Finca Vafloreva is the farm where we get our veggies for the Friday market at the catholic church. It is located up in Cerro Punta at the end of a road, above many of the other farms in the area.
Recently the homeschool group was able to tour the farm. The farm is owned by Florian and his wife Doris. He spent two hours walking us up to the top part of his farm to show us where his workers lived and a view from the top. We also got to see the packaging part of the produce at the end.
Florian is originally from Germany. His mother bought the property in 1989 when they moved to Panama. At the time, Florian was 26 years old, so he has lived here and farmed for 36 years!
The farm employs about 15 workers. They do various jobs like planting, prepping the land, pulling weeds, washing, and packaging the produce. The farm is about 25 hectares.
One thing we learned is that the farm doesn’t use a lot of really strong insecticides. They do have to use some, but Florian said they try to use the more organic sprays. They use strong insecticides when they plant the baby plants and that kills all the bugs so that they don’t have to use as toxic ones as the plants grow.
Because they don’t use as much insecticides, there are more snails and other types of bugs. He said this isn’t common on every farm in the area. The kids really enjoyed playing with the bugs.
We were able to see the process they use in their greenhouses to plant the seeds. They will plant a clump of seeds in each container and then have to separate them out as they get bigger.
They also use the greenhouse for drying out onions and have a plan of doing some hydroponics in there as well.
Florian commented to us that he leaves many of the trees on his farm, so you can see where his property is in some of the videos. Most of the farms in the area cut down all of their trees so they can plant more vegetables. When he moved here, he and his mom even reforested some of the property. He sees the value in having trees, even if his neighbors don’t like it because they say it gives their plants less sun. He knows the roots help to prevent erosion.
Another thing they do to help prevent erosion is the workers plant corn in different areas. The roots hold the ground, it improves the soil, and it also provides food for the workers.
As you can see, the workers are really in good shape! They climb these steps up to their homes and spend all day working on these crops on an incline. You can even see them carrying 120 pounds of potatoes down to the packing area! Even Florian at age 62 walked up and down the mountain with no problems while most of the rest of us mamas were having a harder time!
At times, having such a large farm has its disadvantages. He was telling us about a field of lettuce that had received too much rain and there were not enough workers to harvest it, so it was left to rot.
It was amazing to me how Florian knew what was planted in each section of the farm!
He plants all of his crops at an angle, not straight down the mountain. It makes it easier for the workers to work their way down each line.
Florian’s mother wanted a chapel built on the property for the workers and for her. She worked from 5am to 7:30 every day as the farm was her life. She passed away 12 years ago, but you can still see touches of her throughout – like the flowers around the chapel. Florian’s father is still alive at the age of 94 and living in David.
In the packing area, it was so interesting to see them clean each item. They dipped it into very cold water from the mountain and shook it off before putting it in the crates to be used to make veggie bags. There was also a worker there cleaning off each zucchini with a towel.
The farm was so interesting and we were so thankful to Florian, Doris, and the workers for taking time to give us a tour.
Please check out our video of this farm on our YouTube channel:
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