Reports from Planet Drum Staff
Eco-Ecuador Project 2008
Index to 2008 Reports, Set 7 May 26-June 6, 2008
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Field Report #7
Clay Plager-Unger
Field Projects Manager
Planet Drum Foundation
Report: May 26-June 6, 2008
Note: Click on photos for larger picture
Summary: Many volunteers depart as their time
runs up, leaving us with few hands. The paperwork piles remain high,
ranging from visas to Bioregionalism Education. Jaime keeps things in the
field under control.
On Monday the Planet Drum volunteers took a tour of Rio Muchacho Farm to get to see dry tropical forest permaculture in action. I on the other hand made another trip to Guayaquil for my visa. Finally I got all of my documents submitted and now will wait a few days for processing.
Fuki stayed in Rio Muchacho to learn more about permaculture and volunteer on the farm. Cameron returned to the USA. Thanks for all of your help, and to Mike who left last week. You will be missed!
Tuesday, Sam and Jaime watered at Tamarindos Reales, but the water hasn't been running in the neighborhood and the nearby water tank was dry, so they walked to La Cruz and watered there instead. They then went to the greenhouse and transplanted Guachepeli seedlings. I returned from Guayaquil.
On Wednesday the Astillero site was watered and more Palo Santo seeds were collected. In the afternoon it drizzled. The drizzle continued to the next day.
 Sam startles a vulture while collecting bottles at the dump. |
Thursday we started the day by collecting some bottles around the La Cruz hill. Then the help of our friend Ricardito was summoned to drive us to collect more bottles at the Bahia dump at Kilometro 8. |
 Cheo and Ricardito help us out. |
We took advantage of the trip to dispose of some large scraps of garbage from the house. |
 Jaime and the fruits of our labor. |
Then we proceeded to fill the back of Ricardito's truck to the brim with 3-liter bottles and delivered them to the greenhouse. |
 Sam fills bottles with soil for transplanting. |
Friday we spent the morning cutting and cleaning the bottles. There was enough time to prepare a batch of dirt and fill a few of the bottles as well. |
Sam departed Monday morning to return to Quito and the house was officially empty of volunteers. I took advantage of the lull in volunteer help to catch up on office work and house maintenance. Jaime kept things going in the greenhouse and field.
Monday I handled some of my visa business over the phone, prepared the monthly budget, and answered emails. Jaime collected leaves of Tierramonte, a kind of shrub that produces very nutrient rich leaves which are good for fertilizer. He combined the Tierramonte leaves with rice hulls and decomposed droppings from Cornish hens. Sacks of the prepared booster soil will be deposited later on the trees we planted this year. Since the mixture will also serve to maintain soil humidity, due to the rice hulls and leaves, it will be placed on the most sun-exposed trees first.
On Tuesday Jaime put the Tierramonte, rice hull, and compost mixture ('booster soil' from now on) on trees in El Astillero and Reales Tamarindos sites. I spent the morning editing materials for the Bioregionalismo class this week on the subject of 'Land Ecosystems.'
Jaime collected more booster soil on Wednesday. I finished my editing and then tackled some house clean up.
 Local students show off their banner in the Day of the Environment parade. |
Thursday morning we gave the trees at the La Cruz revegetation site doses of booster soil. Afterwards we joined a citywide parade in celebration of International Day of the Environment. |
 Planet Drum shows its colors. |
Teams of school kids marched down the main street of town waving signs and banners in support of the environment. |
 Environmental banner in the city. |
Whether they were merely enjoying an excuse to not be inside classrooms or not, it was an impressive turn out and the well-delivered speeches afterwards illustrated that there are some signs of life left in the eco-city movement. |
On Friday I translate some of Ramon's Bioregional
Education class reports and met with some folks from the Planning
Department of the Municipio about the Planet Drum land access road.
Pásalo bien.
Clay
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Field Report #8
Clay Plager-Unger
Field Projects Manager
Planet Drum Foundation
Report: June 9-23, 2008
Note: Click on photos for larger picture
Summary: A second week in a row without
volunteers. Jaime and I do what we can in the greenhouse and I
successfully acquire my permanent work visa in Guayaquil. Then more
volunteers begin to show up and we tackle watering and site maintenance.
