ECO-FARM AND GARDEN REPORT FOR KEN AND EDWARD – PAR T ONE INTRODUCTION First of all, let me thank you for inviting me to tour your property and help you with an ecological permaculture design for the future. You have a beautiful property and with careful planning and work, the land will fulfill your vision for your project. The report will follow phases for the development of your bio-support system, which I feel are priorities for sustainable development. So, we will begin with soil building and work upward with the plants and trees, animals and infrastructure. It seems like your best time to get started planting trees and other perennial plants will be next year when the rains return. However, a great deal of planning and other work can be done beforehand to prepare for the coming year. In the last part of this year, it may be best to work around the main house site and devise a maintenance plan for the workers. You can also work on caring for the young trees so they will survive the long hard, dry season, and prune the older trees and fertilize them so they will flourish and produce better. My report is also sort of a welcoming to the area, and I am glad to offer you gift cuttings of the plants we have on our farm. Welcome to the pura vida life of Costa Rica. GENERAL CLIMATIC CONDITIONS AND BIOREGION CONDITION S Your property is located at about 300 meters of altitude above sea level, and the land slopes to the east and receives optimal sunlight. The microclimate of the area is warm with ocean and mountain precipitation. You are located in the coastal region, and this bioregion supports the tropical fruits, as well as marginal production of northern latitude vegetables. For more details see page 35 of my book on bioregions. The soil conditions are primarily, oxisoils (red clay) with a mix of shale. Although these soils are often the least fertile of tropical soils, with additions of organic compost and minerals, they can become very productive. A comprehensive soil test would help to identify which are elements are present, as well as the deficiencies. This data could be used to fine tune the soil building program for food production. BIO-HABITAT DATA Pacific slope of central Costa Rica approximately 300 meters above sea level A coastal tropical zone with 4 months of dry weather during January to April. Rainfall per year approximately 250-300 cm per year Low- moderate wind conditions Adequate water resources for domestic use and limited for agricultural activities Light conditions are good during the entire year due to the eastern facing slope. Soil: Typical red clay oxisols of the tropics with a mix of shale with very little organic matter. Past history of the farm- Early clear cutting followed by cattle pastures. Secondary forest on lower section of property.

PHASE ONE- SOIL BUILDING PROJECT Since the soils in your area are limited in soil fertility, one of the key programs for healthy plants and trees is a composting program. It would be beneficial to compost the chopped vegetation with some animal manures, to create of valuable compost to rehabilitate the soil and insure good growth and productivity of your trees. The essence of this program involves collecting the valuable organic bio-mass on your farm and converting it into fertile compost soil for your gardens and trees. This can be achieved by simple compost piles. It is important to develop a plan where the workers chop and collect the plant material and mix it with some animal manure. Later, when you are here more permanently, worm fertilizer could be the backbone of soil building program for gardens and trees. Later you could use mulch in the dry season and fertilizer with worm compost tea to feed trees and plants on a yearly basis during the dry season. The most important mineral to add to your finished compost is limestone, known as carbonato de calcio in Spanish. It provides calcium and other trace minerals and helps the plants to absorb phosphorus. Only small amounts are needed to bring the soil into good production. Over use can cause problems. Rock phosphate (roca fosforica) is another valuable mineral amendment; however, it is very difficult to find in San Isidro. You may be able to obtain it in San Jose. Chicken manure is a good substitute, since it is high in phosphorus. The use of seaweed extract is another valuable fertilizer that helps to provide all the trace minerals that may be missing in your soil, such as boron, selenium, and germanium. This is available in most agricultural supply stores in San Isidro. See mineral amendments in my book. Page 32 Composting During the rainy season it is a good idea to cover your outdoor compost piles with some type of material so the rain does not turn the compost into a soupy anaerobic mess. It also prevents the June bug beetles from laying their eggs in the compost… their favorite habitat. Turning the compost frequently will help to break it down quickly. Twice a month is a good schedule, which gives you compost in 2 months. Once again, you will have to organize the labor force for this new chore. Pitchforks are the best tools for turning the piles. A shredder would be a good investment for such a large property. The weeds and grasses could be hauled on a tarp to the portable shredder and made into an ideal compost mix. There is a shredder for sale in San Isidro at Coopagri near the municipal market and bus stop. This shredded material could also be used to feed a large worm ranch, where you could create tons of rich compost soil for your gardens and trees. A quad with a cart would be another labor saving addition to your soil building program. You can also inoculate your compost piles with EM or efficient microorganisms. Here is a brief summary of EM.

