Hi,

My name is Ernesto, I was born in Mexico, but I lived in Vancouver, Canada, for eleven years before returning to my beautiful country. I completed my Political Science major with an International relations minor in the University of British Columbia, but it was until the last few years that my interest grew more towards the science of permaculture.

Nine months ago I became attracted to the raw food movement and began implementing a lot of changes in my diet which made me think of the importance of eating the best food available. In Mexico we do not have so many organic food choices, specially produce, and considering the fact of the insane amount of chemicals used in standard agricultural practices, the only way to eat well is to grow your own food. One thing lead to another and a three months ago a friend of mine found a very good price on a 1.5 hectares property which I though it would be a good business opportunity. Later, I friend of mine became interested in working with a friend's food gardening project so I started to do a bit of research for her as she wanted to change her life path. so i began to send her a lot of permaculture info. The funny part about all this is that I was helping my friend out, but I was the one that became totally infected with permaculture and now I am taking the online PDC course with Geoff Lawton so I can have the necessary information to develop my permaculture project in Mexico... I am the happiest guy ever.

I am planning on developing my project as soon as I finish my PDC, after I spend one year observing the land, of course. The topography engineer is going to do the topography map in a few days and I will beging to plant a nitrogen fixating ground cover so that the soil is ready for planting. The soil condition is great because the land has not been cultivated in 40 years and the top soil is full of organic matter. Another great feature is that on top of the property there is am irrigation channel that provides water three days of the week during the dry months so water is not much of a problem. I plan to harvest my own supply of water, however, as I want to be self sufficient in that regard. The property is Southward facing, tilted a little bit to the east and the altitud is between 1800 and 2100 metres.

Best regards
Ernesto