This article is one of a series on life in the campo, or country living in Costa Rica, as my wife and I* experienced it on our visits and after moving to Costa Rica. Each is a sort of time capsule, the stories evolving with us as we have lived more experiences and delved deeper into the culture.

The finca (farm) is about 7 kilometers away from our manager’s casa, and it is all dirt roads over some bridges that make you amazed at the strength of the trees used to build them. Hector used to drive to work using a 4x4 (all 4x4s are called Jeeps in Costa Rica), but decided he preferred a motorcycle, actually a dirt bike, so he traded three cows for one. So I, being slightly insane, rode the first day (as I now do most days when I'm there) to the finca on the back of a dirt bike. The road to the finca is very hilly and is considered a good road because they have spread considerable river rock on it and it is well-maintained. The maintenance of the road is paid for by the owners of the farms in the area. Back in March, we received a request for a donation to help with the road (about $230 US), which we happily contributed.

Everyone knows Hector, since he was born in San Miguel, and since he is our friend, everyone knows us and approves of us. Of course, Hector has told me that if we move to Costa Rica according to plan and if we live there for the rest of our lives, the finca will always be known as the Gringo’s Finca. 

The finca was a working dairy farm (about 90 head of cattle) before we started converting it to a reforestation project. There are still cattle on the farm, primarily as an inexpensive way of keeping the weeds down. By the way, I don’t know if this was just a Hectorism, but he kept referring to weeds as orchard. Confused the living daylights out of me for awhile. Eventually, when I figured out that he was not talking about cutting down fruit trees, I told him what we in North America think an orchard is.

Before, when there were a lot of dairy cattle, the paths were very muddy (almost up to your knees) due to the churning of the cows as they went back and forth from the pastures to the barn.  Now that there are just a few dairy cows, you can walk almost anywhere without using rubber boots. (My first day I used rubber boots and ended up with a large blister; after that I used my hiking boots.)

The finca has a river running through it and several streams that have water year round. The river has fish and is drinkable (though not by me). The river is not very large, since the finca is near the headwaters. There is considerable wildlife, like monkeys, birds, etc., because the previous owner preserved the woods around the waterways, a practice now required by law in Costa Rica.

In the little town of San Miguel (church, school, fútbol field with community center, and small store seems to define a town) the people live well. The soil in this area is very rich, so farms do well. Primarily cattle for dairy and for meat are raised, but there are some crops raised, usually root crops. Most of the labor comes from within the families, but there is a group of about 24 workers who move from farm to farm for special or seasonal projects.

*We are Fred and Amy Morgan, originally from the US. We bought a dairy farm in Costa Rica to plant trees in its pastures, then later caught a dream of turning all the land we can to permanently protected, sustainably maintained forest once the plantation trees have been harvested for profit. Along the way, we made it possible for our former partner to realize his dream of starting a business of his own in his native land. He is featured in many of the earlier stories.

To read more about Finca Leola S.A. and how you can also invest in trees and at the same time help with reforestation, go to Own Trees with Us.

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