Reforestation, crops, residency

man planting treeWe are growing and planting a lot of crops and trees on the property. Recently we planted about 50 native hardwood trees that I grew from seeds or seedlings. The trees were planted on the slope next to the future house building area and below the vivero. In the past these areas were cleared for cattle pasture and were overgrown with grass. It was a good feeling for me to see my little “children” being planted in the ground.

Other things growing are:

pineapple plantsPineapple

rice plantsRice

citrus treeOne of the citrus trees planted many months ago has two fruits on it. I didn’t expect to see any citrus for several years.

tobacco plantsWe planted a crop of tobacco.

three men harvesting tobaccoHere is John and the workers tying the tobacco leaves so they can be hung to dry.

I am officially a temporary resident of Costa Rica. A few weeks ago I went to the immigration office in San Jose to have my picture and finger prints taken. The following week I picked up my cedula (identification card) at the local post office. We celebrated with a sushi dinner in Escazu. This was the first sushi I have had since leaving Seattle. The entire process for residency took 29 months. In a few years we will be able to apply for permanent residency.

Costa Rica butterflyI go to the river most mornings to visit the tree that fell. Unfortunately I wasn’t into seed collecting mode when it bloomed last dry season. Today I walked on our property along the river and found some of her seedlings. I carefully pushed back and removed the grass growing around the seedlings and marked them with a stake (meaning, don’t cut me!). I was surprised to see dozens of tree seedlings from many species that are trying to reclaim the river bank. It’s quite impressive how quickly tree seedlings will germinate and take root. I was planning to plant trees in this area, but it appears nature got there before I did.