Help the Byrd's Launch Ecolodge and Organic Farm
Donation protected
Be part of the final push to complete a one-of-a-kind sustainable agriculture project in one of the most biologically diverse places on Earth! And please come and visit us! All contributions are rewarded with stays in our place in Quito or in the beautiful River Cabin on the Farm in the Andean Mountains of Ecuador!
Six Years ago, The Byrd Family decided to put it all on the line to build something truly special. We traded in our typical, comfortable suburban American lifestyle for a homesteading life in rural Ecuador, where we are building a one-of-a-kind sustainable homestead and organic farm.
Jon, Cheryl and Patrick need your help to complete our central kitchen and gathering space, we call it the "heart of the farm", a special space to share food, fire and fellowship. Finishing this beautiful, hand built, natural structure will allow us to open our doors, host events, workshops, educational seminars and share our project with the world, the local community and YOU!
Our project brings to the community and local economy a unique regenerative approach as we are interacting with the degraded places on the landscape and bringing them back into ecological health, through intelligent Syntropic agricultural practices (Syntropic Agriculture - Life in Syntropy ). To this end, over the past two years we have renovated a number of areas using Syntropic Agriculture methods and have plans to do several more plantings over the coming years. Degraded pasture and areas of weedy secondary regrowth are being quickly transformed into diverse and productive agroforestry areas providing diversity and habitat for the native species as well as the people living on the farm.
But first we need your help in the final push.... We've completed a one of a kind natural round-wood, bamboo and thatch roof to our lodge and harvested the material for the internal structure but need your help to get the interior completed, and our doors open to the public.!
Having thus far been a completely self-funded project, we realize that reaching out to the broader community online will not only allow us to bring the project to fruition in the way we've envisioned it, but will create the opportunity to make connections with future friends and guests who will know they played a part in making this place a reality.
BACKGROUND:
After an exhausting search, we found what we felt was the most beautiful place we'd ever seen and the location was perfect, only 30 minutes from a bustling eco-tourism town, Mindo, yet surrounded by forest, rivers, wilderness and wildlife, but far enough out that you feel like you are totally immersed in the natural world.
To grow our own food, build our own living spaces from natural local materials harvested on the land, to regain our independence, resilience, and health from the jaws of the modern world, and then to share what we've built with guests. Many people have said they wished they could be doing what we're doing, but "if only....".
Not to say that it's been at all easy, or without sacrifice.
We've built road access, developed springs for potable water, dug ponds and terraces for our gardens & crops, built paddock systems to keep free range animals, harvested materials and built cabins and living spaces powered with solar energy in order to live full time on the land. All learned on the fly, driven by a desire to create a sustainable life and taken on with the confidence that we could get it done.
So much has been accomplished in so little time.
In 2017 we broke ground on the Lodge, which will be the central gathering place, cooking, hearth, outdoor living. The naturally constructed round wood, bamboo and Tagua palm (known locally as cady) thatched roof structure was completed in March of 2018. Now it's time to finish the interior!
Our local town, Mindo, is a growing eco-tourism hub in Eucador which attracts over 200,000 tourists annually, both from within the country and without. Situated in the mega-diverse Choco-Andean rainforest corridor, and boasting several hundred species of birds, many of which are endemic, Mindo is internationally known as a birding hotspot and naturalist's paradise.
If you plan to take a vacation in the near future, and are considering coming to Ecuador, making a donation to our project will guarantee you credit towards a stay at the farm in our Luxurious River Cabin (River Cabin Finca Aveterra ) or our apartment in Quito (Your Home in Quito, Luxury 3 bdrm. Apartment), as well personal recommendations on traveling in the country.
Ave Terra AirBnB Listings
We are awarding 50% bonus credit on top of the donation amount as credit towards a stay in either location! Contribute $100 and get $150 in stay credit!
Projected use of Funds:
Labor
Additional Materials
Solar and Hydro Upgrade
Kitchen Equipment
Furnishing
Ecological Constructed Wetlands Septic System
Thank you from all of us at Finca Aveterra!
