Jose Calva and Carmen Chamba Solano

José Calva joined the farm in April of 2018. He comes from a family of “Comuneros” from his grand-parents, from the Comuna Sasaco. He is the historical consultant for the Palta Tribe, the indigenous leaders of this area. Jose’s wife, Carmen Chamba Solano, also comes from “Comuneros” grand-parents, from the Comuna Panduana, in the canton Sozoranga.

José has long experience in agriculture, organic farming and permaculture. He has also been very active organizing and leading his comuna, and served as the President of the Palta people. He is still very active in the work of promoting indigenous ways.

Nowadays José is working at the farm with Carmen, following the traditional ways from his ancestors, while teaching and sharing knowledge with our volunteers coming from all over the world. Thanks to them, we now have a farm that is multi-diverse and productive, almost self-sustainable. It is a hub for research and experimentation, integrating both native species and commonly used vegetables.

Jose and Carmen also continuously work toward preserving the seeds that we produce at the farm, to keep on sowing and planting within our own organic and biodynamic seeds, and for sharing.