I feel like I have learned so many new things today! First, we started off the day with a trip to a local school in Monteverde for our service learning project. I had a blast painting the fence with the students because of their constant enthusiasm. Despite the language barrier, we were still able to see and reciprocate our excitement. One of my favorite moments from hanging out with the children was learning a new game with my peers. The students taught us a game which resembled “Tag” and “Ring-Around-the-Rosie.” Even the dogs were into the game! 

After finishing the service learning activity at the school, we walked over to Life Monteverde to learn more about their sustainability practices and the typical life of a Tico farmer. In fact, the name “Life Farm” alludes to the farm’s low impact on the Earth. This can be seen from the numerous efforts regarding sustainability, such as using animal manure and excess crop parts for composting. Another example includes using the insides of the trees to create charcoal. Similar to the past farms we have visited, every scrap from every part of the farming process is utilized. No product goes to waste. In addition to the sustainability efforts, Life Monteverde focuses on being as green as possible. Given that regular fertilizers and fungicides are extremely harmful for the environment and humans, they have decided to develop their own using ingredients already found on the farm. Life Monteverde stood out to me because they are open to the public if one wants to ask questions or for research. They really pride themselves as being close to the Monteverde community as it has done so much for them as well. 

Finally, we investigated the life of a Tico farmer by touring the farm and learning about the people working on the farm. The tour was mainly focused on coffee, like Doka and Café Britt. Most of the coffee cherry harvesters are from Niceragua and travel to Costa Rica to find a better job than in their home country. Tico farmers are paid in different methods based on the time of the harvesting season. In the low harvesting season, they are paid by the hour. However, in the high harvesting season, pickers are paid by basket, or cajuela. By law, a cajuela is worth about $3. A challenge Tico farmers face is finding people to help out around the farm. With each generation, less and less children want to become farmers because of the higher education levels. For instance, if I was the child of a Tico farmer, I would want to become a teacher, instead of directly working on the farm, so I could teach the younger generations about the importance of conservation and sustainability in regards to climate change. The only way to keep moving forward in society is by educating our kids to the fullest extent. Moreover, I would reinforce the importance of community because without the close-knit community in Monteverde, the farms would not be as robust. Monteverde has an emergency community fund that is donated to by every farm in the area. There is also a partnership between all the farms to charge the same price for tours in order to reduce competition. With each purchase of a ticket to a tour, $1 is donated to the community fund in case of emergency.