Research & Demonstration
An integral element of Bona Fide’s work is researching novel agroforestry species and appropriate technologies for the area and demonstrating how they can be implemented. We search across genus and analogous climate for plants with high nutritional or material yields that are tolerant to wind and drought. Once identified, we experiment with ideal cultivation techniques within closed loop permaculture systems. The integration of human, animal, structural, and mechanical systems into our agro-forest serves to demonstrate methods with which agricultural communities can simultaneously cultivate food and regenerate the earth they inhabit.
Some of our successes include:
Plant Systems
Jackfruit
Moringa
Resilient Greens
Infrastructure
Plant Systems
Jackfruit
Jackfruit is included in what we refer to as a ‘staff food’, or something that fills the stomach and provides the necessary nutrition to sustain a human life. Not only are the trees evergreen and extremely hardy, each mature tree produces upwards of 2,000 pounds, or 1 ton, of food a year. The saccharine oversized fruit is rich in vitamins B and C, and contains a large quantity of savory nut-like seeds that can be roasted or boiled and eaten like potatoes as a source of carbohydrates and protein.
Moringa
A new favorite of proponents of both agro-foresty and food sovereignty movements in arid and semi-arid climates, Moringa is a true super-food. Not only does it grow extremely well in the same dry places which many of the world’s hungry inhabit, its list of nutritional benefits and various uses is seemingly inexhaustible and continues to grow as research is conducted around the globe. It contains a wide range of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids in high quantity in the leaves, greater calcium content per serving than milk, high protein value, and a very nutritious oil in the seeds with a high flash-point making it suitable for cooking. Here, we use it as an additive to our chicken feed, an ingredient in our daily salads, and an excellent producer of woody-biomass for mulch.
Resilient Greens
The absence of leafy greens in the average Central American diet is not solely based in culture, but also in the inherent difficulties in growing salad greens in a climate where they are beaten by sun, starved for water, and attacked by a variety of insects and funghi.
Katuk is one of a few hearty perennial leaves proven in the semi-arid tropics of south east asia for its vigor and nutrition.
Chaya hails from Mexico. It is self seeding and extremely strong. While it must be eaten cooked, it has a high resistance to pests, a low water requirement, and high iron content.
[pic – Indian Lettuce]
Indian Lettuce is one of our greatest successes here on the farm. Unlike most other greens grown from seeds from more temperate climate, it behaves like a perennial and produces seeds consistently. It is resistant to nearly all pests and given sufficient water it produces a leaf that resembles conventional salad greens. Due to this likeness, it fills a growing niche for salads in restaurant fare, and has already begun to take its place as the basis of greens micro-businesses around Nicaragua.
Infrastructure
Natural Building
Many architectural patterns endemic to the island utilize local materials in distinct ways in order to create structures that cope better with hot sun, high winds, and heavy rain. By exploring traditional designs, Bona Fide seeks to provide a set of models for natural and low impact structures built from locally available resources.
The Aula before its new renovations
Drawn from Nahuatl traditions, round post and beam structures held together with a compression ring and roofed with thatch provide shade and good ventilation to dissimilate heat, while the steep angle sheds water well. Foundations built from volcanic stone and finished with locally fashioned clay bricks provide a cool base of thermal mass. Despite their simplicity, these structures are some of the most comfortable on the property.
[pic – cob oven firey]
[pic – cob wall]
Cob is a type of unfired clay masonry that involves a mix of clay, sand, straw, and manure into a concrete-like substance that can be used in a plethora of building applications. Its availability, low cost, good insulating properties, and malleability make it an ideal material for the tropics. Around the farm it is used both as mortar for dry stone constructions or for building on its own.
[pic – timber frame]
We’re only just beginning to build with timber framing at Bona Fide, but are excited at it’s potential to create extremely long-lasting, durable and comfortable structures. Timber framing is a technique in which the wood used in construction is carefully chiseled so that posts and beams interlock and are joined by wood pegs. Not only does this eliminate the need for screws, nails, and bolts that must be fabricated in factories, but it also distributes the bearing of weight to the strongest parts of the structure.
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