Permaculture Design Course at Finca Tierra - Day 1

February 10th - First day of our permaculture design course: let's directly get to work and make compost! About 60% brown dried leaves and 40% cut grass/greens, mix it up and add to a compost pile where a 100-meter tube is coiled inside. Why are we doing this on the first day? To have hot water in our showers for the coming 2 weeks! Compost goes up to 120-140F (50-60°C), so one of the most efficient use of it is water heating. Then it will be ready to use as rich nutrition for the vegetables beds.

'Guys, we are in the tropics, it is hot here, so work slowly, avoid getting exhausted, work at a slow and steady pace, take breaks, and take turns working.' Ian, the owner/teacher/course leader wants to make sure we keep enough energy for the whole course, the afternoon lectures and the 2 weeks of activities ahead of us. He and his wife Ana bought this piece of land 10 years ago, they were just 21. Now they have developed it in an almost self-sustaining farm and education center, producing most of the food they eat, the energy they use and the building material for the buildings (bamboo!). They give several Permaculture Design Courses per year and this way enable others to use all their experience and success after so many years of experimenting on their land. They are even now expanding and working with the government to reach schools in the district. Waow!

So there we are, the 16 of us students, taking turns to rake the leaves and the grass, mixing it up in the right ratio, bringing the shake cloth full of our mixture to the pile, filling it up while keeping it moist with water and finally covering it all up. Learning by doing at its best here! And we will enjoy warm water to shower in the chilly rainy day evenings.

In these 2 weeks we will learn all the permaculture tools and design that can enable us to live in a self-sustaining way on a small piece of land, focusing on efficiency, soil enrichment and making best use of the resources at hand while giving back more than we take.

All students are from around the world, many from the US and also from Lebanon, Haiti, Luxembroug, UK, Canada - all super cool and fun right from the start.

Eight of us are sleeping in the bunkhouse, all open to the nature around us, yet protected by our mosquito nets. What a jungle experience!

Using the large shake cloth to carry the leaves and cut greens around

Adding our mix of compost around the hot water tubing - for warm showers in the next 2 weeks 

The bunkhouse where 8 of us are sleeping

That's my bed in the sun, walking up every morning to the jungle view - loving it

Showers and bathroom (compost for hot water is right behind it)

Kitchen area - all made of bamboo grown on the land

Finca Tierra and all the crops and food that they grow!

The entrance to the vegetable garden

One part of the vegetable garden

The view I will wake up to every morning from behind my mosquito net

Simply breathtaking!