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[quote=”costaricafinca”]I promised myself I would respond to this posting, but here I am.
I would like to say with only 2.5 acres of land, plus multiple houses, where is the ‘space’ to grow what you need?
You mention planting all the fruit trees you could think off, so can you tell us, how many and what species?
But, as yet you haven’t planted your organic garden, and so you still have to find out how difficult that is, to do here.
Please realize that there is no way, even with all the fruit trees will they not produce enough for your use all year.
We are on 250 Acres with[b] many hundreds of fruit trees of many different varieties[/b], many already producing, and for most of the time, there is no fruit![/quote]Well, 2.5 acres = 11,000 square meters of land. The footprint of our 2 homes = 220 square meters – which comes to under 2% of our land area. You asked which fruit trees we have planted, here you go.. Over a Hundred so far:
– Papaya (2 dozen, 5 different types, Hawaiian Varities)
– Bannanas (Over 2 dozen)
– Plantains (over 2 dozen)
– Nancy (native) 5
– Hacote (native) 2
– Mammon-Chino
– Manzana de Aqua (water apple): 2
– Guanabaya:2
– Mango: (over a dozen)
– Avacado: 3
– Manacuya “Lilikoi” On Trellis
– Guava (native): 2
– Almond : 2
– Maronon : 2 (Cashew)
– Coconut: 4
– Heart of Palm: 2 (not doing very well..)
Then there is the citrus orchard:
– Oranges (3)
– Grapefruit (3)
– Lemon
– Lime
– Tangerines
– Limon Dulce (“sweet lemon”)Of course, if you do not fertilize or maintain your fruit trees you may not produce fruit year round. However the picking of good species, maintaining your trees and fertilizing them should produce a constant a reliable harvest. Not doing so, leaves trees which do not produce – perhaps you have many trees but not the time to care for them? That is the case many times, people think Fruit tree’s don’t need care.. thats far from the truth.
We have many of the trees spread out throughout the property, with a specific orchard for the demanding citrus tree’s. A special compost pile is located in the citrus orchard and organic compost “Teas” are made and given every 2 months. Tree’s are checked for heath and sprayed with organic pesticides as needed every month.
With our two homes which take up a whopping 2% of our land, and all the trees planted around the property, we are left with at least a acre of slightly sloping, cleared land for the construction of our planned raised garden beds. We could have over 100, 10 X 4 garden beds in this area. We plan to construct and plant 10 of the garden beds this year.
[quote=”costaricafinca”]”We lived next door to a young American couple, who were doing what you are intending to do, but at least it sounds like you at least decent housing, and both them and their 4 children barely survived with no one to buy their little bit of left over produce.
But, hopefully you are legally working here, and not like our neighbors whose ‘friends’ decided that they were no longer going to financially support this family.” [/quote]I don’t really know what you talking about here, but Ill try to explain our situation at least:
We are not poor people looking to farm to make ends meet. We are just people who want to try to grow our own food, and do something – anything – on our own. I have a construction company with steady work. We have two rentals with steady tenets. By rentals I don’t mean hole in the wall chicken coops.. I mean very nice, new rentals with granite countertop kitchen’s, teak ceilings, and new appliances – high end vacation rentals with a swimming pool and sweeping views. We are 10 minutes to many beaches. It keeps some money flowing. The Organic garden will be a perk to all that as well and a center point of our property. Any tenets can help in the garden if they wish, or pick fruit from the trees. Its a experiance we wish to have on our property and share with others. Our property is called “Finca Esperanza” – if you know spanish you know what it means.
I am 23 years old, I am fit, I speak fluent spanish, and can manage our garden and (eventually) our farm with ease – and we would use lots of paid help. My Tica Girlfriend loves to help too. But as far as I know its legal for me to work in my own garden. One of the rentals (2 bedroom unit) I built and is mine, and the other, my Mom’s. So it helps me get by month to month in the case I’m not building a pool or cabina for a client here.
We are pretty well off, for the moment at least. But our idea is to learn to grow our own food, little by little, and depend more and more on ourselves, and our land, for our own food source. We hope to have a dozen chickens this year – maybe goats down the road too. Imagine, all the trees I mentioned above producing, with 4-6 eggs a day from the chickens, and veggies from the garden, it could provide a pretty decent amount of food for oneself.
I could only wish I had 250 acres, but then again, thats way more then enough. 2.5 acres will do us just fine, there’s plenty of room for what we wish to do. Thanks for your input, its appreciated – we are like minded people here, out to do the same thing, but in different places and with different ideas. Any fruit or vegetable you produce yourself, is a beautiful thing. You are lucky to have the land you do, many cannot afford such a large plot. I wish you the best as well! Thanks
By the way, here are some photos and more information about our property: https://www.welovecostarica.com/public/2007.cfm
costaricafinca : PS, where are you located? I would love a tour of your farm, It sounds wondeful.. Im sure I could learn something!
