Regeneration Field Institute

Spring Program II — March 7 – March 14

This team carried forward some of our most important spring work in coastal Ecuador. Together, they fabricated CBFT (Cement Bamboo Framing Technology) panels, pushed forward the design-build of our new cabaña project, installed bamboo dams during peak rainy season, and helped develop a stronger compost production system for the farm.

Beyond the build, they joined Mingas with local communities—helping manage a syntropic system at the local high school, reinstalling trees, pruning, and contributing to the Pavón high school mural.

What made this group unforgettable was their contrast. Ecology met design, science met creativity, and in that exchange came a deeper reminder—that this work is strongest when different ways of thinking learn to build together.

The experience carried outward—into the mangroves, paddle boarding at Saiananda, and connection through the bean-to-bar cacao process.

Last week, a group from Redwood High School—one of our longest-standing program partners—traveled to the gateway of the Amazon in Tena for an experience rooted in intercultural exchange, ecological connection, and action.

Together we dove into projects with local communities—building a bamboo structure that now serves as a space for Chakramamas to share the harvest from their gardens, beginning the design of a community botanical garden, collaborating with participants from Ikiam Amazon Regional University, rehoming bees, and propagating bamboo.

Beyond the work itself, we moved through the wider landscape—walking in primary rainforest, rafting the currents of the Napo River, sharing soccer and laughter with local youth, and soaking in hot springs on the long road home.

Some participants returned for their second and even third program. Seeing how they’ve grown reminds us that change begins when people discover the power they carry.

Already looking forward to next year, Redwood!

Our Farmer Field School is fully underway and entering its final week of installations.

What began with past-generation leaders standing beside emerging farmers is now visible in the field. Seventy-five plots have been installed, and by the end of this phase we will reach 83 new agroforestry systems, alongside 10 established promoter plots leading by example.

As installation wraps, the next phase begins: perimeter seed banks of biomass species — Yuca de Ratón, Nacadera, Butón de Oro, and Frijol de Palo — strengthening each system from the edges inward. After that comes maintenance, observation, and replanting where needed.

This is the rhythm of regeneration: install, support, tend, improve.

By the end of this cycle, 26.5 acres across 93 farms will be transitioning into diverse, productive agroforestry systems led by farmers themselves.

To our community and to those who have invested in this work: thank you. The progress is real, and it is shared.

Regeneration is underway — and it is farmer-led.

We’ve built something new for those ready to go further.

The Regeneration Field Institute (RFI) is launching our 5-week Summer Fellowship at Los Arboleros in coastal Ecuador — a fully immersive, field-based experience designed for students who are ready to step beyond the classroom and into applied regenerative work.

This fellowship was created out of our desire to offer a more integrated pathway into the RFI universe — one where fellows live, learn, and build together. Participants join a small, interdisciplinary cohort and work within one of six focus areas—Design & Bamboo, Agroforestry, Wildlife Ecology & Conservation, Organizational Development & Fundraising, Digital Storytelling, or Social Entrepreneurship—advancing individual projects while contributing to a shared final initiative.

This is a professional development experience at its core: real responsibility, real collaboration, real output. A space to sharpen your skills, expand your portfolio, and explore what a future in regenerative systems, community development, or applied research can truly look like.

📍 Los Arboleros, Coastal Ecuador
📅 5 Weeks — Summer 2026
🗓 Application Deadline: March 15, 2026

Learn more + apply through the link in our bio.

We’ve built something new for those ready to go further.

The Regeneration Field Institute (RFI) is launching our 5-week Summer Fellowship at Los Arboleros in coastal Ecuador — a fully immersive, field-based experience designed for students who are ready to step beyond the classroom and into applied regenerative work.

This fellowship was created out of our desire to offer a more integrated pathway into the RFI universe — one where fellows live, learn, and build together. Participants join a small, interdisciplinary cohort and work within one of six focus areas—Design & Bamboo, Agroforestry, Wildlife Ecology & Conservation, Organizational Development & Fundraising, Digital Storytelling, or Social Entrepreneurship—advancing individual projects while contributing to a shared final initiative.

This is a professional development experience at its core: real responsibility, real collaboration, real output. A space to sharpen your skills, expand your portfolio, and explore what a future in regenerative systems, community development, or applied research can truly look like.

📍 Los Arboleros, Coastal Ecuador
📅 5 Weeks — Summer 2026
🗓 Application Deadline: March 15, 2026

Learn more + apply through the link in our bio.

We gather to build capacity—together.

This program brought students from the University of Oklahoma’s Sooners Without Borders and UC Berkeley—our longest-standing university partnership—into a shared field experience focused on weaving together a growing community of young regenerative professionals.

We worked at scale—raising the largest bamboo structure we have ever attempted, spanning 11m × 11m at the roof, moving through four Minga installations, extending pollinator transition zones, building bamboo dams, and shaping a mural rooted in culture and place.

Alongside the physical work, we opened space to question extractive models of development and begin reimagining what regenerative industries might become.

As always, the program extended beyond the worksite—into waterfalls, chocolate production, soccer, dancing in the plaza, and shared movement through place.

Each program strengthens an expanding network—some roots run deep, others are just taking hold, and all are bound by our shared responsibility.

We began the year in community.

This New Year, we gathered students from UC Davis and UC San Diego to work, learn, and celebrate alongside farmers and place—building with living materials and letting the land remain our primary teacher.

This year, that meant testing a curved bamboo culm construction technique—bending entire culms rather than assembling bundled slats—and sharing the first Minga of the year with Doña Viviana. Together, we initiated a syntropic system that will guide a growing network of farmers this season.

Año Viejo, fire, waterfalls, chocolate, and reflection mark the transition. Then we return our hands to the soil.

This is how we enter the year: learning by doing, building together, and committing—again—to regeneration.