A while ago, when Scott Oliver the founder of WeLoveCostaRica.com asked me to write an article about raising chickens in Costa Rica I had no idea where that path would lead me.

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My four chickens have now grown to a large flock and I just love hatching them in my incubator plus watching my hens adopt the incubator chicks. I am discovering that trying to buy live chickens from a Tico farmer is just about impossible.

That’s a whole discussion on its own.

Scott requested that I write some more articles and I was torn on what I should write about first. There is so much to tell. I could tell you stories about the drug addicted property manager, the architect that was supposedly world renowned who put the road on the mountain on the wrong place.

What about the property developer that wanted to rip down all our buildings? (The house, cabins, horse stalls, 4 bodegas) and would have left us with nothing when the crash of 2008 came.

Characters have come and gone in 6 years. The good ones are still around and are trusted friends. My friends here in Guanacaste have been wonderful sources of information. As a result of networking with them, I have learned how to propagate Neem trees – “The Sacred Tree of India” that has over 100 medicinal uses. I have become an expert on these trees and have over 600 in nursery bags to plant in a few weeks.

I have also discovered crops like Chia from my chiropractor in Tamarindo and will be planting that too.

Then there was the friendly Tico contractor who arrived with a cooler of Tilapia for my ponds. Oh, yes! And we learned about Vetiver — the special erosion grass.

So that brings me back to on the topic on what to write about first.

Scott and I have been keeping in touch and recently I emailed him to tell him that after six years of traveling back and forth to Canada we are selling our house in Calgary and making the move for good to Guanacaste.

I have been waiting for this day for two years. What made us make this decision? Where do I start?

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  1. Reason #1 – Traffic: Since 1993 when I moved to Calgary from Sask. Calgary has went from a small city of 727,719 in 2009 to 1,065,455 today. You may not think that a jump of 337,736 would make such a difference. Well, let me tell you.., it has.

    Where I lived, back in 1993, just on the edge of Calgary, was one grocery store. There was a few acreages scattered in the bushes. Life was good back then, on Sunday my friends would ride their horses over to my house and have a visit, moose would be seen strolling out our front window. Today it is nothing but freeways, condos, houses, for as far as you can see.

    Traffic is horrendous on the Deerfoot and we plan our whole trips around the thousands and thousands of cars, and trucks that are trying to get somewhere. Shortcuts (like in the old days) are gone. Once you are on some of these major roads, there is no getting off. People are stressed, and have more road rage than ever. Once upon a time, Calgary drivers were polite and would let you in. Now it’s the finger, swearing, and horn honking.

  2. Reason #2 – Increasing airfares: For 6 years, we flew back and forth. In 2007 we could get flights as low as $700 dollars. My last flight here last week was $1,308.46. Yikes! What are flights going to be when crude oil prices go to $150 to $200 a barrel by the end of 2012. You don’t have to believe me, but just keep that in the back of your mind, a year from now.

  3. Reason #3 – Why pay bills at two houses? Another pain in the ass for me, was owning two houses, what were we thinking? All we ever did was work like crazy here to get everything done before we had to fly back to Calgary. Then after being in Costa Rica for two months at a time, I would return to find a stack (and I mean a huge stack of bills, bills and more bills.) It drove me absolutely crazy opening mail for hours. That’s what I like about Costa Rica, I just go pay my water bill at the little house across the road and I never get mail here! Yeah!
  4. Reason #4 – I hate winter! Because Calgary is close to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains we get some different weather than Edmonton. Calgary’s summer hopefully arrives around May 15. By the way, last week on Wednesday they had to de-ice the plane before we left and it snowed, again. Everyone tries to take their summer vacations in August and it has been known to snow in July.

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    OK, another thought! If we have cold winters from October to May to have the furnace on, what are the heat bills going to be – again – when oil is I repeat $150 to $200.

  5. Reason #5 – Health Canada’s sneak attacks on our health freedoms. Since 1988, I have been in the natural health field working as a reflexologist, irridologist and massage therapist. In those days our herbs and health products where in the food category. Then in 1995 — Allan Rock who was the Canadian Health Minister decided to move nutritional products into a third category.

    We lobbied against the government to try and stop this as this meant that down the road, these products would fall under the drug category. Back then it was extremely difficult to get a D.I.N. (Drug Identification Number)… it was costly… like $250K for each product!

    All of a sudden I noticed that DIN numbers where being issued to products real fast. I asked myself why? In the past, the FDA in the USA and Health Canada would just decide to raid health food stores up front. Now they have figured out a back door scheme to take away all herbs and nutritional supplements.

    First – Give the stupid peons their DIN numbers and then we will pass a bill through legislature that only doctors can dispense a drug. That way the big boys can make a sh.t load of money.

    Well I warned people that back then that this was going to happen and nobody believed me. And they are still at it… check out Bill C-36 and how that bill now gives them the right to come into your home, (without a warrant) and confiscate your computers, and anything they want all under the guise of health protection.

Will the real God…, please stand up!

You can see the Costa Rica’s Chicken Whisperer Jessa York article here.

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Written by Junglewoman Jessa York in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. Jessa was in the dairy business in Saskatchewan, Canada for over 20 years and raised chickens, 3 children, over 20 Arabian and other thoroughbred horses. Riding horses, reading, “making a difference” and digging in the earth are her passions and therapy.

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