Rains are a coming!

The end of April brings the much awaited rains. It has already rained twice here, about 3 weeks early this year though we are still awaiting the BIG downpour that ushers in the wet season. We have had a few overcast days of late and the weather has been fine. Each night brings a show of thunder and lightening with the onset of the nightly fireflies as well. This dry season has been fairly mellow, we have had some plant loss but not much and that which we have lost is attributed to inferior fitness and genetics for the site so the weeding out process AKA die off is actually welcomed. The oncoming wet season brings the promise of piglets in our new pig corral which is featured in the first 2 photos on this blog update. The corral has a wallow that will drain via a 3" pipe to a large banana circle where subsurface piggie wallow water will feed bananas year round. We will also have the option of using the manures for our annual field crops as well.

A New Guinea hen house is also on the ready and we just need to track some of these elusive West African birds down. They are superior to chickens as they are better pest and tick eaters and they do little scratching and are much more garden friendly.
The final foto commemorates our 5th annual seed exchange overseen by: Nevis, Maria, Norbert and their students from Vermont, Kate and Walker.

Thanks to all of you for your hard work. Each year more and more great information, food, and plant material is shared.

Best to all and thank you Bona Fide friends and supporters,

Chris Shanks
PBF co-Director
FBF Farm Manager

Bona Fide in Haiti and the dry season continues on.

Greetings BF friends and supporters,

I have just returned from Haiti after 9 days just outside of the coastal city of Leogane. I brought thousands upon thousands of seeds collected from our local community in Nicaragua as well as seed produced on site at FBF. My trip brought me through Panama where customs was hapy to support trees and seeds for Haiti and waive me through customs with a smile and wishinng me luck in Haiti. Haiti was amazing in hope and devastation. I was deeply impresses by the strength and beauty of the people and the hope infused in that place.

Our team of 2 Americans and one Frenchman plus over a dozen small children helping filled over 1500 bags and seeded them in the nursery we built up. Local seed sources we located and seeds were collected for: cover cropping, fruit tree seedlings, and erosion control. Base mapping and master planning was done and big plans are developing.

Many thanks to the Haitian people for their welcoming smiles, to all volunteers for being in Haiti and for supporting her.

As for Project Bona Fide:

The dry season continues we are thankful for our volunteers and apprentices and interns for supporting the farm whilst I have been away. It seems though the rains will come early this year and BF is gearing up for college groups (3) in May as well as planting season.

Thank you for your support.

Best,

Chris Shanks

Solar Library in Las Cuchillas!!

Greetings Bona Fide friends and supporters,


This last week saw the the installation of a super efficient LED solar electric light system up in the Las Cuchillas cloud forest village, which is w/o electricity. The library is not only used for study but also cultural events and community meetings. Walker Brown, Kate Bolton, Jeremy and yours truly participated and the apprectices flexed their new solar knowledge muscles in the name of learning and outreach. Watering and dry season work continues, bio-char creation continues, and seed collection for the Haiti trip for nursery establishment looms as thousands of seeds are collected.

Best,

Chris Shanks
C0-Director Project Bona Fide

Permaculture course 2010

Photo above: Making Bio-char with bona fide timber produced in renewable timber systems based on coppice and pollard system type management. Thanks to Shad for his help with our first charcoal making episode.
Above pictured: Fran and Guillermo with a 40 pounds Jaquero/Jackfruit!!!

Same jackfruit pictured with a plantain bunch and our first significant harvest of canistel or Pouteria campechiana. A tree crops candidate.

Permaculture students and botanical ninjas of peace hard at work on a vaulted locally fired brick oven with a cob insulating layer mix. Design courtesy of Michael Judd and cob goddess Rachel.


Greetings Bona Fide friends and supporters,

WOW! February felt even shorter than its 28 days. The month blew past whilst we held our 7th annual Permaculture design course. We hosted 18 people and had folks from: Canada, USA, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Germany. Thanks to all who attended, contributed, taught, shared, cooked, led work projects, and coordinated. This year saw the return of Reed Aubin to the Ometepe PDC scene. Reed brought 4 years of experience since his last visit to the course and to the translation experience whilst Tiny Man and Reed together provided a dynamic duo of new ideas, teaching and mirth. After 15 days we were quite exhausted and a few days of relaxation were called for. A trip to the Rio San Juan was in order and was made. The Rio San Juan is a must see for all folks who have the time to make it out to this percious SE corner of Nicaragua.

