Seeing the wood for the trees! How can you learn anything? By doing it. Before taking on larger operations it has been a fascinating learning curve to carry out an experimental harvest of much larger diameter Mahoe trees than ever before in an area not far from the homestead. The November crew consisted of Andre Sanfiorenzo, Andrés Rúa, 3t Vakil, Javier Rojas, Celestino Lozada Cruz, & Javier's son, Javielito, who helped with de-barking and storage of the milled wood. Let us know if you are interested in participating as a volunteer on planned harvesting programs over the next few years.

Until the road is restablished we cannot get a vehicle to the areas of mahoe plantation. Everyone at Las Casas in the last few months has worked on the road into the forest. We have started the process of clearing brush, re-establishing drainage, and widening by hand. We need to uncover buried drainage systems, widen the road where landslides have narrowed it to a few feet, install pipes and build new culverts. The road needs critical attention and the major consideration for it’s timely completion is weather. For the first time in over 15 years a vehicle was on the road. We have been able to take the tractor and jeep down the road into the forest to where we have cleared  so far, and addressed the drainage, but this is only possible at present in fairly dry weather. Andrés Rúa is aptly named for this ongoing mission. All ye who would like to spend a few days/weeks makin' road, apply now!

We cleared more than several years worth of junk from the homestead and liberated spaces! On the left is the tractor shed before, and now, right, the shared drying area for wood. One of the trailers was also completely cleared out.

Making Pasteles
With four big banana bunches hanging off our trees and only three of us here, André's and his mother, Juanita organised a pasteles making day. Ivonne Reveron, Raul Rosado, Haddys Torres, Axel, Sierra and 3t set to the task, peeling green bananas, yautia, and calabaza. All get grated into a paste called masa. Banana leaves are cut, passed over open flames, washed clean, cut into pieces and laid on parchment paper. A little oil is smoothed over the leaf and masa is spread over it. The fillings, meat and vegetarian are placed centrally in the masa and one chickpea is added, just for taste! Then the whole thing is wrapped in the leaf and paper and tied with string. Wrapping the pastele is an art that everyone grasped & 200 pasteles sat wrapped at the end of the evening. They can then be frozen or boiled for an hour, unwrapped and eaten. Delicious. Thank you everyone.

Infernos
Created by Nature - Enhanced by 3t Vakil
more info

No trees were cut down to create these pieces.
Tree-ferns tend to grow on steep banks and can fall easily in very heavy rain or winds.Minimal disturbance is caused by taking a small section from a fallen tree and letting the rest decompose naturally. The base of each piece is made from sustainably harvested tropical hardwood, Blue Mahoe (Hibiscus elatus),
grown at
Tropic Ventures
Rainforest Enrichment &
Sustainable Forestry Project

Blue Mahoe Bongos
commissions accepted by Andrés Rúa