ISSN 1108-8931

INTERNATIONAL ECOTOURISM MONTHLY™

Year 6 - Issue 74

Sponsored by: Zante Feast Discovery Holidays, Hana Maui Botanical Gardens, Jorth Consult Limited, Pacuare Lodge, Ecolife 2005 Fair

ECOCLUB.com Ecolodge Awards 2005 - Winning Projects progress

Rainforest Retreat of Karnataka, India, the 1st Winners report:

"The Galibeedu Organic Association has been formed. The rice planting was undertaken in July and is expected to be ready by the end of December. Other crops are tea (ready for picking and processing), coffee and vegetables. We have made a demonstration to prepare EM (effective microorganisms) and use it to make compost and directly treat the plants for more robust health. Other methods such as the use of cow urine and botanical pest repellants have been discussed and will be implemented. We will now collectively purchase and distribute the raw materials required for preparation of various composts and crop protection agents.

T R Vasudeva's Rice field	Making organic compost	Ganapathy's Tea field

Below is a list of Association Members and details of their organic produce so far:

Ganapathy, age 45 yrs, small holding near Galibeedu village.
He has approx ½ acre of mature tea he has not put any chemical fertilizers for the past 2 yrs. We will introduce organic manures and initiate foliar sprays with EM (effective microorganisms) based solutions. The next crop of tea that is harvested (within the next 2 weeks) will be processed into green tea with our guidance and we will also help to package (we propose to print labels in the name of the association and sell directly to the tourists visiting this area.

T R Vasudeva, age 40 yrs, small 3 acre rice holding in Galibeedu village.
He has prepared his field with organic manure and planted paddy in July. There was a lot of erosion during this monsoon and some had to be replanted in August. The field is looking ok and we will advise him to prepare some organic manure and also some EM based sprays as well as a spray with plant extracts that have insect repellent properties. His rice will be purchased by golden mist plantation and possibly exported. Some will be purchased by the Rainforest Retreat to serve to guests.

Shivanna, age 36 yrs, small joint family holding near Rainforest Retreat.
He has not used any chemical fertilizers or pesticides for the past 3 yrs and has 1 acre of paddy and 6 acres of coffee and pepper. The rice is for home consumption and we will apply the same techniques as with Vasudeva to help ensure a good and healthy harvest. The coffee and pepper (harvest Jan / Feb) can be sold for a premium as organic thru some of our contacts.

C K Ponnappa (Muthanna) age 46, large unmaintained ancestral holding
of which a small part is actively cultivated. He will grow vegetables and fruit in about 2 acres, most of which will be purchased by the Rainforest Retreat and some will be available for sale to clients. Vegetable cultivation will begin by Sept 15 as it is still raining and some areas are flooded.

P Muthupande, age 32 yrs, supervisor for Mojo Plantations (Rainforest Retreat)
has been given ½ acre land to cultivate vegetables that will be purchased by the rainforest retreat. He is knowledgeable with our methods so he will also be responsible for demonstration of the various methods of organic cultivation developed here and supervise and check the work on the other plantations.

3 Rivers Dominica, the 2nd Winners Report:

The ram pump workshop is officially scheduled for the end of October, but we are hoping this will move forward. SLIC, the sustainable living initiative, has some new blood. We now have a volunteer helping out with the project, and she is going to visit the villages more frequently than we were able to do, and try and get people really enthusiastic, and trained up at the same time. Her first test project is going to be working on the ram pump."

http://ecoclub.com/award.html

New ECOCLUB Ecolodges in The Gambia and the United States (Wisconsin)

Bintang Bolong

Twenty huts built on stilts amongst the mangroves, on the banks of the Bintang Bolong river, the largest tributary of the mighty Gambia river of West Africa. comprise our new Ecolodge Member, Bintang Bolong Lodge.

Thanks to its location in the middle of the mangrove forest, you can enjoy the exceptional wildlife and vegetation of brackish wetlands. In the evening apes and vultures inhabit the overwhelming Baobab trees, and after dusk great colonies of fruit bats can be seen swarming into the night.

Previously fallen into disuse, Bintang Bolong was revived thanks to the passion of 3 brothers and sisters from Germany, with the support and participation of its former employees and the local community.

http://ecoclub.com/bolong

Inn Serendipity

Set in the rolling countryside along a ridge in southwestern Wisconsin, Inn Serendipity is an organic, solar-powered farmstead which offers gardens to wander, barns to explore, chickens to chase and a labyrinth to walk. About seven miles away is Monroe, the "Swiss Cheese Capital of the USA" , as the Swiss settled there in the 1840s, today home to famous cheese factories and the award-winning Joseph Huber Brewing Company, the second oldest in the United States.

Inn Serendipity is the creation of John Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist

Lisa Kivirist is a social and business entrepreneur, and a leader in the growing rural renaissance and sustainable living movement, and the author of "Kiss Off Corporate America: A Young Professional's Guide to Independence (Andrews McMeel, 1998). John Ivanko is an award-winning photographer, writer, author, entrepreneur and globetrotter.

http://ecoclub.com/innserendipity 

ECOCLUB.com Live Event: The San Francisco Green Hotel & Hospitality Initiative (SFGHHI)

ECOCLUB.com celebrated World Tourism Day 2005 (Sept. 27) with a live online event: Mr. Elliot Helman, the first person to join ECOCLUB.com in February 2000, made a presentation, followed by a lively discussion session, on the San Francisco Green Hotel & Hospitality Initiative, which he is administering. A summary will be published in our Members Forum. We hope other Members will take the initiative to hold similar ecotourism-related presentations, so that this can become a regular feature. If you are interested, please contact us at http://ecoclub.com/services.html

http://ecoclub.com/chat

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