Finished the work on the Animal-Video-Clip-Data-Base and started with Clips for movie “Jungle Treasures: Wildlife Vlog from the Heart of Costa Rica”. This will also be the base for the Huelal-Totga movie. Association Communication, Website Development.
Working in the house area with the brush cutter including work with the machete (bananas and bushes)
Association communication, general communication, working through the to-do list.
Accompanying coconut milk production, learning a bit about the use of coconuts.
During the week Stefan, one of the hosts, was too frustrated with 3 of 4 volunteers so he decided to terminate the contracts with them (he played the Veto card against Yule, the other host who was not in accordance with that). From his point of view their performance in documenting the work-progress, documenting what has been harvested by them didn´t work out at all. Furthermore, there was a subtle resistance from two of them to do what was the most important, instead they wanted to do what they would like to do. It felt like they wanted to impose their will on the Host and that was a behavior which was not longer to be tolerated.
On the other hand, it was a great experience because two of them had a great knowledge about permaculture and farm-related procedures and the hosts were able to learn quite a lot from them. Also, it made clear that some things between the hosts and the volunteers must be clearer from scratch, so this was a good eye-opener what needed to be changed contract- and host-description wise so potential volunteers will have clearer in future what is expected from them.
Later Yule and Stefan had long, partially controversial discussions but find a stable agreement at the end. A new Volonteer concept will be developed with high priority and will find its way to future contracts and platform – host – description. It was neccessary to have a cut because the overall atmosphere was a bit toxic. Therefore, it can be said that it was a very valuable experience.
Working with the weed-whacker in different areas: House, Fruta de Pan.
Various seeds sown for pre-germination:
- Durian
- Nutmeg
- Brunei Cherry
- Jorco
- Lasat
- Biribá
- Mangostán
- Blackberry Jam
- Wild Jocote
Worked on the old biogas plant in the New Composting Plant area, breaking up chunks of concrete and moving them along the path. Discussed what will happen to the Fruta de Pan offshoots. Continued to demolish parts of the south wall of the old biogas plant with Hilti. Clay bags brought to the new “dam wall” and poured out. Earth in front of the old biogas plant moved into a depression to lower the ground level.
Built a permeable clay dam at a key point on the site (where various rivulets merge when it rains). To do this, we dug a depression in the stream, laid a concrete pipe in it and piled clay around it, filled it with stones and compacted it with a wooden rammer. The purpose of the concrete pipe is to allow any overflowing faeces from the nearby septic tank to drain away until it is removed as soon as the compost loo is built. The concrete pipe should then be sealed.