The ECHO Experience

The Echo field trip impressed many new ideas on me.  I learned many new things and also reinforced some old ideas.  Solar stoves, bio-filters, bucket irrigation systems, and ecoagricultural farming techniques were only a hand full of the subjects that were presented.  Not only were the subjects talked about but the simple technologies were present, demonstrated and used on a daily bases on the farm.  The philosophy of the Echo farm is to teach societies in need to become self-sustained through efficient farming and the use of simple and inexpensive technologies.   One example that impressed me was the bio-filters for water filtration instead of importing bottled water (which could be expensive).  With the bio-filters, local water sources can be used without the threat of becoming extremely ill.   Several days after class, I actual purchased a Sawyer bio-filter on-line to add to my emergency/ survival supplies.  It beats keeping a large supply of bottle water on stock and is much easier to transport.   The solar stoves were also an item of interest because the only power source needed is sunlight.  Another aspect of ECHO that is interesting is the different farming techniques that are being used such as green fences, plants that promote soil fertility and moisture, simple bucket and hose irrigation, and multi seasonal  planting to assure production year long.  I was impressed by the mini eco-agricultural farm set up on the farm.   There were confined grazing animals for fertilization, the ducks to fertilize the lake which promoted food growth for the tilapia farming.  There are many invaluable lessons to learn from ECHO and I will definitely research more into the subject when time permits.