Costa COllecting, new OVEN and more!!!

Greetings Bona Fide friends and supporters,

I salute you all from the good old US of A, here in the great Garden State of New Jersey. Spring has sprung here and tree are budding out, willows have leaves, and flowers are beginning to abound and are in full bloom in NYC and other heat island affected sites in this zone. I just saw my twin nephews a few days ago, it certainly put me in a daze. Children surely are one of the best reasons to plant trees and cultivate abundance.

Well now for some reporting on BF doings, of which there are many. BF agro-forestry research and trials efforts were bolstered in this past week with my quick trip to Costa Rica to find the elusive pili nut (Canarium ovatum and communis) These species are only found in one botanical garden in all of Nicaragua and Costa Rica to the best of my knowledge and basing my calculations of ripeness and seed availability from the January CR trip I was correct and my travels yielded close to 60 viable seeds. This high fat and protein nut was once tested side by side by USDA with the Macadamia nut for commercial suitability. Guess who won? This nut though is grown and sold on a commercial scale in South East Asia. We have high hopes here for its success on a home/community scale at the very least. Orchard trials should begin in July-August of 2009.

Well wind farms. Cool. Local wind farms, even cooler. Amayo SA wind project, a collaborative project between US and Canadian investors along with Nicaraguan backers, stalled for over 2 years by antiquated MARENA regulations, but persistence pays off, a over 40 mega watt project that will provide thousands of homes with green juice as well as:

• Located in one of the best wind resources in the North American continent.
• Amayo will reduce 120,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year.
• Arctas secured $72 million in project finance debt from regional development bank.
• Erection complete and will be fully commissioned by March 2009.
• When commissioned, plant will be nearly twice as large as next largest wind project in Central America or the Caribbean.
• With 2.1MW per unit turbines, Amayo has only MW-class turbines currently installed in region.

Cool. Beautiful. Independence rides the wind. Word. Palabra.

The new BF oven has been fired and it is SUPER!!!. Thanks to Darif, Kim, Dee, Martha, David, Ryan and everyone else for their efforts. Special big thanks to David Ortiz and Martha, our tireless insulating cob layer cobbers!!!

Well a few other references, the rack of greenish red fruit is a full mature rack of pejibaje fruit (Bactris gasipaes) a prominent species fo interest for BF for trials, BF has already fruited this species and is making selections, this is an off season rack that was purchased at a market in CR for a song, halved and had its seed removed, this will provide valuable genetics for future projects.

The killer orange flower is Brownea macrophylla from the legume family, a beautiful flower found on our more serious collecting mission. Enjoy.

Last but not least. I am not sure who this guy is. Definitely a hippie!!!

Well its me, circa 4 years ago, collecting durian in flavour anticipation in Vancouver, Canada.

Durian is being trialed on the farm for the future alongside greywater trials. If you do not know why do some homework on durian you all.

Thanks for everyone's attention.

Best,

Chris Shanks

Co Director, Project Bona Fide