Embedded Files
This is where I think out loud.
Reports from the work. Letters I've sent. Responses to things I couldn't stay silent about. Reflections from eleven years inside Aruba's agricultural and ecological system. Articles that moved me. Observations that needed to be written down.
Nothing here is finished. Everything here is honest.
Come back. It grows.
Reports
The Food Forest Report — Regenerating Aruba's Schoolyards Living Soil Aruba, June 2025
The Food Forest Report — Regenerating Aruba's Schoolyards Living Soil Aruba, June 2025
Eleven schools. One year of evaluation. This report documents what happened when regenerative food forests met real school communities — what thrived, what struggled, and what it takes for a living system to truly carry itself. Honest, practical, and grounded in soil.
Letters
Letter to the Food Forest Network May 2026
After four years of building, coordinating, and holding the network together — this is the letter I sent to every school and organization in it. Not a goodbye. A redistribution. The roots are deep enough now. Walk through the doors.
Responses & Reflections
Response to NRC — More Food Security on the Caribbean Islands is Beautiful. But Who Actually Benefits? May 2026
NRC asked the right question. Here is an answer that nobody had yet said out loud — from someone who has been inside Aruba's agricultural system for eleven years, without a clipboard. [link to NRC article] [link to full response]
Waar de Hitte Aruba Raakt — een vierdelig onderzoek Oriana Wouters, Antilliaans Dagblad, april–mei 2026
Ecoloog Oriana Wouters stelde vier weken lang de vragen die niemand hardop stelt: wie bepaalt wat ontwikkeling is, wie draagt de kosten, en wie wordt buitengesloten? In het derde deel staat het voedselbossenwerk centraal — als bewijs dat de kennis al hier is. Dat ze niet gehoord wordt, is geen toeval. Het is beleid.
Ik werd geïnterviewd voor deze reeks. Wat ik zei, stond er al jaren in mijn hoofd. Dat het nu ook in een krant staat, voelt als een begin.
On Conservation — Native, Non-Native, and What We're Really Afraid Of Rose Barros, 2026
If we would never tell a human being "you don't belong here" — why do we treat that as a rigorous scientific framework when it comes to a tree? A short piece on origin, function, and what Syntropic Agroforestry asks instead.
Worth knowing about
Regenerating the Land, the Mindset and the People through Syntropic Agroforestry — by Roland van Reenen, Forest Farmer.
The guide written by the man whose workshop started everything on Aruba. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the method behind the food forests.
Un Guia Ilustrativo pa Agroforestria
a short, illustrated introduction to agroforestry in Papiamento. Simple, accessible, made for everyone.
Galaxy of Fruits — Aruba Grows by Isaac Chin.
Proof that Aruba grows more than people think. This book lives on my shelf and in my work.
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