History

The PermaTree Holistic Gaia Association was established in May 2016 through the purchase of about +75 hectares (180 acres) at the edge of the great Amazonas Rainforest in Ecuador. As you can see with this history we have been more than busy around here…

PermaTree Farm Activity Log

Recordkeeping is an essential part of good organic farming practices

2015 – Two Thousand And Fifteen

1st November 2015 – We arrived in Esmeralda from Cali in Colombia, and started exploring Ecuador…

2016 – Two Thousand And Sixteen

21th March 2016 – 1st time exploring the to-be PermaTree property in Zamora Chinchipe

19th May 2016 – Signing the legal contract for the PermaTree property (60 days after the 2st visit)

22th May 2016 – Installing water catchment system high up (2km water pipes) in the mountain directly from the creek

27th May 2016 – Harvesting giant bamboo during the morning hours in good moon

31 May 2016 – Building the main access road, about 800 meters of distance

4th June 2017 – Installing 500m of electric cables from the road (currently solar is very expensive in EC)

10th June 2016 – Starting to build the natural Bamboo house

11th June 2016 – Transporting all of the harvested bamboo from the river to the finca

20th June 2016 – Planted 1st batch of 15 bananas (5x Ceda, 5x Plátano, 5x Maqueño)

29 June 2016 – Bamboo house structure with temporal roof build – no floor & walls yet

20th July, 2016 – We transplanted first batch of 500 vetiver tropical clump grass.

26th July 2016 – We “transplanted” our 1st plant nursery/greenhouse from El Pangui to the finca PermaTree.

27th July 2016 – Shipment with 1,000 fruit and bamboo plants arrived today.

30th July 2016 – The 145m fence on the national road: “Troncal Amazonico E45” was finalized

31th July 2016 – We moved full time to the finca – bamboo house had a roof & some temporal walls

7th September 2016 – Started building the 103-recycled-tire-stairs to the natural pond

9th September 2016 – All external house walls where build with double guadua bamboo layer

21th September 2016 – We received Pulga our new puppy dog from our neighbors

22th September 2016 – Our first volunteer “Nico” from the US arrived to help

25th September 2016 – Started building the recycled shower beer glass bottle wall

16th August 2016 – Transplanting 10’000 vetiver grass to improve soil and fight erosion

26th October 2016 – Improving the water catchment system with a big additional 2500L tank

11th November 2016 – The compost toilet is now almost finished surrounded by bamboo walls

1st December 2016 – Created a new structure for experimental vine-type of plants with bamboo

14th December 2016 – Opened an additional road access to the top of the farm

25th December 2016 – Finalization of the natural swimming pond & water reserve

2017 – Two Thousand And Seventeen

16th January 2017 – Started the new bigger vegetable garden below the big shady guava tree

26th Januar 2017 – Final improvement of the stairs from the house to the shower/toilets

24th February 2017 – New chicken house was build

1st March 2017 – Started with the ground structure for the new volunteer bamboo cabin

20th March 2017 – Minga: Start of 6 days, planting 1’000 Guanabanas fruit plants on over 3 hectares of hill

26th March 2017 – Minga: Transplanting 50’000 vetiver grass to fight soil erosion and more

6th May 2017 – Beehives project started – painting the new wood boxes soon

9th May 2017 – Just finished the new volunteer bamboo cabin roof

13th May 2017 – Minga: Planting 50 new banana “ceda” type above the main bamboo house

16th May 2017 – Existing chicken house was moved and improved

17th May 2017 – Improving the existing kitchen functionalities

18th May 2017 – Discovered a producing chonta palm and harvested 1st peach palm

21th May 2017 – Improving the main farm entrance gate with name and roof

3rd June 2017 – 1st check on the Beehives. Population are growing. Almost no issues with ants or other insects.

15th July 2017 – Got back to the farm after Btina gave birth to Violetta 2 weeks ago in Cuenca.

22th July 2017 – Transplanted some Vetiver grass.

