Farm to Table Living

Kalu Yala’s food systems will not only lead to safer, healthier and tastier food, but also to more opportunities for small business owners, regional employment and social wellbeing, ecologically responsible land use, a more resilient economy and a stronger community within Kalu Yala and the region. This isn’t just a few acres of organic veggies in order to sell houses. It is an attempt to influence the way hundreds of thousands of acres are used, how an entire country eats and how an existing agrarian society can survive the threat of suburbia that is currently rushing towards them.

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If there is one thing my Dad loves it is tools. Walk into his shop and you are guaranteed to find any tool to suit your need. This was great growing up because it enabled me to build, and bring things from my imagination into reality, whether that be a deck chair, a new handle for a [...]  Read More
Pico de loro, Lobster Claw
The concept of what is natural is culturally based and is ever shifting. Our act of manipulating nature has been driven by our demand for food. Our landscapes reflect and dictate what is on our forks. We have tools, both technical and ideological, that can enable us to considerably improve landscapes. The transfer of food is the connection they have with one another. We have this with the earth and its diverse energy supplies. Whether you explore, pick, or vote with your fork…it matters.  Read More
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In their 2011 paper  ”The tree planting and protecting culture of cattle ranchers and small-scale agriculturalists in rural Panama: Opportunities for reforestation and land restoration” Garen et al. explored the reasons why cattle ranchers and small scale farmers in Panama have maintained a tradition since pre-European contact of both planting and protecting valuable multipurpose trees and shrubs on the land [...]  Read More
cucumbers, tomatos, bananas, and yuca
If one were to assume that living in the jungle is easy, they would be mistaken.  While this may be true for many, there are plenty of ways to make life possible in the bush.  When life becomes possible for any individual within the jungle, the benefits will, in turn, appear clear as day.  One [...]  Read More
thanks with cookies
My mother has always been a big component of pushing me to write thank you letters, even when I didn’t want to. Mama always said a thank you letter goes a long way, especially when it is hand written. Well, this week I wrote thank you letters to some of the women who have welcomed [...]  Read More
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In this blog post I hope to continue to expand upon the potential of Agroforestry in the Kalu Yala Valley and specifically investigate a piece of legislation that could be of great help in a push for an expansion of the Agroforestry Project.  However, I must first give a quick recap of the Agriculture Teams [...]  Read More
View Catalino's Hill
let us build the future not fortify the present let our mark be a good one and not a quagmire for our children to clean let us leave the trees and the rivers to grow and flow untrammeled by human hands let future generations drift and dream to the sounds of wind rustled leaves and [...]  Read More
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Hannah tells how the women in San Miguel are revealing the fabric of the Panamanian culture  Read More
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As Americans, we live in a society of instant gratification.  When we want something, we expect to get it at 4G speed, and it boggles our minds when that doesn’t happen. As a member of the Community Outreach team I envisioned instantly being able to have a life changing impact on the people of San [...]  Read More
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In researching the potential for different agricultural techniques that could be employed in the Kalu Yala Valley one stood out to me in particular, Agroforestry. Right about now you may be asking yourself, just what is Agroforestry? In order to answer this, I will turn to a paper written by Robert D Hauff in 1999 [...]  Read More