Exploring tropical ecosystems and sustainability with UTSI

The Uvita Tropical Studies Institute (UTSI) has really perfected our 11 day Costa Rica eco-adventure program. In just eleven days we visit a diversity of tropical ecosystems and stay at world class facilities which highlight sustainable practices. This program is ideal for high school or college age students. Programs can be modified according to trip leaders' interests. With a group of ten or more, in-country costs for two professors/teachers are included in trip price. Contact andrew@utsi.org for prices. We have also added a community service option with our terrific partners in Uvita, the local youth education center, Forjando Alas (Building Wings) https://www.facebook.com/ForjandoAlas . Here is a summary what we did on one of our recent trips

Day 1: Group is met by UTSI representatives and bus at Juan Santamaria International Airport in San Jose, Costa Rica. We are shuttled to nearby hotel in Alajuela: Hotel La Guaria. Here, the group has a chance to wind down from the trip and then we were off for a  nice dinner at Jalapenos resataurant in Alajuela.  We enjoyed ice cream cones and a walk among the mango trees of the central park in Alajuela and it was off to bed

Day 2: Seven AM and we are on the road for La Fortuna de San Carlos, ultimate destination: Rancho Margot www.ranchomargot.com. Crisp clear skies enabled excellent views of mountains and volcanoes surrounding the central valley. Then it was on to San Ramon, the city of poetry where the urban fast paced world of San Jose gives way to the more quaint rural life which typifies the Costa Rican countryside. From there it was straight north through fertile agricultural areas with their soils enriched by ash from the towering Volcano Arenal. Although the volcano has been inactive for the past three years, it remains mystifying as it moves in and out of fog and cloud cover. Luckily, clear skies continued which afforded a nice look at the volcano a we circled around it to reach Rancho Margot.

 After a delicious farm fresh lunch at Rancho Margot . we settled into our luxurious bungalows. A quick nap and we were off on a tour of Rancho Margot. My friend Don Juan Sostheim has created a real showcase of sustainable technologies and local food production. Power is derived from water powered turbines, water is heated with compost, animal wastes are processed in biodigestors which extract methane for cooking, vegetables are produced in soil enriched with earthworm compost made on site, the list goes on and on. Along the way we observed numerous plants and birds of interest.

Day 3: Today, we spent the morning hiking in Volcan Arenal National Park. We hiked to the old lava flow from the 1998 which affords a spectacular view of the volcano. After the lava fields, the trail descends into a lush, primary rainforest featuring some enormous trees. From there it was off to the Baldi Hot Springs resort for an afternoon of swimming and relaxing in the volcanically heated water.

Day 4: We grabbed an early breakfast in anticipation of a 6 AM departure for the University of Georgia's campus at San Luis, Monteverde http://www.externalaffairs.uga.edu/costa_rica/. As the crow flies, the two places are actually quite close. But, what separates them is the Eternal Childrens Rainforest preserve, a massive stand of protected rain and cloudforest. But, we are not crows so its a 5 hour bus ride for us. Halfway through, the road turned to dirt and the group got a real taste of rural Costa Rica. Dusty and tired we arrived to Monteverde and headed down the mountain to UGA San Luis.
After a home-cooked lunch we were off on a guided hike of the nearby forest. The ecosystem around San Luis is an ecotone, or transition between two ecosystems. In this case, it is a transition between the cloud forests of Monteverde and the tropical dry forest of the northwest or Guanacaste region of Costa Rica. We were enchanted by the distinctive BONGGGG!!!!!! sound of the three wattled bell bird. Next, we spotted an emerald toucanet, a first for me.
                                                                          Day 5: Today we headed back up the mountain to Monteverde. We were off to Monteverde National Park for a guided tour. With their high powered monocular scopes and trained eyes, they pointed out an endless array of biodiversity found in this distinct cloud forest ecosystem. White faced monkeys, two-toed sloths, and the Resplendant Quetzal were all spotted. The afternoon allowed for free time and shopping in Monteverde.

 Day 6: Today, it was an early breakfast and then back on the bus to head west and south to Uvita de Osa, to UTSI's field station at Finca Carolina. Seeing the multitude of crocodiles along the Tarcoles is always awe inspiring. We made it to the cabins just before a heavy afternoon rain shower. Here, the group would have a chance to really connect with Nature as they left their cell phones turned off and experienced life without electricity and even without the internet!!!! Candle light and LED headlamps, and the shrieks of young people in the real rainforest at night for the first time filled the air.

