Soil cannot produce food on its own. It's for that reason that using different composts can be of great help. Nonetheless, unlike traditional composts, organic ones are produced with natural materials that easily decompose. These turn into a life source for the soil. Since they contain millions of microorganisms that turn minerals into consumables for the plants. The idea in the beginning was pedagogical. The idea was for people to come to find out what we do, find out about all the processes, and as we started generating more projects, people started to get to know us. People didn't just want to buy, they also wanted to learn how to make it. What we call a bio-factory is divided into two zones. The area where we hand out and dispatch the products, and where it is produced. That's the other area. Since I started to work with this, the benefits that I witnessed was the detoxification of the soil. That was the first thing I saw working with organics. Before, we were killing ourselves. Before, with a cane plant, you would drench it in chemicals. It would grow fertile. During the other harvest, it would stay behind. Why? Because we were destroying the soil. The earth. Instead, with organic compost, the more you put in the better the crops. And the best things is that it's organic. It doesn't have poison, it doesn't contaminate, it doesn't harm our health, Anyone can consume it, children, anyone. It's organic, it's healthy, that's the best thing about it. Now we know how to prepare it, we know the formula, we learned everything and know how to do it. In the beginning we only planned on having the vegetable garden. Produce just for ourselves. Simply to satisfy our needs. From there, we saw the need of implementing all the projects. Then we couldn't keep up. With the area that we had, to supply ourselves. With all the projects that started coming out, we needed a bigger place where everything could be established. That is where the idea to start a bio-factory came from. A bio-factory is a structure where all the pertinent consumables are made for the elaboration of consumables we ourselves make. For what? To nourish the soil as well as to fertilise the plants. In this case, what we want to do is to educate Colombian producers. For them to see that this way, their crops are profitable. They can minimise costs preparing compost themselves rather than going and buying somewhere else. With ingredients of the area. It's hard in the beginning. Because the grandparents, and their parents, it's very difficult when you mention to them they are surprised by this. But once you start working with them and they start seeing they say "this is what we've been missing" we were destroying our families and our soil poisoning the waters, and I've learned a lot from this. It has helped me as a person. and it has helped others. There are 4 people working here. A geologist, two farmers and myself. One person already has a lot of knowledge. The idea was to bring him here, rotate him in all the projects and to have him teach. To teach us as well because he has been working in this the longest. We have another person, Ms. Elsa, who has a lot of knowledge in another one of the projects, that works with the municipal government of Medellin. It's called "The farm is us people". This person has an extensive run until that point, so we decided to transfer her so things would be easier. The geologist who also works with us, works certain days looking at all the rock flour that enters. My story, I started looking for internships in the university, and it was complicated. It's a complicated profession to find work in the area or in Medellin. Generally you are sent to other departments. Talking to a co-worker, he gave me the card of Salvaterra. I called, they gave me an interview, and I started to work with "The farm is us people". There we developed the irrigation systems. Then, I came to this area, to develop bio consumables and aid the delivery of all the projects. Nonetheless, I pass through all the projects developing the irrigation systems. Each one offers different alternatives, let's find out about some of these products, how they are made, and their importance. The organic materials we have are, bio fungicides, bio nematicides, amendments, and bio fertilisers. These organics are derived from pure minerals. This means that they don't arise from reactions between minerals, nor from materials that are not natural. All this is done separately. So, in one container we place magnesium liquid fertiliser. In another, zinc liquid fertiliser, In another, manganese liquid fertiliser. According to the requirements my crop has. All this is given to me by an agricultural engineer. Bokachi is a fermented organic amendment, created with the use of six products. Amendments are residues or inputs of different products and by adding it to the soil, it improves its structure and composition, as well as its chemical, physical and biological characteristics. The first one, which is the husk, is a residue that is not used in rice productions. Therefore it reduces costs to make this compost. How is it done? This rice husk provides the soil with two improvements, both physically and chemically. Within the physical improvements we find that it improves porosity. Within the chemical improvements we find that it provides silicon. This helps plants be more resistant to winds and hail. To this amendment you add poultry manure. This material is made up of chicken stool. This provides the soil with nitrogen and organic matter. The important thing to consider in this case is, poultry manure has to be well fermented. Why? In order to eliminate odours, and so that our compost in the end is not contaminated. We also have another product that is added to the Bokachi, and that is carbon. Vegetable carbon. Vegetable carbon helps us as a habitat for all the microorganisms that will be inoculated during the process. We also have rock flour. Rocks are a group of minerals found in nature and in a solid state. Soil restoration and fertilisation through the use of these minerals is very important since they provide essential elements. All this is possible after a grounding process that provides us with the rock flour. Adding it to the soil will bring many benefits to it. It regulates the pH, improves quality, helps plants to resist diseases, increases the minerals needed to help plants develop well, and improves the development of micro fauna in the soil. Providing the soil with these minerals some are easily accesible to the pant, others are not. Making another product necessary, which consists of beneficial mountain microorganisms. This helps us to thoroughly separate all those minerals so plants can absorb them in the best way. This microorganisms also have a laboratory that certifies all the properties they have. To this you also add bran. Why? So that all these microorganisms have the capacity to grow. Another material you add to the Bokashi is black soil. The more black soil you add to the ground, the more you contribute to the compost you are making. Organic matter is an important contribution for all types of crops. given that they contribute all kinds of improvements to the soil. They contribute with the application and storage of nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur which are slowly released. That way plants can have these elements constantly available. It retains 10 times more nutrients than clay. It retains macro and micro nutrients, avoiding loss due to leaching, and therefore increasing