Since months we were planning to find an alternative wood source to produce the hammock's wooden bars. So far we didn't know its origin and we could not verify that the wood origin was legal and that the supply chain is acceptable and sustainable.
Furthermore you can easily purchase a very precious wood at a bargain price. Very strange.
After a research we focus on the Gliricidia Sepium species (common name Madero Negro), a native and fast growing tree.
In Nicaragua and in Central America is used for many purposes including live fencing, fodder, firewood to cook, green manure and intercropping.
The most interesting use we found out is that the trees are used for intercropping in part because they fix nitrogen in the soil and tolerate low soil fertility, so when they are interplanted with crops they can boost crop yields significantly, without the need of chemical fertilizers.
Today we visited two fincas to map how many Madero Negro trees were. There are around 500 trees. Next days we will choose one finca to be our tree farm.
