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Ecology and agriculture Thursday, May 27-- The drive up through the mountains of the Cordillera Central to Jarabacoa is breathtaking. 20 miles beyond, lies the small rural community of Los Dajaos, which appears on very few maps. Like farmers everywhere, folks here would like to make a modest living from the land. They've cooperated in some very novel ways to do just that... |
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 Goshen College SST office |
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After lunch, Don Josÿ showed us around his farm, and those of his
neighbors. At left, Don Josÿ offers Kari a drink from the local
stream, which he finds to be cleaner than commercially bottled water.
We also saw a local sawmill that is currently using fallen lumber
from Hurrican George, and the community health center.
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Don Josÿ and DoËa Nati hosted us for a traditional Dominican meal
in their home overlooking their (steep) farmland. They moved to
Los Dajaos more than twenty years ago to start farming, and have
been doing it organically ever since, raising a wide variety of
crops, including coffee and many fruits. [ 
The
farmers operate their own laboratory (right) where they clone, or
propagate high-quality seedlings that are then available to farmers
throughout the region. The lab employs local teens and has no connection
to the electric grid.
That evening we enjoyed a meal at our hotel in Jarabacoa. Late night
activity including a vigorous 
We traveled early Friday morning to the city of San Francisco where
we were hosted by the Fundaci‹n Quita Espuela. This organization
seeks to preserve the Quita Espuela mountain--the home of one of
the last remaining rainforests in the country--but in a sustainable
way, finding ways to align the economic interests of the people
in the area with the preservation of the rain forest.
