The Farm

Huerta de Permacultura e Intercambio de Saberes en la UTB - Permaculture and Knowledge Exchange Farm in the UTB

The Farm is located inside the campus of the Universidad Tecnológica de Bolivar in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

The land plot has an area of 8. 554 square meters (2.11 acres) of dry tropical forest, mostly comprised of young trees, seasonal bush and ground cover vegetation.

The weather in this region is hot and humid. In average, the hottest month of the year is June with 25°C and the coldest is January with 22°C.
There is a dry season from December to April, being February the driest month with 0.9mm and a rainy season from May to November; the highest rainfalls occur in October with 198.3mm.

The farm during the dry season. Most of the trees loose their leaves and the soil looks eroded and cracked.

But as soon as the first rains fall, dormant seeds begin to sprout and the forest transforms itself into a green jungle teeming with life.

This land is home to many species of birds, little mammals, reptiles, amphibians and all sizes of insects. We will be soon making an inventory of the fauna with help of our friends from the Fauna Silvestre Foundation.

To know the vegetation of this forest, Cartagena's Botanical Garden Gullermo Piñeres will be identifying trees and other species so that we can tell our students and employees their names and uses.

The Farm is divided into two projects: The Permaculture Experimentation and Demostration Site and The Traditional Peasant´s Plot.

The Permaculture Experimentation and Demostration Site project will focus on applying and teaching permaculture principles and methods. We will spend a year observing how Nature changes along the seasons, making a map of elements and factors, establishing a wild corridor and with the support of World Wildlife Fund´s Russell E. Train Eduaction for Nature Program, we will conduct the first Intensive Permaculture Workshop. 

The Traditional Peasant´s Plot project aims to build a link between the students of the UTB and the

life of the people who grows their food in the territory. Each semester, our  teacher Wilmer Vanegas, a leader of his community in Montes de Maria, teaches around 40 students how to grow some traditional staples of the Caribbean cuisine.

Cassava and corn growing side by side in the The Traditional Peasant´s Plot.