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The Sueño de Vida Story
In 2016, Kristen Krash, a veteran yoga instructor and Washington DC resident, moved to Ecuador with her partner Juan to create a more self-sufficient way of living. They had a tent, a few tools, very little money, and a whole lot of determination.
Little by little they transformed a parcel of stripped, degraded land into an oasis of new growth, creating a fully off-the-grid home in a subtropical cloud forest – the Chocó Andino rainforest of North-West Ecuador.
Fast forward to today and Sueño de Vida is a fully operational polyculture cacao farm and permaculture education center surrounded by vibrant gardens and fruit-bearing trees.
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Videos
Sueño de Vida is a lush nature reserve, permaculture farm, and sustainable living center in the cloud forest of Ecuador. We fight the climate crisis every day hands-on by regenerating degraded land. We host visitors, volunteers, and students who want to immerse in nature and learn more about existing in a better relationship with the earth.
Monsanto. Round up. Herbicides. Just the words bring up strong reactions. Here’s a tonic for the toxicity. If you’re looking for a clear and level headed reply to why herbicides are damaging to soil health and ineffective over the long term, here’s an explanation anyone can understand. My words are backed up by five years of experience working to regenerate land with agroforestry in Ecuador’s cloud forest. To see how natural regeneration works, you can visit our project or our website www.sdvforest.com
Yuca, aka cassava or manioc, is one of the most widely eaten foods in the world, especially in the global south. But the really great thing is that it also improves soil fertility and drainage even in damaged and compacted soil. Interested in how agroforestry and Permaculture can heal degraded land? Here at our forest farm in Ecuador, we are doing it.
As with many other areas of South American rainforest, the Chocó Andino rainforest has been ravaged by slash and burn agriculture and timber extraction. If we continue at the current rate of deforestation (which is one football pitch-sized area of forest lost every second) all the rainforests will be gone within 100 years.
Kristen Krash, Interview with Rural Sprout, 23.07.2021
Don’t let anybody tell you agroforestry is easy–not in the beginning. That’s why you need to plant pioneers–hardy fast growing plants that make the way for more delicate trees. Once pioneers are in, creating the rest of the system is MUCH easier. Watch here to see how.
Cacao trees respond well to a hands-on organic care protocol called “fito-santitary” practices. Here I explain and demonstrate good technique for -managing ground cover -using ground cover as green mulch -pruning -removing epiphytes and invasive growths -removing fruit showing early signs of fungal disease With these practices, it is fairly simple, inexpensive and effective to manage a cacao farm AND get very good productivity from the trees without herbicide, fungicide, or chemical inputs. Farm responsibly in ways that are good for people and the planet!
We live in a humid subtropical forest where tumeric–that potent herbal medicine–thrives. But with a little care, you can grow it indoors in a container. And it’s absolutely worth the little effort! Here’s how to grow, when to harvest, and how to store your golden roots.
Looking for a coffee substitute that picks you up without the jitters? We are formulating a healthful cacao alternative right here in our kitchen with the benefits of turmeric, cardamom and guayusa.
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A series of practical tips for regenerating land: https://www.sdvforest.com/agroforestry/rewild-regenerate-or-reforest
An interesting look at the history of agroforestry in Amazonia (with a discussion of terra preta):
https://www.sdvforest.com/agroforestry/the-fascinating-story-of-human-made-forests
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Agroforestry tutorial series – implementing a regeneration project
Article
How Kristen Krash Restored Degraded Land Into A Sub-Tropical Food Forest
Kristen Krash and her partner Juan Santillan moved from Washington DC to the sub-tropics of Ecuador in 2016 and began regenerating 3 hectares of deforested and degraded land.
Five years on they live within a bountiful food forest and also manage a further 12 hectares of neighboring land that is being transformed from battered cattle pasture back into reforested polyculture.
Kristen is keen to point out that she was new to large-scale projects and agroforestry when she arrived in Ecuador.
She was an experienced home-scale grower back in the US, but designing, planting, and managing hectares of land was a completely fresh adventure.
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