permaculture

[Sonja Brodt <brodt@hawaii.edu>]

I recently spent one year in rural India studying village tree management,
and noticed that villagers use cowdung as "stucco" for their houses.
They gather the dried cowdung paddies from the streets and where ever else
they find them.  It seems that they mixed these with some water to make a
thick paste which was then spread in a thin layer on walls.  I believe
they also use this same material to make a paved area in front of their
houses to make a clean area (it is firm when it dries and thus easy to
sweep) for guests to sit, women and children to do housework, and so on.
Cowdung is considered clean for such uses and it is often the job of young
children to gather it.  A new layer is often added to houses right before
important festivals.
Sorry, I cannot provide any more detailed information or references.
Perhaps some Indian colleagues on the list could add more.

Sonja