Volunteer

If you would like the opportunity to visit the Ecuadorian Amazon and contribute some of your energy to reforestation and food forest creation while gaining hands-on experience in the practices and techniques used to regenerate degraded land while creating a food forest for self-sustainability, then you might consider spending some time volunteering at Finca Del Soul.

You can click here to learn more about the program and read reviews from other volunteers, or here for more information about what’s at Finca Del Soul.

with the subject line “Your Name - Volunteer Questionnaire” and any information you would like to share, including your answers to the following questions (which you can copy and paste):

1. What are the main purposes of Finca Del Soul and Badass Fruiterrarist Land?

a. To create a luxurious place for people to relax, party, and drink alcohol
b. To make money
c. To plant as many fruit trees as possible, live freely in harmony with all peaceful wild beings, and reforest the land that has been destroyed by humans
d. To create a retreat with cabañas, yoga halls, a community center, massages, and sharing circles

2. What food should I bring when I first arrive at Finca Del Soul?

a. Nothing
b A bag of lentils, a few carrots, and some smashed bananas
c. Enough food for me to eat what I need for breakfast and lunch each day, and to contribute ingredients to dinners for hungry hard-working people for each day from whenever I arrive until the next food truck comes (usually) on Tuesday afternoon
d. Any food in plastic packaging, jars, or cans

3. What products should I use at Finca Del Soul?

a. Anything, it will all go into the sewer and be taken away from the land
b. Anything that says “natural”, “organic”, “environmentally-friendly”, or “vegan”, or has an image of nature on the packaging
c. Nothing with synthetic, toxic, or unnatural ingredients, ingredients that we can’t pronounce or wouldn’t eat, or that are made from animals
d. Toilet paper, DEET, and lots of prepackaged pasta

4. For what reasons is pinto peanut the most important plant at Finca Del Soul?

a. Because we can eat the pinto beans and the peanuts.
b. It’s a powerful natural medicine that can cure a wide variety of illnesses.
c. It fixes nitrogen into the soil, attracts pollinators, looks beautiful, and outcompetes grass and other weeds.
d. It’s not very important, so I don’t need to be careful about letting it grow.

5. How many hours should I contribute to the project while I’m there?

a. Not much, the other people will do the work
b. 4-5 hours a day
c. Around 3 hours a day, and I can choose what projects to work on and when
d. Help?

6. What should I do if I don’t know how I can help? (Please choose all that apply.)

a. Hang out in the hammock all day reading and playing on my phone
b. Look at the Projects List on the wall in the kitchen and ask about the ones I’m interested in
c. Ask someone how I can help
d. If I see something I would like to do, I can ask someone if or how I should do it; or take the initiative and do it if I believe it’s something that I can do and that would benefit the project.

7. What is the leading cause of deforestation in the Amazon?

a. Gold mining and petroleum extraction
b. Animal agriculture
c. Clearing land to build roads and cities
d. Selling timber from trees with high-quality wood

8. In what way(s) is grass repulsive? (Please choose all that apply.)

a. It doesn’t regulate temperature or humidity, add beneficial nutrients to the soil, or produce sustainable food for humans.
b. It can outcompete native and fruit trees so that a forest can be very difficult or impossible to establish.
c. It makes it very difficult to walk and to care for important trees and vegetation, and it can cut you to the bone.
d. If you cut it down, it starts growing back immediately, creating a never-ending and exhausting maintenance nightmare.

9. In what way(s) is monoculture farming undesirable? (Please choose all that apply.)

a. It removes biodiversity and disrupts the natural balance of an ecosystem.
b. It creates an environment that invites a high volume of pests that usually require chemical maintenance products.
c. It creates a high volume of one or a few specific products that people can sell for money, incentivising deforestation.
d. There’s really nothing wrong with it.

10. What are the best things that we can do to reverse the damage to the Amazon? (Please choose all that apply.)

a. Nothing; someone else will do it
b. Watch documentaries or learn about how this important resource is being destroyed
c. Reforest the land, especially with fruit trees, remove people who are engaging in destructive practices, and stop supporting animal agriculture
d. Share the information on this website with other people so that they can learn about the problems that the Amazon is facing and what they can do about it

11. On what basis do you care about the Amazon Rainforest?

12. What do you think will happen to the Anazon Rainforest in the next 10 years if people continue with their current practices?

13. Do you have physical, mental, or other disabilities?

14. What kind of projects would you like to work on in order to help this reforestation project?

15. Approximately what date would you be interested in arriving?

This questionnaire will help us to determine who understands the important concepts of the mission and volunteer program so that we can invite the most passionate and willing people to participate in this very important project of restoring the Amazon.

On behalf of all the plants, animals, and other lifeforms in this majestic land, we thank you for your interest in doing your part to create a more sustainable world while helping to save the Amazon Rainforest and all who depend on it.

“If we don’t do something now, it may be too late if we ever do….”