Tag: farmlife

From an Asbestos Box to an Alluring Café Space

December 1, 2015

This post has been several months in the making, not textually, but from the moment we put the first hammer to a wall, or the first spade was thrusted into the earth to begin the excavation for the new extension footing, thats how long it’s been.

We began in Mid-August. Tati, Tati’s Dad Fernando, myself, my Mum and Tati’s uncle, along with his right hand man, Diego would together, take the brainstorming, drawings, sketches, ideas and dreams and build a reality.

There were ups and downs, electrical outages, thunderstorms that put hold to progress for days at a time, delayed materials, some mishaps and some communication breakdowns, more so to do with my childlike grasp of the Portuguese language. But we always came out on top, this whole idea is built on nothing more than a desire to do something good and support ourselves and those close to us, physically and mentally. No matter what adversities one faces, if you always think of it like that, you’ll not get too muddled up.

Last week, we wrapped up the mainstay of the project. We still have a long way to go, but in terms of heavy construction, things like the slabs, beams, columns, the deck, the wood structure, tiling, flooring, concrete, drainage and guttering are finished.

Now, Tati and I start our mission to make this shell, ours. To make it Oficina74.

The wood fired oven and pizza oven are absolutely beautiful and will allow me to try my hand at baking the old fashioned way, something I’m incredibly excited for. We’ll have a more technologically advanced kitchen off to the side with a gas fired combi oven, vitamix, toasters, juicers, fridges and prep areas.

The bathroom is wheelchair accessible, something that Brazil is embarrassingly far behind with and will mean our space is open to everybody that wishes to share it with us.

The pool is still to be tiled (and filled!), the electrics are still to be wired, the lights hung, switches installed, furnished, decorated, almost all the walls need painting, gates need to be installed, grass and plants need planting, a sound system needs to be installed, mood lighting around the pool needs to be added and we have a ton of other stuff to do still within the actual property.

We’ve given ourselves 5-6 weeks to make this a reality. The workshop still has a few ongoing additions, too. Everyday we think of some way that we can improve these spaces and we run with it.

We want to be serving fresh, local, pour over coffee in the New Year, we want to be serving natural, local, organic food, handmade pies, cakes, sandwiches, sourdough bread, juices, homemade granola and farm fresh fruit and vegetables. We want to be making breakfast for mountain bikers, hikers, trail riders, local residents, passers through and friends in less than 2 months. I think we’ll get there.

Thank you to all of you that have offered inspiration, support and positive energy, every iota is welcomed and very much needed!

The Poolhouse as it was, asbestos roofed, stuffy and in desperate need of a remodel.

About 2/3rds in on the new construction.

How it looks today.

Sustainably sourced wood (is there such a thing?) reclaimed windows and doors (to be hung still)

The new kitchen extension about 3 weeks back.

The new kitchen extension as it is today. Appliances, shelving, work surfaces, double sink and lighting to still be added.

The corridor to the bathroom. 1.2m wide and a 96cm dor for wheelchair access.

The deck during construction.

The deck today. Tables, chairs, umbrellas and turfing in front are still to be added.

The deck has a sweet view and a sweet cat, too.

Baking Bread to Make Bread.

September 14, 2015

by oficina74

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50/50 White/Wholegrain Sourdough Mini loaves

Bread. 3 simple ingredients, combined in different ways, in different environments, and in different styles to create a plethora of choices. Flour, water, salt. That’s it. Combined in such a way, baked in such a way, presented in such a way that really, no one loaf is like any other. The water you use, the oven you have fired, the pot you bake in, the kneading, the folding, the time you set aside for rising, the slicing, the dusting, the cooling. All of these things come together to make your bread truly unique.

Sourdough

I have been baking bread for essentially no time at all. Honestly, I don’t know the first thing about it. However, I have developed a timing pattern that works, an oven temperature that works, my clay pot that works and I have found a recipe that I stick to, to the gram, that works.

I play about with the mix sometimes though, add more wholegrains or rye flours, experiment with stronger flour, with pure wheat gluten, and I have experimented baking with olives, cranberries, chia or other seeds stuffed into the dough.

