $12,000 goes to feeding the goats, but that is still a huge profit!  I'm not sure how far I want to go with this.  I had initially envisioned selling raw milk and cheese to the expat community who have a huge interest in these products, but I wanted to keep it small.  Miguel's enthusiasm is contagious though, so we'll see.

 

 

Kids!  We so miss having kids around.

Love the little tongue.

Finn and Tali did NOT want to leave.

This Nubian doe reminded us so much of Raisin.
I couldn't take my eyes off of her.  Miss my Nubians.

Black in a sea of white.