EM (Efficient Microorganisms)

Discoveries over the past two decades by Japanese scientist and horticulturist, Dr. Teruo Higa are changing the way we grow food, as well as the way we treat our water and industrial wastes. In his book, An Earth Saving Revolution, he describes the research on EM or Efficient Microorganisms – selective beneficial microbes that digest organic matter quickly and efficiently into nutrients for plants. By culturing compost, manure or field residues with EM, organic matter goes through a unique fermentation process, instead of the slower putrefaction process by common microorganism. This fertilizer is called “bokashi” in Japanese and is winning wide acceptance in farming and gardening around the world. For example, at the University EARTH in Guácimo de Limon, Professor Richard Taylor is in charge of the program Bokashi and EM. The university’s dairy employs EM technology to turn the cow manure into rich fertilizer without the awful odors or flies most common in dairy farming. So far, the program has trained more than 50 Costa Rican farmers in the techniques of EM. These techniques are easy to use, cost effective and provide farmers with an alternative to chemical fertilizers. What this means to home gardeners is obvious – an odorless, and efficient way to make natural fertilizer from kitchen wastes and other organic wastes in about one month. By the way, as you use bokashi fertilizer, your soil becomes richer in efficient microorganisms to keep the soil in balance, instead of the typical chemical fertilizer treadmill, where each year the soil becomes poorer in beneficial microorganisms and dependent on more fertilizers. EM products for the home garden are also reasonably priced. EM is now available in Costa Rica, and is sold in the Central Valley at different agricultural supply stores. I also offer EM by the liter. WORM COMPOSTING Darwin said that worms, rather than dogs, deserve the title of man's best friend, and for the home gardener, this couldn’t be truer. Worms are extremely beneficial in the transformation of organic material into nutrients for plants. Worm compost or vermicompost releases 5 times more nitrogen, 7 times more phosphorus, 11 times more potassium and twice the calcium of the organic material they process. Vermicompost enriches soil with plant nutrients and micro-organisms, as well as adding plant hormones, such as auxins and gibberellic acid, and enzymes, phosphatase and cellulase. It also attracts deep-burrowing earthworms already present in the soil and improves the physical structure of soil and its water holding capacity. No wonder gardeners consider vermicompost the best of organic fertilizers. Recycling your organic kitchen and landscaping wastes with worms has another important function; it helps us to collectively reduce the burden of landfill refuse. 40% of our landfill waste is organic material. Once you are well established on your new home you can begin to raise worms in compost piles. This can be done on a large scale to provide the necessary soil fertilizer you’ll need for your plants and trees. With a large worm composting unit, you can be completely independent and sustainable in terms of your fertilizer and healthy crops.