Another project we hope to do.. and by hope, I mean quite a far way off after other “priorities”.. after the garden beds, after the shade tents for lettuces and other fragile crops, after the chicken coops and chickens. But we have a small seasonal stream running through our property, and I really like the idea of a fish pond. Tilapia perhaps. There is a perfect existing pond like area to do it, to make a damn and line a pond area. I could even have some ducks there I figure.. Anyone have a Tilapia pond here? Not only is it a great protein source, but great for the compost pile as well! I know its not easy, and its important to keep the stock down to reduce competition and allow the fish to grow.. anyone have a fish pond of some sort? Produce any eatable fish from it?
[b]”…if you do not fertilize or maintain your fruit trees you may not produce fruit year round. However the picking of good species, maintaining your trees and fertilizing them should produce a constant a reliable harvest”[/b]
Trees have ‘seasons’, and no matter how you fertilize then, they will not produce just because you want them too!
Yes, you have planted a nice selection, but there are many more species available in Costa Rica.
And since goats are not ‘native’ here, and must be given antibiotics, to keep them healthy, so the milk, cheese are not considered ‘organic’ which may cause you to reconsider what to do with them…
Usually, I love to show what we have done here, including pointing out over…not individually though:D… 16,000 native trees we have added to a ‘reforestation’ project. that we have being doing the past 3 years, plus over 500 fruit trees, but I am not interested in ‘discussing the crash’.
You do have nice properties and I wish you luck.Very beautiful place you have there! My husband and I will be looking for long term rental next year…He is in construction also and loves gardening and plants..keep in touch.[quote=”caliskatari”]By the way, here are some photos and more information about our property: https://www.welovecostarica.com/public/2007.cfm%5B/quote%5D
Sorry to ‘pop in’ rather late to this interesting thread.
As someone who shares the concern for peak oil and has a strong interest in permaculture and small scale local food production–plus 16 years on the land here in Guanacaste, I’d like to share a few observations.
1. Depending on where you are in CR, your entire site AND your plantings should be designed into a water conservation/erosion prevention layout. This includes roof runoff and septic water. Harvest the water first and the plants will respond in kind.
2. If you plan to subsist on a diet of fruit and vegetables, fine, but if you fancy some starches and protein you might consider traditional, low maintenance crops, like tubers, cooking bananas, the highly productive aerial yam (ñyame) and for long term, the mayan breadnut, ojoche, which has 4X the protein of corn. Perennial greens like quelite, moringa and katuk are also easy to grow, high nutrient value and good fodder for chickens and goats. (This is a short list)
3. Bamboo deserves consideration as a quick source of material for all manner of garden and farm structures from trellises to gates, chicken coops. It also provides abundant leaf litter for compost and can be incorporated into erosion control and landslide prevention plantings.
4. Don’t forget the advantages of living near, and cultivating relationships with, people who still know how to live off the land. For more on this approach, see:
http://campfire.theoildrum.com/node/5714
For more information on sustainable land use and food production in the wet-dry tropics you can check out:
For those looking to see how a concern for future trends are being incorporated into an ‘eco-village’ design and construction please visit us.
Tpverde: Thank you for your post.
1)Yes, your are right.. Permaculture is many things: It is the act of designing your entire property to function harmoniously in all aspects; having your gardens, water disposal & runoff, waste material reuse, using the natural layout and composition of your land, all in a way which works together for the overall benefit of each system. Because each property is different, and each person’s wants and needs are different, its a system that must be designed and many factors must be taken into account.. And if done correctly, a circle of life can be created where no waste is produced and all aspects of the property function together. Thats the idea, but a lot of thought and planning must be put into a property way before “Diving in” to its development.
2) I want to have meat in my diet as well, thats why Goats are of interest and chickens of course. I plan to do high starch and easy growing foods like Yams and Potatoes. I will do some searching to gain more information on ojoche, and the aerial yam you mentioned. Also where could one go about finding the Perennial’s you mentioned: quelite, moringa and katuk? By seed ordered in the US?
3) Bamboo.. A material that could save the world.. I love the fact you mentioned it, I can’t forget to plant some.. Its very important to restrict its spread by creating underground “block-aids” or walls to restrict its growth. Otherwise.. that stuff can spread all over. The tricky part to bamboo is to confine and keep it in one place. The stuff grows easy otherwise.
