permaculture

[David Glober <david.glober@yahoo.com>]

Yep - they're not drop-in vacation villas - farm work involves hands-on 
activities - and thinking and planning - and part of why people live in these 
settings is to be able to be close to nature and not just have people in 
their heads and faces - even the places where they try to accommodate 
dropping in - would probably prefer advance notice, and coming over when 
they're ready to meet and greet.

David Glober ~ San Francisco

Recent Permaculture Design Cert Grad

david.glober@yahoo.com



---

--- On Sun, 6/8/08, Jody Troupe <jodyt2@mac.com> wrote:
I appreciate seeing everyone's response to my comment about calling  
ahead. Not living on a farm, (but being interested in them) didn't  
give me the insight into recognizing how much of an interruption  
random visits can be. Since we've visited a few places now, we 'get
it'.

Its a courtesy thing that isn't really talked about, so it escaped our  
awareness until we actually made the mistakes ourselves. And there are  
those farms that accept passers-by that help confuse the issue. (i.e.  
We just toured a place in France 2 months ago that charged a measly 2  
euros for a tour, and they didn't even charge for the tour if you  
actually bought some of their produce. We would have happily paid the  
extra!)


      
>From david.glober@yahoo.com  Sun Jun  8 16:54:52 2008
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Subject: Re: [permaculture] Keyhole Gardens used in Lesotho - BBC NEWS |
        Africa | Lesotho gardens relieve food crisis
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Apparently it's a combination of keyhole gardening and raised beds, and they 
seem to use stone to raise the beds ... here's a 3-minute animation on 
YouTube, and a reference from Send a Cow, the organization that seems to be 
teaching people how to build them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gmd5m_njWEc
http://www.sendacow.org.uk/schools.asp?active_page_id=272

David Glober ~ San Francisco

Recent Permaculture Design Cert Grad

david.glober@yahoo.com



---

--- On Tue, 6/3/08, Lawrence F. London, Jr. &lt;lflj@intrex.net&gt; wrote:
From: Lawrence F. London, Jr. &lt;lflj@intrex.net&gt;
Subject: [permaculture] Keyhole Gardens used in Lesotho - BBC NEWS | Africa | 
Lesotho gardens relieve food crisis
To: "permaculture" &lt;permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org&gt;
Date: Tuesday, June 3, 2008, 8:50 PM

Keyhole Gardens used in Lesotho - BBC NEWS | Africa | Lesotho gardens relieve
food crisis
&lt;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7432972.stm&gt;
Page last updated at 12:01 GMT, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 13:01 UK

Lesotho gardens relieve food crisis

Women harvest corn in Lesotho's central highlands

Keyhole gardens

Home-grown Lesotho innovation to fend off hunger

"Keyhole gardens" may have saved Mahaha Mphou's family from
starvation
As delegates at the UN food summit in Rome tackle concerns over food
production, the BBC's Peter Greste visits Lesotho, 
one of the countries most at risk from climate change and global food and fuel
price rises.

Woman tending her keyhole garden in Lesotho's central highlands
"Keyhole gardens" may have saved Mahaha Mphou's family from
starvation

Lesotho's vast highland plains are spectacular places for tourists. Broad
and treeless, they offer stunning views of the 
mountains looming over shimmering gold grasslands.

But they are terrible for farmers.

Decades of intensive agriculture have stripped the land of trees, and exposed
soils to wind and rain.

Erosion has created countless miniature canyons that split the plains
everywhere you look. The already thin mountain 
soils have lost virtually all their productive nutrients.

According to the Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Food Security, Efraim
Lehata, a typical farmer in Lesotho's maize 
belt would be lucky to squeeze half a tonne of grain from each acre of land.

They should be able to produce more than 14 times that.

Global forces

The minister bemoans the fact that his country, which used to do well out of
farm exports to neighbouring South Africa, 
now depends on food handouts from organisations like the World Food Programme.

He admits that a lot of the blame rests with the country itself. But with a
population of about two million, tiny 
Lesotho is barely the size of Belgium.

The forces now shaping global food prices are way beyond its control.
        
Lesotho map

Country profile: Lesotho
"The last summer season, most of our tractors couldn't go to the
fields because of the cost of diesel. Now that the 
price has doubled, we're not expecting any to be able to go," Mr
Lehata said. "It is very difficult."

In many respects, Lesotho is a microcosm of the problems facing so many parts
of the developing world.

The mountain kingdom in southern Africa sits on a plateau mostly above 1,800
metres altitude, so the growing season is 
short and its vulnerability to climate change is acute.