their availability for the plants. it provides energy for the microorganisms, which increases the soil's biological activity, From each of these materials I've mentioned, you start to add, right? For example let's say two bags of rock flour, a bale of husk, And all those materials are mixed very well, so much so that you don't notice what is rock flour and what is carbon. So first, homogenise very well. From there, you add water. How much? The idea is for it to be moist, but when you do the 'fist test', water does not seep out. From there, you cover with a poly-shade mesh. Turns out that when you're adding these microorganisms, they are photosensitive. The idea is to protect them from the light. After this, you let it sit for 3 days. And for the following 15 days, you turn it on a daily basis. We know that we must condition it and establish it to meet certain conditions. Water should not fall on it, and turning it diminishes its temperature. It should be very moist. This is the fist test, It's called the fist test. It consists of squeezing but no water comes out. You see, I squeeze and no water comes out. If I squeeze and water comes out, I have to mix it in some more rice husk because it's the rice husk that will help diminish the moisture, it helps reduce moisture and for it to become drier. This was mounted the day before last, and look at the heat. We mounted it the day before last and look at the heat. And it's a little bit. We have here We have a quarter of a ton. It's not even half, it's a quarter of a ton. And look at how hot it is. What does it mean, it means that the cooking process is very good. Why? Because of the moisture. If when I mix it I don't irrigate it properly, then it won't cook. There won't be a cooking process. It's very good. It will be great, this quarter ton. So that everyone knows how to work the land, and to detoxify the entire country, that's my dream. I invite everyone to continue on our path. so that all of Colombia can plant organically, so as not to destroy families. We also have mountain microorganisms. These can be solid or liquid. Mountain microorganisms come from fallen leaves. These have a good amount of fungi and bacteria. What we want from this fungi and bacteria is, through a fermentation process, to obtain what provides to the soil. And to stop being pathogens. From there, we would implement them onto the crops. Like I mentioned, all this counts on laboratories that certify what we are doing. Initially, you go to the forest and collect the fallen leaves. Then you take those to the containers. What we want to do with this is to turn them into very small pieces in the containers. Then you add bran, either rice, corn or wheat bran. That would be the habitat of all that fungi. From there you add water with molasses so that the molasses can give these microorganisms energy. From there you have the solid. You have to take into account that since you do the fermentation and add water with molasses, you should do the fist test. the same way we did with the bokashi. In this case we want it moist but with no water distilled. We want to ferment it, not rot it. From there you do lab tests, regarding what agents, bacteria and fungi are present in this solid. And if everything comes out okay, it is taken and turned into liquid. For that you place the solid in a small bag, you place it in a container with water and molasses. There you leave it one month so it can work. We know that plants can't eat stones. What these microorganisms do is to make those minerals available to the plant. Then they can absorb it and make their leaves and fruits grow then we can consume it in our vegetables. There is no contraindication. This is organic. This is made with aromatic herbs, garlic, peppers and hot peppers, ginger, So these are medicinal plants and have no contraindication. Very good. I have a little at home. I have tomato plants, lettuce, onion plants, it's just that I don't have a lot of land. A few days ago I planted some cucumber seeds which I planted myself. I took the seeds, the little tray, I planted them, from there I got the baby plants, a planted those, and I harvested around 10 kilos of cucumber. I had 5 small terraces, the terraces were about 3 meters long each one. They were small, so when I harvested them it was around 10 kilos. And since my husband has a store he sold them there. And there it is, people were fascinated when we said they were grown at home they're organic. Look, everyone was amazed buying cucumbers there. Organic food? Where do you see that? You just don't see it. We have harvested lettuce weighing 800-900 grams, just one. One lettuce weighing 900 grams. The lettuce is humongous, huge huge. We also harvest large beets, broccoli, some very big cabbage, everything we plant grows very big. It doesn't grow because it has hormones, or chemicals, no, it grows because this compost is wonderful and makes it grow that big. And you put a lot of love into what you do, it's true. When you love your work, and you like what you do, everything you do is with love that's true. Bio repellents come from plants with strong aromas. Or from those with allergenic substances. Why? To repel those bugs we don't want in our crops. What it's about is to cause a reaction in each one of those insects. We have to take into account that organic agriculture is not about eliminating insects, but rather repelling them and to naturally control the crops. That has to be clear. One of the products we make here is Prevaled. This product contains garlic, hot pepper, ginger, red onion, aloe, some aromatic plants, rue herb and lemongrass, it also has industrial alcohol. It's very important that while making this product, people making it should follow safety procedures, because they can become allergic. Of these products, we have three others. They are also made here. According to what? The type of crop and its requirements. Either they have more quantities of certain ingredients, or lesser quantities, in terms of its dosage, and in terms of the type of prime materials that will be added. We prepare it here, it's organic, it doesn't have chemicals, We prepare it here with rock flour, rice husk, poultry manure, mountain microorganisms and we add those that we prepare here to have a good result. Organic and very good, especially since it doesn't harm the ground or when you consume it, since it was cultivated with this compost. It's healthy and 100% organic. The countryside gives you everything. All of nature gives you everything. Food, to feed our families. Initially, human beings' health was being affected. Especially older people since they had mineral deficiencies, what we want is for those minerals and that knowledge to reach everyone, and also for costs to go down all the costs of consumables you put into your vegetable gardens, or your crops. Besides, you are generating a lot of waste that can completely be taken advantage of. That also avoids the trouble of transporting it, or taking it somewhere else knowing that you have the capacity and resources to develop it. I think it's ridiculous to have to buy things knowing that they themselves have the capacity of doing it themselves. You just need the will. The will to learn and to do and to start seeing results. That's how the use of organic fertilisers and the implementation of bio factories can be great tools to reduce the use of chemicals and to use residual matter thought of as garbage. These can turn into a very efficient compost that increases production while reducing cost.
