Permaculture in Action

Monday, May 5, 2014

International Permaculture Day

Another blustery day and those strong and robust Permies, who weren't put off by the wind, arrived at the farm ready for work. We had five projects planned for the day but soon realised that four was more realistic, so the planting of pig forage will have to wait for another day.
The theme for this year's International Permaculture Day was Reclaiming Food Freedom. As we operate a Community Supported Agriculture in a peri urban situation I think a having a day here to celebrate the day was quite appropriate. And to have such wonderful people come to the farm to participate in our activities was a real blessing. Permies are such lovely people!

We broke into small groups and dived straight in. There was a compost heap to be made...







We make our heaps using recycled tomato stakes. They heat up and are ready for use in 4months. It was so lovely to have some young ones getting right into it. this young girl was very busy gathering all the resources.

When we built our pig pen we had planned to put in a banana circle to take advantage of the excess nutrients. Yesterday  with the help of some strong young able bodied people we managed to bring this project to fruition. Even though the pigs had spent some time in the area, ripping up the soil, it was still tough going, digging in the clay, but the guys created a beautiful banana circle, complete with drainage to bring those nutrients into the circle.

 On the opposite side to the pig pen is the goose house. It is scheduled for a rebuild soon. The plans involve a roof that will enable us to collect rain water, with the overflow destined for the centre of the circle. In the background you can see our humanure bins. Some of this was used to plant the bananas.

In the foreground is the box drain which will collect the pig nutrient. This will flow down the pipe into the circle.


Bananas were planted, staked and mulched.  The centre was filled with organic matter and the bananas underplanted with pepinos and sweet potato.

We also completed a wicking bed and did some chop and drop, which I will show you another day.

We stopped for lunch. Home made vegie soup, Mark's sourdough bread, the best lentil salad ever and some lovely greens fresh from the garden.  Such a lovely way to connect, over good fresh food.  We finished off all the projects. Some stayed for a coffee and some seed sharing, and then the group started to disperse. We are so grateful to everyone who participated and feel very blessed to have these people in our community. Thanks to you all for coming out on such a blustery day.

2 comments:

  1. What a fantastic amount you got done and it sounds like you all had a lovely day. How nice to have all those helpers.

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  2. It looks as if you had a really productive day. Let's hope these bananas do well!

    After being blown down in storms and a few false starts, protecting them from frosts, etc, I have banana trees galore, and bananas, so don't give up!

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