Ok so we are building a permaculture farm. At the moment it’s just bare land with the occasional crocodile wandering around and a lot of rogue goats and buffalo partying and pooping on the grass.
As we go, I’ll detail out what we are doing and how much this is costing. The ultimate goal is to have the farm be self sustaining and provide all the produce for The Spice Trail restaurant and cover all costs.
The focus of the project is to design and develop the land according to permaculture principles but what the hell does that really mean? I don’t know. What I find most interesting about this land is that there are 3 ecosystems we can build on:
Lagoon/mangrove
Dry zone
Coastal
All three of these zones are somewhat challenging but having all 3 in one place really gives us opportunities to create micro-climates and fringes in the ecosystems. So there will be unpredictable and unexpected opportunities to flourish (or die). It’s like 3 surprises waiting to happen. Only a perma-geek will truly appreciate this. I’ve since learned the appropriate term is ‘permie’. I’m not sure how I feel about that!
Here is what we are trying to do:
Permaculture farm development
Maximize the land usage and increase productivity via crop diversification in a mix cropping system (fruits, vegetables, yams, greens and grains)
Onsite organic input/compost production through cultivation of green manure and animal integration
Implement no till and dry farming concepts
Bee keeping
Seed saving and protecting heirloom varieties
Water harvesting and maintaining soil health
Leverage the lagoon ecosystem
Lagoon ecosystem conservation through cultivating native mangrove species
Sustainable shrimp farming - we just need to figure out how to deal with the crocodiles
Sustainable tourism
How do we make each ecosystem flourish?
Implement green buildings and energy using earthworks and solar
Create training opportunities and distill knowledge to local farmers and giving away seeds
We’ve got three people actively working on the project from hands on work, planning, establishing the nursery to sourcing heirloom and native seedlings. After multiple site visits and design talks, we started building the fences today.
Are you interested in getting involved? Drop us a line and say hello!