pictures
Jan.16-29, 2010 Although not in full swing yet, the rainy season is here and it’s been drizzling frequently and raining on occasion, enough for the trees (and weeds) to burst with growth. Also, there have been some new additions to the volunteer work force and we’ve got quite a team now. There’s Jake and Ashley from Michigan, who’ve been with us for over a month […]
Dec. 30, 2009-Jan.15, 2010 We’ve been getting holes, trails and sites ready in preparation for the oncoming rainy season, which officially began over the weekend of January 9-10th. As mentioned in the previous report, three revegetation sites had been completed and a fourth is about two-thirds ready for planting. 1,000 holes have been dug at the sites thus far and are ready for immediate planting. […]
Dec.12-29, 2009 Rains! Well, just about. It’s been drizzling and lightly raining on a somewhat consistent basis, mostly at the night, during the past couple weeks. Although it hasn’t rained enough to make the office/apartment roof leak (which doesn’t take all that much), there’s been enough to cause plants in the greenhouse to begin budding and show signs of new leafs and growth. Very soon […]
Sept. 23-Oct.6, 2009 Work on the first new revegetation site (for 2010) has commenced. With machetes we clear trails to be able to navigate the site and holes are dug for planting the trees once the rains begin (late December or early January?). This site is actually a piece of land that is owned by William Zambrano, a neighbor of the Planet Drum apartment/office in […]
Sept.7-22, 2009 The lull in volunteer help subsided and we welcomed the arrival of six new volunteers. Mateo helped show them the ropes and after he left, I became the only North American left. Now there is an Australian couple, two German girls traveling together and another who showed up last minute as well as a Belgian forestry student. With all of the new hands, […]
Aug. 17-Sept. 4, 2009 Upon my return from a two week trip the U.S. to visit family and friends and be forcibly reminded of why I love life in Ecuador so much, things had quieted down considerably. Five volunteers had departed during that time, but not before they watered the majority of the revegetation sites. Thanks Jessica, Keara, Aaron, Liz and Jane! The only ones […]
July 2-30, 2009 This time of the year, the dry season, requires maintenance for the revegetation sites that were planted this past rainy season as well as producing new trees in the greenhouse for next year’s sites. We’ve been watering sites on a regular basis. Recently I met with our friend Chino and he now helps out with two places that don’t have water access […]
July 2 & July 29, 2009 In one long epic day we drove in to the Planet Drum land with a load of Bamboo (Caña) to begin the first structure for the Bioregional Sustainability Institute: a tent platform. This was the first trip with a motorized vehicle. Chino (the one and only, the incredible) drove his full-sized diesel truck. Along the way we cleared eroding […]
June 15-30, 2009 Our volunteer force is a powerhouse. The usual Planet Drum house more or less doubled in numbers with the special 3-week visit or our friends from Saga Educators, coincidentally based out of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Two volunteers of theirs from last summer have returned with a crew of five strong high-schoolers to help with the revegetation project. Two volunteers […]
May 27-June 12, 2009 Time has been divided between watering revegetation sites and tree production in the greenhouse. The seeds beds continued to pump out Jaboncillo, Seca, Guachepeli and Ceibo saplings. It is an endless cycle of bottle collecting, soil mixing and transplanting. Lots of times we dug up trees from the seedbeds, which would turn the soil, subsequently new seeds would begin to germinate, requiring further […]