Nico Botefur of Essence Arenal shares how he’s turned a couple of rooms on a denatured piece of property into a thriving business, food forest, and employment opportunity for entrepreneurs in his region.

Located at the base of the beautiful Arenal Volcano, his hotel/restaurant/spa is an excellent example of what magic can come with the patient and persistent application of the permaculture principles to one’s business. 

Nico and I discuss his use of bamboo for a wide variety of projects from glamping tent frames, to greenhouses, to volleyball posts. 

We also explore several ways that Nico has been creating synergistic systems that maximize his efforts, recycling waste back into the project and providing multiple yields with each input of energy.  

If you’d like to learn more about Nico’s cyclical approach to resource management for his hotel and restaurant, check out this short PDF that captures some of the highlights of how it all works.

Be sure to follow up with the video tour of Nico’s food forest and permaculture designs right here. 

To learn more about Essence Arenal or to schedule a visit, check out:

• Website – http://essencearenal.com 
• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/essence.arenal/ 
• Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/essencearenal/ 

 If you want to know more about creating high-producing food forests, in city and suburban environments, I recently came across an excellent course on the topic. 

You can find it right here.

If you take the course, I’d love to hear what you think. 

I’ve been very impressed by Toby’s style of teaching.  If we’re going to green up this planet for the next generations to thrive, we need to be doing it in urban as well as rural environments!

 If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a short review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. 

It takes less than a minute, and it really makes a difference in helping to spread the word about our mission to others looking to improve their own projects.

Special thanks to Peter Mukuru for editing this episode!

Music: Rite of Passage by Kevin MacLeod

• Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4291-rite-of-passage
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/