OCEAN WATER AS A NATURAL FERTILIZER We all know that the oceans on the planet are the storehouse of minerals that have been deposited over the past millenniums by rivers, streams and glaciers, as well as volcanic activity in the ocean floor. This process has been accelerated in the present by the erosion of our agricultural soils and its mineral content due to large-scale farming practices. Studies have demonstrated that the majority of our food today is lacking minerals, which is linked with the causes of our major health problems. It was once said, “Worn out soil produces worn-out men and women.” It was the work of the late Dr. Maynard Murray, M.D., who began the testing of ocean water and sediments for restoring soil fertility from 1930 to 1980. Murray observed that ocean fish and sea mammals where remarkable free of cancerous tumors. Working on this observation, he began to experiment with applying ocean solids to the soil before planting a wide variety of grain and food crops. His results were astounding in terms of the higher percentage of minerals that were found in these crops. The crops were also healthier and showed greater resistance to disease. Further experiments demonstrated that animals fed ocean-grown feed, were healthier and free of disease. Later he worked with hydroponics growing vegetables using dilute ocean water with great success. Ocean water contains over 90 minerals and trace minerals that are essential for life on the planet. For decades we have used a commercial seaweed extract as part of our fertilization program to feed our plants with these ocean minerals, but now it seems that we can go directly to the source…the ocean water! Here are the guidelines for safe applications of ocean water as a natural fertilizer. Rule number one – Use only 3oz. SEA WATER TO 1gal. of FRESH WATER Application rates for the soil. KEEP IN MIND YOUR SOIL TYPE RED CLAY SOIL - Once every 6 months to 1 year. Clay binds nutrients thus adding to the soil more often could cause toxic overload. LOAMY SOIL - Once every 3 months, when little or no clay is present and good drainage. SANDY SOIL - Once every 2 weeks to once a month would be the maximum. COLLECTION - Get your Sea Water from the cleanest areas possible - far from rivers, shipping lanes and fishing boats. FOLIAR - Spray bi-monthly the tops and bottoms of the leaves at sunrise or sunset when the birds are chirping. GARDEN - Foliar bi-monthly. BIG TREES - Sprinkle 5gal. to 15 gal. under tree out to the drip line. LITTLE TREES - Sprinkle 2.5gal. to 5gal. Under tree out to the drip line. SICK TREES - Sprinkle 5gal. with 30oz. Sea Water to the roots out to the drip line, and normal foliar feed bi-monthly until recovery then taper back. BANANAS - Love minerals, so you can double the strength and apply according to the directions of your soil type, tapering back if leaf burning occurs or give them the same as everything else for convenience. COCONUTS - Can take it straight, but application rules still apply for soil type. HOUSE PLANTS - Usually get less sun and can be fertilized less frequently or at the same basic recommended dosage.

NURSERY PLANTS - Need the maximum recommended dosage for that plant and soil type. TRANSPLANTING - Spray roots of the tree or fill hole and foliar feed the leaves once a week for two weeks. WITH OCEAN WATER - LESS IS MORE, AND IN THIS CASE, VERY POWERFUL! Gardeners must recognize when plants need nourishment and give accordingly for the results they want. For more information on ocean water as a fertilizer, I’d suggest you read, SEA ENERGY AGRICULTURE by Dr. Maynard Murray and FERTILITY FROM THE OCEAN DEEP by Charles Walters Later, as you become adept at making good, fertile compost, you can begin to make compost tea. This tea can be used as a soluble organic fertilizer, which can be applied to the soil around the trees or sprayed on the plants as a foliar spray which increases growth and protects the plants from many plant diseases. This same compost tea can be applied to mulch around trees, so that it helps to break down the organic material into available nutrients for plants. The following section is about compost tea. COMPOST TEA

We all know that compost is a wonderful addition to soil and helps our gardens grow better. Your garden plants can benefit even more by using compost tea to replace chemical-based fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides, while you can garden safer and be more protective of the environment. Compost tea increases plant growth, provides nutrients to plants and soil, provides beneficial organisms and helps to suppress diseases. Over the past decade, a great deal of research has been accomplished in this field. Dr. Elaine Ingham, a microbiologist in Corvallis, Oregon pioneered research into the microbial analysis of soils, composts, and compost teas. Essentially, Dr. Ingham

Brewing up a batch of aerated active compost tea.

