Gathering of Fruit & Plant enthusiasts
@ Selvista · Bona Fide · Ometepe Island, Nicaragua
14 & 15 Nov·
Two days of growing, sharing, learning and tasting.
FREE TO JOIN! JUST COME ALONG.
Come curious. Leave inspired to grow.
What happens when people who love plants come together?
We are offering a day of sharing what we grow, discovering what the land can offer, and learning from the people who know it best.
Join us at Selvista Bona Fide on Ometepe for a gathering centred on tropical fruits, plant diversity, and the connections we build through growing things together.
Explore our permaculture farm with Chris Shanks the dreamer, designer and innovator of Selvista.
Discover unusual tropical fruits, exchange plants with fellow growers, and taste the fresh harvest straight from the land.
Whether you have a garden full of fruit trees, a few plants on your balcony, or simply a curiosity about the incredible diversity of tropical plants, there is something here for you.
Come to learn something new, share what you know, meet like-minded people, and spend a day immersed in the living landscape of Ometepe.
Bring a plant. Bring your curiosity. Come share in the abundance.
What to expect
Explore the farm with Chris Shanks
Walk through Selvista, Bona Fide with a pioneer of exotic plants and tropical permaculture on Ometepe.
Discover the food forests, explore the diversity of tropical crops, and learn how thoughtful land design can create productive, interconnected growing systems.
Whether you are an experienced grower or just beginning, there is always something new to notice.
Grafting workshop
Get closer to the practical side of growing fruit trees. Learn about grafting and the possibilities it offers for propagating and cultivating fruit varieties.
A chance to exchange ideas, ask questions and take home knowledge you can put to use in your own garden or growing space.
Taste the harvest
Discover tropical fruits growing right here on the property. Taste fresh harvests, compare flavours and textures, and learn more about the plants that produce them.
From familiar favourites to less commonly encountered tropical fruits, there is a whole world of flavour growing around us.
Meet your plant people
Meet gardeners, farmers, collectors, growers and curious plant lovers from Ometepe and beyond.
Share experiences, exchange growing tips, find new connections and celebrate the simple pleasure of growing things together.
We want this to be a space where local knowledge, international experience and a shared love of plants can meet.
introduction to online network
You’ll receive a sneek-peak at an exciting new app that’s coming soon from Sophia from Selva Frutal, which is lovingly designed to unite nearby plant enthusiasts in real time to make personal connections and improve collections.
Plant exchange
Bring plants, cuttings, seedlings or seeds to exchange with others. Discover new varieties, share what grows well in your part of Nicaragua, and take home something new to grow.
The best exchanges are about more than plants. They are about the stories, experience and knowledge that come with them.
WHERE
A living landscape, and a place to learn
Selvista Bona Fide is more than a place to visit. It is a working landscape shaped by years of planting, experimenting, observing and learning.
What was once a chemically treated plantain field has developed into a diverse tropical environment of food forests, fruit trees, edible plants, gardens and interconnected farm systems.
We believe that growing food can do more than feed us. It can connect us to the land, help us understand the natural systems around us, and bring people together through shared knowledge and experience.
This gathering is an opportunity to explore those ideas in practice, surrounded by the plants themselves.
(For those not familiar with our farm you can find directions at the bottom of this page.)
Who is it for?
Anyone with an interest in plants is welcome.
You might be a local gardener looking for new varieties, a farmer interested in fruit-tree propagation, a collector of unusual tropical plants, a permaculture enthusiast, or someone who simply wants to discover more about what grows in Nicaragua.
You do not need to be an expert. Curiosity is enough.
Our aim is to bring together people from across Nicaragua, from local communities to the wider international community, and create opportunities to learn from one another.
Join us at Selvista Bona Fide
Spend a day exploring, exchanging, tasting and connecting in the tropical landscape of Ometepe.
Come for the plants, stay for the conversations, and leave with new ideas, new connections and perhaps a new addition to your garden.
Over 20 year’s of experience in growing plants in Nicaragua. On the pacific coast and Ometepe island. We sell ornamentals and fruit trees for delivery or collection anywhere in Nicaragua. Find those unusual or hard to find fruit and ornamentals here. Our best sellers are jackfruit, suriname cherry, bamboo, vetiber, moringa, nispero, avocado, canistel and guanabana as well as more typical fruits like mangoes, bananas, cacao and coffee. We sell bamboo & building materials. Buy plants designed for your soil and weather from San Juan & Popoyo to Ometepe.
Looking for a way to move away from large-scale agriculture and multi-national companies? Conscious about the environmental impacts you have on the world? Want to sustain local economies and learn to provide from yourself for the land? Permaculture may have some of the answers you are looking for. Find out more about our take on permaculture principles and origins here.