A few questions I have for you.. living in Guanacaste and growing some of your own food – do you make your own compost? Do you use bins or a pile? Also any home made organic pesticides you have tried and tested in your garden?
A few images of our property.. these will be “before” photos. Soon, the land on image #2 will have quite a few raised garden beds for planting herbs and vegetables. Also included are some old photos (from about 3 years ago) when we started to plant our trees. I will post more photo’s in about a week of the trees now. First the view on a typical day:
This is where the raised garden beds will go. Its about 1.5 acres of slightly sloping, cleared land. BELOW:
And here is a photo of just a few of the citrus tree’s we planted 4 years ago. This photo was taken when they were first planted. They are over 6-8′ tall now. There are 12 planted in total.. you can only see a few of them in this photo.
I will post some recent pictures in about a week.. to see how fast those trees can grow.
[quote=”tpverde”]Sorry to ‘pop in’ rather late to this interesting thread.
As someone who shares the concern for peak oil and has a strong interest in permaculture and small scale local food production–plus 16 years on the land here in Guanacaste, I’d like to share a few observations.
1. Depending on where you are in CR, your entire site AND your plantings should be designed into a water conservation/erosion prevention layout. This includes roof runoff and septic water. Harvest the water first and the plants will respond in kind.
2. If you plan to subsist on a diet of fruit and vegetables, fine, but if you fancy some starches and protein you might consider traditional, low maintenance crops, like tubers, cooking bananas, the highly productive aerial yam (ñyame) and for long term, the mayan breadnut, ojoche, which has 4X the protein of corn. Perennial greens like quelite, moringa and katuk are also easy to grow, high nutrient value and good fodder for chickens and goats. (This is a short list)
3. Bamboo deserves consideration as a quick source of material for all manner of garden and farm structures from trellises to gates, chicken coops. It also provides abundant leaf litter for compost and can be incorporated into erosion control and landslide prevention plantings.
4. Don’t forget the advantages of living near, and cultivating relationships with, people who still know how to live off the land. For more on this approach, see:
http://campfire.theoildrum.com/node/5714
For more information on sustainable land use and food production in the wet-dry tropics you can check out:
For those looking to see how a concern for future trends are being incorporated into an ‘eco-village’ design and construction please visit us.
http://www.puebloverde.org[/quote%5D
This is a very interesting post. I would really like to find plants of the aerial yam, myan breadnut and perennial greens. We are growing Moringa and I have been trying to start Katuk. If you want something that produces fruit all year, plant lots of banana trees and plantains. We bought a 45 acre farm in the mountains at 2400 feet elevation about 12 miles outside San Isidro 4 years ago. It had over 500 banana plants and we never run out of bananas. I think there are at least 6 to 8 different varieties. Bananas don’t seem to have a “season”. They produce all year long. If we collected one bunch of bananas every day, we still would not pick all of them. The great thing about bananas and platains is that they make 1 to 6 new plants (hijos) every year to replace the plant that dies after fruiting. You can dig up the extra hijos (children) to plant in other places since usually only one hijo will win the race to replace the mother plant. We eat bananas fresh, in smoothies, make ice cream, make banana bread, sauté them for a yummy dessert, use green ones as a starchy vegetable and make banana vinegar to name a few uses. The extras are enjoyed by the worms, the chickens, the horses and the cows. The bunches that don’t get picked in time get eaten by birds, parrots and an unknown number and variety of critters. A banana never goes to waste. We use pulverized, dried banana leaves as mulch and as litter for our composting toilet. The leaves and stems are great additions to the compost pile adding potassium. We use banana trunks as birmming material to hold the soil and the water shed and as surrounds for the little bags growing tree seedlings or for raised garden beds. We are bringing mushroom plugs (think Shitakes and Oysters) to the farm this year and we are going to try to grow some of them in cut banana trunks as an experiment. Banana plants are self fertilizing, need little weeding and they store their own water for the dry season.
Another crop we have year round is yucca root. Even though the wild pigs living in the woods on our farm gorge themselves on it, we always have tons of it growing. One yucca stem has the potential to make dozens of new plants that make edible roots in 12 to 18 months. Yucca does not need cultivation, fertilizer or water beyond natural rain water.
We find that becoming and running a sustainable farm is both time consuming and a lot of work especially for a “retired” couple. However, we thoroughly enjoy eating fresh food that we have grown ourselves and this keeps us going. We are so thankful for volunteers who come to our farm to help us and who also enjoy all that we enjoy on the farm. We plant local seeds and we bring heirloom seeds from the states. Growing newly imported seeds is mostly trial and error. Our goal is to acclimate as many of the imported seeds to our tropical climate as we can to increase the variety of foods we have available to eat and also to create our own seed lines to plant new crops and to share with others.
