At Odanadi, a home for survivors of human trafficking, we have been able to work with permaculture design for the benefit of the charity since 2012, offering bottom-up solutions that are low-cost and long-term (a food forest, for example, can last well beyond seven generations). The results are immediate and tangible, and bringing together members of the international yoga community for a Permaculture Design Course has been of benefit to the charity too.
The initial aim was relatively simple - build a vegetable garden. In the first phase, using greywater, and taking advantage of a broken underground pipe, we managed to achieve an abundant yield within a short period of time. To contextualise this, Mysore, like much of India, has been heavily deforested and the soil heavily eroded. We built a banana circle, but the bananas, no matter what we tried, died. We also planted a lot of trees, and as managers of the project, learned a lot through observation (and how to manage a large number of excited kids planting dozens of trees!).
The initial aim was relatively simple - build a vegetable garden. In the first phase, using greywater, and taking advantage of a broken underground pipe, we managed to achieve an abundant yield within a short period of time. To contextualise this, Mysore, like much of India, has been heavily deforested and the soil heavily eroded. We built a banana circle, but the bananas, no matter what we tried, died. We also planted a lot of trees, and as managers of the project, learned a lot through observation (and how to manage a large number of excited kids planting dozens of trees!).
Despite mixed results, a seed was planted in the hearts of the young poeple of Odanadi, aged between 3 and 25, and they carried on working with different methods to get a functional garden off the ground. When we returned in 2013, although the banana circle had gone, there were clear signs that the barren land had been worked - but it needed something more.
In the second phase, which started around December 2013, things were a little more organised. We started thinking more about forest succession and support species, cover crop, dynamic accumulators, mandala patterns, swales, water harvesting (the broken pipe had been fixed) and alternative energy. As well as this, we ran a PDC in February, 2014 in which international yoga students and a handful of teenagers from the centre took part. We also partnered with a local organic farm to get some strong banana suckers to rework the banana circle. As a result of the PDC we gained some superb design solutions from the students to implement in the future.
In the second phase, which started around December 2013, things were a little more organised. We started thinking more about forest succession and support species, cover crop, dynamic accumulators, mandala patterns, swales, water harvesting (the broken pipe had been fixed) and alternative energy. As well as this, we ran a PDC in February, 2014 in which international yoga students and a handful of teenagers from the centre took part. We also partnered with a local organic farm to get some strong banana suckers to rework the banana circle. As a result of the PDC we gained some superb design solutions from the students to implement in the future.
Our hope is that in future there will be such abundance that a wide variety of food will be available for the kids at any time they want. Early results are encouraging. The various types of resilient, nitrogen-fixing leguminous tree species are doing very well. Strawberries, a cover crop and dynamic accumulator, have been planted and are spreading nicely. The banana circle is looking great, and a coconut circle is doing well. The young ladies at the centre have organised themselves to maintain the vegetable garden beautifully and we are on target to have a flourishing small-scale intensive system!
If you would like to volunteer at Odanadi, check out their facebook page.