In July, FCEA celebrated two very important anniversaries: the one-year anniversary of our women-run tree nursery, Bellota, and the five-year anniversary of the Children’s Forest of Coto Brus! We also extended the reach of the Children’s Forest with a morning of planting that involved local elementary school students participating in the BirdSleuth program, as well as university students participating in a Tropical Biology course through the Organization for Tropical Studies, led by Darko Cotoras, PhD, and Emilia Trina, MSc.
***
A year ago, in the space where our tree nursery now stands, there was a pile of garbage! Now, thanks to the hard efforts of the Women Committed to the Earth at Finca Cántaros, our beautiful, thriving tree nursery, called Bellota (acorn in Spanish), is an active part of the Network of Community Tree Nurseries. Not only are we cultivating native species of trees—including the restoration superstar Inga edulis to the threatened White Oak (Quercus insignis)—we have a productive worm compost production and are making “bioproducts” such as mountain microorganisms, “biofermentos,” and natural extracts for pest control, thanks to workshops we received from organic farmer Randy López of Finca Orgánica Tinamastes.
As the Women Committed to the Earth we are so proud of everything we have accomplished in just one year, and are excited to keep expanding our forest restoration knowledge and projects!
***
FCEA was thrilled to celebrate the five-year anniversary of our Children’s Forest of Coto Brus project! This community-based, collaborative project was launched in 2019. As part of the celebrations, the 2023 cohort of BirdSleuth students composted the trees they planted last year (in keeping with our philosophy of stewarding trees and not just planting them), and received their graduation certificates. The Women Committed to the Earth group planted threatened species of oaks (Quercus insignis) in areas of the Children’s Forest where we have the shade these trees favour. These oaks were cultivated by the group itself in our tree nursery, Bellota.
