Help with eco project and learn about rainforest regenerative farming in Barton Creek Valley, Belize

Infos

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  Description

  We are inviting you to come and stay and help with the building, development and running of this project, consisting of a 3 acre smallholding, a 1.5 acre orchard, and 212 acres of pristine rainforest in a remote area of Belize which we have been dedicating ourselves to since 2021. You can find below the bullet points for the overall project. For now, we need people to help with the smallholding and the orchard, and the daily running of the place, including gardening, some farming, some building, care of the animals (many chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, some sheep, some goats, two milking cows). Over the next few months, we are planning to do some more building (a wooden cabin on stilts, a clay oven from local clay, and the further development of our 40-ft container and porch, where our solar system, electrics and fibre-optic Internet connection are located). If you have any kind of skills with sustainable, simple building, that is a preferred bonus. You need to be comfortable living primitively.
  
  Our location is very remote - when you come here by vehicle , you have to cross the creek four times, and in the rainy season there can be a few days when the creek is high and you cannot cross. We are about 70 minutes drive from the nearest big town. We try to warn everybody regarding the location and the living conditions, but some people have ignored these warnings and then have left early after a few days because it was too remote and primitive for them, and they say it was "not what they expected". So we are trying to be as crystal clear as possible about what to expect. We are inundated with requests, and spend a lot of time getting to know and making arrangements for volunteers including setting up suitable learning situations - all of this doesn't really work if people leave after a few days. Please be aware that we are making an investment in you, of time, effort and energy, and we want you to be happy, fulfilled and satisfied, enjoying life in this 'hard-work' paradise as much as we do. We are quite strict in terms of living a non-addictive and non-toxic life. We are fully aware and accepting that this is not for everybody, but probably only for a minority of the population.
  
  Another consequence of the location is that it doesn't make much sense to come just for a few days. It takes the best part of a day to get here, it takes a few days to get acclimatised and to become familiar with our routines and all the practicalities, and then you haven't even started learning what you came for. To understand regenerative principles to the point that you can apply them for yourself will take a while, because the underlying thinking and paradigm is so different from what we have been taught. So if you are serious about wanting to learn, you should be prepared to come for about three weeks at least. Another aspect of our set up and the remote location is that we are not suited for people who want frequent access to civilisation, social life, or affordable tourism. It is remote, and there aren't many people around, other than the few locals who come to work with us,
  
  As it is the tropics, daylight hours are precious and the day starts early, around 6.00. We have a local helpers visiting most days who take care of food preparation, but you would obviously be welcome to join in with that (harvesting and preparation, including sourdough bread, yoghurt, kombucha, etc). You would be doing tasks together with some local helpers.
  
  The main aims, objectives and principles for this holistic, sustainable project are:
  • Organic farming, Permaculture, Regenerative agriculture (SoilFoodWeb) including fish ponds, apiaries
  • Eco-Retreat Centre and Refuge, with workshops and training courses, on sustainable living, farming and psychotherapy (including couple therapy, group facilitation and therapy training)
  • Sustainability & Organic Agroforestry, carbon credits (planting 10 trees for every tree felled)
  • Protecting rainforest flora and fauna, land and water (under threat of logging for cattle ranching)
  • Protecting endangered species (nurseries for rare tropical trees, breeding butterflies, protecting birds, etc)
  • Setting up a community lab of citizen scientists, using regenerative agriculture microscopy to take soil and compost samples for studying microbiology to inform our farming and gardening
  • Sustainable architecture with natural, local materials (adobe clay, slate, lime stone, local wood & bamboo)
  • Maintaining, reclaiming and re-discovering indigenous Mayan traditions and rainforest remedies & healing
  • EMF white zone: one of the largest zones on the planet without man-made electromagnetic radiation
  • Land and water management in line with anthroposophical understanding of living water (water & flowforms)
  • Designing according to Biogeometry principles
  • Local community projects (oriented towards future independent governance) generating security and wealth for empoverished by working sustainably with rainforest (cacao, coffee, xate, medicinal plants, spices, and many more products)
  
  We are serious about turning this part of the planet (the whole upper reaches of a secluded, remote valley), into a fertile, self-sustaining, non-toxic, abundant little paradise, that can serve as an inspiration for others, and for our future, using the principles of organic, regenerative agriculture and agroforestry. I have been an organic gardener for 35 years, but I have been studying the soil food web for a couple of years, and am inspired by partnering with nature and the soil biology. I am setting up a citizens' lab with a microscope (for sampling and investigating soil microbiology), and have had Permaculture consultants help me make a plan for the next few years, which I am inviting your participation and help to manifest. We are aiming to make this an inspiring beacon project for the rest of the country (which is pretty lost in chemical farming, with some notable, inspiring and helpful exceptions).
  
