Getting ready for planting season
January 16th, 2008 fmorgan
Although we start planting in July, for us the planting season starts in February. This is because we have our own nursery. We get most of our seeds from CATIE but also many come from our own forest. This year, almendro trees we planted 2 1/2 years ago are producing seeds. This is really remarkable when you think about it. These trees are a good 15 feet tall or more and the wood is harder than oak. Very resistant to termites too. Almendro is a very important wood ecologically because it is needed by the Great Green Maccaw.
The nursery currently has nearly 20,000 cebo in it and a few leftovers from last year of other species (probably 10 or more different types).
The nursery crew tends to be women mostly - there isn’t a lot of work in the campo (countryside) for women, and women really do much better than men caring for the seedlings. It works very well since they help in the nursery growing the seedlings and then they help planting. The men do the heavy work, the women do the delicate work. Often this allows families to work together.