Main Building, Finca Luna Nueva Lodge
by Thomas Newmark of Finca Luna Nueva Lodge
Make chocolate in the rainforest? Of course! You’ll take a thousand-year journey through the history of growing cacao and making chocolate, even using an ancient cacao grinding stone recovered from the Caribbean slope of the great Atlantic rainforest in Costa Rica. Plus, you get to drink and eat the tour, experiencing the spicy Mayan “Drink of the Gods,” the silky sweetness of our hot chocolate, and bars of chocolate flavored the way you, the jungle chocolatier, like it!
The founder of our farm Steven Farrell leading a group through the farm and pointing out healthy nutmeg trees.
Learn about the brightly flavorful medicinal honey of the famous “Mariola” stingless bees? Yes, those bees are what we consider the livestock of this farm, pollinating native plant species and creating delicious honey. You’ll see how we’ve created homes and habitats for them and how they support the great biodiversity in our fields.
The ancient way of making chocolate in the Santuario de Cacao.
So, if it’s a farm-to-table experience in the rainforest you’re seeking, we’re here to fill your senses. We can check that box! But what about filling your souls? Is there a rainforest medicine that gives you hope about the planet? We think so, and it’s called regenerative farming. Farming is so often blamed for many of the world’s ills, and many environmentalists feel that we need to limit farming to a bare minimum of acres, in order to conserve wilderness. Simply put, this approach says intensively and destructively farm some areas in order that other areas can survive. That ecological concept is called “sparing,” and it’s NOT how we approach farming here at Luna Nueva. Instead, we have a mindset of “sharing,” where we produce food in a way that mimics how rainforests create food energy. We and others call this concept of farming “regenerative,” reflecting that we grow food in a way that repairs and enriches our ecosystem.
Cacao is native to our ecosystem, and grows with enthusiasm on our farm.
Read Tom’s complete article here and then get ready to pack your bags – https://greenmoney.com/regenerate-and-rejoice-at-finca-luna-nueva-lodge
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