May 29-June 4, 2005 With Heather and Mark’s departure, we had room in the house for new volunteers. Those who arrived in the greenhouse were not friends, but enemies! Shocked as you may be with this less than usual portrayal of those who come to work for us, they were not men, not women, but APHIDS! Over the weekend at the greenhouse, this plague began […]

May 15-21st The long awaited compost finally arrived at the greenhouse this week from the city’s composting plant. To accommodate all 900 kilograms that was delivered we dug another trench alongside the greenhouse (appoximately 50 feet long). While Hugo, the compost supervisor, was at the greenhouse he commented on the quality and richness of our own compost that we have been making. He suggested we […]

May 8-14, 2006 The greenhouse lay silent for most of the week as little has been germinating, but more so due to an infestation of 9 wasp nests. With Mark holding a shovel, Brooke with the can of Raid and me with the hose, we set out to destroy our beloved greenhouse occupiers. We turned back at the first nest as the Raid proved ineffective, […]

May 1–7, 2006 If I take but one thing from Ecuador it won’t be weavings from the village of Otavalo or turtles from the Galapagos Islands… it will be a new found respect for the farmer’s almanac! The locals had said there will be one week of rain in early May and here it is! We’ve had a shower every night for the last week, giving […]

April 24-30, 2006 It rained on Wednesday for the first time in a month! Although it only lasted for two hours it was beautiful to feel the drops on our heads and see water in our tanks. The water outage continues in the city, at the same time street protests were held last week. City hall says the pipes should be flowing the second week […]

April 17-23, 2006 Great week down here, 30 degrees and sunny! We spent a few days making some new maps for our sites and gathered up wood for the Planet Drum signs that we will be putting up at each of our planting sites. Work has begun on the handrails and stairs up at Bosque en Media de las Ruinas. Wednesday we measured all the […]

 April 10-16, 2006 All is well here in Bahia de Caraquez, and we have working hard to get the greenhouse in order while we have a little spare time. Just as you are all thinking about tulips, daffodils and lilies up North, we have next year’s forest sprouting in the greenhouse! It’s been a battle transplanting the hundreds of new seedlings before they get too […]

April 3-9, 2006 In my first official week as Field Projects Manager I can honestly say we had a little of everything on my first day… drought, lack of running water and a temporary invasion of both bats and cats. The most important thing accomplished was that after four days without water we found a delivery truck to fill up the water tank and reprovide the […]

April 4, 2006 Greetings from the land almost down under.  In these parts, the heat is having some interesting effects on our operation. This week we have been unable to plant trees as the ground is hard as a rock. As such we have been keeping busy in the greenhouse, maintaining sites that are becoming overgrown and praying for rain. There has been none in […]

March 20-26, 2006 It’s been hectic down here this week in Bahia. Even as we were driving Dan and Valentina to the bus station on Monday night, Mark and Heather arrived to volunteer until May. This weekend we also welcomed Sarah and Catherine into the Planet Drum family. We’re pretty full right now, but are loving every minute of it. Lots of positive energy and […]