discovered that brewed or active aerated compost tea includes beneficial bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes. When compost teas are sprayed onto plants, these beneficial organisms colonize the leaf surface. Pathogenic organisms simply cannot compete with the beneficial organisms, and therefore, have a greatly reduced chance to initiate disease. Bucket-Bubbler Method Making compost tea has taken a quantum leap since gardeners first started soaking compost in water to extract the nutrients as a plant food. The state-of-the-art method now includes aerators; mesh compost bags and additional nutrients to promote the growth of beneficial microorganisms. For the home gardener, a simple unit can be made using a 5 gallon plastic bucket, an aquarium pump, a gang valve to divide the air supply into several streams, 3 feet of aquarium hose and, of course, good, aged compost. First, cut and attach 3 separate pieces of hose at least 12" long to the gang valve. Place the gang valve onto the bucket and make sure the hoses reach the bottom of the bucket, then, connect your aquarium pump. Next, place one gallon’s worth of your best, compost inside the bucket. Make sure the ends of the hoses are covered. Now add the water, filling the bucket to within 6 inches of the top. (If you are using water from a public water source, run the pump and bubble air through the water for at least an hour before adding the compost to the water. This allows for any chlorine to evaporate. Chlorine can kill beneficial organisms in the tea. Add 1 oz. of unsulfured molasses (miel de purga) to provide a food source for the beneficial bacterial. If you are looking for prevention and control of disease versus nutrition you have to have high active fungal microbes. Fungi provide disease control more than active bacteria. Use fish emulsion, earthworm castings or soluble kelp as a good protein sources for the fungal reproduction. Use less than 5% molasses for a balanced bacterial population. Put the food source in at the beginning and at the midpoint of the brew. Run the pump for 18 hours starting at midday and finishing for an early morning foliar application before the plant stomata close. Strain the mixture to prevent the foliar sprayer from clogging. You can dilute or apply the tea full strength depending on your tea production (quantity). For fighting disease or soil drench application, the more concentrated the better. It is impossible to kill your plants with beneficial active fungal and active bacteria. Only anaerobic conditions can damage your plants.

THE GERMINATION UNIT AND GREENHOUSE

A greenhouse can be organized to start hundreds of new plants each month, to grow delicate vegetables and to house a worm ranch to make the best soil building compost for your gardens and trees. In order to overcome many of the problems of insects, plant diseases and environmental conditions of the tropics, it is very advantageous to create an area where you can start your vegetables, fruits and trees in an area called the germination unit, which is simply a place where you can control the environmental conditions enough, so that your plants will get a good, healthy start in life before they are transplanted out into the natural environmental conditions. We have found that when you start your plants in flats on tables about 1 meter high, there are very few insect problems. Therefore, you can care for hundreds of young seedling plants without the use of pesticides. The simplest model of a germination unit consists of several flats on a table located on the sunny side of the house under the overhang of the roof. This same area is also very beneficial for start seedling fruit and wood trees in plastic nursery bags. This will give these trees a good start in life for the first 6 months to a year, before they are transplanted out to their permanent sites on the farm. Complete details on this important area of tropical gardening are explained in my book on pages 21.

This is a larger version of an aerated compost tea unit, which would be ideal for your farm.

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PART TWO THE GERMINATION UNIT AND GREENHOUSE

THE CONSTRUCTION OF BIODYNAMIC GARDEN BEDS As you develop your compost, you can begin to incorporate this fertilizer into your garden beds or use it around your trees. Since the soil in your area is very poor in nutrients, it is best to start with the double digging process mentioned in my book. In this process you will create a 16-inch layer of humus, which will enable your plants’ roots to penetrate quickly and absorb the nutrients in the compost. In the first and second year you may want to do this procedure once, and after that you may not need to do it at all, since the worms and other microorganisms will do the work for you. Check pages 25-30. We find that a garden bed of 1 meter wide and 4 meters long is ideal for home gardens. Any wider than 1 meter makes it hard to reach across the bed while weeding and transplanting. Of course, you can make the beds longer than 4 meters. Remember that you really shouldn’t walk across your beds, since this creates soil compaction. For that reason we find that the 1x4-meter bed is easy to access with the wheelbarrow. If the beds are really long, you have to go all the way around each time with the wheelbarrow! The beds should also be placed in contour with the land and terraced to prevent erosion. This also lends a certain beauty to your garden. To find the contour you can use a simple homemade tool called an A frame.

A small greenhouse attached to homes or nearby is also a convenient way to have seedling plants handy for transplanting in the garden near the home. This model would be useful for your home site. We consider ours one of the most important units for our success.

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List of additional vegetables for the garden started in the germination unit Italian broccoli Cabbage, kale and collards Chile peppers Coriander Green bunching onions

Dill Eggplant Lettuce Mustard

Cherry tomatoes Parsley List of additional vegetables and crops planted directly in the garden Buckwheat Green beans Chayote Corn Cucumber Okra Peanuts Pigeon pea Sesame Taro

Sweet potato Sunflower Onion Katuk Jicama Sunroot Hibiscus Winged Bean Sugar cane Yuca

Wild Yam Squash

The a-frame is constructed from 3 used 1x3 “pieces of wood. Construct a 6’ a frame and attach a piece of string to the top. Add a weight to the end. When the a frame stands with the string at 90 degrees, the legs mark the contour of 0 degree. A level can be used instead of the string method. Now move side a to position b and mark the new position c where the a frame is 90 degrees. Continue marking the contour in this manner.

