Come live on my giant permaculture farm in Costa Rica!

"The Amana Colonies are a group of settlements of radical German Pietists in Iowa, USA,
comprising seven villages. Calling themselves the Ebenezer Society or the Community of
True Inspiration, die Gemeinde der wahren Inspiration, they first settled in New York state
near Buffalo in what is now the Town of West Seneca. However, in order to live out their
beliefs in more isolated surroundings they moved west to the rich soil of east-central Iowa
(near present-day Iowa City) in 1855. They lived a communal life until the mid 1930s.
Due to this, the Amanas are sometimes mistaken as Amish."
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If I understood you--you would like a number of people you don't know to put up the money for your dream. You have an education and no practical experience... You think that a group of very independent, mostly in their 30's-60's are going to put the money in and then let you be in charge? That alone says you need a lot more life experience to make this work, even on a much smaller basis.
Most homesteaders are very independent and make their own decisions. I think you are looking at something that would turn into a nightmare very quickly. If you really want to do this type of thing, as others suggested, get some experience, buy your own land in the USA and build a homestead here from nothing. Twenty years from now re think this whole project--right now it sounds like your dream that you can't afford, or something from Nigeria.

There are several groups doing just this sort of thing over by Pahoa on the Island of Hawaii. No need to worry about not speaking English and all that. You could try visiting with them or WWOOFing to see how they do things before going off to try it on your own in a foreign country.

Thanks for the elaboration, Texican. I think I understand you better now. I thought you meant that Latin Americans were somehow more likely to kill foreigners at the first opportunity because it's been Latin America the last few times I've seen you mention "long pork." I agree, that could possibly happen anywhere if you're an outsider. It's probably how I will die.

To the OP, I agree with all the people saying you should check out one of the places already doing what you want to do. There are several here in the U.S. and many in Latin America. And if you decide to do it yourself, maybe start smaller with something you can afford yourself. You don't need 350 acres to earn a living, and if you go into debt to buy it you'll be a slave to your land.

Maybe we are selling to short. I know you are in college, but could you post your work experience and qualifications for us to invest in your project?

My fantasy is to be a Mesolithic hunter gatherer. It's a nice fantasy. I enjoy it. I imagine the life while falling asleep. It's my little indulgence.

Of course I know that it isn't going to happen.

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Flaming Xtian
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Mahatma Gandhi


Libertarindependent

From what I understand from people with family there, and folks that still travel there it is fine in most of Mexico..

The real trouble is only in the drug corridors and even moreso close to the U.S. border.

You need to find some real world experience before you jump into this with both feet. If your only experience is on a school's organic farm you are in for a big suprise. We have two small dairy schools here in NY and Cornell. I got my AAS at Morrisville College and was going to Cornell and decided not to I was just sick of school by that point. The school farm was a joke they had 65 cows and 4 full time people and 2 part time students plus the class people that had to work there. Anything they wanted to do the state paid for it. As far as the teachers with the exeption of one, the saying "those who can not do teach" all had failed after college and went on to teach. We have a new word here in NY it is "Galtinize". Dave Galtin from Cornell talks big and the kids leave go home expand to huge proportions and then bankrupt successful farms. Just my opinion but you are jumping for the moon with nothing more than a mind set to back you up. I am not trying to be mean but I don't think you know what you are getting in to. With my luck I would get seven figures in debt everything built up and a natural disaster would tear the whole place apart.

[[[[....it was either Uruguay, or Bolivia....]]]]

It's not Uruguay, Good farmland in Uruguay is relatively expensive and going up in price at a fast clip.

The country is easy to immigrate to, but there is no active encouragement of homesteading. If you own a smallholding, you must "unipersonalize" which is a sort of business classification and it involves a big tax paid yearly into their equivalent of a social security fund (but does include your medical care all paid for).

The only "homesteading" encouragement that I see is a very lowered import duty on equipment for generating independent energy (solar and wind power, etc). Normal import duties are about 60%.

I don't find Bolivia to be very attractive due to the crime, the corruption, and the extreme poverty. But YMMV

Well an idealistic young adult still in school at a University wants to start a 'his own farm' in a foreign country.. They have no start up capital for 'their farm', yet want others to fund the entire venture. Starting with raw land, no buildings, no logistical support, or no contacts in the country of choice... I have not seen if the OP fluently speaks the local language and not college level spanish, but the actual dialect with slang..

Ok they may be all idealistic with a pipe dream of a 'commune utopia' in a foreign country, but real life is going to give them a very rude wake up call.. Wait until the locals and authorities decide that you are not wanted in their area due to your progressive ways, out of jealously, or if they just don't like your looks. Don't forget "La Mordita" (the bite) when dealing with local authorities. Bribes will be necessary, and when you object to them, then expect foot dragging and possible retatilation from those that you have spurned. You will get run out of the area/ country, and how are you going to repay your original investors?? Possibly that is why you don't want your parent's money.. Maybe you would really feel obligated to have to pay them back???? With strangers/ non-family doing the funding for your social experiment, would you just walk away from their financial losses, that they invested into your failed dream, for 'your land'?