Monday I translate more of Ramon's reports and edit Bioregional education materials. Jaime cleans weeds at the greenhouse, waters the trees and pays a visit to 'La Granja' revegetation site to check on the trees.
Tuesday morning Jaime and I set out to water the Astillero site and it begins to drizzle. It is necessary to change plans at the last minute and collect Pechiche seedlings which have germinated in an abandoned lot in the neighborhood. We take the seedlings to the greenhouse and transplant them into three-liter bottles, one hundred and fifty new Pechices! In the evening I soak some Palo Santo and Guachepeli seeds in water for planting later in the week.
Wednesday I go to Guayaquil to visit government buildings. Jaime places the booster soil mixture (compost, rice hulls and Tierramonte leaves) on the trees at the Bosque en Medio de las Ruinas site. He also visits the 2007 Bosque Encantado site and cuts back the weeds that are overgrowing the year-old trees.
Thursday morning I navigate more government offices and as the result of much luck and hard work, receive a permanent work visa. On the way home I stop off in Portoviejo to check on the status of the Planet Drum Ecuadorian NGO status. The documents are still making their way through the bureaucracy. Back in Bahia Jaime, despite catching a bit of a cold, does some work at the greenhouse, clearing weeds, watering and mixing compost.
Friday morning Jaime takes me to an Algarrobo tree he has seen in Leonidas Plaza that is dropping seed pods surprisingly early in the season. If we can get the seeds to germinate quickly, we will have some very nicely sized (not too big or small) 5 month old Algarrobo trees to plant for next year. Then we go to the greenhouse and plant the Palo Santo and Guachepeli seeds, which had been soaking for 2 and a half days. We also plant a bed of Chirimoya seeds (unsoaked).
 Volunteer Jaime and Clay prepping Algarrobo seed pods to soak in water. |
Over the weekend William and Jaime Heaps from San Francisco arrive for what will be a month long stay. |
 Ecuadorian Jaime and William fill up gallon jugs for watering at the Reales Tamarindos site. |
On Monday we water the Astillero and Tamarindos revegetation sites. |
 Returning to Bahia from the Don Pepe revegetation site. |
Tuesday we clean weeds and fix up the bowl-shapes around the bases of the trees at the Don Pepe site. Each tree has a bowl-shaped trench around it to make watering more efficient. These depressions also serve to hold the booster soil we are giving the trees. We also give each tree at the site its dose of booster soil and water half the site. |
In the afternoon, previous Field Projects Manager, Brian Tienert, from 2003-4 returns to Bahia to visit old friends and checkup on Planet Drum operations. He even agreed to help out with work! Welcome back! It's good to hear stories about Planet Drum and Bahia from back in the day.
 Brian prepares a seed bed. |
On Wednesday the morning is spent at the greenhouse. The objective of the day: to plant the Algarrobo seeds I'd left soaking in water since Sunday night. The seeds pods had been slightly broken up before soaking to facilitate the water reaching the seeds inside. The pods then need to soak in water for three days. |
 Watering the bed before seeding. |
Once at the greenhouse we peeled the seeds out of the pods for planting. A large seed bed was prepared for all the seeds. |
 Volunteers sprinkle Algarrobo seeds into the bed. |
The seeds were then sprinkled on the bed and a layer of soil sprinkled on top of the seeds. |
On Thursday we returned to the Don Pepe site to finish watering. Then walked to the other side of the watershed and started work on the Nuevo Globo site. Trails and weeds were cleared, which after 2 months had grown significantly. We also began placing booster soil on the trees and even watered part of the site, but because clearing the weeds took so long weren't able to finish putting down soil and watering, so will have to return another day.
 Previous Field Projects Manager, Brian Tienert, with a Ceibo tree he planted four years ago in the Bosque en Medio de las Ruinas park. |
Friday we watered the La Cruz and Bosque en Medio de las Ruinas sites and collected a batch of three-liter bottles from the beach. |
Pásalo bien,
Clay