Farming with biodynamics 0.08.2018-18.09.2018, Vilcabamba, Ecuador We spent one month volunteering at Finca Sagrada, a farm working with biodynamics, in a sacred valley close to Vilcabamba, south of Ecuador. This has been the most incredible experience I could dream of. There are several reasons why we chose this project: it addresses all the criteria we were chasing:
More than a practical experience in the field of biodynamics, Finca Sagrada and its people offered us a spiritual journey in the world of the natural forces. This article drives you through our experience. Here are the pieces of wisdom we want to share with you:
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Hereunder are some beautiful pictures from our dear friend Trace. Trace is an awesome artist and a remarkable person. He invites us to contemplate the beauty and the divine that surrounds us, here and now. <333 We kindly invite you to visit his space of arts, love, gratitude and compassion: "Leaf no Trace" (https://www.leafnotrace.space/). As stated on his web space: "Chosen content will be available digitally for free and others will be available in a highly sustainable high quality print for just the cost of production and shipping." We fully support him and wish him the best; may you also be touched by his shining love. <333
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Where jungle kisses the heavens, Sítio São Pedro, more than a family dream of autonomy We spent two weeks near Fortaleza to volunteer at the Sítio São Pedro, a project of autonomy on a beautiful 70-hectare land of hills and forests. As reviewed on WorkAway: We had a wonderful experience with Wilton and his family, near Fortaleza. So o filé! Wilton is a man of many talents, values and convictions. Accomplished artist with great songs and beautiful projects of land art; active environmental protector and social militant: in the countryside and in the city, he cares about his trees and the people; autonomy and transition to a greater sense of community are the paths he prepares for his family, friends, volunteers and perhaps all who want to smile at the thought of tomorrow. Our experience on the site was intense, very instructive and highly rewarding. we had the unique opportunity to be autonomous custodians of the site and it was great! we totally recommend it to those who want to have clean hands in the soil, clear eyes in the forest and blessed hearts under the stars. Health, peace, joy, love and happiness and thank you for this beautiful inspiration: you definitely influence our lives. We look forward to welcoming you soon into our own earthly paradise... This article shares more information about Wilton and his family, about the Sítio São Pedro and what we did there as volunteers. Finally, we also propose a detailed review of the project from a permaculture perspective and humbly suggest ideas and further developments. Enjoy your read. Feel free to comment, ask questions, suggest improvements: we are always very happy to hear from you 😉 Last, we mention many techniques and solutions, feel free to request more information about them, we might consider issuing a DIY tutorial. Self-reliance for urbanites in the heart of BKK On the 30th of June, we visited Grandpa Urban Farm in the heart of Bangkok. What solutions are available for urbanites? How can people in the heart of big metropoles like Bangkok acquire more autonomy and resilience? Grandpa Urban Farm bring some relevant answers to those questions and issues! The goal of this article is to share a bit about the history, the vision and the solutions that we saw at Grandpa Urban Farm. Volunteering at “Namkhan permaculture eco-farm”, Luang Prabang, Laos In this article, we try something new. We use our professional experience and newly gathered knowledge to establish a diagnostic / report of the Namkhan eco-farm project. We refer to permaculture ethics and principles. We also look at the key permaculture domains, i.e. domains that require transformation to create a sustainable culture. Based on those references, we reflect upon our personal experience as volunteers for the “Namkhan Permaculture Eco-Farm” project near Luang Prabang, Laos. First, we want to inspire from David Holmgren’s “Permaculture Principles and Paths Beyond Sustainability” and recall that permaculture can be seen as “Tools to Assist in Ethical Decisions: In attempting to lead an ethical life we need conceptual tools that will allow us to find what is appropriate, is practical for the situation and context, and yet will have some enduring value in chaotically changing times. Permaculture, and especially permaculture design principles, are conceptual tools which many people are finding useful in this journey (…) [of] ethical adaptation to ecological realities.”. With our analysis, we want to provide objective feedback and suggest some ideas. We also want to better understand our feelings about this project and eventually justify them. A journey from conventional to regenerative agriculture to feed the City of DawnIf you check Auroville’s website, you will read that “Auro-Orchard is the oldest and the second largest farm of Auroville, that grows most of the fruits and vegetables produced in the community. It also serves as the main poultry farm of Auroville. Since its inception, Auro-Orchard’s main vision was to provide food for the Auroville community. For many years, to meet the immediate needs of the Auroville community in food, conventional farming practices were used, but since 2012, Auro-Orchard is being converted into an organic farm. (…) Regenerative organic farming (agro-ecology) is now the motto of the farm.”. This article is about the recent and successful transition from “conventional” agriculture to regenerative organic agriculture. You will read about our visit of Auro-Orchard as well as Mathieu’s two-week volunteering session there. Abstract I tend to write (too) long articles. This abstract gives you an overview of the content and the key messages from this blog post. Feel free to read the complete post 😊
