I've told a few people that I have been busy with a really great experience recently on our farm when a group of 17 masters students from California came to visit.
As is normally true @ecoinstante got the best pictures, but I will share what I have.
We had just enough space, although we are already thinking we need another comedor.
They seemed to really enjoy our birdwatching and flower-watching activities, of course they were the perfect group to be able to appreciate all that we have done.
The greatest part for me was to be able to deep dive into many of the concepts behind sustainable development in practice, something that is all too often only discussed in theory, and many of the details of which require deep education/understanding of many topics including biology, chemistry, climate science, economics, sociology and anthropology and even political science and history.
We couldn't have asked for a better group of prepared and educated youth interested in all these topics.
Our farm was only part of the experience, we got to accompany the group for two full days to see several local attractions, and it was great to see our traditionally divided local community come together, and learn a lot in the process.
We will get more complete feedback soon, and are planning a feedback session with the local participants, but the overall response so far from the students (and professors!) has been extremely positive.
There are a few things that we need to improve on, but we would have never known without this experience!
Important links
As I will be sharing this post with the students themselves, I want to include a directory of some important links for them, or for any of you reading interested in these topics.
Alex's Youtube-Heavy Primer on Regenerative Agriculture
Ledis' "If you want to see birds, you must visit Colombia" BEST PICTURES
Ledis' "Chronicle of a Tree"
Alex's Link- and Picture-filled Permaculture Diploma 2021
Ledis' Announcement of ABC support for local restoration project
Ledis' report on social realities and achievements of the restoration project
Don Antonio's first Implementation
Alex's Translation of President Petro's Speech before the UN General Assembly
Alex's breakdown of the speech (TL;DR)
Getting the farm ready for this visit
Alex's "If rural people are so poor, why don't they do something different?" + Facebook Live Interview
After a nice morning on our farm we headed up for some delicious food and a pleasant surprise of karaoke. Apparently I stopped taking pictures at this point, so above is one from @ecoinstante.
This joyous academic connection that was made between Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and the community of Libano, Tolima - I just have a feeling will become the stuff of legends. This is not just eco-tourism - Its 'Saving the World' Tourism.
