Posts

Ridge walk from La Cruz to Leonidas Plaza.

By Renée Portanova / July 22, 2004 / 0 Comments

July 22, 2004 The week has been extremely full and lively thus far. In regard to finding new sites:  I will connect Miguel this weekend.  He seems like a good lead and I’m excited at the prospect of planting in the El Torro basin.  Perhaps our presence there will encourage Pedro and his brothers to […]

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The bamboo watering system.

By Renée Portanova / July 17, 2004 / 0 Comments

July 17, 2004 We have progressed tremendously with the implementation of the bamboo watering system, which involves several steps: collecting bamboo, getting it cut, de-corking the pipes, painting them and finally placing them in the ground.  The entire project has cost us nearly nothing to implement ($6). We collect the scrap bamboo from local construction […]

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A Re-birth of Ecologics

By Peter Berg / June 30, 2004 / 0 Comments

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador  Although economic thought is largely devoted to a seemingly unlimited array of activities and events surrounding production, distribution and consumption of goods, these are rarely seen as being nested in an ecological context. Most rational people concede that our well-being and ultimate survival as a species depends on sustaining interdependence and harmony […]

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How a Day Passes Here

By Peter Berg / June 28, 2004 / 0 Comments

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador  It is tempting to dwell on the difficulties of pioneering dry tropical forest revegetation because the obstacles and challenges are a kind of earth news. Reporting them is a way to spread the whys and hows of carrying out work that is urgently necessary but involves truly arduous effort. There is a […]

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Seeing the Future in the Past, Again

By Peter Berg / June 26, 2004 / 0 Comments

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador  The chronological record for Greece that exists in Herodotus’ History beginning with the Trojan War is missing for coastal Ecuador. There was a similarly rich culture here in the same era but we don’t know its sagas. The archeological traces of ruins themselves are only partially explored here.  It was a complex […]

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Close Call, Solemn Solstice

By Peter Berg / June 23, 2004 / 0 Comments

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador  Burro droppings and a partially gnawed algarrobo sapling. These powerful auguries must have been left just after we left the day before. They were in a planting site that although begun during the rainy season we had only now started to dig the first postholes for a protective fence. Renee and […]

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The Next Five Years Begin on a Dry Note

By Peter Berg / June 19, 2004 / 0 Comments

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Yellow squares of rice drying in front yards seen from the bus window on the six-hour ride out to Bahia from Guayaquil seemed a little early. It was the most sparse & peculiar rainy season since the Eco-city Declaration five years ago. Starting late in January, it gave up February and stayed truant […]

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Learning to Partner with a Life-Place

By Peter Berg / June 12, 2004 / Comments Off on Learning to Partner with a Life-Place

Learning to Partner With a Life-Place is the outline of a first year bioregional curriculum. It was first published June 12, 2004 as Dispatch #1 from Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador.  On a fog-wet spring morning in San Francisco, our unusual urban group climbed to the top of a rock promontory midway along a canyon trail […]

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Creating a strong network of ecologists in which to exchange information and seeds—Mike Morgan.

By Renée Portanova / May 29, 2004 / 0 Comments

Letter May 29, 2004 Hey Peter,I’m feeling much better! Here is the week in review for May 24th thru the 29th. Monday we started the barbed wire fencing at Jorge Lomas Canal.  We accomplished an amazing amount in one day, thanks to the help of two very enthusiastic sojourners from the USA.  Wes and Zan had been […]

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Letter to Peter with News

By Renée Portanova / May 11, 2004 / 0 Comments

May 11, 2004   Hey Peter, The fencing project is giving me a pain in my stomach.  We bought some barbed wire and tried, unsuccessfully, to put together a prototype this afternoon.  I have some doubts about the use of barbed wire in areas where there are children (Jorge Lomas Canal and Hill). Also it seems the soil is just […]

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