6’

String 90°

a

b

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MEDICINAL PLANTS Over the past few decades, medicinal herbs have become a popular. Here is a basic list of the herbal plants that would do well in your area. Aloe vera * Artemisia * Cactus * Gavilana Ginger * Gotu kola * Hombre Grande Juanilama *

Lemon grass Life Everlasting * Mimosa * Oregano * Saragundi * Tilo * Turmeric* Noni

Wormseed* See page 37 of my gardening guide for guild plantings or companion plantings. * Plants available from our farm Medicinal plants are often one of the best options for developing a community business.

Each living unit can develop the infrastructure for a compost unit, garden, germination unit and a selection of favorite fruit trees. An additional section for growing grains and medicinal herbs is also very useful. Be sure to place the gardens in areas that receive good morning sun and are not blocked by trees or the house. Trees will favor the natural shading of the house and garden when planted on the westerner and northern sectors.

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TREE PLANTING AND FORESTRY PROJECT Many grafted fruit trees produce in 3 to 4 years, so you will have fruits coming into production in relatively short period of time. As I mentioned, these trees need to be weeded and some compost fertilizer can be purchased to boost their growth and vitality. Coopeagri sells a good organic compost fertilizer for about $3.50 a 100 pound sack in San Isidro. You may also want to buy some commercial fertilizer until you get your compost going well. Your property will grow a wide range of tropical fruit trees for home use. Over the years you can create an edible landscape of fruit trees that can provide a large part of your diet. A good selection of avocados, oranges, and other rare tropical fruit tree will help to provide different fruits all year round. Over the years, one of the aspects I have learned about tree planting is to leave plenty of space between the trees. This helps in the later years to prevent the trees from overcrowding each other, which results in damaged branches and poor circulation of air and leaf diseases, as well as over shading and poor fruit production. Try to give 10 to 15 meters between each tree you plant, both in the row and in between rows. You have plenty of space on your farm, so there is no need to created crowded plantings in your fruit orchards. You can also interplant alley crops between the rows of the trees for many years before the trees shade the area. Bananas, sugar cane, pigeon pea and beans are a few examples of guild members for young trees. Secondly, try to plant the fruit trees on the contour lines at 0 degrees. This will help to prevent erosion and gives a more natural look to your fruit orchard. After you have planted a sufficient number of fruit trees, you may want to expand into forestry trees and bamboo. Areas of your farm with steep slopes can be planted in different native species. Many of these seeds for these trees can be collected in the forest area of on the lower region under the rainforest trees. This would insure that the species you are using are adapted to your habitat. Trails can be constructed through these areas for collecting seeding trees. Other parts can also be simply left to return to secondary growth, which regenerates into a new forest within 20 years. List of potential fruit trees and other fruits Anona – variety Biribá Avocado Banana and plantain Jaboticaba Mango Mountain Apple Papaya Mamon Chino Starfruit Pineapple

Some of the more exotic fruit trees nclude: Abiu Akee Breadfruit Canistel Cas Mangosteen Pejivaje Sapotes Barbados cherry