Day 7: After waking up early to the sounds of howler monkeys we were off on a brief guided tour of Finca Carolina's agroforests www.utsi.org.

The group was then met by our horseback guides and 18 horses and we begun our equine adventure! La Union, the road on which Finca Carolina is located asscends several hundred meters and provides spectacular views of the Marino Ballena National Park's Whales Tail formation: the signature of the Uvita area. From there, we descended the mountain to the beach. Despite a few scared riders and a  couple of ornery horses, we arrived at Finca Carolina sore, but happy and exhilirated.


Day 8: Today was a day to dive deeper into the marine ecosystems found in the Uvita area. A morning boat tour with Dolphin Tours https://www.facebook.com/dolphintours revealed the beauty of the Marine Ballena national Park. We spotted bottle nose edolphins and enjoyed snorkeling along the shores of the Whale Island or Isla Ballena. That evening we travled to Ojochal where we learned about the efforts being made at Reserva Playa Tortuga http://reservaplayatortuga.org/ to protect the Olive Riddley sea turtle. They also conduct environmental monitoring of water quality and sponsor environmental education programs for the area's youths.

Day 9: After breakfast, the bus picked us up and we headed down to La Cusinga, another stellar
example of real ecotourism. http://www.lacusingalodge.com/. Here we enjoyed hiking their well constructed hiking trails through lush rainforest as we descended to Playa Arco, one of the best kept secrets in Costa Rica. We explored caves on the beach, swam and rinsed off in a waterfall which crashes onto the beach. After a delicious lunch, we were off on another hike-this time to the giant Ajo trees, Caryocar costaricense. At approximately 800 years old, they are some of the oldest trees in the Uvita-Ballena region.

 

A Crested Guan in Cecropoia tree at La Cusinga

Day 10: A trip to the beaches of Costa Rica would not be complete without an attempt at surfing. My good friend Tito and his team of instructors from the Uvita Surf Camp
http://www.uvitasurfcamp.com/ did a tremendous job of getting these students comfortable on surfboards and riding waves in no time. We then boarded the bus for a quick drive up the road to Hacienda Baru, http://www.haciendabaru.com/just north of Dominical. Heavy afternoon rains forced us to move our zipline canopy tour to the next morning

Day 11: We enjoyed an adventure at Hacienda Baru soaring through the rainforest canopy on their zip line tour. Collared peccaries and sloths were spotted along the guided naturalist portion of the tour. After lunch, it was back to Alajuela, where a tired but satisfied group of students and their teachers would depart the next day for home.

If you would like to lead a group of students on a trip like this, get in touch with me at andrew@utsi.org.

Living fences. Learning to think like a Permaculturist

         Ubiquitous throughout the Costa Rican landscape are fences. Nearly everyone has one as the fence is the clearest demarcation of one's private property. I recently did a Permaculture design for a client with a fenced-in property. As everyone knows, the primary purpose of a fence is to keep animals and unwanted people out of one's property. In the case of this client it is essential to have a fence as the neighboring horses would love to enter the property and devour all of the coconut palms and fruit trees that I have been planting. One central element of Permaculture is that any given element within a farm or home design should provide many functions. The existing fence on the property was built from concrete posts and four strands of barbed wire. This is highly utilitarian no doubt as these concrete posts will last for many years. So you may be wondering what other functions can a fence provide?
           In the process of Permaculturally retrofitting this fence I changed it in two significant ways. First , between each fence posts we planted a post of Madero Negro (Gliricida sepium, family Fabaceae). Here in the tropics we are lucky that certain tree species can be propagated by literally cutting a branch and sticking it in the ground. As a member of the Fabaceae family, Madero Negro has a symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria called Rhizobia. The Rhizobia remove gaseous Nitrogen from the air and convert into a form that the plants can uptake. In exchange, the plant provides the bacteria with sugars that it needs to live and reproduce. Thus, plants in the Fababceae family have leaves that are high in Nitrogen. As these posts begin to grow I will be able to coppice them, or prune them every two months and their abundant leaves will provide a Nitrogen rich mulch for the growing fruit trees. Additionally, when one prunes the branches, the trees slough some roots off or allows some roots to die. The roots are where the Nitrogewn fixation is occurring and therefore this sloughing off of roots also imports Nitrogen into the soil. But, that's not all there is to the benefits of this plant. Madero Negro leaves can be harvested and placed around one's home to kill fleas and ticks. It also makes attractive purple flowers which can be cooked and eaten. The trees create both microclimates which contribute to ecological diversity by opening distinct niches and provide an edge effect which also contributes to ecological diversity.
         To compliment the Madero Negro I next added passion fruit vines (Pasiflora edulis family Passifloraceae). As this is the lowland tropics we used the yellow variety known here as Maracuya. This delicious sour fruit makes very refreshing fruit drinks known here as refrescos. Scientific research has revealed that Passion fruit contains a wide variety of compounds with medicinal properties. The lovely passionfruit flowers are an important nectar source for many insects and will help to invite beneficial insects into the landscape. They also attract hummingbirds which are always a welcome site in any landscape
         So, with a slight change of perspective and the addition of two plant species we have changed the fence from providing one function to providing many functions including, biological Nitrogen fixation, creation of edge effect, production of a natural insecticide, edible fruits, beneficial insect attraction and nectar provision, shade, medicine, and the list goes on and on. This is Permaculture folks!  