We also have fruit trees in abundance. A variety of citrus extends the season quite a bit. Costa Rica has 2 crops per year (as in Hawaii) whereas the southern states of the US, Florida and Texas, only have one. There is nothing like having fresh squeezed orange juice every morning for breakfast as long as the oranges last. Citrus fruits also tolerate being left on the tree awhile until we are ready to pick them. We also have many mango trees. The mango season is way too short but, oh, so delicious.
The mountainous areas surrounding San Isidro seem to be a Mecca for environmentally conscious people. Many of these people are young. They have purchased farms (which are still reasonably priced in this area) using every penny they could save or borrow. In some cases, several people have combined resources to come up with the money to buy a farm. They don’t make much money – certainly not enough to qualify under Costa Rica’s residency standards – but they are the ones creating most of the organic farms in Costa Rica as they learn to live on the land and create a balance with nature. Most of these farms range from 10 to 60 acres. Crops occupy a small percentage of the land. It is nearly impossible to plant more than a couple of acres in food without big machinery and/or lots of people. A typical farm might include low cost houses, organic gardens, a greenhouse, chickens, fruit trees, forest and pasture with cows or horses.
I don’t know if the USA and/or the world are headed for economic collapse. I just know that right now I am not comfortable with the quality of our food supply and the sustainability our lifestyle in the states. We think of our farm as Plan “B” in case life in the US becomes unbearable. It is large enough to be a future haven for friends and family if the worst happens. In the meantime, it is a place where we can breathe fresh air, drink spring water that is better than bottled, grow our own food, get plenty of exercise and live in a serene environment free from air and noise pollution. I would love to here from other organic farmers in our area and exchange plants and seeds at the feria on Thursdays. Rosie of Earth Rose FarmI just wanted to say cheers to you, caliskatari, for your intention and creativity, and for your grace in response to criticism. I admire your vision and encourage you to stay the path. There are many people like you and me, so take heart!
hey, cali — i want to come and live with YOU!! i am doing something similar, but on a much smaller scale. i have 5 raised beds, but i certainly don’t produce enough of anything to supply our total foood demand with the exception of exotic lettuces and criollo garlic, and now. . . georgia sweet potatoes. i’ve got about 24 different kind of fruit trees, and am about to plant 5 walnut trees, but i am a few years away from having anything that would qualify as abundance. when we lived in alaska my mom had the best garden — 4 pound carrots, 50 pound cabbages, beets the size of a soccer ball, etc., so i learned at an early age the value of growing at least some of your food. i moved to CR to get at least one foot off the grid, but it’s a full-time job with what little i have planted already. your spot is beautiful and i wish you great success.
[quote=”jd”]So it is better to be a coward and run than to stay and fight to keep the freedoms, life and liberty that allowed you this opportunity? Remember democracy is not the historical form of government and it would do you good to examine the basis upon which democracy was founded.
[/quote]
Costa Rica has been a democracy since 1899 with a unicameral congress and moving to Costa Rica is hardly the act of cowardice you present. It is a challenge to live here.The so called freedoms that you fight for is available in a nation that does not even have a military presence and is the most advanced nation in the area.
The U.S. has created the war and economic issues it faces. Is more of the same what Americans are fighting for?
I think you make an excellent point, waggoner. There are fights that are worth fighting for the chance to win. There are fights worth fighting for the chance to cripple your opponent. And there are fights that are not worth fighting because you have no chance to either win or cripple your opponent. Those last are the ones to avoid.
The United States has become an oligarchy controlled by a very small segment of the population. And it’s getting worse. The Democrats are as bad as the Republicans. I see very little chance of any meaningful change. What would be the motive of the oligarchs to cede their power and wealth?
That said, you can remain in place and fight a battle that’s doomed to be lost or move on. If you have little chance to save the community, you have the right to exercise your opportunity to save yourself.
I am thankful for over 21 years of military and paramilitary training, which have given me the ability to anticipate and prepare for any situation. Anyone with more than two brain cells, is aware that the american dream and freedom only exist if you are sleeping! In reality, the top 1% of the wealthy control all the natural resource allocations and financial wealth. As a soldier, I can assure you, wars are not about freedom and national security, rather, war is merely politics by other means. The U.S. government and the military are broken. Taxes and prices on goods are rising, americans are now pushing the illegal aliens off the street corners; and themselves becoming day laborers; just to get a job. Americans, get ready for your third world status. In comparison to the U.S., Costa Rica is truly a paradise.
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