Many Thanks to all and more frequent updates to come.

Best,

Chris Shanks

El Berrinche eco-celebration and BF!

Greetings Bona Fide Friends and Supporters,

This last week was spent mostly in Granada, BF staff was recharging as well as participating and admiring the 5 day eco-festival with art and music called 'El Berrinche'. 10 days ago David and Norman, master mason's from Balgue and the chief ninjas on Chris' building team spent 7 days in Granada working with the artists and building the featured cob oven. They returned 3 days ago for the festivities along with Cat, Rachel, Steve, Jackie, myself as well as the inaugural apprentcies, Walker Brown and Kate bolton who will be with us for 3 months after a 3 week stint in El Lagartillo's languague school: 'Hijos de Maiz.' Yesterday Jackie and I did a pizza making workshop and we have been supporting the group in other ways with logistics and advice for sometime. Artists, acrobats, clowns, musicians from over 12 countries came with a special focus on Central American participants. Fire, stilts, drums, flips, workshops in local barrios and lots of eco-educational fun was to be seen and experienced and the final night culminated with 'Cuneta Son Machin' one of the most popular Nicaraguan groups in the country playing a hour long show with hundreds dancing at a free all ages event where children and adults played side by side.
Huge thanks to Diego of the Theater School of Comedy and Mime as well as Benjamin Wheatley our friend and gracious host for our opportunities to participate and for great lodgings. We hope to support this event next year as it grows and evolves.

Until next post,

Chris Shanks

Greetings Bona Fide Friends and Supporters,

Been a but quiet here on the ole blog range of late. Busy daze with lots of neat projects unfolding. This week we feature the month long project led by our administrator, Evelio Hernandez, the thatching anew of our beautiful 30' diameter classroom space with local grass from the area as well as our own land. The cutting, carrying, curing, tying, and thatching of this structure is A LOT of work and we extend a heartfelt thanks to our local team for all the overtime they put in as well as hard working volunteers and friends who made it all happen since late last December. A nice holiday treat!!

This thatch job comes well timed with the last local vines twisted and tied as we prepare for our 7th annual permaculture design course. This year we have folks from 5 different countries participating, the US, Canada, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica. We welcome Tiny Man, Jackie Pitts Ashley Carter and Juan Jose Calero to our staff and are looking forward to a great course.

The final foto featured is the newly christened garden down at Casa Albergüe. Greens are coming prper this year thanks to Nevis, Norbert and all volunteer effort.

Upcoming posts will feature the 'El Barrinche' eco-festival in Granda this coming weekend January 28-30th with music, forums, costumes and art performance. It will be a blast.

Cheer to Diego, Ben and the entire Casa botellas crew for organizing hundreds of folks for a festivsl for thousands!!!!

Coming up to the holidays. Still going strong!

Greetings Bona Fide friends and supporters,

Busy Busy daze here on the farm as the gardens are growing, mulch is flowing, seeds are sowing. NOTE: Huge Huge ups and thanks to Baker Creek Seeds in the US of A for their generous donation of over $650.00 in seeds to our community garden project in conjunction with Dig!, the BF community center and BF's own test gardens on site at the farm. Congrats go out to Norbert and Nevis for their hard work up in Leon training a local Leones about OG gardening as well as setting up for its second season an amazing urban garden that supports local food production for the Bigfoot Hostel.

Rains are still falling sporadically and the dry wet season has been somewhat salvaged by late season rains (and our Sorghum crop too).

This coming week is the last full workweek for BF staff from Balgue as well as our international volunteer and intern staff.

Let's keep the good vibes going for 1-2 more soakings before we set in for the DRY period.

Please be well,

Chris Shanks

Co-director Project Bona Fide