Organic Farm - Rio Muchacho, Ecuador

Ecuador consists of 3 parts: The Coast, The Sierra, and The Oriente (Pacific Coast, Mountain/Volcano chain down the center, and Amazon basin respectively.) Interestingly, very much like Guatemala. I had seen the Oriente by riverboat. Now I jumped over the Sierra and went straight to the Coast. I would spend 4 weeks working on an Organic Farm a short distance from Bahia, Ecuador before returning to Quito, Ecuador and the Sierra.

I had run across several travelers with a similiar disposition to mine that were working Organic Farms. Also, I sought to learn what was behind the Organic movement.

I was taken on a tour of Bahia by the owners of the farm.

We visited an Eco-school in the city of Bahia. These schools are attempts to improve human relationships to the environment. It included a garden the children worked and separate trashcans for Organic and Inorganic waste (food and paper versus plastic respectively.)

It also had a Galapagos Turtle (a once-upon-time pet.) This would save me an expensive trip to the Galapagos.

Those two touristy looking girls on the right, Lucy (New Zealand) and Molly (New York City), would be with me on the farm for the full four weeks. We took a brief tour of the marketplace and saw, for my first time, peanuts and peanut-butter - extensively grown and eaten in the Manabí District of Ecuador.

In the bay (hence the name Bahia), Lucy would spot a houseboat. An interesting technology transfer from the Amazon.

Than it was on too the farm. On the road in we would see the bamboo houses distinct to Manabí culture.

Here is what it looks like inside-out.

Finally the farm. This is the main house.

A brief tour of the place. First, the primary composting machines.

Plants compost much faster after passing through the stomachs of animals than simply lying on the ground. For example the grass we cut for the cows and horses to eat.

In the case of the chickens and cows, the manure is more valuable than the eggs and milk produced. Pigs are the best composting machines each producing 1 ton of compost a month (Curiously, there are pollution problems in North Carolina and elsewhere in the States from the dumping of chicken and pig feces into water sheds.)

All the manure is collected and transfered to the composting piles in back.



The composting pile is in the foreground. Also mixed in are kitchen food-wastes and sawdust (to get the right nitrogen:carbon ratio.) In part, the digesting microbes are provided in the feces.

The long beds in the background are wormbeds. Horse manure and fruit waste goes in there to feed the worms which generate a much finer and richer compost called humus. Guinea Pigs live in the little houses above the worm beds and their poop falls through the mesh floor to become worm food. In Ecuador they eat Guinea Pig in the Sierra but not the Coast.

The finished (good-smelling) compost is transfered to the garden beds and worked into the soil.

There was an excellent book on the farm: ¨Start With The Soil¨ by Grace Gershuny (http://www.amazon.com/Start-Soil-Gardeners-Improving-Beautiful/dp/0875969607/sr=8-1/qid=1160750395/ref=sr_1_1/102-4703022-9664111?ie=UTF8&s=books)

The fundamental mantra is ¨Feed the Soil not the Plant¨. Herein lies the distinction between Organic Farming and Chemical Farming. The former relies on good composting and plant mixing/rotation techniques to produce healthy soil that will produce healthy plants and reduce pest and weed infestations. The latter relies on chemical fertilizers to send nutrients straight to the plant while killing the soil fauna. Chemical herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides are then needed to kill the infestations that result from a dead soil.

In addition to the book, I also had a good teacher in Dario, owner of the farm with his wife.

There were several other interesting projects on the farm. For example, the chicken tractor.

The chickens live in this house and, as it is moved forward once a week, the chicken droppings feed the soil behind.

I saw plenty of interesting birds and animal life while there. This is the tickbird which feeds on the ticks picked up by the horses.

Ticks are a particular problem in the area surrounding the farm due to the traditional slash-and-burn technique used prior to planting grass for cattle. Ticks survive it all.

Those white dots in the picture below are cows.

I have been documenting the extensive habitat destruction cattle production is causing since my journey began. It is in every country, on every hill, along every river. Here, again, the hills have been stripped of all vegetation for human beef consumption. But I guess people-watching is becoming quite the rage.

The most beautiful bird I have seen on my trip - second only to the Quetzal bird in Central America. The Culebrero.

This yellow striped bird I caught in a Mate tree (blowup in TRH corner.) The shell of the fruit from the Mate tree is used to make bowls and spoons.

There was also a bright red bird, an orange bird, and a white bird that I never successfully got good pictures of. There was a black bird, not much to look at, that had an absolutely wonderful bird call.

The Iguanas hang out in the trees eating fruit.

Other activities on the farm included visiting the giant tree. This vine strangles and kills its host tree and then sends down vines to support the branches of the dead host as well as spread to other hosts. It is very fairytale in appearance...

There was harvesting Cacoa and making chocolate from the seeds...


A bunch of tour groups came through during my stay. They came in this old beatup Chevy Van... (nostalgia)

Molly went paragliding in the quiet sea-side town of Canoa, Ecuador.

I honed my popcorn making skills which I learned from David, my fellow teacher in Honduras.

Then sat down to watch DVDs. I carry with me and leave behind copies of the DVD ¨The Corporation¨ - a stark and revealing documentary on where Corporations came from and the power they hold in todays world (http://thecorporation.com/)

They had the DVD, ¨The Future of Food¨. An not-so-pleasant look at genetically modified foods that all countries, excepting the United States, have rejected (http://thefutureoffood.com/.) I guess we are the guinea pigs.

I also spent an hour each day teaching English to the students in the local Environmental School affiliated with the farm.

The difference in approach between this school and the government run school...

This is my classroom.

Teaching in an open environment as opposed to within a cold brick wall jail was much easier. Sound, for example, does not reflect and magnify as was my experience in the Honduras school. Here, because the families were all farmers, an effort was being made to base the curriculum around environmentally sustainable farming methods. Poor traditions are hard to change but is most easily done through children.

There was marching practice here as well in preparation for the flag ceremony.

7th graders throughout Ecuador dress-up in uniforms and take an oath before kissing the flag. Interesting.

When I could, I got some hammock time.