Janna's Colloquium Journal: October 2011

ECHO stands for the “Education Concerns for Hunger Organization”. Our guide was Mike Sullivan and he was very knowledgeable about the farm and the plants that thrived on it. He first showed us a video and explained all about the farm. There are over 3000 groups in over 180 countries that work with ECHO. The farm also has one of the three top agricultural libraries in the world. They actually host an international conference that has delegates from over 40 countries. These delegates come together and share innovations on farming like better ways to fish farm or plant seeds. He also explained where the income for the farm comes from since it is such a big farm to run. 60% of their income comes from donations and the rest comes from plants sales, gift shop sales, and grants. That brings in about $2-3 million every year and 80% of that goes to organizations around the world. Mainly they want to teach people around the world about sustainable farming. There was a quote that explained their mission, “Give a mean a fish, feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and feed for a year”. There is also an intern program. They get interns from all around the world and they learn different farming techniques, and then travel to another country to teach them about what they have learned. ECHO was started 30 years ago, and North Fort Myers was chosen as the location so that they could imitate land conditions found all around the world.

On the farm, they have a seed bank. They store the various seeds here and put them in packets to send out all over the world. There are 6 steps in order to send out a seed. First, seeds are collected from plants are cleaned. Second, the new seeds are assigned numbers. Third, the seeds are stored. Fourth, is that each set is tested annually for germination. Fifth, the volunteers fill out sample packets. And lastly, the database keeps track of seeds worldwide. One of the main seeds they send out is called the Moringa Tree, along with the other 350 seeds that they send. The Moringa is very healthy and has a lot of vitamins in it. I got to taste and it didn’t taste that great ,just like a leaf but Mike swore it was the best thing for somebody. It can grow up to 16 feet a year and can also act as a fence or barrier against predators. It can also purify water. We learned that if one crushed the Moringa seed into powder, then let sit in dirty water for 15 minutes, it would purify and clean the water. Another important plant is called the Monstera deliciosa. It takes a year for the plant to grow and it has a lot of antioxidants, so much that it will actually make your lips tingle. We also learned about the Chaya tree. It is like spinach but more nutritious. It also fights against insects because it naturally has cyanide in it, but when cooked, it gets steamed out and makes it edible after that. One of the techniques that they used on the plants was called air layering. They would go up a branch about 12-15 inches, clear the bark, wrap in moss, then wrap that in plastic, and then wrap in tin foil. It’s a way to propagate, and they cut the branch right below the tin foil and plant it in the ground as a whole new branch.

There were six different climates at the farm. The first one we saw was the hot humid lowlands. They mostly worked with rice plants here and figured out there is a fern that releases nitrogen to the rice plants. This allows farmers to use 1/3 the seed and increase production by 50%. The next area we saw was the mountain area. Here they used the SALT technique which stands for sloping agricultural land technique. Here they would do a process where they cut trees in half and would then let them decompose for a year. Then they could plant a vegetable crop there and the decomposed plants acted as a fertilizer which let the crop grow 10 times better. We also learned about irrigation systems in the monsoon garden and the semi-arid desert. My favorite climate was the urban garden one. This is for people who don’t have a lot, or any, green space. They can grow it on top of their roof and fairly easy. At ECHO there were plants growing in tires, plastic pools, and plastic buckets. This showed that anybody can start a garden, even if they are in the middle of a city,

Mike also taught us how we can have our own bio gas. It saves a lot of money for families that don’t make a lot of money. All they would need is a plastic barrel, water, and cow manure. The family could fill the plastic barrel with water and cow manure and in 3 weeks it will produce methane gas. It is smokeless and can provide gas for cooking as well as for light. 1 barrel will allow a family to cook 3 times a day for 3 months.

While there, we also learned about different kinds of crops, animal crops. First we learned about goat crops. It is cheaper to buy goats than cows, and can provide more. The family could eat, breed, and get milk from the goats. Goats are also not picky eaters so they are very easy to keep. There were also chickens there that were called Naked Neck Chickens and they don’t have feathers on their neck. This enables them to take hotter and more humid weather. Also, if the family can’t afford a tiller, the chickens will do it for them. In 3 months they can dig 8 inches deep into the ground. These birds will also eat a lot of insects. The third crop was rabbits. One could sell or eat and their manure is also very good. Of course, you could use manure from the other animals and it’s very good for the plants. But rabbit manure could house worms, which could be used for catching fish or even for the worms manure which is “the best kind out there”, according to Mike.

I learned a lot while at the ECHO farm. It has a fantastic mission and has definitely taught me the importance of sustainable farming. There are so many people out there who aren’t getting enough food, and ECHO is playing a huge part in helping those people to learn how to grow their own food.