Coronado Farmer´s Market/Feria del Agricultor en Coronado

Passing time in my wife´s hometown of Coronado, Costa Rica has enabled me to enjoy the fruits of their wonderful farmer´s market. Every Sunday, agricultural producers from around the region reunite to promote their agricultural products to a hungry public. Two years ago a study revealed that Costa Rica is home to some of the healthiest, happiest people in the world. With the quality of fresh fruit and vegetables available at the farmer´s markets around the country it is easy to see why. Rather than buying canned or frozen vegetables most people their fruits and vegetables direct from a local producer. Meals here are typically accompanied by refreshing fruit drink called refresco. The Feria provides a wide variety of fruits ideal for these refreshing drinks. To the new visitor to the tropics the array of new fruits, vegetables, cooked and raw can be dizzying.   The friendly sellers are always eager to answer questions  and vocally encourage buyers proclaiming the quality of their products.
         Know Your Roots!!! Here you can see four different subterranean starchy root crops that are produced here. Standing out prominently are the purple skinned sweet pòtatoes (camotes) Ipomoea batatas seen throughout the country. In the left are two different types of Taro Colocasia esculenta  seen here in Costa Rica. One, Ñampe, has a predominantly white flesh while the other, Tiquisque, is sprinkled a red or pink color. These edible corms have large elephant ear-like leaves and are members of the Araceae family. Finally, the roots on the right are Cassava (Yuca), Manihot esculenta.  
        Eaten commonly throughout Costa Rica is this curious and versatile member of the Cucurbitaceae family, the Vegetable Pear (Chayote) Sechium edule. Baby chayotes like the ones shown in this picture can be steamed and eaten in their entirety. Larger chayotes range in color from deep to light green to white and are used in a variety of Costa Rican dishes. Also in this photo is the Chayote root, Raiz de chayote, which is highly prized and cooked as a vegetable. Chayote the only cucurbit I know of that you actually plant the entire squash as the plant sprouts out of the fruit´s one central seed. Less commonly seen in the markets but also enjoyed are Tacacos, Sechium tacaco a smaller, spikier wild relative of the chayote.
Costa Rica is most commonly known for tropical fruits but the high elevation colder regions of the country produce a wide variety of temperate fruit crops. Here, local producers show off their crops of apples, plums, and blackberries.
Get to know a Costa Rican person and if you´re lucky they will invite you over in the afternoon for a cup of coffee and boiled pejibayes, peach palm, Bactris gasipaes, nearly always served with a dollop of mayonnaise. These nutritious fruits grow on a palm tree covered with long spines. Pejibaye trees can also be managed for production of heart of palm or palmito.
Mangos Mangos Everywhere! Mango season seems to be lasting forever this year in Costa Rica. These mangos are of the large variety grown usually on grafted tres and known as Mangas here in Costa Rica. Its a great time to juice them freeze them, etc as they were selling 4 kilograms for 1,000 colones ($2!!!!)

