Trips ABROAD, Black Gold, Pizza, Chocolate!!!

Greetings Bona Fide friends and supporters,

Since my last blog update we have been very busy both on and off the farm. The ‘Escuela de Campo’ group of 3 local students and their 3 counterparts from abroad traveled off island on their first field trip of 2009. The group traveled north through Jinotepe up to the Masatepe region where they visited Campos Azules one of the INTA national experimental stations for Nicaragua. The group received a tour of the site, the experiments being conducted, methods being employed, as well as techniques for post harvest handling. Afterwards the group traveled to the nursery and farm of Juan Jose, the nurseryman who traveled to Ometepe in December to teach the ‘Escuela de Campo’ a grafting workshop. The group stayed in San Marcos for the night and then visited ‘Rancho Evenecer,’ an integrated animal, worm compost, biogas, and horticulture site in the town of Ninquinomo.

Whilst folks were traveling off island, folks on island were busy whittling away at the many pre-course tasks for preparation for the 2009 Permacultue Design Course held at Bona Fide. Thanks to Tom, Jonah, Joe Kablino for helping us get ready. We expect 28 students from 6 countries. 6 Nicaraguans will be attending 5 under full scholarship plus one gentleman from Guatemala as well. Our course is structured so that full tuition students help pay for scholarships with their course fee. The course will be translated simultaneously from English to Spanish and Spanish to English by ‘Tiny Man.’ From Costa Rica.

What are those folks doing to our beloved bread oven!! DESTRUCTION AND CHAOS!! Well knocking it down after almost 5 years of loyal service was fun, a bit sad but it was time to move on, all good things come to an end as they say. We are building the better mousetrap so to speak, doubling the size of the oven and building a large 1meter by 2 meter prep table to boot, a nice opportunity to expand and have more capacity to make PIZZA!!. Talk about professional capacity building strategies, this one is made of mud.

Speaking of mud, or more to the point soil, the bones of life, the foundation of food, black gold, the web of life, terroir. Well Bona Fide is going into the business of black gold, David, Norman, and Vienel just finished the details on a worm compost bin that will be used to build fertility in the nursery and the garden. We are excited about changing our banana peels into worm castings, the most coveted and well balanced type of soil additive more or less known to soil science.

The namesake of the town of Granada, (Spanish for Pomegranate) fruiting at Bona Fide for the first time. The first fruits are only tennis ball sized but they are a great start. I love surprises.

Bona Fide chocolate? Yes. I just rode 2 plus hours on my motorcycle with 65 pounds of chocolate. Why? Many reasons. To make it short, $$$$ and therapy. Don’t ask about the latter. Funds raised from the sale of this chocolate will be dedicated to scholarship for two students from ‘Escuela de Campo’ for their university schooling. Further donations always accepted OR just eat your way to donating by buying chocolate. Thanks to the folks at El Castillo Chocolate Company for expediting our order and giving us a good price.

Hey, last but not least whatsoever. KUDOS to Nevis and Jackie and all other volunteer support on the garden. Best it has ever looked in the last 3 years.

Best to all,

Chris Shanks
Co-Director Project Bona Fide
Chris@projectbonafide.com

1 YEAR anniversary and JACKfruit!!

Greetings Bona Fide friends and supporters,

WELCOME HOME!!

This week that has passed saw Michael Judd, Bona Fide co-Director and US based fundraiser and administrator and family (Chris and Carolyn Judd) plus Lady Eve arrive at BF, traveling lightly (just under 500, yes F-I-V-E hundred pounds of luggage) Not all swimsuits and towels either, on the contrary Michael arranged for yet another donation of much needed vitamins and medicines for the Café Infantil nutrition program and lugged them from Maryland to here on Ometepe. Many thanks to these valiant folks especially Chris and Carolyn who not only have made numerous visits to the island and this year in the ‘El Centro’ community center gave its first quilting workshop over a 5 day period, but also work very hard in the US to support BF fundraising efforts. Kudos to all four of you for making the journey.

HAPPY ONE YEAR birthday to our community center. If you take a moment to view the before and after fotos of the center you will see a dramatic change in the exterior but the exterior is just where it begins as one would see inside the building a library on the second floor where before it was vacant and littered with refuse, one would be able to use the internet, charge educational tools/computers, and work on the center with power tools thanks to the complete wiring of the building as well as its grid connection where before there was no light or power. Much has changed both inside and outside of the building with the addition of the playground, holding of numerous classes in English, environmental education, extra help in mathematics as well as art and music PLUS library hours for the public. Much has passed in just one year and there is A LOT to go in the development of the site. Thanks to EVERYONE from volunteers and interns to local supporters and educators as well as Eira Kedward, TALICA, the Knorr family, West Vancouver High School and everyone else…W/O you all we would still be sanding the first boards on the second floor paint job. Thanks again.

