I was very fortunate to be able to tour China in the summer of 2008 just before the Olympics. We toured 9 cities. Our principal purpose to tour China was to see the solar eclipse in the northwestern part of the country on the silk road trail near the Gobi Desert. The “seeing” was fantastic and we saw a very long lasting total eclipse. On one of our ventures, we toured the Bamboo Sea. After touring this magnificent part of the world in southwestern China, I felt that once we reside on the farm in Biolley, Costa Rica we should have some bamboo growing on the farm for garden decoration and for building some structures on the farm.
The Bamboo Sea in southwestern China.
I know that bamboo grows rapidly and can take over rather quickly if not monitored. I just feel that it would be a great addition to our farm in Costa Rica. Big bamboo and smaller bamboo with narrow culms (shoots) are what I have in mind.
Our driver in the Bamboo Sea in the southwestern part of China. The bamboo here is absolutely beautiful and I have a preference for the green culms (shoots) in this type of bamboo. Hopefully we can find some of this same or similar bamboo grass to grow on our farm!
These tomatoes in the photo above are grown under shelter. I am thinking we may have to do the same for our tomatoes during the rainy season in Biolley. The arch in this structure in the above photo looks interesting and perhaps we will grow the kind of bamboo culms that bend like a reed to form an arch in order to build larger coverage for tomatoes and other vegetables. Of course we will need mesh over the top to keep the pounding rain from drowning out our plants during the rainy season! I hope I don’t have to use plastic! I’m trying to get away from that stuff! Have you ever noticed how hard it is to live without plastic? Scary…..
We are also dead set on building huge solar driers to dry our coffee, tomatoes (sun dried tomatoes) and other food stuff. We are concerned about how much energy goes into drying coffee. Hopefully, we can build our solar dryers and receive support to grow other solar driers for our farming community. This will save tremendous costs for the Biolley farmers who grow coffee!
This photo shows a very rustic way to dry the coffee. Since my husband is a solar physicist (actually he is an astrophysicist and his field of study has nothing to do with solar energy) he wants to be in charge of all things solar on the farm. He wants to build and design very affordable solar dryers for more efficiency than what you see here in this typical “campesino” structure in the photo above.
According to the Mesoamerican development institute, in Central America electricity costs have increased nearly 20% annually for the past decade, and nearly 84% of the energy required is consumed during the drying process for coffee. In Mesoamerica, an estimated six thousand hectares of forest are used each year to supply wood to fuel conventional coffee dryers—this loss of forest is roughly equivalent to three square centimeters of forest for each cup of coffee we consume.
This is a solar drying system at a coffee processing plant in Panama. The solar panels are on the roof of the building.
Another great project and challenge for our farming community in Biolley, Costa Rica! I’m up for it! I seem to be one of those type A personalities, a magnet for moving and shaking for my fellow companions! We have so many exciting plans in store for our farm and for our community in Biolley! We know that it will take diligent time and effort to see the progress we wish to see for our community. The best thing about our community in Biolley is that there is strong unity and everyone knows that we are in this together! I am hoping to receive more photos of the farm and the area around Biolley to post in the next entry. Until then, we are forever mindful of our environment and the true calling of……
Pura Vida!
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