PERMACULTURE DESIGN WORKSHOP

It took months of planning and eventually in January 2010 South Africa’s leading Permaculture Design expert, Kent Cooper (Tahir), arrived here to start a 10 day intensive with the members of Khula Dhamma. Khula Dhamma is a large farm of 300 Hectares and Kent’s brief was extensive: to design housing, school, working and farming space. This meant constructing huge maps of the farm where we could start pinpointing large scale farming areas; grazing areas; woodlots; indigenous forests and grasslands to protect; housing for +30 prospective members and internal farm roads to lay out. Members’ housing will be established in areas that are already overgrown by alien vegetation and we see as our task to re-establish the land around each of our homes. Places that have not been disturbed by previous farming we will leave undisturbed. It is our aim to restore the farm back to its natural state so this means the careful removal of vegetation and the replanting of indigenous species. A BIG job!
For 10 days a core group of 9 people, with another 5 odd coming in at appointed times, poured over maps, walked the land, held discussions, roared with laughed, argued, shared experiences and watched amazing movies from Kent’s vast Permaculture video library.
It was a truly informative, educational time. Not only do we now have a design for this farm, but as members of this ecovillage we are now also all on the same page – we understand the necessity of using this design to forge our future here, one that aligns with the needs of the land as well as and its custodians. And because we see ourselves as stewards of this land we see it as paramount that we develop a sense of natural peace and harmony here ... this is for many reasons: ethical, aesthetic, spiritual, and for our mental and emotional health. We call this “developing an ECOLOGICAL ETHIC” where we can recover our true relationship with the Earth. This would be based on our utter wonder and appreciation of the sheer mystery of nature; this response to the Earth then develops within each person a desire to respect and protect the amazing planet we have the privilege of inhabiting.