At the Planet Drum greenhouse, volunteers work hard to produce new trees. The seedbeds had Tamarind, Guava, and Mango seedlings ready for transplanting into bottles. Soil was prepared and mixed. Bottles were cut and filled with soil. 200 Tamarind, 100 Guava and 150 Mango seedlings were transplanted into the bottles.

Residents in the Ciudadela Maria Enqiue Orrantia requested more native fruit trees for planting in their community. We did a tree planting campaign there 5 months ago. Guayaba, Guava, Chirimoya, Mango, Mandarin and Orange trees were delivered and over the course of several days 80 trees were planted on two sides of the neighborhood. Local residents assisted in the tree planting and will be responsible […]

Over the course of four days in February, more than 60 native fruit trees were planted on a hillside in Bahía de Caráquez. The site is located on a hill above the beach promenade which faces the Pacific Ocean. Planet Drum is collaborating with two local residents (Benigno and Ester), who maintain small gardens there and have committed to watering and caring for the trees. […]

For the 20th anniversary of Bahía de Caráquez’s declaration as an Ecological City, Hugo Vaca, head of the environmental department for the city, wisely decided to host an environmental forum instead of a celebration, as has been custom in the past. Despite the lack of initiatives coordinated by the city government, many private and public organizations and groups based in Bahía continue to be proactive […]

On December 19th we began planting trees on the hillside above the Astillero neighborhood. 15 trees were planted that day. After delivering 60 more trees (15 each of Algarrobo, Ébano, Guachapelí, and Guayacán) in January, we spent 3 more days planting them, resulting in a total of 75 trees at the revegetation site. With machetes, we cleared trails to be able to move around the hill. […]

January, 2019 I had been inspired by the book The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono, when I arrived in Bahía to participate in Planet Drum’s ecological project. So I was very excited to go out and plant a whole forest of trees. However, reality is always a bit different from what we read in books. Soon I found myself working most of the time in […]

Orlando and Jorge, a volunteer from Germany, worked at the greenhouse. Besides general greenhouse maintenance such as watering and weeding, they finished various tasks related to tree production—including seed collecting and planting, soil preparation, bottle cutting, and transplanting saplings. Planet Drum is opening a new composting and greenhouse facility in the Astillero neighborhood with local contact and nature enthusiast Jose María. The area was cleaned […]