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Theobroma cacao is an understory tree native to the #Amazon #rainforest where it grows and fruits in the dappled shade cast by ice-cream beans and other canopy trees. The cacao's showy pink flowers feed bees and other native pollinators, and the #cacao fruit is sweet and sour with a very pleasant and refreshing flavour. Any #FoodForest in #Amazonia could get a boost of biodiversity benefits by including some cacao.

However, in #ecuador and many places throughout the tropics, commercial farms slash and burn the #jungle and plant huge monocultures of cacao in order to maximise profits. These monocultures open up the landscape to invasion by grass and other noxious weeds and leave the cacao trees highly susceptible to infections — problems that the growers control with toxic chemical fumigants that poison the soil and water, so the plantations are almost completely devoid of animal life.

Immediately after destroying the rainforest, people often grow maize first and sell it locally, then "convert existing agricultural land" to cacao plantation or cattle pasture and market their product as "deforestation-free" or other labels that command a premium in foreign markets. Do not fall for it. If you do not #GrowYourOwn then the #chocolate bar or hot #cocoa that you consume is most likely a product of #deforestation in the #AmazonRainforest or elsewhere.

Badass Fruiterrarist Land is a #reforestation effort reclaiming the lands cleared for cacao plantations and cattle pasture and transforming them into diverse and abundant #FruitForest in order to restore a functional ecosystem while also securing #FoodFreedom for the badass fruiterrarists who live here and protecting the habitat of the native animals from further destruction.

(In the meantime, we have a lot of cacao available to eat.)

https://amazonrestore.codeberg.page/badass-fruiterrarist-land/

#veganarchist #veganarchism
#fruiterrarist #fruiterrarism
#vegantravel #volunteer #LandForSale
#SolarpunkSunday #TreesNotGrass

A photo of a burnt area of land. Some branches remain on the ground, and some mandarin trees and banana plants have survived with some singed leaves. The ground is a mix of black and brown. In the foreground and the background, some ugly brown grass still stands, having recently gone to seed. In the far back of the image, at the top of the hill, the last patch of original rainforest remains, its dark green contrasting with the brown and burnt landscape below and the white overcast sky above.

A photo of an area of land recently cleared and used to grow maize. The maize has been harvestd, and the straight rows of dry and brown stalks are visible in the background. In the centre of the photo is a single banana plant with one of its pseudostems broken and bent down to the ground. The foreground of the image contains a large blackened patch of ground where the refuse from the maize harvest was piled and burnt. Some green pasture grass is already colonising the area. In the far back of the image, at the top of the hill, the last patch of original rainforest remains, its dark green contrasting with the brown and burnt landscape below and the white overcast sky above.

A photo of a cacao tree growing in a monoculture plantation tinted slightly yellow by the late afternoon sun. Other than a small clump of taro visible near the bottom of the photo, the entire plantation consists of only cacao trees and invasive grasses (visible going to seed in the foreground). Any patch of ground not covered by cacao leaves is grass. No birds, insects, or other animals are visible. At the left of the image, far in the background, is what remains of the original rainforest, appearing almost blue in contrast to the vegetation in front of it.

A photo of a ripe red cacao fruit held in someone's left hand. The deep red appears almost purple in the holder's shadow and contrasts with the small amount of yellow between the ridges. The ground is visible behind the fruit and consists of the holder's shadow on a gravel road in the right of the photo and the invasive demon grass growing alongside the road in the left of the photo.

Finca Del Soul is the home of a developing #FoodForest with several trees producing fruit now and many more growing and starting to flower and fruit. We're watching the #Amazon #rainforest being destroyed all around us while we're planting and restoring this land, and we invite people who are conscious about the #deforestation (and environmental devastation in general) to #volunteer here and help with the #reforestation efforts.

https://amazonrestore.codeberg.page/volunteer/finca-del-soul/

#veganarchist #veganarchism #vegantravel
#fruiterrarist #fruiterrarism
#gardening #FruitForest #GrowYourOwn
#ecuador #Amazonia #AmazonRainforest #jungle
#SolarpunkSunday #TreesNotGrass

The view from the side window of the loft facing northwest looks past a coconut palm and over a patch of ananás mixed with small ornamental plants with colourful leaves. Young fruit trees line the trail into the background leading to the other house.

The view from the side window of the loft facing north looks past a coconut palm and out over the metal roof that covers the well with small fruit trees and many native trees growing up behind. In the distance, the grass hill and the neighbour's cacao monoculture are visible.

The view from the rear of the loft facing north overlooks a diverse assortment of vegetation in the developing food forest, from a papaya plant up against the house to some naranjilla bushes emerging from the grass below to a mandarin tree a short distance away to the recovering native forest at the top of the hill. The neighbour's monoculture plantation of cacao is visible at the upper left of the image.

The front room of the loft in the rustic wooden house features excellent airflow due to being open on the northwest side. Ornamental plants grow up against the lower part of the roof, and the other house is visible in the distance. The walls and floor of the room are adorned with hand- and foot-painted art including a large sunflower mural. A hammock hangs in the right of the photo.

Would anyone like to help us stop this #deforestation ?

https://amazonrestore.codeberg.page/badass-fruiterrarist-land/

#naturephotography #rainforest #jungle
#Amazon #Amazonia #AmazonRainforest
#ecuador #reforestation #conservation
#LandForSale #TreesNotGrass
#SolarpunkSunday ...?

Check out this website!
A big SolarPunk Sunday welcome to @amazonrestore
https://amazonrestore.codeberg.page/volunteer/finca-del-soul/

#Amazon #SolarPunkSunday #TreesNotGrass

Flowers from the Finca

At Finca Del Soul, we're tearing up the tools of tyranny and turning inhospitable invasives into beautiful blooming #biodiversity one plant at a time.

From cattle pasture and grass-infested coffee plantation, we re-beautify this land into a functional ecosystem with the end goal of meeting the needs of all who inhabit it. As our neighbours continue to destroy this amazing #Amazon #rainforest landscape around us, #bees #butterflies #hummingbirds and other #pollinators find refuge among the #flowers and fruits of our labour.

These flowers not only provide for the animals who are displaced by the expansion of grassland and monoculture plantations; their vibrant colours brighten our days and remind us that what we do here is making a difference, however small it may seem at times.

In an age when nature is increasingly under siege, protecting wild and free places is the ultimate form of disobedience. Cultivating beauty has become an act of protest. For us, flowers are just the beginning, a sign of what is to come: a thriving #FoodForest and a radical abundance of fruit.

We welcome you to visit our website for more information about what we do here and how to join us here as a #volunteer or start your own #reforestation project as our newest neighbour.

https://amazonrestore.codeberg.page/volunteer/finca-del-soul/

#veganarchist #veganarchism #vegantravel
#fruiterrarist #fruiterrarism
#GrowYourOwn #gardening #fruitforest
#naturephotography #orchid #heliconia
#passiflora #plumeria #lantana
#BloomScrolling #SolarpunkSunday #TreesNotGrass

#TreesNotGrass

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