27th July – planted more Yellow Pitahaya Cactus aka dragon fruit.

Aug 2017 – Improving the fence with barb wire on one with of the farm about 150m

4th Sep 2017 – Transplanting 6x mature bamboo culms giant bamboo and bicolor

15th Sep 2017 – Planted a Pili Nut fruit tree (Canarium Ovatum)

22th Sep 2017 – Harvesting our 2nd corn

23th Sep 2017 – Cleaned the area for “5in1” greenhouse, plant nursery, drying, fended area and compost area

29th Sep 2017 – We got 2 ducks for our pond

1st Oct 2017 – Improved the fencing of the chicken coop – wood had rooten…

2nd Oct 2017 – 2nd experiment planting 4x fresh Chaya sticks

5th Oct 2017 – Discovered about 600 Cacao Nacional 15y old fruit trees further up

6th Oct 2017 – Minga: planting – 25x Guineo ceda, 25x platanos

14th Oct 2017 – As of now we are Member of APEOSAE (Federación de Pequeños Exportadores Agropecuarios Orgánicos del Sur de la Amazonía Ecuatoriana)

21th Oct 2017 – Finalized the main farm entry with the name: Finca Yantza

24th Oct 2017 – Minga: Planting 300 Guayusa plants

8th Nov 2017 – Harvest first ripe “maqueño” banana from the 1st batch of x15 planted in June 2016!

13th Nov 2017 – Started preparing for own “BIOL” production on the farm. To have organic liquid fumigation to keep the leaf healthy of the fruit trees.

14th Nov 2017 – Transplanted batch of 200 vetiver grass

17th Nov 2017 – Experiment: poroto with guanabana some polyculture

20th Nov 2017 – For the Guanabana plantation we just installed new insect traps

25th Nov 2017 – Measuring and planning new “5in1” greenhouse, plant nursery, drying and compost area.

30th Nov 2017 – Opened an additional / final road access to the farm

2nd Dec 2017 – Got x3 Pili Nut (Canarium ovatum), x3 Nuez de artenton (Arthertonia diversifolia) and x15 del Snake fruit (Salak Bali) palm fruit plants

3rd Dec 2017 – Checking on the beehives which are having a hard time because of global warming

4th Dec 2017 – Got x40 new Dendrocalamus Asper aka Giant Bamboo plants

12th Dec 2017 – started planting new batch of x200 ceda banana

17th Dec 2017 – finalized our adobe oven for bread and pizza cooking

17th Dec 2017 – got 2 additional ducks so now we have 4 ducks in our pond 🙂

20th Dec 2017 – Mid construction of the bamboo structure for the new “5in1” greenhouse, plant nursery, drying and compost area

2018 – Two Thousand And Eighteen

… Finalizing the greenhouse part of the “5in1” project

27th January 2018 – Transplanting 3x giant bamboos aka dendrocalamus asper

4th January 2018 – 1st test fire with the brand new adobe oven

13th January 2018 – 1st jump in the natural pool of the year 2018 🙂

5th February 2018 – Planting Ginger and Curcuma

5th February 2018 – 1st batch of “mani forrajero” aka Arachis pintoi seeds.

9th February 2018 – 1st batch of liquid fertilizer aka biol making

16th February 2018 – 2nd batch of liquid fertilizer aka biol making

20th February 2018 – 1st use of the adobe oven to bake fresh bread

24th February 2018 – building the bamboo tables for the tree nursery within the “5in1” project

5th March 2018 – “5in1” project greenhouse & tree nursery structures are finalized now

9th March 2018 – Transplanting Vetiver grass within the Guanabana plantation for the access.

