Vol.3 Issue 1, Feb/March/April 2005 For best printing results set Page Orientation to 'landscape'

Dear Friends,

February, March & April 2005, have been busy months at Las Casas de la Selva, and hence another newsletter to keep up with the images and news coming out of the rainforest project. So many people have turned up to volunteer their time and skills, and Las Casas is being tranformed with all this enthusiastic energy.

Reka Komaromi, and her daughter Priska, have been at the project since last November, along with Jody Taparauskas who arrived in December 2004 and stayed until the end of March 2005. These three ladies have been great organizers, motivators, gardeners, and chefs..

Much work was done on the composting system and enriching garden soils, making more space for planting vegetables and greens and beautiful heirloom tomatoes. They sold some worms from the wormbox and some vegetables and herb seedlings from the nursery and are selling plants in the organic market in San Juan. They also spent time in Icaco Valley and cleared around the seedlings that Greg Dugan had planted last year. Reka is also developing the education programs for local schools at Las Casas, and has taken young school children out on ecology tours in the forest.

What would we do without our friends Tonio & Berto, who have spent many hours volunteering their time to build a shelter with a roof, for Sierra. Carlos and his son Carlitos also worked on the roof of this shelter. Thank you all for the fun and music you have brought with you.

Thank you Santos and Chilla Torres for your never-ending friendship and support and for the materials that you have generously donated to the project.

Les Olive from New Mexico spent ten days and helped with plumbing, electrics, the garden, and brought seeds of nice greens that are being eaten right now.

Klaus Eiberle "Eibes," Captain of the RV Heraclitus over many years, has been at the project for over two months, spending a lot of time on the new shower block construction and making it into a beautiful art piece. Eibes fell in love with bamboo, chainsawed all kinds of fallen trees, (pine, coconut, bamboo, coffee). Eibes worked on the outhouse for the Casablanca Cabins; a humanure toilet sink and shower.
Reading suggestion: "The Humanure Handbook" by JC Jenkins.

February was a month of roasting and toasting coffee and cacao harvested from our own trees by Reka and Priska who made a home brew and some exquisite chocolate. In April they spent time pruning some of the big, old coffee trees at the abandoned coffee mill on the property. Jody carried on with her line of baking, creating delicious cakes and pastries to sell locally.

Maria Komaromi came all the way from Germany for Reka's birthday party and Professor Joseph F. Taparauskas came and helped with chopping bamboo, de-barking pine, and entertaining everyone with colorful stories while we ate Maria's delicious Hungarian food.

Rayeanne King, a reflexologist from Martha’s Vineyard, returned for another stay at Las Casas, and big thanks to Fernando Cervoni from Puerto Rico, who donated 12 bags of cement and several bottles of wine.

Raul Rosado, a new friend from Puerto Rico, an organic gardener, is planning to spend a lot of time at the project helping with the horticultural systems and ongoing projects. He also helped to cement the new shower block floor.

Omar Collazo, artist & sculptor, started his move into the location at the top of the road where the sawmill is, clearing the area and working on the trailer. His plan is to create an atelier for sculpting and painting workshops, and one of his first exciting projects will be carving a totem pole out of a huge Mahogany log that was felled in a hurricane. Contact Omar if you would like to work with him.

Jonathan Park, a former Earthwatch volunteer, returned to spend ten days helping on all aspects of the project.

Maria Benedetti, author of "Earth and Spirit: Medicinal Plants & Healing Lore from Puerto Rico", spent time at the project, and is preparing for an upcoming mandala workshop.

In April, we had a big school group field trip. Thanks to Jose Maldonado, who was referred to us by our friend Biella Coleman, the curriculum director of TASIS, a private elementary school in Dorado. Thirty nine-year-old children and seven teachers and mothers come to explore the forest with Reka. The children all made their own designs on building a 'bush house' with materials from the forest, and after Eibes's delicious pasta lunch, they all took part in Priska's fascinating palm weaving workshop.

Idaho State University
What an incredible team this was. Thank you to all who participated in this explosion of creative effort at Las Casas de la Selva. Please don't miss the reports written by Reka and Priska.

A Huge thank you to all our Puerto Rican friends and sponsors for materials, music, fun and support they have given us.

SAWMILL FOR SALE
Bought in 1988, and in good condition, our 128 Mobile Dimension Hydrostatic Saw is up for sale.
Email 3t for more details.

Sustainable Forestry Project
Come and make beautiful furniture at Las Casas for sale locally and through the website. We have an inventory of primo wood and 'waste' wood from the Mahoe harvest. Are you good with wood? Would you like to make something from our beautiful Mahoe hardwood, or create an enterprise at Las Casas making rustic furniture using the wastewood? Come spend some time at Las Casas and find wood heaven!

Wanderwoman3t has a new gallery . Check it out.

Always happy to receive your news and any comments on the website. All newsletters are in the archive
big hugs...from all at Las Casas Sierra, 3t, Reka, Jody & Priska

PHOTO CREDITS:
Reka Komaromi, Priska Komaromi, Klaus Eiberle