Guba's Permaculture Farm

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Having been back at Guba for three weeks, it’s finally time to continue my blog! Time has passed much too quickly, and I fear it’ll only speed up as time goes on. I’ve really settled into a good routine now, and feel like I’m slowly becoming a fixture within the workings of the farm!



As I described in my first post, Guba has been designed around permaculture ethics and principles (http://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/). It’s not just talk - they are true to their word! The team’s knowledge of, and dedication to, permaculture has surprised and delighted me, and every day I seem to learn something new.



The farm incorporates every aspect of a typical closed permaculture system - vegetables, herbs, trees (fruit and native trees), animals (chickens and pigs), and of course water conservation, energy production and composting systems, all of which work together in harmony. For example, compost (of several types: worm compost, comfrey liquid feed, typical grass/leaf/veg waste etc., compost toilet compost) feeds the plants, which in turn feed the compost. The animals clear and fertilise land ready for growing, and in turn the land provides food for the animals. Water conserved in the dams can be used to water the garden and provide fish, which can be fed from things grown in the garden. The plants are arranged by intercropping and companion planting, such that plants which support and enhance each others growth - either through providing nutrients, repelling pests, providing climbing poles, etc. - are grown together.



All of these systems I’ve described, plus many more, ultimately mean that the system requires very few external inputs, uses a small space to produce a large output, and is very money-cheap - as opposed to time-and-work-cheap - though for the quantity of output, it’s not too bad to run.



In addition, there are several money-making endeavours, including growing chillies and basil for Black Mamba (a local company that makes chilli sauce and pesto), and selling pots of herbs and young trees, which help to financially cover any extra inputs that are required.



The space was originally divided up into the 6 Zones (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rgmjAfRCyGo/UBbPMoJpeyI/AAAAAAAADWw/ACyAaguomuI/s1600/permaculture-zones.jpg) that make up a permaculture garden, which are laid out according to their proximity to the main buildings and their accessibility, so that the most important and work-intensive aspects of the farm are the most accessible and therefore the most visited, to ensure they are as energy efficient as possible to manage. Zone 0 is the kitchen: the main hub; Zone 1 comprises the kitchen garden, herb garden, training room, office, toilets & shower block, top dam, and plant nursery; Zone 2 includes the integrated chicken rotation system, main cropping areas, duck pond and volunteer house; Zone 3 contains the food forest and some intercropped areas; Zone 4 is planted with coppice forests and Zone 5 is home to the wilderness areas around the edge, which provide homes for wildlife and protection from surrounding land. The pigs and the chicken tractor work nomadically between zones 1 and 3, wherever they’re needed to plough the soil, control pests and manure in situ. These zones require, and receive, progressively less attention the further away from Zone 0 they are.



I’ve been mostly working in the garden with Patji, one of the original Guba employees and Permaculture experts, as well as in the tree nursery, which I’m starting to catalogue. I arrived at Guba just after the 3-week Christmas break, during which time the garden had been left to its own devices, so it needed a major input of work to make it as productive as possible... This offered a great chance for me to really get to experience the full process of growing a permaculture garden during. In only 4 weeks, I’ve seen it transform and every day it becomes more beautiful and more productive. Of course, the downside is that there’s been very little to actually pick and eat so far - a few tomatoes, pumpkins, Patti pans, bananas, papayas and mangoes, plus a full complement of herbs - and most of the veg I’ve planted, except the salads, will be ready just as I’m about to return home! But such is life, and it makes things more interesting having to devise recipes with what’s available! Anyway, it’s very cheap to buy veg at the local stalls in Malkerns, and I’m happy to support the local shops.



When it’s in full swing, the farm can easily provide enough food for everyone who works and volunteers at Guba - vegetables, fruit, maize, herbs, a few eggs and a tiny bit of meat. It’s in continuous development and flux. Each year more food gets produced as it becomes better coordinated, market demand grows, and the food forest starts to bear fruit, the compost systems become more productive, the fish and duck dam more established and the team become more familiar with what works and what doesn’t. Currently, a large portion of the garden is given over to herb and chilli production (inter-planted with other compatible vegetables), while the growing for market project for is becoming established with their permaculture graduates who are now well positioned to produce for market as well as grow for their own food security. A few people have already told me how they like to look round Guba every few months during their monthly public tours to see how it’s transforming, and how every time they do, they’re excited by the new developments! I’m pretty excited to come back and see it again in another year or two!



So that’s about it for now. This week, some grow for market workshops are taking place, so I’ll be able to see for myself how the workshops work - which is great, because training is, after all, the main focus of Guba!

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Glad you are blogging again
Love hearing the details of the farming community.