  You will have the possibility to learn the whole spectrum of organic regenerative agriculture and agroforestry (Elaine Ingham Soil Food Web, Matt Powers, Richard Perkins, Chris Trump (Korean Natural Farming), and how we are learning from people like Christine Jones, Gabe Brown, Joel Salatin, John Kempf and Tom Dykstra to grow healthy, living soil capable of producing healthy plants to feed healthy animals and humans). We are aiming to make this a holistic fairly self-sufficient ecosystem, which will produce abundant food to eventually set up and run an eco-retreat and therapy centre.
  
  There are many activities and small projects which you can dedicate yourself to, according to your own preferences depending on what you want to learn, e.g. looking after the animals and helping them multiply, market gardening, composting, fruit trees, soil sampling and microscopy, and a variety of projects ranging from tilapia farming to vanilla production.
  
  We have one cabin with a double bed and a hammock. We have another cabin (with one single and one double bedroom), a large tent and we are planning further buildings, including a compost toilet (you are welcome to help and learn about that, too). We have high standards for our diet, way above the rest of the population around us, with imported organic staples from the US and our own fresh organic produce, high quality grass-fed dairy (milk, yoghurt, cheese) and meat, partly from our own animals, partly from neighbours around us.
  
  As our property is off-grid, supply of electricity is limited and so is use of technology. However, we do have Internet via fibre-optic cable - probably the best connection in the region. We live quite simply and primitively, and you need to be comfortable with proximity to animals. The place is hot and humid, but you do have the creek to cool off, just 25 steps down a slope. Some volunteers have found it difficult to live without constant engagement with their phones or other addictive tendencies of civilisation - we are mindful and compassionate when these difficulties arise (just coming here and being here is quite a holistic detox challenge), but you may want to consider such issues in advance.

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  Aide dans une ferme
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  Objectifs de développement durable de l’ONU que cet hôte essaie d'atteindre

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  Qu'est-ce que c'est ?
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  You will have the possibility to learn the whole spectrum of organic regenerative agriculture (Elaine Ingham soil food web, Matt Powers, Chris Trump (Korean Natural Farming)), agroforestry, as applied to both animals and plants. We are aiming to make this a holistic fairly self-sufficient ecosystem, which will produce abundant food to eventually set up and run an eco-retreat and therapy centre.

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  Aide

  There are many activities and small projects which you can dedicate yourself to, according to your own preferences depending on what you want to learn, e.g. looking after the animals and helping them multiply , market gardening, composting, fruit trees, soil sampling and microscopy, and a variety of projects ranging from tilapia farming to vanilla production.

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  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Allemand: Courant
  Anglais: Courant
  Espagnol: Intermédiaire

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  Cet hôte a indiqué qu’il souhaitait faire partager sa propre langue ou en apprendre une nouvelle.
  Contactez-le pour en savoir plus.
  
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  Hébergement

  We have a cabin with a double bed and a hammock. We are in the process of building more accommodation and further buildings, including a compost toilet (you are welcome to help and learned about that, too). We have high standards for our diet, way above the rest of the population around us, with imported organic staples from the US and our own fresh organic produce, high quality grass-fed dairy and meat. There will be three meals a day.

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  Informations complémentaires

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    Accès Internet

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    Accès Internet limité

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    Nous avons des animaux

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    Nous sommes fumeurs

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    Familles bienvenues

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  Possibilité d’accueillir les digital nomads

  Cet hôte a indiqué qu’il aimait accueillir les digital nomads.

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  Espace pour garer des vans

  Cet hôte a de la place pour les vans.

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  Possibilité d'accueillir les animaux

  Cet hôte a dit qu’il acceptait les personnes voyageant avec un animal.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Plus de 2

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