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Sustainable Harvest International
779 North Bend Road
Surry, ME 04684

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     My trip to Panama was the most rural adventure I have ever experienced.  We started out by flying into Panama City where we stayed in a hotel for the first night and had an orientation with the group. The next morning SHI staff drove us to the work site in Chagres National Park. 

     We were staying in the community of Lago Alajuela, accessed by boat.  Each morning started at 5:30 am.  We would get ready in the dark and pack up all of our stuff and move all the school desks into the 2-room cement schoolhouse we were sleeping in so that the children could go to school during the day.  The kind women of the community would make us breakfast consisting of locally grown coffee, plantains or bananas, and cereal.  We would hike daily through the rainforest about 20 minutes to the water, boat about 30 minutes, then hike 30-40 minutes through more rainforest to the rice paddy site or other sites we were working. All communities were made up of approx. 5-10 families and could only be accessed by boat. 
     We would work all day.  Lunch and dinner was also prepared by local women and consisted of rice, beans, fried cassava, fried plantains, (fish or chicken if desired) and coffee. Vegetables are considered a luxury and due to SHIs work, many people in this area are growing various fruits and vegetables.  I enjoyed bananas, lemons, grapefruit, green coconut, plantains, tomatoes, cucumbers and locally grown coffee! 
     We worked on three main projects.  Our first project was to construct a community rice paddy.  To do this, we had to measure out a 20m x 20m area and clear all the brushI got to use a machete to cut down grass. Then form a 30cm x 30cm trench on all 4 sides.  To do this you hoe, dig and move the dirt out of the trenches.   The next step was to level all the ground in the middle.  We had to loosen the dirt by pick-axe or hoe and shovel it into wheelbarrows to then fill the trenches we just dug.  I know, how counter-productive&the reason for this is that filling it with this clay-like dirt and tamping it down forms a solid barrier that is partially impermeable to water.  After completing the digging part of it, you allow the paddy to settle for 24 hours.  Then plant the rice that has been started 3 weeks prior to the building of the paddy.  After the rice takes root in the paddy, you can flood the center and it will grow very efficiently in this way.  Normally the Panamanians in this area grow rice on hillsides using slash-and-burn farming methods.  Growing rice in a paddy increases crop yield by 400  800% annually and grows enough rice to feed the entire community.  This paddy can be harvested three times a year.  Our work was a demonstration paddy that costs about $100 to build.  We raised enough money to build paddies for 20 communities!
     Our second project built 5 Lorena stoves (wood-conserving stove).  This stove is made from an adobe-like brick.  We started with a platform of small cement bricks filled in the center with dirt.  We cut a large board to form a rectangular wood frame fixed with thick-gauge wire to hold in place.  Next we made a big pile on the ground of red dirt, sand, chopped pine needles, manure, cement and mix by shoveling.  A Guasimo tree paste helps to hold everything together, so soaking the bark of this tree in water releases a jelly-like substance that when mixed into the water forms a viscous glue.  We poured this glue into the dirt mixture and shoveled to mix again.  We moved this dirt into our wood frame by bucket quantities and tamped everything down each time.   Finally, you carefully remove the wood frame and then carve out the area for pots and for wood and to vent the smoke.  These stoves use less wood, concentrate the heat so they cook faster, and minimize the smoke that is inhaled.
     Our third project was a school garden.  This basically consisted of clearing two large hillsides of all grasses (again using a machete) and among the tarantulas.  We dug up the dirt in rows for planting. We planted cassava, corn, tomatoes, and cucumbers. We also put chicken wire all the way around the garden because of the chickens, hens, and roosters running all over the placeat least they are free-range! This school garden was a garden that the children of the community of Lago Alajuela would care for.
     At the end of the day, we would make the journey back to Lago Alajuela with enough daylight for about 4 people to shower all the dirt and sweat off before dinner (the 10 of us took turns showering in a tin privacy shelter under a spicket), the rest of us would shower in the dark after dinner.   By the end of all that, all you desire is sleep without any notion of the hard cement floor only to be waken by roosters crowing the next morning.

