la casita, from their pamphlet

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Awesome food. Awesome atmosphere. Where you can sit around and soak up each other's awesomeness.


La Casita, Finca “Las Nubes”
km 144 ½ Esteli, Nicaragua
Tel: [phone]
email: [e-mail]
Hours:
Mon 2pm-7pm
Tues-Sunday 9am-7pm
(closed 1st Monday of every month)


Concrete and tangible actions leading to a rational management of the world’s resources - farm produce, plants and crafts. A place to relax, enjoy, and be a part of.

OUR AIM:

Ensure the sustainability of the farm, whilst sharing the experience of the last twelve years with as wide an audience as possible. The destruction caused by hurricane Mitch in 1998 was more eloquent than any other argument hitherto put forward, but its warnings and lessons have tended to lose their urgency as time goes by. In the name of “development” we only too often close our eyes and shift the blame elsewhere.

We hope to provide a practical and integral solution which can serve as a tangible and accessible contribution to the sustainable development debate:

--stimulating the regeneration of the soil, applying rational and integrated pest controls, as a back-up to the natural ecological balance of the farm

--introducing appropriate technologies and reducing our dependence on non-renewable resources.

--processing and commercializing our own produce, always recognizing traditional market influences but without giving way to the pressures they exert (“success” is not necessarily linked quantity or economic wealth).

--supporting other kindred projects and, above all, enjoying life, knowing that what we do today and with the earth is the only real inheritance we will leave to future generations.

FINCA LAS NUBES:

Las Nubes is a small farm which, since 1994, has been developed on the basis of sustainable agriculture. The land has gradually recuperated its natural fertility with the aid of organic composting, mulching, and “green manure” crops. On the poorer soil and slopes, terraces and green barriers protect against further leaching. Little by little, we have learnt to share the land with all the different levels of life it supports, allowing nature, for the most part, to exercise its own time-proven control and keeping our own intervention to a minimum.

Here, we grow vegetables, herbs, commercial and wild fruits, trees for shade and firewood, coffee and ornamental plants. We also raise ducks, chickens and other fowl.

Without a shade of doubt, Hurricane Mitch was a serious blow to the ongoing development of the farm, permanently changing the landscape and, with it, many of our plans and projects. We can no longer content ourselves as being a “paradise” as many have described us, trying to change attitudes and habits by providing a good example. We now have to take a more belligerent role in rescuing our watershed and our country. Tomorrow will be too late.

La Casita is where it all comes together to sell our farm produce, home baking, plants from the nursery and wooden products from the workshop. In the rustic terrace out back, you can sample our produce in a very informal open air “tea room”. A quiet spot to meet with a friend or for travellers to break their journey. You can ask for coffee, herb tea, fruit juice, try our yoghurt, whole wheat bread, homemade jams or local cheeses (cheeses are produced by local farmers, are made from whole cows’ milk, and are Swiss, brie/camembert, and smoked cream cheese), taking advantage of a peaceful break as the children play in the park opposite. Or you can enjoy the park yourself, strolling through the cactus gardens or sitting in the grass.

La Casita is synonymous with home baking and handcrafts and that is precisely its most attractive aspect: simple, natural, and small-scale. This clearly also implies certain limitations - keeping the delicate balance between this “small is beautiful” philosophy and the resultant demand is a constant priority for all the team.

As an economic model, La Casita tries to bridge the gap between producer and consumer - growing, processing, packing and selling our own produce. And, as a practical example of agro-transformation at the household level, we are always willing to share our experiences with anyone interested.

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Comments

[Mom]

Sounds NICE!
So, La Casita is located in Esteli, right? And, Las Nubes is,...exactly where? It is a farm; is it YOUR farm to live on/work on? "We"...includes YOU? Or, Molly, was this a description of an area nearby where you'll be living? It's all SO interesting...just looking for more on how it's incorporated into your daily life right now. Yes, I'm getting a "feel" of the area from your vivid descriptions....and LOVING it! :)

[mbaade]

la casita
no, mom, it{s all the same place. all of that was from their pamphlet. it{s a restaurant that grows all of its own food on its farm. i wish it was my site! but no, it{s just outside of esteli and a popular peace corps hangout. thought i{d give them some free advertising.

[Mom]

Thanks for the corrections!
AH, much clearer to me now! Sorry for the fogginess here! You betcha.....GOOD advertising! When WE come down, would love to see it firsthand!

[Sylvia]

How refreshing!
How nice and refreshing.......the idea of a restaurant growing it's own food. It sounds so much healthier than the usual of having the fresh produce picked when still green and unripe, then artificially ripened after days or weeks packed in a truck and transported across the country. Good for Nicaragua!