Tropical Fruit Adventures with Mario Mendez

As a sign of appreciation to my good friends Noah and Alex who have been helping me maintain the farm I decided to take them to see a very knowledgeable tropical fruit grower named Mario Mendez. Mario is an expert grafter and singlehandedly maintains 8 hectares of tropical fruit plus a large nursery. He focuses on Rambutan or Mamon Chino and Avocado but maintains collections of several rare fruits as well. As I drove the coastal highway from Uvita to the sleepy town of San Buenaventura where Mario´s farm is located I recalled my first meeting with Mario nearly three years ago.

It was a hot and humid August day when I headed down to Ciudad Cortez with a couple of friends to visit a property one of them had purchased. As we drove through Cortez smiling faces greeted us at every corner and showing us their bags of Mamon Chinos they had for sale. These beautiful bright red fruits were everywhere and we quickly began gobbling them up. The Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) is a member of the Sapindaceae family which includes other delicious fruits like the Lychee (Litchi chinensis) and the Pulasan (Nephelium mutabile) . Its translucent flesh is sweet and juicy and grape like in consistency. We were hooked immediately and it occurred to me that I had not yet planted Mamon Chino at Finca Carolina. So I began asking the Mamon Chino sellers where I could buy some good Mamon trees. Quickly, I was informed that in the town of San Buenaventura lived a man named Mario with lots and lots of Mamon Chino trees. So it was off to San Buenaventura where more Mamon sellers excitedly pointed us in the right direction to find Mario. We did eventually find Mario and sampled his delectable fruits and headed back to Uvita with several Rambutan trees to plant at the farm.We were impressed by his orchards and vast knowledge of tropical fruit production

         Mamon Chinos do not yield in Southwest Costa Rica until August so there were no Mamons on this visit but Mario always has a few surprises for the tropical fruit lover. First he let us sample guava fruit from his Brazilian guava tree (Psidium guavaja, Family Myrtaceae). Its bright pink flesh was oh so inviting and delicious. Guava fruits are high in antioxidants, Vitamin A and C, folic acid, and many minerals.
            Next, Mario proudly showed us his Borrojo tree in fruit. Borrojo (Borojoa patinoi, Family Rubiaceae), head fruit or fruta cabezona is native to Western Panama and is cultivated on small scale in Panama and Southwestern Costa Rica. Mario says that just a small piece of this fruit is enough to flavor an entire pitcher of refresco or refreshing fruit beverage. Borrojo is rumored to have aphrodisiac powers and is used in folk medicine to treat impotency. You heard it here first! The plant family Rubiaceae has yielded such important plants as coffee (Coffea arabica, Coffea canephora) and the source of the anti-malaria medicine Quinine (Cinchona pubescens).Many of the understorey shrubs that one encounters in the rainforests of Southwest Costa Rica belong to the Rubiaceae family.

Finally, Mario showed off his large crop of Acerolas or Barbado Cherries. This small, delicious cherry like fruit is packed with Vitamin C. Acerola is being added to a variety of juices in order to boost their Vitmain C content. One of the small fruits is supposed to contain the Vitamin C of four oranjes. This sprawling shrub is a great choice for the home grower in Southwest Costa Rica as it is hardy and fruits prolifically. Acerola, (Malpigia emarginata), is a member of the Malpighiaceae family which contains other plants of ethnobotanical interest like the nance, (Byrsonima crassifolia) a small yellow fruit enjoyed throughout Costa Rica and beyond and Banisteriopisis caapi which is used in the preparation of the South American visionary beverage ayahuasca or yaje.

