Entry # 6: Field Trip # 2-Agricultural Area/ECHO

Last Monday (the 18th of January), I completed my ECHO field trip (as well as my service volunteer hours). The day that I decided to take my tour, they were also having a Citrus seminar/testing which I was fortunate enough to be able to take part in.

Between my self-guided tour and my service learning contribution, my experience at ECHO was exceedingly satisfactory. As aforementioned, I got to partake in a Citrus seminar and testing, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The seminar was really educational. I hadn't realized the complexity of citrus farming. The presentation itself included an introduction to the different variety of citrus fruits, or rather, citrus families. It also covered factors such as the best climate to grow citrus plants and diseases that attack citrus plants.

As you will see in the pictures to follow, after the seminar was over, everyone walked over to the citrus farm and begin trying all of the different citrus fruits in order to "rate them" so that it could be determined which was found to be most popular, most acidic, and so on.

Along with the interesting seminar, I was also really impressed by the surrounding area-the entire farm appeared to be very well maintained. I was mostly impressed, however, with the overall concept of ECHO. I believe that a sustainable demonstration farm for third world countries is an excellent cause. The only things I didn't enjoy from this experience were the far drive from Naples, and the fact that I visited right after ECHO experienced a big frost, and a lot of the crops were (as you may be able to visualize in some of the photos) dead/severely damaged.

I will be frank. Prior to volunteering for ECHO, I did not have much planting/gardening experience. Sure, I have attempted to plant some herbs in a pot, as well as tomatoes, but I am by no means any kind of expert on the field. The experience that I did have with planting/gardening, however, left me in belief that it is not easy. The succession rate of my planting experiences were quite pathetic.

I know that an exceptional amount of work needs to go into caring for a plant as simple as basil or thyme, and I cannot imagine having to depend on my own gardening skills (or, have you, lack there of) for survival. That's why I was so captivated by the work that they do at ECHO. They're attempting to show people in third world countries who must, in fact, depend on their own gardening skills to be fed and to feed their families, sustainable techniques that can be used.