Tropical Permaculture Journal: Growing Food & Living Sustainably
Field-tested guidance for designing real food systems in the tropics, based on 15+ years of lived experience at Finca Tierra, Costa Rica.
Best Fruit Trees for Tropical Climate (That Actually Feed You)
Choosing fruit trees in the tropics isn’t about what grows, it’s about what performs. This guide compares the best tropical fruit trees by climate, elevation, and system role.
Where Do Fats Come From in a Tropical Food System?
Most tropical food systems quietly depend on imported fats. This article explores where fats actually come from in the tropics, why they’re so often overlooked, and how perennial crops support long-term fat security.
Phased Development: Building Your Tropical Homestead Step-by-Step
Not sure where to start with a tropical homestead? This article breaks down a clear, phased development sequence, from design and perennial trees to gardens, staple crops, and animals, so each step supports the next.
Why Annual Vegetables Fail in Humid Tropical Climates (And How to Make Them Work)
Annual vegetable gardening methods developed in temperate climates often fail in the humid tropics. This article explains why constant growth, pests, and rapid decomposition change the rules, and why vegetables work best in the tropics as a support layer, not the backbone of the diet.
A Simple Tropical Survival Garden for Food Security
When supply chains fail, simplicity matters. This article outlines a small, resilient tropical garden designed for calories, continuity, and food security, not abundance for abundance’s sake.
Backyard Tilapia Ponds in the Tropics: How Much Protein Can a Small Pond Produce?
Small backyard tilapia ponds can provide reliable protein in the humid tropics when they are integrated with perennial calorie crops, fats, and greens. This article explains what small ponds actually produce and how they fit into low-work tropical food systems.
How Long Does It Take to Build a Self-Sufficient Homestead?
How long does it take to build a self-sufficient homestead in the tropics? This article breaks down a realistic four to five year timeline and explains how building in the right order allows tropical systems to mature faster and more reliably.
How Much Time Does a Tropical Food System Take to Maintain?
How much time does a tropical food system really take? This article breaks down real-world hours and shows why design matters more than labor.
How Much Does It Cost to Build a Self-Sufficient Homestead in the Tropics?
This article explains the real costs of building a self-sufficient tropical food system, and why design choices matter more than spending more money.
Inside SEED Ecovillage: A Working Model of Tropical Self-Sufficiency
SEED Ecovillage is not a concept or a future vision. It is a working tropical community where families live year-round, produce food, manage land, and operate shared systems under real rainforest conditions. This article documents how the system works.
Protein in the Tropics: Sustainable Ways to Produce Daily Protein
Protein doesn’t have to be difficult in the tropics. This article shows how we produce reliable daily protein using plants, grains, fish, and low-input systems.
How to Design a Self-Sufficient Tropical Permaculture Homestead
A tropical homestead is not a collection of techniques, but a living system. This guide explains how to design a self-sufficient tropical permaculture homestead by integrating food production, protein, fertility, and human movement into a resilient whole.
Tropical Food Forest Design: What Works in Humid and Seasonal Tropics
In the humid tropics, everything grows fast, including weeds. A good tropical food forest isn’t a jungle; it’s a balanced system of trees, spacing, and soil life. Here’s how we design and maintain our food forest at Finca Tierra for year-round abundance.
Tropical Vegetable Garden: How to Grow Abundantly in the Tropics
Growing a productive vegetable garden in the tropics is absolutely possible: you just need to garden with the climate.
After 15+ years of experimenting at Finca Tierra on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast, we’ve learned which vegetables actually thrive in humid and dry tropical zones, how to transform clay into rich soil, and how to harvest daily from a compact space.
This guide distills the methods we use at our education center so you can grow abundantly at home in any tropical region.
How Much Land to Feed a Family: We Grow a Complete Diet on ½ Acre (2,000 m²) in the Tropics
A simple ½-acre tropical garden and food forest that produces calories, protein, fats, and fruit year-round, no fertilizers, no external inputs.