PART THREE More Plants and Trees for your bio-re gion Ornamental trees Jacaranda (Jacaranda mimosifolia) – has beautiful blue flowers Paraiso (Melia Azederach) – pastel purple flowers and valuable wood Roble Sabana (Tabebuia rosea) – pastel rose flowers and medicinal use Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia) – Striking red flowers Paradise Poinciana (Poinciana gilliesii) – yellow flowers with red stamens Palm Trees Palma dulce – Chamaedorea Wendlandiana – used for heart of palm Pejevaje – spineless variety is good for heart of palm Chonta – used for natural building Multiple or Madagasgar Palm – ornamental Christmas Palm – ornamental Fan Palm – ornamental BAMBOO PROJECT It seems to me that bamboo could be a good choice for your property. I know that it certainly was the right choice for us on our farm. We planted timber bamboo about 20 years ago, and now there’s a continual supply of bamboo we can sell or use for construction on the property. Bamboo requires no intensive labor or fertilization costs, begins to produce in 4 to 5 years, and can be sold as prime material or made into value added products, such as furniture or ranchos. You can also save thousands of dollars by substituting bamboo as construction materials. Here is a list of the types of timber bamboo I would recommend you plant of the property. Dendrocalamus asper or Thai Green 30m tall and 30 cm diameter excellent of construction, furniture and shoots. Dendrocalamus giganteus or Giant Bamboo 30 m tall and 30 cm diameter excellent for construction, furniture and shoots. Dendrocalamus latiflorus or Taiwan Giant Bamboo 24 m tall and 20 cm diameter good for construction, furniture and shoots. Gigantochloa atter Pring Legi or Awi Temen 20 m tall and 15 cm diameter Good for construction, furniture and shoots Guadua amplexifolia

18 m tall and 15 cm diameter Good for construction, furniture and shoots. Guadua angustifolia 25 m tall and 20 cm diameter Larger than the amplexifolia, very strong and resistant to bugs. Good for furniture, construction. It’s a good idea to get a good collection of these species to plant, so your farm has a wide diversity. Bamboo species flower every 60 to 100 years and no one knows exactly when, so having many species will prevent a total loss of your bamboo, since the flowering bamboo dies and has to be replanted by the seeds. Of course the seeds, grown in a nursery can be very useful and valuable. Timber bamboo need at least a 100 feet between clumps to facilitate harvesting the long bamboo poles. If you plant them too close, they tangle into the standing bamboo and are very difficult to get free. The first harvest of smaller bamboo poles can be used to make a bamboo storage shed. It is important to keep young bamboo plants or clums weed free for at least one year. They are very delicate at first and can die easily from weed completion, but once they are well established, nothing bothers them. Since your soil type is poor in nutrients, it would be a good idea to plant your bamboo with good applications of aged compost. This will insure rapid growth and an early first harvest. You can also add ashes from the burnt bamboo branches, limestone and manure as the years go by to keep them growing well. The best time to plant bamboo without irrigation is in late April thru June. If you can water your new bamboo plants, you can extend the planting to practically the entire year. Keep the planting far from houses and other trees. The books worth reading on the subject are: Bamboo Rediscovered by Victor Cusack Bamboo on the Farm by Daphne Lewis Manual de Construcción con Bambú by Oscar Hidalgo López CREATING REGENERATIVE FORESTS As you become established you can begin to plant more fruit trees and wood trees in your nursery and plant them out into new generations of trees for your farm. Seedling trees can be transplanted to secondary growth areas. For example, the lovely Pau d’Acro tree blooms in pastel rose flowers and provides one of the greatest botanical medicines on the planet. A close relative has stunning yellow flowers and is a valuable lumber resource. Bamboo can be planted to provide a continuous and sustainable supply of building and craft material. The greenhouse and nursery can produce hundreds of seedling trees and palms for the farm. You can also collect seedling trees from the surrounding forests for replanting in regenerative forests. Phase 2 requires preparing the paths and areas for tree planting. In many cases it is best to use contour planting on steep slopes. It is also optimal to have high quality compost ready for fertilizing each tree when it is planted, so it will have optimal health to grow vigorously.

Potential List of Wood Trees (native species) Maria, Cedro Maria Caobillo Cedrillo Pilon Cristobal Lechoso Roble Sabana – Pau d’Arco Cortez Amarillo Roble Coral Cedro Amargo Cenizaro Guapinol SOME IDEAS FOR TERRACING

Additional guild trees (native species) Cecropia Guava Madero Negro Guachapilin Hombre grande Uruca Nance Guacimo Poro Gallinaso

ACCESS ROADS, LOTS, CONSTRUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL REPAIR An important step will be to repair the access road and include the necessary drainage culverts and swales for erosion controls. To heal the scar quickly, it is useful to plant a tropical cover crop called Manicillo or little peanut on the exposed embankments. In a

The streams and gullies on the farm, as well as many of the cattle paths would favor earth moving to create dams, dikes and swales to slow erosion.