With the country struggling with one of the world's highest HIV prevalence
rates, many of its able-bodied workers have 
either died or been crippled by disease.

And in what is one of the poorest states in Africa, even the slightest 
increase
in the cost of food or commodities hits 
painfully hard.

Keyhole gardens

But Lesotho cannot wait for the UN food summit in Rome to come up with ideas,
so it has developed some of its own.

        
Family tend their keyhole garden in Lesotho's central highlands
(Mahaha's family) has three keyhole gardens and that's more than enough
to supply all 10 of them with all the vegetables 
they need, and with some left over to sell - it's changed their lives
Ntsie Tlali, Care
Mahaha Mphou does not know much about global economics, but she does know how
to grow vegetables.

She and the rest of her family of 10 have become some of the most enthusiastic
evangelists for a home-grown idea that 
has almost certainly saved them from starvation.

They are now thriving on what have become known as "keyhole gardens".
They are round gardens of about two metres in 
diameter and raised to waist-height to make them easy for the sick and elderly
to work.

Inside, the garden-beds are layered with tin cans, mulch and ash which 
together
provide the nutrients to make the 
gardens extraordinarily productive.

Ntsie Tlali from Care, the non-governmental organisation behind the gardens,
believes they are revolutionary.

Women tending corn in Lesotho's central highlands
Lesotho sits on a high plateau and has a short growing season

"As you can see, (Mahaha's family) has three keyhole gardens and
that's more than enough to supply all 10 of them with 
all the vegetables they need, and with some left over to sell. It's changed
their lives."

Because they are protected by the stonework, the rich soils are safe from
erosion.

They retain moisture far more effectively than land farmed by traditional
farming methods, and they are compact enough 
to turn the tiniest plot of land into productive agriculture.

'Food is life'

Mahaha says they have also transformed the family's diet: "We're
growing so many things, from beetroot to spinach, 
onions, tomatoes, carrots - everything."

Mr Lehata acknowledged that the gardens alone will not transform Lesotho,
"but we've been really surprised by just how 
well they've worked," he said.

"We expected them to disappear after half a season, but you can see that
although we have such cold winters, they are 
productive all year round. It's been really helpful to our people."

Even so, the one thing the minister wants from the Rome summit is urgent 
action
on the cost of basic farm supplies like 
fuel, seed and fertiliser.

"Food is life," he said. "If we can't afford that, we're
finished."


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>From jodyt2@mac.com  Sun Jun  8 16:58:58 2008
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Subject: Re: [permaculture] Permaculture Sites- Always best to call first
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Hi Kenavo-

It wasn't a permaculture site/farm, it was a farm a local had told us =20=

about where we could drop in and get a tour, no reservation needed. It =20=

was a little farm not too far from Sarlat le Canada, along the =20
Dordogne that still allowed visitors to see gavage de l'oie. We were =20
told most farms had opted to not be public anymore and being pretty =20
much city-folk, we felt we should see what goes into creating it so we =20=

aren't ignorant. We're mainly vegetarian & fish eaters, but are =20
hypocrites when we're in France and face fois gras. Anyway, they =20
didn't require you to call ahead and just took 'drop ins'. They spent =20=

a good 40 min. with us between 2 different people, and answered our =20
many questions.

I wasn't distinguishing between farms, I was lumping them all =20
together, whether permaculture, or otherwise, if that was what you =20
were wondering. Another outsider perspective I'm sure. Sorry for the =20
confusion.

JodyT




On Jun 8, 2008, at 3:51 PM, steveread wrote:

>
>
> Hallo JodyT
>
> Which farm was that in France please?
>
>
>
>
> Kenavo,
>
>
> Steve
>
> Directeur de     l  'Universit=E9 Populaire de Permaculture
> Biographie     (SteveR) http://permacultureinstitute.pbwiki.com/
>
>
> 2008-06-0821:51:22
>
> Re: [permaculture] Permaculture Sites- Always best to call first
> I appreciate seeing everyone's response to my comment about calling
> ahead. Not living on a farm, (but being interested in them) didn't
> give me the insight into recognizing how much of an interruption
> random visits can be. Since we've visited a few places now, we 'get =20=

> it'.
>
> Its a courtesy thing that isn't really talked about, so it escaped our
> awareness until we actually made the mistakes ourselves. And there are
> those farms that accept passers-by that help confuse the issue. (i.e.
> We just toured a place in France 2 months ago that charged a measly 2
> euros for a tour, and they didn't even charge for the tour if you
> actually bought some of their produce. We would have happily paid the
> extra!)
>
> Seeing everyone's response has hammered the concept home. Thank you!
>
> JodyT
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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