Teaching Good Permaculture Practices

When practical permaculture principles are explained to farmers, gardening is transformed from a task to a craft. Farmers say that this type of agriculture is not complicated. It is a straightforward way of raising more food to feed people while protecting the environment. Permaculture is simple, sound, equitable, low cost and a biological-based alternative. As more farmers adopt it, the sustainabliity of their farms increases because farmers are learning to test and to refine these alternatives.
Farmers are helping each other become revolution artists who grow food so that their communities can be whole and powerful again.
All of the farmers groups are being taught to consider these factors before they start gardening:
(a) How to choose a field
(b) How to build soil
(c) How to rotate crops
(d) When is the best time to plant
(e) What plants should populate the garden
(f) What are the best seed practices
(g) How to fertilize
(h) How to control weeds
(i) How to control insects
(j) What are the principles of harvesting

Practical / field work
Experiential learning helps farmers internalize technological knowledge. OTEPIC programs take the farmer trainees into the garden to apply the principles taught in the classroom.

We encourage farmers to use open pollinated seed and explain the advantages of using local varieties. We teach them how to select seeds.

Farmers set up their small gardens and make compost and, as a result, get more food to eat and share with neighbors. These small farms are where agricultural advances are nurtured and new ideas conceived by people solving nature's puzzles.

Please endorse my idea for Earth Orbs!

Remember the blog I posted about the briquettes we created from waste charcoal and corn cobs? (See blog post for April 18, 2009.) I have entered a contest sponsored by the Peace Corp Association to obtain funding to travel from village to village to train people about how to make these briquettes, which we are calling "Earth Orbs."

Our simple technique for making charcoal Earth Orbs saves trees, creates income sources for villagers and recycles "garbage" into a valuable product. Through our training we expect to model the positive effects of organizing and empowering our communities.
Would you please endorse my idea here: http://arc.peacecorpsconnect.org/view/977

If we manage to get enough votes, we will be awarded the money to carry out our project. Thanks, and please tell your friends!

Rain, planting seeds, buying land

It is raining now, and it’s the best time for women and men in the communities to put the seed in the ground and to nurture it till it matures so that we can have a bumper harvest.

I have been visiting students in several schools and they have formed the Youth CREW (Cultivating Respect for the Environment and the World). I believe that our youth bring people down to earth because they are interested in learning the old, sustainable ways of living used by our grandparents so that our nation and civilization can be built upon a strong foundation.

The good news is that we managed to get 1200 dollars donated from a friend so we purchased land for fully operating mini farms for education, development and research. Because the land cost 3000 dollars, we will need to raise more funding, but in the meantime, we are fencing the land, setting up the beds and starting to make beautiful compost!

Let's pray for each other in all our endeavors. May your harvest be rich and fertile. . .