The sides of these structures can be planted with bamboo and other trees to enhance the protection against erosion and provide the farm with construction material.

Swales provide water retention during rains to prevent erosion and improve plant growth.

Swales can be continually worked to improve the soil and growth of the trees and plants along the contour.

matter of one or two years, these embankments can be covered with green foliage and nice yellow flowers. COVER CROPS The cover crop Manicillo (Arachis pintoii), is perhaps one of your best choices for helping you to regenerate the damaged areas of the road construction and to use as a cover crop between trees and other plantings. This plant loves red clay soil and works to regenerate the soil by fixing nitrogen and looks good to with its pretty yellow flowers, which animals love to graze on. It can also be chopped and used as material for compost, which we have found works very well for this purpose. May to July are the months in which you can take cuttings of this plant and transplant it to new areas. The area to be planted should be weed free and cultivated several times until the manicillo covers the area. This should be done within a day or two after cutting. After that there is no maintained needed. Vetiver is also a useful plant, which you already have established to help form erosion control barriers along steep slopes. Yucca (Ixtabo) is another useful plant for planting on swales. ADDITIONAL PERMACULTURE FEATURES Compost toilets- help to recycle nutrients to plants and protect the water table Wood stoves- help to reduce fossil fuel consumption and recycle carbon on the land. Solar dryers- both clothes dryers and food dryers reduce the fossil fuel consumption. Solar hot water heaters- reduce or eliminate the need for gas heating of water. Rain catchments- to harvest water for agricultural uses. CONCLUSIONS Your property has great potential for fulfilling your vision of a sustainable, permaculture homestead and center. The secret to achieving this goal is to work in well organized steps in the next 2 or 3 years, so that your soil building project will be well under way. Since you still have a considerable amount of planning to do, it is difficult to create an accurate permaculture design map for your property, however, I have included a general plan you can use in terms of zones for human activities and others for forests. In each new living habitat, you can establish the same infrastructure, compost unit, small germination unit and greenhouse, raised beds and grain production. For the most part, you can plan most of your small, home scale food production projects on a seasonal basis, and, develop agricultural projects that also fit into the seasonal pattern of your area. For example, on our farm ginger and turmeric are grown seasonal without the need for irrigation. Another consideration would be to develop an animal project for the farm, once you are here on a permanent basis. For example, you could grow corn seasonally to feed chickens and at the same time, recycle their manure for your soil building project. Once again, I thank you for the opportunity to serve you. Please come and visit us at New Dawn so we can talk over this report, and so that you can select plant material from our farm for future use. For the trees, Ed See THE COSTA RICAN ORGANIC HOME GARDENING GUIDE for details on each plant and tree mentioned in the report, as well as details on organic methods.

PART FOUR

The surrounding areas around the new house site are most appropriate for creating food gardens. In permaculture we call this zone 1, which is utilized for gardens, which are frequently visited to harvest and care for crops used for the home. Raised beds made from rocks or used block will help to prevent erosion and make gardening easier.

Here is another area for zone 1 gardens. In this entire area you can create an edible landscape with garden beds, shrubs and trees that provide food for the home. New bananas could be planted in the section just below the flat area to provide this delicious fruit for smoothies! Of course you would have to fertilize them well with compost.

Here to the rear of the house we have a good collection of mature fruit trees from the previous occupants. As I mentioned, these trees could be fertilized, pruned and cared for by eliminating the parasitic plants called matapalo. These trees would flourish into a second period of abundant production. The area could also include a germination unit and composting unit unit to process organic wastes into fertilizer for the food production system in zone one.

PERMACULTURE DESIGN MAPS Continued on next pages

The upper hill side has great potential for creating new home sites and the expansion of fruit trees and other crops. The new generation of fruit trees should be cared for to insure their survival during the dry season. Ant control, fertilization and mulching are the most important steps to insure their growth and vigor. Later, swales could be designed into the orchard with other guild trees and bushes.

A program of planting cover crops in the next few years would help to repair the damage of these access roads to prevent erosion in the future and provide a valuable harvest of organic matter for soil building. We consider manicillo one of our most important soil building plants on our farm.