Last week on the New Environmentalism we started a little travel journal on my trip to Panama with Sustainable Harvest. Recap: I took a trip. With an organization that practices what we preach. They hire people from the country to be sustainable ag extension agents. They help farmers and help save the earth’s lungs….Let’s pick it up. Today is an actual work day in the fields preparing soil and compost bags and planting seedlings. It’s our first day in the rural area. The eager Americanos and the pleased and eager farmers.
The bus goes ten miles on severely rutted dirt roads through lots of brushland and wooded country. The countryside is varied. I expected farms cleared out of virtual rainforests, what I found was different. Every once in a while a small square concrete structure with a tin roof that represents a house. The brush is cleared around the house and often one sees a semblance of fields and plants that have been cultivated….
Sometimes there are two to three houses in the same area and a school. That’s the extent of the villages. We arrive and walk along a path to the farm where we will be transplanting nursery seedlings (fruit trees). The first thing I notice is the hard ground. It’s very hard, doesn’t seem like farm land. The other thing is the wind. I realize we’re really on a plateau more than hills and valleys. Lots of scrub trees, bushes and thick grass land. The farm has three buildings, two families, probably related, live here. Several families that work with SHI in the area are here, polite introductions, welcoming little talks with someone translating and we get ready to work. There’s a wooden stand where the fruit tree seedlings have been growing, a pile of dirt, black plastic bangs with holes in them, little trowels and 18 of us gringos. We even have a show and tell and then we get to work transplanting the seedlings. This is long term work. It takes 3 years from when the 3 inch seedlings are put in the bags for them to become fruit trees and bear fruit. They will spend 6 months in the bags being watered daily by hand before being put in the ground. The dirt is decent, friable and the work starts.
I go with a couple of the farmers to get more dirt with a wheel barrow and a couple of shovels. The pile is under some trees and before long I realize the dirt under the trees is the dirt in the bags (what a genius I am) and then I understand why the usual practice is to cut the trees down and farm. That’s where the decent dirt is. The problem is they have a 5-6 month rainy season. The dirt washes away and you get the hard, compacted miserable stuff. The importance of compost and more available organic material is clear. Before lunch we have finished some 350 bags and before the end of the day well over 700. We take a tour of the farm and I spend time with the Panama director for SHI, Xemena, talking through the process of approaching the World Bank in Panama. As she said, I speak Spanish, French and English all in the same sentence but we manage ok. Franish someone dubs it. It’s a good day, and we feel a sense of accomplishment and connection. The people are shy, kind, but relaxed, aware and involved. Some of their kids worked with us and families play a big role. The farm and family are their life. As we leave we hear another family in the area wants to join the SHI program. We made a difference.
The next day is another farm where we were to build a portable chicken coop. It’s a wood and yes, chicken wire affair, call it a three part dog house. The idea is you set it down in one area for a few days, chickens tear up the ground, leave their manure, and then you mix in dirt and compost and within a short time you’re ready to plant. Pretty swift. We have brought tools and materials and begin work with the Panamainians. Once again, there are several families involved but this farm has been working with SHI for five years and it shows. Diversified crops, many more large, healthy chickens, even a flower garden. Again, the people are easy going, kind, interesting and pleased to have us there. There is no doubt a busload of Americans is a rare, if ever, event and our visit is sure to have an impact. The chicken at lunch is very tender and very likely selected the night before. I can’t help myself and ask some of the other chickens if they know where their mother is. One father came with his three children and at different times they are hanging on him. All the kids play well together and later in the day when one is having a fit, the father carries her like a social worker, comforting but detached, knowing it’s not a big deal and will pass. The people are captivating. Onto tomorrow. Still more to learn.
No surprise, we learned more today. I learned Panamanians have a sense of humor and I could find it. I learned I could selectively cut sugar cane and that it takes a whole lot of work to make a small amount of money. And that life is unfair. Today we went to another farm and met with another great group of people who were happy to see us. There is no avoiding the awkwardness of knowing we are the gringos who provide them the extension agent and materials that has helped them but they are grateful, dignified and tolerant of us. This group of families share a micro enterprise. They each have their own cane field but share in the production of a candy made from the juice. Today was the first day of real work for us. Cutting sugar cane is a bitch. You have to clear an area around the cane bush. The best way to do that is with a machete and a curved stick. Remember not to put the stick on the ground, you’ll lose it; I did. You have to pick out the darker purple stalks of the cane and make an angled cut at the bottom, take out the cane, and throw it behind you on a small stack. Once you get a few canes out, you trim the leaves off, make a similar angle cut at the other end and it’s ready to be pressed. The press, (see photo) operates with the horse. The horse goes round and round and the canes get put through 3-4 at a time. The angled cut is so they fit into the press more easily. The canes have to go through 3 times so there’s a person on each side of the press. One of the farmers watches over us to make sure we do it right. I kid with him in my `Franish’ about the press being for other items and the amount of work he is not doing today. He’s the quiet kind, most of them are, but he laughs and smiles; he gets the jokes.
After there’s about 15 gallons of cane juice collected, a fire is started under a big pot and the juice is simmered, skimmed and reduced until is the consistency of syrup. It is then poured into wooden molds and in 5 minutes has hardened into a soft, crystallized form and is ready to eat. It tastes like light molasses and is very good. It takes all day to make $20 retail worth of candy. They give us most of it before we leave. Turns out they have to rent the pot for $10/day. We are aghast and at night take up a $200 collection to buy them their own pot. Our work may be a little haphazard but that pot will make a difference. We’re still the rich Americans but we do give a damn. We’re also the entertainment. Flo informs us that watching Americans in Panama is called `gringo TV’ even by those who have no TV. I’ve caught whatever bug is going around and am pretty miserable at night. Oh well, that’s life. Still interested: check out www.sustainableharvest.org