permaculture

[Robyn Francis <erda@nor.com.au>]

A few permaculture folk have worked in refugee camps, especially Cambodia
back in the '90's.

The vegetable gardens were very empowering and gave people some hope they
could provide at least some basic needs. Also most ration food consists of
grains and some canned foods so fresh veg was real treat and support for
health. In tropic climates fast growing fruits such as banana and papaya
will bear within 18 months and are worth inclusion, plus fast-growing
leguminous shrubs (pigeon pea, ipil ipil) for coppicing for a mulch source.

Good to get some fast growing annuals started early in the piece like leafy
greens so people have something to harvest within a few months - builds
confidence.

One person I know who worked in a Cambodian camp identified skills present
and built things into the program like constructing water urns for rainwater
harvest. Ultimately it's about marrying need, potential, oppotunity and
resource availability with creative permaculture thinking within the context
of climate and culture, working with the people and integrating traditional
knowledge and skills with permie strategies.

Ciao

Robyn


On 26/2/07 12:14 PM, "neshura" <neshura@gmail.com> wrote:

> A friend of mine emailed me with a request for information -- not a
> very detailed request, but does anyone have any experience thinking
> about or working with permaculture in refugee camps? It's a bit of an
> odd thing, to think of permaculture in the context of a "temporary"
> camp, but given that some camps are probably semi-permanent and
> cash-poor, I thought maybe the permaculture folks have some idea about
> what kind of techniques would be particularly suited to a situation in
> which one does not own the land per se, but ends must be met and
> children fed nonetheless. If I recall correctly, someone recently
> attributed to John Jeavons the thought that potatoes as a
> nutrient-dense garden crop were a good basis for max yield on min
> land. Potatoes are of course not suitable in all climates, but maybe
> bio-intensive is more suited to a temporary lifestyle than
> permaculture.
> 
> Hypotheticals, thoughts, comments?
> 
>> I'm working on a proposal for a class involving a home gardening project 
>> in a
>> refugee camp.
>> I was hoping you could clue me in to some resources on small-scale
>> sustainable
>> gardening (ie, 'natural' pesticides, examples of good techniques, etc).
> 
> Thanks!
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