Q & A Stories: How did you learn to build? (with Audio)
Welcome to our very first edition of our new Audio Q & A series!
This is where the loyal monthly supporters of our regenerative farm and learning center can ask us whatever they want to know about what it’s really like to live off-grid in a South American rain forest. So if you would like to contribute directly to the reforestation of a rare and endangered ecosystem, provide fair-trade opportunities for our neighbors, and cultivate an abundant oasis while we’re at it, please consider joining our community on Patreon. At tiers starting at jut $6 per month, you will help us continue to make the world a better, greener place.
Join us on Patreon here
Our first question comes to us from Maria in Maryland, USA. And she wants to know…
How did you learn to build? (listen here)
And enjoy these photos of our process from 2016 to today!
We officially moved onto our land in late July 2016. We had a tent, a single burner propane stove, a few crates of tools, and two pups. We started by digging trenches for the foundations of the structures.
Some great folks came from the States and other countries to help us out building earthen walls. Juan learned how to cut pieces of bamboo and put them together from watching YouTube videos and lots of trial and error.
Little by little, stone by stone, our home began to take shape. I worked on building an earthen oven and our walls while Juan made miracles with the bamboo. We had some interesting nights when the rainy season started and the roof wasn’t finished yet. We moved out of of our tent (finally) and into our first solid structure in January 2017 and the feeling was an incredible sense of relief and accomplishment!
One securely indoors, we began to have some fun adding natural paints and creative finishes to our new home. More visitors arrived to learn skills and enjoy freshly baked pizza from the oven!
We also go creative by repurposing “trash”… I found some broken tiles discarded in town and incorporated them into a bathroom countertop (now there’s a sink too). Pieces of colored glass and metal made for beautiful mosaic art embedded into the clay walls.
Ever since, we’ve contiunued to build, add on, and improve our unique off-grid hand-made structures. It took time, perseverence, and no little sweat but now it definiely feels like…
Home sweet home
If you would like to learn some new skills while enjoying an un-rushed week with us at Sueño de Vida, join us in February 2023 for a natural building and living immersion in the beautiful cloud forest of Ecuador.
At Sueño de Vida we work in a meaningful way to heal land ravaged by deforestation. How meaningful? According to a recent UN Foresight Brief on climate change,
--It is of the utmost importance to stop deforestation and to increase reforestation efforts around the world. Agricultural practices should focus on soil building and the use of agroforestry methods.
That is exactly what we do here at SdV. You can help by helping us do what we do every day: plant forests that nurture soil, people, and local community.
Click HERE to donate directly to our reforestation fund OR make a monthly pledge on our Patreon.
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Kristen Krash is the co-founder and director of Sueño de Vida, a regenerative cacao farm and reforestation mission in Ecuador. Sueño de Vida works to educate and inspire everyday people about permaculture, sustainable living, environmental activism, and healthy living all in the name of living more in harmony with nature.