pictures
May 6-26, 2009 We continued to ride out the previous period of rains for a bit, accomplishing lots of work in the greenhouse and visiting sites from previous years to check in on and clear the weeds off of the trees. But a lack of further precipitation and prevailing dry season weather eventually led us to resume watering. Among the revegetation sites that were revisited […]
April 20-May 5, 2009 Rain! The weather on the coast of Ecuador, like many coastal regions, is determined almost entirely by the oceans. Our Pacific Ocean currents are Humboldt and El Niño. Recent increased activity in the El Niño current, associated with the rainy season (January-April/May), has produced some beautiful rains during the past two weeks. This was after what had been assumed by many to […]
March 6-31, 2009 Summary: Another action-packed month passes by. Volunteers disperse and continue with their travels; and as their numbers dwindle, the rainy season seems to be petering out. The transition out of the rainy season means that changing the workload to adapt to the shift in weather. In total this year, eleven revegetation sites have been successfully planted with over 2,200 native trees in the […]
December 29, 2008-January 16, 2009 Summary: House repairs continued. Stakes for tree markers are cut and painted. A new site at Bosque Encantado is created. Completed house repairs include (but are not limited to): hiring a contractor to repaint the front of the house, refinishing the Planet Drum sign, repairing the sign’s metal hanger that was in danger of falling to the sidewalk below, overhauling a […]
November 24-December 5, 2008 Summary: Dryness forces us to water some of the most exposed sites. We did major repair work on the roof of the greenhouse. Many, many, many holes for plants were dug. And we commenced planting season with a group of university students! On Monday, Jaime and I went to the greenhouse to transplant some of the last trees that will be part […]
November 10-21, 2008 Summary: Trails are cleared and holes are dug at the new revegetation sites in preparation for planting. Jaime and I do some final site acquisition scouting to secure the few remaining locations that will be planted. On Monday we finished opening trails at the Astillero site. We returned Tuesday to construct a Moyuyo stake staircase at the approach, which is rather steep. […]
October 20-November 7, 2008 Summary: With new sites for revegetating in 2009 secured, we began breaking trails at three of them. There were celebrations in Bahia for the anniversary of the county and President Correa made another stop in Bahia to check up on the Bahia-San Vicente bridge progress. And I took a trip with Ramon and students to Parque Machililla near Puerto Lopez. The […]
September 15-26, 2008 Summary: We shift our energies towards securing revegetation sites for planting in the coming rainy season. In the greenhouse seedbeds that were planted a few weeks ago are ready to be transplanted, adding even more trees to the arsenal. Still no new volunteers. On Monday we are at the greenhouse transplanting Guarango, Chirimoya and Cascol trees into three-liter bottles. Tuesday was for […]
September 1-12, 2008 Summary: I return to Bahia from a reverse culture-shock laden vacation to the United States. While I was gone, Jaime held down the fort and was fortunate enough to receive a heavy rain thus saving him from having to water (alone). Despite the lack of volunteer forces, Jaime and I persevere. The rain while I was gone appears to have been a […]
August 4-18, 2008 Summary: Our volunteer numbers continue to dwindle, but we carry on watering. More seeds are collected, prepared and planted in beds in hopes that a bunch more trees will germinate and be ready for planting in 2009. I leave Bahia for a visit back to the US of A and close the doors of the house for a week and a half. Andrew […]