But for me, a plain white sourdough bread hits the spot, it’s the one I have focussed more time and energy into perfecting, and it seems to be working. Sourdough is one of the simplest forms of bread, the 3 ingredients, combined with time and patience can yield amazing results. My bread has a long way to go, but I feel at a stage where I could sell this bread, it’s handmade, with water from the farms well and nothing else added. It’s as simple as it gets, and it makes great fucking sandwiches.

Sandwiches. Who needs anything else.

I don’t really know where my journey started with bread, or why I even started baking, but I took a simple recipe from a book and gave it a shot, I began to read more, about processes and times, I began following some master bakers and individuals on instagram and blogs that I thought had a unique and polarizing style. I looked to their breads with envy and pushed myself to learn more about the process. Somehow, along the way, I started to think about sourdough, it was the bread I always went for in the delis in New York if the choice was there, I loved the chewy texture, the slight sour undertone and the crisp, thick crust. This was the bread I wanted to bake.

Sourdough is basically bread baked using natural fermentation, creating your own local yeast, maintaining it, and getting it active enough to raise dough, and bake beautiful bread. Essentially, it’s flour + water x time.

Here at the farm, we’re lucky enough to have a well, it gives clean, fresh water, free from a lot of the chemicals associated with water from the tap in the average city, and my starter began to behave wonderfully with it. Some chemicals in treated water can have detrimental affects to your culture. The man is always trying to fuck up our culture, man.

The Starter

Once my starter was bubbling away, I attempted my first sourdough loaf. Although it tasted all right, it wasn’t much of a looker, but this was the real beginning to baking.

Early Sourdough

Over the next months I began using different flours, developing my yeast and giving it some “double feeds” to get him leaping over buildings, I bought a large clay pot to bake the loaves in, and finally, even bought a few proofing baskets, brought all the way from the UK, (thanks Mum).

Once the new kitchen has been roofed, our first purchase will be a large bread oven, capable of baking 5-6 loaves at a time, I’ll probably go back to square one at this point, as learning the behaviour and timing of your oven is a quintessential step in the process. But I know I’ll figure it out, and soon I’ll be proving fresh, handmade, sourdough bread to the local area surrounding the farm. Soon, we’ll be baking bread to make a little bread.

Sourdough, 70% Hydration, 15% rye mix.

Building the Dream

September 8, 2015

by oficina74

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The farm has become a construction site. It breaks my heart a little bit to see it like this, but deep down, I know this is what needs to happen now to create the space we have dreamed of in the future.

We are in Phase 1 of the developments, destroying and rebuilding the old poolside house, an old building comprising of concrete blocks and an old asbestos roof with no windows, into a fully functioning kitchen with a wood oven, bread oven, pizza oven, BBQ and blenders and stand mixer. They’ll be a coffee bar offering chemex, aeropress, french press and hario drip style drinks, espresso drinks, cakes, breads and juices, a large unisex toilet with disabled access, a wood beam and tile roof, large windows for natural light and creating a space that flows and will invite people to come, stay and enjoy our farm.

It’ll not come easy, though!

Phase 1 also incudes creating paths through the property, so people can walk amongst the orchards, the vegetables, see the food they’re eating being cultivated and prepared. It also includes the rebuilding of an old stable building into the bicycle workshop and creative space. The building of a deck, a reworking of the pool, irrigation systems, shade spots, a fire pit, additional planting of plants to increase the amount of wildlife we receive, improve cross pollination and also create an environment that sustains itself, healthily without the use of agro-toxins.

There is so much to do, it’s overwhelming and terrifying. My Mum is here with us and she has been a huge help in getting things moving, advising us on plants, crops, rotation, what to plant where and what next to. She also paid for the new artesian well and roof structure, something profoundly generous. Thanks, Mum.

Water is one of the biggest issues here, we have a groundwater well, that has, in the past ran dry. During the last 18 months of drought, this has become a daily worry and concern. We are harvesting rainwater and soon, all grey water, too. But still, when we have people here, we cannot have this issue. We also want to increase how much we’re planting, and for this, we need water. The artesian well will go to around 50m and tap the arteries of many of the surrounding aquifers. This will relinquish us from worry and provide natural, clean and abundant water.

Archaic Bruv

All of this work will hopefully be completed in the next 2 months. Tati and I are aiming to start receiving people here in the beginning of the summer, around December, drop in for some sourdough and a cup o’ joe!