Earthen Oven Construction

During the past week I had the pleasure of building an adobe oven with a group of eager Permaculture students. We built the oven as part of the Practicum portion of the Permaculture Design Course that we just hosted. I highly recommend to anyone interested in building their own adobe oven to pick up Kiko Denzer's book called Build Your Own Earthen Oven (Hand Print Press, 2007). This book guided another group of friends and volunteers and I to construct an oven in 2004 at Finca Carolina. Anyone familiar with Finca Carolina has probably tasted the delicious pizzas that come out of that adobe oven.
Based on years of experience with our own adobe oven I realized two design improvements that would improve functionality and flow of the oven. One was to have a grill in close proximity to the oven where I can put the hot coals after removing them from the oven. Secondly, I realized that a reinforced doorway is needed in order to prevent damage to the clay from placing and removing the door.
We were lucky enough to have an existing outdoor kitchen with a grill and a concrete floor large enough to house this large oven. A local builder helped us to first construct a cinder block box. The box was filled with rocks, concrete debris,gravel and then finally sand. On top of that sat a floor of refractory bricks onto which we marked a 36" circle. This would be the eventual diameter of the oven. We then made a dome of wet sand and covered it with wet newspaper.
Upon that we began to add our various layers of mud. The first layer was a 5" of a clay and sand mixture. See Kiko's book for details about determining correct proportions. This was followed by an insulating layer the same thickness and components but with straw. Finally, the whole oven and cinder block box was plastered with an earthen plaster.
After about two weeks the oven will be ready to begin burning small fires inside. Once the oven is dry and hard it will be ready for pizza and bread baking.

What is Permaculture?

This is an article I recently wrote for Ballena Tales.

What is Permaculture?

Permaculture is a term coined by an Australian farmer and scientist named Bill Mollison in the 1970’s and means permanence in agriculture and culture. Permaculture is a philosophy aimed at designing self-sustaining human farms, settlements, and communities. Permaculture farms share many features with organic farms as they are free of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Permaculture differs from organic farming in that a Permaculture farm tries to generate all resources needed directly on site. Both organic farming and Permaculture contrast sharply with modern conventional agriculture which depletes natural resources, pollutes our environment, and produces unhealthy food.

Permaculture is a system of design based on patterns and cycles observed in Nature. In Permaculture designers aim to arrange the elements within a farm or settlement in a way that is logical, energy-efficient, and harmonious with nature. If you would like to become a certified Permaculture designer, you can do so this February and March right here in Costa Ballena. UTSI, the Uvita Tropical Studies Institute, will host a two week Permaculture Design Course and one week Practicum with legendary Permaculture instructor Scott Pittman from February 19^th to March at 5^th at Finca Carolina on La Union de Uvita. For more information please visit http://www.permaculture.org/nm/index.php/site/chain/ or email Andrew@utsi.org.

Finca Update 9/29/2010

2010 has been an exciting and very busy year at Finca Carolina. We enjoyed our first harvest of Canistel fruits this year (Pouteria campechiana). This delicious fruit is also known as egg fruit as it has the consistency of the yolk of a hard boiled egg. However, the flavor is sweet and a bit flowery and evokes a bubble gum like flavor. It is delicious eaten out of hand or can be made into a smoothies with milk or baked into delicious pies and desserts.

We made great progress this year on identifying the plants found around the farm and forest. Marcia Gomez, a forestry student at the Institute of Technology has been a huge help in identification of forest herbaceous plants and trees. There is lots more work to do and we welcome any assistance on this large project. The eventual goal is an interactive list and map of the farm. The list will describe the plants and all of their potential value to humans as food, medicine, fiber, building material, or ornamental value. In addition to providing an online source of information visitors to Finca Carolina will be able to discover these plants for themselves as they hike our extensive hiking trails. The plant list can be found on UTSI's group on Facebook.

Our day tours continue to grow in popularity as guests walk away from them highly satisfied and inspired by the intense Nature they have experienced at Finca Carolina. The howler monkey shown in this photo and the sloth were both seen during day tours at Finca Carolina.


We are very excited to announce that we will be hosting a Permaculture Design course at Finca Carolina next February and March. Scott Pittman, a legendary Permaculture teacher who taught for many years alongside of Permaculture founder Bill Mollison will be instructing the course. The course lasts two weeks and is followed by a one week hands-on practicum. During the practicum we will be constructing a composting toilet, digging new raised beds, preparing compost and caring for our large garden and orchards. Groups we plan to host in the future include African Drumming and Dance, and Tropical Plant Taxonomy. If you would like to lead a course at Finca Carolina please contact me.

Finally, we are now much easier to find. We have put up a sign along the Coastal Highway in Uvita. Now when you come to Uvita, just keep heading south until you see the Finca Carolina sign and take a left. Go up three kilometers and you can't miss us on the left side. We hosted a great deal of volunteers throughout the year and thank all of you for all of your hard work and positive attitudes.