Year 4: 2022, Fish in their thousands, ancestral tomatoes and Pineaples
New mushroom lab in San Lucas
We ended up with the good fortune of being leant a farm to steward in a colder region, so we set up a new mushroom lab there where we conduct all our sterile work and grow cold fruiting species that are profitable like grey oyster.
Moved cocorade drinks factory to San Lucas
We moved the drinks factory to the cold farm in San Lucas as the heat and transporting the drinks from such a remote area made things difficult. Having the drinks factory near the city means it’s much easier to distribute and there also isn’t the problem of constant power cuts.
Started a food factory in San Lucas
We are currently setting up a food factory to produce a range of healthy products with our natural farm ingredients, chilies, salsas, jams and marmalades, granolas, pesto’s, pate’s and much more.
300 Ramon nut trees
We planted 300 Ramon trees, they are a keystone species so very important for birds and insects, mammals, they are also extremely drought tolerant and threatened species in Guatemala. The nut from them is a superfood so we figured we can use it for products in the future.
Eleven tilapia ponds and integrated irrigation system
We finally got our tilapia ponds in, a recirculating system that is connected to our tomato plantation, the fish eat mostly algae that grows from their own poop, once a week we take out the sediment from the ponds and give it to our tomatoes via sprinklers. It’s a great fertilizer full of amino acids and with the right balance of essential nutrients.
Ancestral tomatoes
We discovered our amazing ancestral tomato strain, found in the farm chef’s garden, growing like a weed. We named it after her as we couldn’t find its original name, tomato Melina. A cherry tomato that Melina said always grows around these parts, it is amazingly resistant to disease and has a great flavor, so from five tomatoes we now have a plantation of 1000 tomatoes and they sell out every time. This was a huge success for us. It is said that Guatemala once had over 500 different kinds of tomato, and that now only 5 kinds of the original races still exist. Melina’s could be one of those 5 still in existence or maybe it’s a new one that was lost and now found again.
Pineapple plantation
Our trees will not bear fruit for 5 years, so in the time we wait for them we need to be generating income to care for them and to keep developing the farm, so we planted an understory crop of pineapples, 50,000 pineapples. It seems like a lot but it’s a relatively small plantation comparatively speaking. Pineapples don’t need much water, or many inputs compared to other plants, they are also perennial so after the first planting we can get multiple harvests. These original pineapples are coming from a chemical farm in a cooler region, they are in process of adapting to this environment and growing the microbial soil associations necessary so they can in take nutrients, we are helping them out with the application of bio-Fertilizantes, symbiotic microbes and constant mulching with grasses which is also an attempt to control the invasive grass that grows around them.
Bio-factory
The bio-factory is where we produce biofertilizers and organic pesticides for our plantations, this area will become one of the most important on the farm as it will enable us to grow a diversity of crops organically.
The water temple
No paradise would be complete without a place to sit in deep contemplation, to rest, to observe the birds, the wind in the trees, the clouds and the passing of the seasons. We made the water temple as a homage to the water, the ponds, the fish, the rain, the most essential element that brings life to these arid lands. From the temple you can see the volcanoes and mountains, you can watch birds stealing fish from the ponds, you can also dance, practice movement, sleep, it’s a place that feels very connected with the land. One day the jungle we have planted will envelop it, and it will be a very secret and special place indeed.
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