Jon, Cheryl, Patrick and crew!
Six Years ago, The Byrd Family decided to put it all on the line to build something truly special. We traded in our typical, comfortable suburban American lifestyle for a homesteading life in rural Ecuador, where we are building a one-of-a-kind sustainable homestead and organic farm.
Jon, Cheryl and Patrick need your help to complete our central kitchen and gathering space, we call it the "heart of the farm", a special space to share food, fire and fellowship. Finishing this beautiful, hand built, natural structure will allow us to open our doors, host events, workshops, educational seminars and share our project with the world, the local community and YOU!
Our project brings to the community and local economy a unique regenerative approach as we are interacting with the degraded places on the landscape and bringing them back into ecological health, through intelligent Syntropic agricultural practices (Syntropic Agriculture - Life in Syntropy ). To this end, over the past two years we have renovated a number of areas using Syntropic Agriculture methods and have plans to do several more plantings over the coming years. Degraded pasture and areas of weedy secondary regrowth are being quickly transformed into diverse and productive agroforestry areas providing diversity and habitat for the native species as well as the people living on the farm.
But first we need your help in the final push.... We've completed a one of a kind natural round-wood, bamboo and thatch roof to our lodge and harvested the material for the internal structure but need your help to get the interior completed, and our doors open to the public.!
Having thus far been a completely self-funded project, we realize that reaching out to the broader community online will not only allow us to bring the project to fruition in the way we've envisioned it, but will create the opportunity to make connections with future friends and guests who will know they played a part in making this place a reality.
BACKGROUND:
After an exhausting search, we found what we felt was the most beautiful place we'd ever seen and the location was perfect, only 30 minutes from a bustling eco-tourism town, Mindo, yet surrounded by forest, rivers, wilderness and wildlife, but far enough out that you feel like you are totally immersed in the natural world.
To grow our own food, build our own living spaces from natural local materials harvested on the land, to regain our independence, resilience, and health from the jaws of the modern world, and then to share what we've built with guests. Many people have said they wished they could be doing what we're doing, but "if only....".
Not to say that it's been at all easy, or without sacrifice.
We've built road access, developed springs for potable water, dug ponds and terraces for our gardens & crops, built paddock systems to keep free range animals, harvested materials and built cabins and living spaces powered with solar energy in order to live full time on the land. All learned on the fly, driven by a desire to create a sustainable life and taken on with the confidence that we could get it done.
So much has been accomplished in so little time.
In 2017 we broke ground on the Lodge, which will be the central gathering place, cooking, hearth, outdoor living. The naturally constructed round wood, bamboo and Tagua palm (known locally as cady) thatched roof structure was completed in March of 2018. Now it's time to finish the interior!
Our local town, Mindo, is a growing eco-tourism hub in Eucador which attracts over 200,000 tourists annually, both from within the country and without. Situated in the mega-diverse Choco-Andean rainforest corridor, and boasting several hundred species of birds, many of which are endemic, Mindo is internationally known as a birding hotspot and naturalist's paradise.
If you plan to take a vacation in the near future, and are considering coming to Ecuador, making a donation to our project will guarantee you credit towards a stay at the farm in our Luxurious River Cabin (River Cabin Finca Aveterra ) or our apartment in Quito (Your Home in Quito, Luxury 3 bdrm. Apartment), as well personal recommendations on traveling in the country.
Ave Terra AirBnB Listings
We are awarding 50% bonus credit on top of the donation amount as credit towards a stay in either location! Contribute $100 and get $150 in stay credit!
Projected use of Funds:
Labor
Additional Materials
Solar and Hydro Upgrade
Kitchen Equipment
Furnishing
Ecological Constructed Wetlands Septic System
Thank you from all of us at Finca Aveterra!
Jon, Cheryl, Patrick and crew!
Organiser
Jon Byrd
Organiser
Mays Chapel, MD