To me the original OP's scenario brings up images of the late 1970's concerning the "People's Temple", Jim Jones, and 'Jonestown' that was in Guyana.. Do some research, and see how that social experiment turned out... If anyone gets involved in a situtation such as this, just remember not to drink the communal 'kool-aid' as the leaders are passing it out..

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Smarter than the average bear, sitting here on my hilltop 80 acres in the fog above the ocean...

"Life is tough, but it is tougher when you are stupid." - John Wayne

I wouldn't farm in a tropical location. They are wonderful places to visit, but if you grew up and know a temperate area, why throw such a huge variable in the loop for yourself?

I've heard Costa Rica is nice, but you'll spend your entire life as an immigrant and outsider. Certainly before making any serious plans, I would live and work there for a number of years. You'll probably have better ideas then.

Personally, I like 4 seasons. Most of the crops and animals that are heavily cultivated and have been domesticated for 1000's of years were done so in my climate.

Chris

__________________
Chris DeVries
Common Ground CSA
http://csa.amandadevries.com

I haven't had access to this website for a while but I'll read all the posts and respond soon. Thanks for all the mentally stimulating responses!

Yea I'm thinking about going to work on a farm in Costa Rica called Punta Mona. It's similar to what I'm trying to set up (they're all gringos though). There are videos on Youtube, just type in "Punta Mona"

We can do it. Permaculture is a way of life. The land is our gift and our daily privilege and challenge will be to make it better. That may consist of walking down rows of coconut, cacao and chocolate trees with machetes to hack away vines or competitors or that may mean tilling up 35 acres to plant exactly and only what we want to grow there. Either way, it's not rocket science and all we have is time. Over half of the land will be left to grow as it wants (especially if it's 386 acres) and probably 30 acres will be pasture, 15 of annual veggies and fruits, and rest will be perennial tree and shrub crops interspersed with useful herbs, spices, legumes, grains, etc. For example, many acres will be designated to growing guilds of cacao and coffee. An example of this guild is described above: tall coconut or other nut trees forming the canopy, shorter cacao and coffee trees forming the understory, and herbs and spices (mint, piper nigrum, etc), small fruit shrubs, climbing nitrogen-fixers, etc will dominate the ground floor. Once this guild is established all we'll have to do is walk through the land with clippers and machetes every month or so and control growth. This is just one example but many products of the farm will be sustained using guilds, that way Mother Nature does most of the work. Also, I do have experience and a fair amount of expertise, only I can't pour out the contents of my mind on a forum so yall will have to take my word for it haha. Or let's meet and do some guerrilla gardening in upstate SC!

What about the native americans and other indigenous peoples across the world. They seemed to live in tribes of populations of 30-1000 for thousands of years, completely sustainable for both humans and nature. They could tell you anything you wanted to know about the laws of nature and God. We think we're smart now but can you explain electricity or a radio works or the basics of chemistry, biology, physics, quantum mechanics? Can the average person identify edible or medicinal plants, or even the plants growing in their back yard? I think we're highly specialized robots (just the way "they" want us). If we're plumbers we plumb, accountants we crunch numbers, English teachers we read papers, don't look up, don't ask questions, and certainly don't disrupt the status quo. In reality, we're all these things including scientists, physicists, farmers, lawyers, and plumbers. Just my opinion, sorry for the small rant.

Cool, I'm keeping that farm in mind, seems like a good deal. Financing is my main problem though, which is why I'm trying to find others who may be interested in doing something similar or doing anything at all on the land I'm wanting to live on and farm. I have a meeting with the Chair of the Entomology Dept. here at Clemson next Monday and a few other professors from different departments have expressed interest in my ideas, especially for conducting research on the methods used on the farm (solar/dam energy, polyculture, crop yields, insect and disease research, the list goes on and on). We're going to talk about grants and funds available and we'll also brainstorm other ideas, including having a permaculture farm in SC.

Hey thanks! I try to be open to all perspectives, everyone sees everything a little differently. It's definitely going to be work but when I look back, every bit of farming and gardening I've done (which is alot and would be more if my dad would let me plant half the plants I have in the yard) has been hard work. I love it for some reason though. It's like the creative conscious energy that sustains life on earth is manifesting itself partly because of me. I would also like to have a job in the states for a few years (teacher/coach/athletic director/trainer) for 6-8 months a year and spend the rest of my time improving the farm. This will help with the financial situation.

I'm checking this out, sounds interesting, thanks a bunch!

Good to hear. When I was in Costa Rica last summer (I have longish dirty-blond hair, blue eyes, and kind of tan skin so I'm pretty grino-esque) nobody even looked sideways at me. Everyone was super helpful, all the cab-drivers helped with my Spanish and even said "we welcome you down here, our doors are open to you." Costa Rica is pretty advanced as far as Central and South America goes, from what I've read, seen, and heard.

The first "residential" building I hope to build will be an eco-lodge with 10-20 rooms. That way, all the workers can live there while we work and once we can build our own place somewhere on the property we'll do that. Also, it will become a place for tourists to rent-out and for students to live in while they get permaculture experience or do research.