In January, a group of SHI supporters headed to SHIs demonstration farm in Honduras to take part in SHIs Smaller World Program.  The volunteers were given the opportunity to not only meet the Honduran staff, Board of Directors and participating families, but activily participated in a variety of service projects. Below are some photos and quotes from some of the trip participants.

I had an immersion in gratitude. Gratitude that such positive work is taking place, gratitude that I was actually part of it, even in a small way.
-Tom Barker

What a fantastic trip. It was amazing to see how effectively the donations are being utilized and appreciated! Great work is being done.
-John Collins


The  ten days spent in Honduras  with the SHI group was one of the most exciting and gratifying experiences of my life.  To experience another culture  in itself gave me a window into what the developing world is like that no amount of TV or other programs could have given me.   The  enthusiasm  we saw in the community leaders,  the hope they expressed for their and their children's future, and the wonderful spirit of the children was an unmistakable contrast to the abject poverty we saw elsewhere in this beautiful country.    Helping with various projects: reforestation, building a nursery for trees, a chicken coop and a lorena stove gave us a feeling of involvelment.   It was great privilege to have had this opportunity.
-Ward Stoops          
                                                                             
I can think of no organization that increases the standard of living for so little financial investment.  Every dollar is well invested in the Honduran people.  The Hondurans with whom we worked are wonderful, warm people who are devoted to the work they are doing with SHI.  I would encourage anyone who is involved with SHI to participate in Smaller World Tours. The entire trip was one of the best experiences of my life.
-Diane McCormack

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Honduras February 2004

Think all college students spend their spring breaks sleeping in? Think again. On Feb. 27th, 15 University of Maine students left for the Honduran highlands where they awoke at 6 o'clock every morning and headed to a 20 acre plot soon to be the home of Sustainable Harvest International's Demonstration Farm and Training Center. The students, all members of the UMaine student organization, R.E.A.C.H. (respect, education, action, community and hope), partnered with the Surry, Maine based non-profit organization Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) to construct this educational center where families will be able to visit and learn about alternatives to destructive slash-and-burn farming methods that they can implement on their own land.

The students raised just over $2,000, which was used to purchase the necessary construction materials for the project. In addition to working hard to raise the funding, the volunteers were given the opportunity to work with the village of Terreritos to construct the foundation and walls of the center. SHI founder and president Florence Reed applauds the work of the volunteers, "SHI facilitates long-term collaboration between trained local staff, farmers and communities to implement sustainable land-use practices that alleviate poverty by restoring ecological stability. This training center will provide classroom instruction combined with hands-on field experience working with new techniques and will allow people to see firsthand how well sustainable techniques work."

Diadem Strout, a 2nd year biology student took part in the experience, "We made cement by hand and had to carry water up 100 meters of steep terrain in order to mix the cement. We also made mortar for the adobe bricks. We provided positive energy for the other workers and showed them that there are people who do care and want to work hard and promote sustainable agriculture."

Emma Pope-Welch, a 2nd year student majoring in parks and recreation and journalism was touched by the closeness of the Honduran village that welcomed the volunteers, "It was one of the most amazing places I've ever visited and I met some of the kindest and most genuine people. I experienced a greater sense of community and family than I could have ever asked for."

In the two weeks that the R.E.A.C.H. volunteers were in the community they were able to build the cement foundation, level out the floor, create the rebar supports, mix mortar for the adobes and start stacking the bricks for the construction of the walls. The Sustainable Harvest International staff in Honduras hopes to see the completion of the center's main building before June when there will be a permaculture design course offered there.

Third year biology student, Scott Caparelli looks forward to returning to Honduras next spring. "Working with the community in Honduras was an experience of a life time. Seeing the work SHI has been doing with families first hand was very inspiring. It was incredible to talk with the local farmers and see the pride they took in showing us all they have accomplished with the help of SHI."