I volunteered for two weeks at Auro Orchard with a great team of locals, volunteers and Aurovillians. I take the time to thank everyone of them at the end of the article because it was an amazing human experience. However, the focus of the article is to share with you the successful move of Auro-Orchard from traditional agriculture methods that killed the land to respectful methods that regenerate the land. As a volunteer I could see the direct results of the transition. This ongoing success has been possible through an intransigent and straightforward strategy:
On top of that I want to salute the effort for human and social respect as well as for animals’ respect at the farm. In this regard, another part of the article relates on how the present manager is addressing human and animals’ issues at the farm. As a broader attempt to describe the farm, Laura and I have listed a few areas of development which are task management, communication and other opportunities that can clearly help the farm optimize its work and grow in the future. As usual (you can find it in most of our articles), we tend to be as objective as possible in our report on projects, which means we also provide readers with subjective remarks. Feel free to comment and give your opinion too! Enjoy the read. Visite de l’antenne de Zinvié du Centre Régional de Rechercher et d’Education au Développement Intégré (CREDI-ONG) Le Centre Régional de Recherche et d’Education au Développement Intégré (CREDI) est une Organisation Non Gouvernementale (ONG) qui œuvre pour la préservation de l’environnement, la promotion de l’aquaculture intégrée et l’agriculture paysanne. Le CREDI a été fondé il y a 10 ans par deux amis : un français et un béninois (voir l’article dédié à notre rencontre avec le directeur exécutif). Le 9 janvier, nous avons visité l’antenne de Zinvié au cœur de la « vallée du Sitatunga », plus précisément à Kpotomey. Le Sitatunga est une espèce endémique de Guib d’eau proche de l’antilope en danger d’extinction ; notre rencontre avec le directeur exécutif nous apportera plus d’informations sur le choix du nom « vallée du Sitatunga » (voir article dédié). Le Sitatunga n’est pas la seule espèce en péril dans cette vallée qui commence à quelques kilomètres de Cotonou, dans les terres. Cette antenne est accessible par les routes de terre rouge typiques du Bénin, elle héberge un refuge animalier et un complexe éducatif pour la sensibilisation, l’éducation et la préservation de la faune et de la flore locale mais également pour la formation des communautés locales à la mise en place et au développement de solutions innovantes accessibles pour le développement intégré de la région. L’objectif de cet article est de rendre au lecteur compte de ce que nous avons vu lors de notre visite. Nous suivons objectivement le parcours de la journée. Un dernier chapitre partagera avec le lecteur quelques remarques complémentaires et nos points de vue plus subjectifs. Entretien avec KOUDERIN K. Martial, fondateur & directeur exécutif du CREDI-ONG Le 9 janvier 2018, nous visitions l’antenne de Kpotomey du CREDI-ONG. Nous avons eu la chance de rencontrer et de nous entretenir avec Martial, fondateur et directeur exécutif du CREDI-ONG.
Cette rencontre nous explique comment la mise en cause du statu quo, des valeurs fortes et le travail de terrain transforment un projet lucratif autour du poisson d’aquarium en une Organisation Non Gouvernementale pour l’aquaculture intégrée, l’agriculture paysanne et la protection de l’environnement. Le Centre Songhai a été fondé il y a plus de 40 ans par le Père Nzamujo. Avant de fonder le Centre, le père Nzamujo enseignait l’ingénierie électronique dans une université californienne. A son arrivée au Bénin, il commence par travailler dans une logique de réutilisation et applique des modes de fonctionnement en cascade où les déchets d’un processus sont les matières premières d’un ou plusieurs autres processus. Ainsi, il commence par élever des cailles pour en vendre les œufs et la viande ; de ses cailles, il récupère les fientes pour élever des asticots ; les asticots nourriront des poissons et permettent de lancer l’activité de pisciculture. Les fientes des cailles et des poissons permettront également de cultiver des légumes, qui permettront d’alimenter les animaux, etc. Cercle vertueux !
Le Centre Songhai est aujourd’hui présent sur plusieurs sites au Bénin et au Nigéria. Au Bénin, les trois sites Songhai couvrent respectivement 300 hectares, 240 hectares et 30 hectares. Le 03/01/2018, nous avons visité le centre de Porto-Novo et ses 30 hectares. Ce qui frappe d’entrée est la grandeur du site, le nombre de bâtiments, le nombre de personnes sur le site, l’organisation des espaces, la propreté des lieux. Pour ces 30 hectares, ce ne sont pas moins de 80 permanents et plus de cent élèves et/ou stagiaires qui font vivre le Centre. En s’y baladant, lorsque nous tendons l’oreille nous entendons différentes langues : les gens affluent de toute la région et plus encore (e.g. Europe) : Bénin, Nigéria, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Guinée, … la liste est longue. Si vous allez sur leur site et/ou vous documentez vous constaterez que de nombreux chefs d’états et/ou officiels de la région y sont allés et ont désigné l’initiative comme vecteur de développement à suivre. Cet article a pour objectif de présenter les différents éléments, techniques et réalisations que nous avons pu constater lors de nos deux heures de visite du Centre Songhai (ici, le Centre). |
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