Real Life Crossfit-type of workout between the amazonic snakes and mosquitos of the tropical climate. :-)
PermaTree
The PermaTree (www.permatree.org) project is a grass root organic tropical fruit farm with the target, to live self-sustainable within the next 3 years. By self-sustainable lifestyle we mean to grow and cook our own organic foods. From vegetables to tropical fruits directly from our food forests.
You can be part of this thriving process! it is progressing rapidly! As you will see and feel. Gain valuable experience and learn about smart permaculture principles. Learn ecological awareness and more about environmental protection.
PermaTree is located at the edge of the amazonas region of Ecuador in South America. The farm is approximately 76 hectares or 180 acres and located about 3 hours north of Loja, in Southern Ecuador. The lowest part is 800 to 1300 meters over the sea level. Which means we have a high variation of micro climates. And so almost everything grows. Just to give you and idea from Coconuts to Cocoa/cacao, Soursop, Jackfruit, Babaco, Breadfruit, Passion-fruit, Oranges, Bananas, etc.
Detox for body & mind
D.E.T.O.X. stands for:
Different – Only healthy own cooked foods and fruits
Ecological – Natural Bamboo and UpCycling constructions
Teamwork – Collaboration is king at PermaTree
Organization – Non-Profit Organization with the philosophy of permaculture
Xtreme – Climate, Work, Food in LatinAmerica all is kind of extreme
Living very near the equator we have 12 hours of sun light a day all year long, so our day starts at sunrise at 06:00 sharp in the kitchen. And end kind of at sunset 18:15.
Volunteer at Tropical Permaculture Farm
Do you know what Tropical and Permaculture aka TropicalPermaculture stands for? Well you will for sure after your stay at PermaTree.
Read all the volunteering information in the Volunteer Info Pack 2017.
Frequently Asked Questions at finca PermaTree.
Cooking, eating and Food at PermaTree
For us all of the breakfast, lunch and dinner meals are the highlights of the day with many tasty and healthy fresh local dishes where we share and exchange our thoughts together. We do cook all our meals together. We use no sugar. No GMO. No ready products. If we get fresh vegetables such as carrots we eat them raw. We use no food with packaging to keep our trash footprint as minimal as possible. Here in the Amazon the limit if not even the sky, its right in your hands, it requires a lot of creativity to achieve your ideas.
Blogpost: Healthy Tasty Food
Breakfast
Breakfast might be the best meal of the day. We all prepare the fruit breakfast together from local and fresh fruits like papaya and bananas. We add some raw cacao and some black coffee for the ones who like it and call this “Tropical Bullet Proof Coffee”. Some oatmeal and fresh banana and babaco juice poured over everything.
Lunch
The lunch is the biggest meal of the day. It will be mostly organic and vegetarian. Lunch is delicious and usually is rice or pasta based with fresh veggies, beans or potatoes and organic eggs. Most of the time we add some guacamole or hummus or peanut-monkey cream.
Dinner
Dinner is usually lighter.
Sundays we go to one of the local markets to buy our food for the entire week. Until all the vegetables and fruits grow directly on the farm.
Videos: CrossFit Type of WorkOut at PermaTree
Challenge
You have no idea how you will be challenged in so many different ways. Example: Chicken attack, Get to the Cristal Clear Magic Waterfall, Tropical Rainfall, Feed The Dogs, Heatwave, Refreshing Natural Swimming Pond, Harvest Your Own Fruits, Finding Back to the Farm After Dark, Cooking With Local Ingredients, Having Intercultural Exchanges with Local People About Good and Hell, Drinking Pure Water Directly from Harvesting Giant Bamboo, Chicken Home Invasion, etc.
You will be literally submerged into another reality.
Going to bead early latest at 21:00 hearing frogs croaking your body will beg you for rest time.
Days will pass by very fast.
Collaboration
The most helpful, effective, and happy participants are self-motivated, interested, responsible, and accountable. Here we stress collaboration. We are about mutual enrichment and working together. There is no room for people who think they know everything. Since these things take time, ideally you will be able to commit to a 1 month or longer working alongside the PermaTree Volunteer Program.
You will be Involved in these Types of Farm Work
- Cut pasture onto 2-Meter-high with machete.
- Harvest Papaya and Platains at the Farm, combined with a one our hike.
- Help us construct the Volunteer bamboo cabin 6×3 Meters.
- Help in the kitchen, cutting vegetables, prepare drinks, set the table, etc.
- Give food to chickens, guinea pigs and dogs
- Be interested in all kinds of work and don’t be afraid of hard, physical commitment.
- You will work with tools like shovel, spade, pickax, machete, hammer or with your bare hands, depending on what work you are doing. If you experienced, you can handle with other machine like electric saw, driller and so on.
- Stay communicative and involve yourself in to group conversation.
- The main language at PermaTree is Spanish, we will also speak with you in Spanish so you need to be able to speak and converse in Spanish.
- Ask questions if you are not sure. We welcome your interest!
Typical work week at PermaTree – example: Last Week Of March 2017 Blogpost
Check It Out – The PermaTree Experience in Ecuador
Questions To Ask Yourself
Are you ready and willing to adapt to our rhythm of life in the tropics on our fruit farm? Are you ready for a new different reality to what you are most likely used to? Can you adapt your habits? Are you a fast learner?
Be sure to agree to all PermaTree living agreements BEFORE arriving.
You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend. – Quote: Bruce Lee
We will share our daily family farm life here in paradise with you and for most people it will be harder than what they are used to. Are you ready for the challenge?
Be like a bamboo firmly rooted and strong but be ready at any time to bend with the power of the winds of a great storm. – Source: Zen philosophy
Eco VS Ego
Are you about eco or ego? Do you care about all and everybody (adults, kids, babies, cats, dogs, chickens, insects, plants, soil, water, air, sun, moon and stars) as much as yourself? Or do you focus more about you and yourself. How do you tend to interact with new people? Do you wait for others to ask questions or are you proactive also in conversations?
Experience of your lifetime!
Please think well about your answers and don’t fool yourself. At the end we want happy and committed volunteers and you want to have the experience of your lifetime.The most helpful, effective, and happy participants are self-motivated, interested, responsible, and accountable.
If you are looking for a place to chill or to party or plan the next steps of your trip or listen podcasts all day or take long hot showers or eat vegan or eat diary, then PermaTree is definitively the wrong place!
What Do You Get Volunteering at PermaTree?
- Excellent quality of life in a natural setting, surrounded by nature in tropical climate
- Sustainable Lifestyle (minimal ecological footprint. Eating only fresh organic produce, cooked by ourselves, planting food trees, eating the fruits, all water is from the nearby creek, hot shower during day heated by black pipes from the sun rays, etc.) Minimal waste production, future goal zero waste. No Junk food, no sugar diet, no TV etc. There is no such thing as waste only unused resources …
- Eat tropical fruits you may have never heard or seen in your life
- 24/7 ecuadorian Spanish Language practice
- Community living experience
- Learn to work in a true tropical climate
- Hands-on Permaculture experience
- Develop communication, leadership and teamwork skills
- Develop permaculture skills through hands-on experience in natural building, water management, gardening, plant propagation, food forest establishment, community development, waste management / recycling and more.
