What is Vida Autentica?

Vida Autentica as two words translates into Authentic Life or Life Authentic. I personally think I prefer the latter though I do not know which is technically correct. Those two words, if thought of long enough, could mean so many things to the myriad different people who would try to define them that they could never be given a proper definition. I think that there is great power in the combination of those two words. Together they create possibility. All who try to define them as a whole will no doubt bring new meaning to them. They are an idea that somehow exists outside of you, without you and at the same time they are you, they are something that grows from within you. It is your personal attention to those words that takes them out of the realm of the abstract and turns them into ideas and action that bloom into things of love and beauty. I have had some time to think of what they mean to me, so please, take a minute and think of what they could mean to you. Vida Autentica, Authentic Life, Life Authentic.

Vida Autentica, as well as all of that, is a nonprofit organization that was conceived of and created three years ago, here in Costa Rica’s central pacific zone, by Melissa Sweet and her husband Kevin O’Neill. Vida Autentica is a mission. Access to healthy food is necessary to lead a healthy life. Vida Authentica hosts a comprehensive 15 week organic agricultural course called “The Pueblo Roots Initiative” that pays special attention to the health and well being of its participants and their families. To date there have been sixty two graduates who have successfully completed the “Roots Initiative” course from the villages of Las Tumbas, El Alfombra, Tinamastes, and San Salvador de Baru and sixty two families who have received from V.A. a 5×5 meter greenhouse in which to produce their own food.

The idea is growing and I am pleased to announce that as of the writing of this article the students are on the eve of the beginning of this year’s first classes. Due to popular demand in the community of Platanillo V.A. will be offering two courses in that village on Thursdays and Fridays to a total of fifty students. V.A. will also bring the course to the village of Playa Matapalo on Wednesdays to another 30 students.

A short list of the curriculum would include, hot and cold composting, bokashi, substrate, bio ferments, foliar sprays, seed propagation, liquid and solid MM (mountain micro-organisms), layering, pruning, bio-intensive gardening techniques, double digging, mandalas, medicinal tinctures and ointments, organic pest control, organic mineral fertilizers, and nutritional health information. The class covers a lot of information and time for joking aside the classes average four hours per session.

For those with interest there are several ways in which to learn more about Vida Autentica. You can find and share V.A. on facebook.com/pages/Vida-Autentica-Costa-Rica/543793642326735. You can find V.A. at our website VidaAutentica.com. And for those of you with a little more time on your hands you can come and visit at the weekly Vida Autentica sponsored Organic Market in Tinamastes on Tuesdays from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. I urge everyone to come and spend the time to check it out, donate, shop for the delicious food that you want to eat, and possibly meet someone you were waiting to meet. Please come and enjoy. This growing community has a lot to share.