WIth the bikes returned ($200!) and another safe key ordered, and the lack of hot water reported, the dvds returned, the house cleaning done (a service I've gratefully accepted as part of the package), Uncle's laundry whisked away by the maid, the day is 1/2 over.
Uncle Bob's first attempt to do what he came for ie: teaching English has been dashed. The local library has changed their mind, they would not be using the talents of those outside their hand-picked teachers from a College in the US. It would be easy to see this, and my attempts at finding the right avenues for my endeavours as failure, but I refuse to.
Instead, I believe that we have yet to find the right holes for our pegs.
In N. America, the trend toward ecological living is much further on the upswing. Nosara is just in it's infancy, but there are some pretty good starts. Of the locals I've met with any knowledge of organics, it seems their thinking is the same as mine was as I started the CSA; organic growing is a fancy term for how things were done by our forefathers. It's natural growing, using healthy, sustainable methods. Before chemical fertilizer made it's debut, farmers wisely learned to use whatever available. Compost and manure and local rock or bones added elements depleted by growing crops that deplete them. Crop rotation and clever interplanting make for better pest management than spending money on pesticides and herbicides.
When tackling the challenge of marketing the relatively new concept of CSA as a way to purchase one's food, I found that I was trying to sell the concept of hard work. Here, it's no different. I've polled a few locals, including Raineer, who, if you remember, is the manager at 26 years old, of Cafe de Paris. Raineer has been listening to me since I came. He understands the concept, but admits if he were to be used as an example of the average Tico worker, here, in Projecto Americano, after a long day of work, he wants to go home to his family, and perhaps play or watch some soccer on tv, then go to bed. There is little sun left after work, who wants to garden? I'm undaunted. I've heard this argument many times over, and still had more calls in the last couple years as owner of my CSA than I did membership spots. Raineer still knows its a good thing and has been trying to figure out how to help me. In fact, his introducing Don Carlos to me showed how much he understands.
Even tho Don Carlos could not help me obtain land as he thought he might, helped me to understand the local mentality a little better. The best thing he said was "Be careful! I would not speak of your ideas to this person and that person. In Costa Rica, people will steal your ideas!!!" I laughed at the time, but now I can't help but wonder if this is a key to an unknown lock. Perhaps the people of Costa Rica are so bent on the N. American ways, and making $, that the CSA concept, or something like it would work better here, than a "commons" space would. Uncle Bob seems to think that N. America doesn't like "the commons" way of thinking anymore (there was a time in England where every town would have a field on the outskirts of town. Everyone with livestock could use the commons, as they were called, for grazing their animals. The towns eventually swallowed up these spaces and are no longer used in the same manner), and that it's "every man for himself".
I've thought that if I can find a company in the service industry, that has wealthy owners, and a little extra space, and that wants to jump on the ecological bandwagon I may be able to convince them that:
~they would benefit by being able to state their "greenness" because of the organic nature of the garden
~they would benefit by supporting, or sponsoring a local by allowing their staff, and only their staff to use space in the garden
~they would benefit by the organic produce from the garden in their restaurant.
The staff would benefit by:
~being able to produce organic produce for their family
~feeling the support of the company they work for by being allowed to use company space
The project could have some permanence, and even progress to spaces in the staff's communities for the locals, in the future.
Uncle Bob and I discussed the idea that to "sell" this idea is a difficult one. He's of the mind that one shouldn't have to sell a good idea. It should sell itself. If only. Unfortunately, the idea does not have legs of it's own. The book I received from my parents called The Tipping Point, speaks of how things become a trend. Sometimes it's mysterious, but under close scrutiny, "they" have found that many things become popular because they are carried from one type of person to another during a somewhat complex series of stages. I've been trying to figure out which type of person I am, and who I need to pass it off to next to make this concept a trend here. I think I am an Early Innovator. A person to try new things, in this case. I need an Early Adopter, someone who sees this idea and is convinced it is a good one and gives it a try. And a Maven or Connector, someone who loves a good deal, who is connected to the Mainstream, but in a conscientious way; this person/s I need to make the idea palatable for the Mainstream.
Figuring out the culture may take longer than I have. Perhaps the culture is not ready for the Community Garden concept. Or, perhaps one or more of the above ideas will take hold, be stolen, in time. Perhaps by my talking talking talking to the locals and foreigners, it will grow legs and run thru Costa Rica. It would be nice to see Costa Rica skipping over some of the mistakes made by N. America. Maybe they can take their not-so-distant past in farming and living off the land and teach us, the foreigners how it should be done.
0 comments:
Post a Comment