Thanks to your generous support, Hernando is transitioning to regenerative farming methods that will protect the earth and sustain us all.
Celebrating World Wildlife Day
Process Makes Perfect
An Update from Isabel
The Boat Ride that Launched Sustainable Harvest International
One fateful morning in March 1997, I was the last person to board a boat and find the last open seat on one of the long white benches that ran down each side of the open skiff. As the boat pulled away from the dock in Bocas del Toro, Panama and headed for the offshore reef, I noticed the tall man next to me. From the clean, simple cut of his attire, I guessed he was European.
“My name is Dieter,” he said, speaking loudly over the roar of the outboard motor...
Part 8 Building a Sustainable Empire
BY MARIANO NARARRO, FIELD TRAINER
To me, the partnership between the Reyes family and Sustainable Harvest International is like a couple holding hands and walking together toward a common goal—a mutually enjoyable “empire.”
The goals of Sustainable Harvest International are wide and there are many branches to each of them. If the families I work with integrate the majority of what we teach, helping us to achieve these goals, I feel I’m doing my job well.
Part 2 Joaquín: Speaking the Same Language
“What would your grandfather think if he saw the way you’re farming it now?” we ask.
Joaquín looks out at the farm and chuckles. His laugh, like his voice, is quiet, gentle, and slightly wheezy.
“He’d laugh,” he says, with a twinkle in his eye. He’d laugh because Joaquín’s farm looks nothing like it did back in the early 1990’s.
Parakeets and All
It had been six years since I last visited Isabel’s farm and I didn’t know what to expect. The sound of rocks scraping the bottom of the rental car had gotten worse since picking up three additional passengers. After thirty minutes of jolting along the dusty road, I was relieved when we had to walk the last quarter mile. The hedge of hibiscus preceding the path to Isabel’s house looked the same, but the farm beyond looked less abundant than I remembered. I began to worry that our efforts had been in vain.
