| Finca TicoOrganico This 3 hectare finca in Costa Rica is managed by members of FAC, a Costa Rican nonprofit. It is a demonstration model for organically grown coffee, hardwoods and other marketable products. A small cabin is available for rent (follow link above). Future plans are to establish a Community Learning Center on the site with the goal to provide education to local residents, visitors, and especially to school age children about organic, sustainable agricultural methods and how to accomplish the transition from chemical farming.  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Datura in the morning mist along the road to the cabina. Questions? ajhaig@sonic.net |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Organic coffee Our organic coffee is grown on steep slopes in partial shade. Banana, hardwood, papaya, bamboo along with other native trees are placed among the coffee bushes, providing forage and nesting spots for birds. The birds then provide a natural insect reduction service. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other crops -
hardwood trees, Caña India About a third of the finca is planted in 8-year-old hardwood trees, Terminalia amazonia ("Amarillon", Fam. Combretaceae), harvestable at 12 years. To allow the soil to build strength, much of the land has been allowed to revert to native undergrowth. Since coffee is in a depressed market now, Caña India has replaced some of it, as a cash crop. There are rambutans (hairy lychee), pineapple, banana, plantain, orange and tangerine trees which are bearing fruit in addition to sugar cane and yuca. Additional finca purchased, adjacent to TicoOrganico In January of 2003, I bought the 3.5 hectare finca contingent to the northeast. Along with the original coffee finca, we hope to have it certified Organic in 2006 after being transitioned from chemical farming. About half the coffee plants were removed; we retained a portion of the healthiest coffee bushes and have planted more. The coffee on both fincas is Aribica Catuai red (10%), Caturra (20%) and hybrid (70%), grown at an altitude of 3000 feet. We are offering coffee for sale. The soil is fantastic - rich, black, volcanic and will grow anything without amendments although we are applying calcuim carbonate and lime. There is an "ojo de agua" on the property above a boggy area which we will leave fallow and allow to revert to native growth. The diversity and prevalence of birds and insects is phenomenal, and constantly increasing. We have forged a shady nature trail winding along the creek between the two properties to showcase the wide variety of new trees (515 total) that were planted in 2004, as follows: |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Costa Rica Map Finca TicoOrganico is located in San Vito, a small community just south of La Amistad International Park, and a few miles west of the Panama border. The park extends into northwestern Panama. La Amistad is located on the Talamanca mountain range and is considered the most extensive untouched tropical forest mountain system in the whole country. It is one of the parks that comprises the area of greatest biodiversity in Costa Rica, and contains the largest virgin forest in the country, where an extraordinary large number of habitats coexist: ferns and mixed forests, the product of differences in altitude, soil, climate and topography. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Three views of the cabina soon after it was built in 2002;
middle view shows Panama and volcano Baru in distance.