permaculture

["Marsha Hanzi" <hanzibra@svn.com.br>]

Marsha Hanzi from Brazil here... I am North American, left the States during
the Viet
Nam War, did a stint with the Peace Corps in Guatemala as an "ecological
anthropologist" when people asked what that word-ecology was..., Met my
Swiss husband there, lived five years in  Switzerland where I participated
in the new Green Movement and began planting an organic garden.
We came to Brazil in 1976, where we bought a 30-acre weekend farm, where I
came to the conclusion we should be working with trees.  Saw Permaculture
One, and decided to go that path and still am...

In 1992 did the PC Basic, Advanced and Teacher´s courses in Hawaii with Max
Lindegger and Lea Harrison, and Scott and Bill Mollison´s course in Brazil
the next year, and then organized a course with Ianto Evans and Alejandra
Caballero in the drylands.  Have been deeply influened by a Swiss
researcher/farmer/philosopher Ernst Gotsch, who works with agroforests, so
my PC Design work has always been accompanied with a strong agroforest focus
from the very beginning, and until today my main concern is appropriate
agricultural models.  Have just moved from the rainforest region to the
drylands, where we have a polyculture project ( reaching more than 500
families).  Love challenges-- the rainforest is just too easy!

But now the drylands are looking surprisingly easy too... We´ll see in the
next three years..

Where I will live now( under construction still) is my home( not a
"project") but also a training center,23 acres, probably a bit like what
Robyn described, with the expressed function of receiving young people who
have done the courses and want hands-on experience... It has a strong
vortex, and I am into the energy side of this work, a la Marko Pogcnavik,
Perelandra and Radionics.. So the space will be open for both people who
want to get into farming and agroforests, as well as those interested in
energy techniques, Viktor Schauberger, etc...

We are in the tropical drylands,  120km to the North of  Salvador,latitude
11 degrees, Bahia.
Rains come in the winter ( April-July) with thunderhowers sometimes in the
summer ( December-January)mean500mm. The region is 900,000 square km, 40% of
which is highly degraded close to desertification, home to 10 million
people, millions of which have migrated out to the slums of the big city...

My area, near Tucano, is a funny no-man´s land, not part of any continent.
When Africa broke away from South America and drifted away, one bit started
the journey and then stayed behind-- that is where Salvador is located.  The
rift with time filled with sand, and that´s where my land is...Deep deep
sand, where the cashew tree is native ( will be developing a cashew
agroforest). Have not yet discovered how deep the sand is...

I am getting involved with the local schools, and hope to open a two-year
university-level agroecology course in three year´s time, to train young
professionals for the polyculture project, which is taking off like a jet
plane...

We would also be able to receive trainees from  abroad who would like to
have first-hand third-world experience. We will also have space for three
paying visitors who would like to just spend some time in a beautiful place
with stimulating people.:-)


Marsha Hanzi
Instituto de Permacultura da Bahia
www.permacultura-bahia.org
(I will put my project on-line this week- still have to scan the photos...)