Big Change BIG BOAT

I just crossed Lake Nicaragua yesterday on the new ferry, El Rey de Cocibolca (King of Lake Nicaragua). This ferry, imported from Holland is serving the new port of San Jose del Sur and will run 2x daily. Besided carrying up to 16 cars/light trucks and up to 1000 people it is owned and operated by the local government and NOT a private business like the Ferry in Moyagalpa. It is also cheaper. I highly recommend it to folks coming to the island as you will be supporting local government, spending less money and you will also be 10km closer to the Maderas side if you are headed to Bona Fide or Totoco or Zopilote or the playa or Merida. Save money, save gas, buy local. Sweet.

What is this crazy yellow fruit that looks like an alien creature recently eviscerated?

Well actually its Jackfruit/Jaquero (Artocarpus heterophyllus) Bona Fide currently has 6 trees (of about 80 and counting) fruiting at 4.5 years of age which is better than average, selections for breeding/fruit quality are already being made, featured in the two fruit fotos are from the first named variety on the farm, ‘La Hannita’ in honor of long time friend and supporter of the farm. Eating jackfruit is fun, the fruit tastes like Juicy Fruit gum, the seed lightly boiled and peeled tastes like garbanzo bean, great for soups, stews and such. Guess what? You can make hummus out of it. YES. HUMMUS. Well it may not sound like a lot since you can buy it just about anywhere in the USA, Canada, or Western Europe but here hummus is as scarce sub zero temps, well not anymore. WHO knows what crazy fun tasty recipes we will come up with with all these new fruits, nuts, veggies, seeds and leaves we grow. Nice. Very nice.

Where is this beautiful beach?

The gratuitous shot of the Nicaraguan Pacific coast is actually about planting seeds, garden seeds for the record. Chris via his business, Living Systems Solutions is in negotiations with the eco-resort community of Aqua SA to aid them in working with local farmers near the coast to begin a subscription farming/CSA venture for the promotion of organic agriculture and local employment. The BF farm school, Escuela de Campo will be involved in training locals on the coast in nursery development and garden design and implementation. These jobs will be paid positions that will show the students at our school the value of their skills.

Best to all,

Chris Shanks
Co-Director Project Bona Fide
Chris@projectbonafide.com

First Bona Fide group of 2009 and SEEDS!!!!

Greetings Bona Fide friends and supporters,

2009 has started with a BANG!!, well more like a wet thump, the sound of water hyacinth being plopped into a 5 gallon bucket and hauled off to mulch our perennial food gardens, medicinal herb collection OR our beautiful annual garden of delights!! (better known as vegetables). Thanks to Dawson College of Montreal, Quebec for helping out on the farm and going on an extensive tour of the finca and the community Center in this last week. Congrats to Tom on leading his first tour of BF. Nice one.

*The water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) featured in the group foto of folks wallowing in the agua (with the pond featured and smiling faces) was started from just a few plants 5 months ago, this particular species multiplies itself by orders of magnitude to fill closed bodies of water with nitrogen and protein rich organic material that is fit for mulch, forage, cordage, or as a water filter/clarifier.

Well last week and into this week has found me, (Chris) and Jackie Pitts on a whirlwind tour of Costa Rica reaching out to agricultural institutions, private collectors, and relying on the generosity and acumen of fruit and vegetable vendors throughout Costa Rica. We have gone coast to coast, spent a day in San Jose combing the markets, braved poison dart frogs (see ominous red frog foto) (actual size 1.25cm or 1/2″) as well as actually ominous spiny palms (see foto, OUCH-OUCH, I still have scars, that is Salak palm (Salacca edulis) by the way as is the reptilian brown looking fruit featured in the other fotos) to collect fruit, nut, herb, timber, multi-use, and biopesticide tree seeds for our nursery which serves Bona Fide, the local community, and sells trees to expats to support its work. We have managed to purchase, trade, collect, and otherwise obtain seeds from CR to expand our nursery, visit our friends down here in the ‘Rich Coast’ and make new ones.

Please enjoy also the foto of a nutmeg seed (part you grind up and cook or bake with is inside the brown nut) and Mace( a spice), the brown seed with the red ‘web’ is actually fresh seed of the nutmeg tree with the ‘aril’ or ‘fruit’ of the nut making up the actual spice called Mace. Cool huh??

Thanks to all who shared their knowledge, seeds, and love for plants with us and thanks to Jackie for being a humorous and knowledgeable travel companion.

Best to all,

Chris Shanks
Co-Director, Project Bona Fide