Sacred Sueños Reforestation Project: Off-Grid and Off-Road in the Andes

A simple life. Many of us dream of this. Especially those living separated from the natural rhythms of nature in favor of endless technological conveniences and gadgetry. We are bombarded by a daily onslaught of unnatural sights, sounds, smells, and superfluous information. The fascination with what Henry David Thoreau wrote about his living experiment in simplicity on Walden Pond continues for those perhaps disheartened by the ways of the modern world. But what does it take to actually live a simple life…as Nature? 

Yves Zehnder tells how he ended up off-grid, off-road and offline in a quest to do just that: live simply — to be a conscious contributor, rather than an extractive consumer, a homesteader with a far smaller than average footprint. He co-founded Sacred Sueños [https://sacredsuenos.wordpress.com/] in 2004, a mountain regeneration project, close to Vilcabamba in the Andes mountains of southern Ecuador. 

He recounts his journey to create a home defined by: regeneration, biodiversity, and an abundant, thriving ecosystem. Through permaculture, analog forestry practices, restoring soil fertility, natural building, appropriate technologies, regenerative design and agriculture systems, animal integration, agro-ecology & intentional community. Becoming one with and adapted to Nature by being as Nature, is a life-transforming journey, you just may wish to undertake yourself. 


Yves Zehnder is Steward of the Sacred Sueños Reserve, and Amateur of all trades at the Sierra y Cielo homestead [https://sierraycielo.org/]. He follows a philosophy integrating regenerative design in all aspects of life. He loves creating edible forests and gardens, and raising animals, using ecological mimicry to increase biodiversity and productivity. He still lives on the mountain, raising a young family, and taking his first steps towards ecology inspired consulting and education.


Carry Kim, Co-Host of EcoJustice Radio. An advocate for ecosystem restoration, indigenous lifeways, and a new humanity born of connection and compassion, she is a long-time volunteer for SoCal350, member of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, and a co-founder of the Soil Sponge Collective, a grassroots community organization dedicated to big and small scale regeneration of Mother Earth.

For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/posts/yves-zehnder-on-78646489 


Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/ 
Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/ 
Support the Podcast: https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio 

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt
Hosted by Carry Kim 
Intro By: Jessica Aldridge
Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats

Episode 164
Photo credit: Sierra Y Cielo

Sacred Sueños Project: Restoring the Cloudforests of Ecuador

EcoJustice Radio presents environmental and climate stories from a social justice frame, featuring voices not necessarily heard on mainstream media.

Our purpose is to amplify community voices, broaden the reach of grassroots-based movements, and inspire action. We investigate solutions for social, environmental, and climate issues with an eye to advance human health, steward wild landscapes, and solve the climate crisis across the USA and the world.

Featured weekly on KPFK Los Angeles and KPFT Houston, and found on all major podcast apps. We are nationally syndicated through the Pacifica Network and PRX and heard on public radio stations across the US and downloaded in over 25 countries.

Co-hosts Jessica Aldridge, Carry Kim, and Jack Eidt present a broad range of perspectives: land defenders and water protectors; front/fenceline community spokespeople; youth organizers; ecosystem and land stewards; regenerative farmers and permaculture specialists; spiritual and faith leaders; environmental health advocates and practitioners; documentary filmmakers; climate scientists; and political decision makers.

EcoJustice Radio [http://EcoJusticeRadio.org] is produced by SoCal350.org since 2017. 

Tune in live to KPFK Radio Thursdays from 4 to 5 PM (PT) at 90.7 FM Los Angeles, 98.7 FM Santa Barbara, 93.7 FM North San Diego, 99.5 FM Ridgecrest-China Lake, or KPFK.org. 

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