12th March 2018 – Building access path in the Guanabana plantation

14th March 2018 – Planting lots of pineapple – again – around the house

15th March 2018 – Building and improving many access paths from and to the main house

16th March 2018 – Massive improvement of the main water intake from the source

29th March 2018 – Successful experiment with giant bamboo culm Nr.2 transplanting

10th April 2018 – Cleaning 200m path around the creek and plant more bamboo

7th April 2018 – Successful experiment with giant bamboo culm Nr.1 transplanting

15th April 2018 – Cleaning and pruning the 2has of cacao plantation

17th April 2018 – Planting lots of new #ManiForajero aka #ArachisPintoi forage plant

5th May 2018 – Transplanting new ground cover ArachisPintoi

8th May 2018 – Planting a few new trees also a #NuezDeArtenton or #ArthetoniaDiversifolia which is commonly known as #AthertonOak

17th May 2018 – Started planting avocado seedlings from seeds today.

17th May 2018 – Harvesting cacao or cocoa pods all day long

3rd Jul 2018 – Pruning the avocado trees.

6th Jul 2018 – After harvesting cacao we make our first 15kg “raw” chocolate bar

21 Jun 2018 – Another day planting Vetiver Grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides) for soil improvement

25 Jun 2018 – Transplanting more vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides) again today

13th Aug 2018 – Transplanting more Guadua aff. angustifolia Kunth bamboo

20th Aug 2018 – Experiment applying sugar to increase #microbial activity in the soil. Using local sugarcane diluted in water in different plots.

30th Aug 2018 – Failed greenhouse “5in1” project – the bamboo material we bought was cut in bad moon and quickly deteriorated into powder… we built the next roof in metal.

6th Sep 2018 – Transplanted more vetiver grass within the crop access path

7th Sep 2018 – Building more access path in the Guanabana plantation

21th Sep 2018 – Harvesting rice 1st time – lots of work…

23th Sep 2018 – First fruits of the Yellow Pitahaya Cactus aka dragon fruit starting to grow now.

29th Sep 2018 – Rice harvesting for the first time.

1st Oct 2018 – Terracing of the 2has of cacao CCN51

1st Oct 2018 – Harvesting lots of own cherry tomatoes

2nd Oct 2018 – Experiment reproducing 40 giant bamboo with root hormones

13th Oct 2018 – Purchased 250 Peach Palm seedlings

30th Oct 2018 – Harvesting Ginger and Curcuma

21th Oct 2018 – Harvesting for the first time our beehive honey. We left 50% for the bees.

1st Nov 2018 – Experimental: mini plot (2x2m) with vetiver mulch for the veggis

7th Nov 2018 – Experiment: terraced plot, planted rice 3 weeks ago now sprouting…

17th Nov 2018 – Terracing of 2has finalized.

20th Nov 2018 – Transplanting lots of vetiver grass and here into the new 2has terraces.

22thNov 2018 – Planting 3x 50kg rice on the new 2has terraces. First experiment with 1kg rice was successful after 3 weeks.

22thNov 2018 – Transplanting 6 new bamboo plants in the top part of above the “Lago Negro”

23th Nov 2018 – Re-Planting some Ginger

23th Nov 2018 – 1st time trimming of 10x Guadua Angustifolia bamboo plants

24th Nov 2018 – update: Experiment reproducing 40 giant bamboo with root hormones 80% success so far 🙂

29 Nov 2018 – Since 3 month now we have been harvesting tons of cheery tomatoes!

7th Dec 2018 – Transplanted: Salak, Starfruit, Membrillo within one of the food forest

11th Dec 2018 – Clearing zone-G for additional Fruit Tree PolyCultures. Size 1ha

14th Dec 2018 – Prepared a new big structure – plant nursery

15th Dec 2018 – 1st vetiver grass trimming 100 meters test

16th Dec 2018 – Successful Experiment : Bamboo propagation

18th Dec 2018 – pruning bamboo

19th Dec 2018 – new plants arrived: Dendrocalamus Asper x300, Guadua Angustifolia (brava) x300, Guadua Angustifolia (mansa) x300, Breadfruit x50, Rambutan x8, Starfruit x8

27th Dec 2018 – Published a blog post about monitoring biodiversity in regards to the fauna at PermaTree