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
2019 – Two Thousand And Nineteen
2nd Jan 2019 – First time pruning the vetiver grass
10th Jan 2019 – Transplanting 75x BreadFruit plants
17th Jan 2019 – Preparing new BeeHive for the Melipona Stingless Bees (“Catana” – Scaptotrigona ederi Schwarz)
18th Jan 2019 – Harvesting one of the very first Giant Soursop (Annona Muricata) fruit
25th Jan 2019 – Transplanting many local Heliconia flowering plants to attract more Hummingbirds
1st Feb 2019 – Planting fresh bamboo seeds : Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens), Fargesia robusta campbell, Black bamboo (Phyllostachys Nigra)
10 Feb 2019 – 5kg fertilizing soil for every Soursop fruit tree
20 Feb 2019 – First bamboo seeds are sprouting after only 20 days.
22 Feb 2019 – Finalized planting Arachis Pintoi seeds over a area of about 8Has including the soursop plantation.
28 Feb 2019 – Transplanted new Pico Pico Tree (Acnistus arborescens – Family Solanaceae) in 4 different locations of the Fruit Forests.
4th March 2019 – Started building Adaptive Contour Access Path in the G-Zone between Zone-5 and Zone-4. 1st remove pasture grass. Then plant the fruit tree seedlings.
12th March 2019 – Finalized building the Adaptive Contour Access Path
14th March 2019 – Transplanting Bamboo from seeds into bigger containers
14th March 2019 – Harvesting our first “Sangre de Drago” blood.
15th March 2019 – Finalizing the latest Food forest extreme polyculture zone in conjunction with the Adaptive Contour Access Path (ACAP).
25th March 2019 – Transplanting vetiver grass for G-Zone soil enhancement. Check out the sheer size of how huge the vetiver grass grows in our tropical climate
3 April 2019 – Improving tropical rain flow on terraces – final hack. Controlling the water flow.
4th April 2019 – Improving the main access road to the farm.
12th April 2019 – Transplanting Giant Bamboo (Dendrocalamus Asper) and Guadua Angustifolia. Agroforestry tropical polyculture.
16th April 2019 – Harvesting another giant soursop.