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Eco Thrifty Life, permaculture, Uncategorized

Permaculture Internship: A Day in the Life

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Our first-of-its-kind Permaculture Design Internship attracts the highest quality candidates from around the world to Kaitiaki farm in Okoia, Whanganui. We are blessed to have three incredible interns at the moment: Karen, Avery and Sarah.

On a recent Wednesday their experiences included milking goats, care-taking ducklings, checking stoat traps, picking strawberries, mulching tomatoes, discovering two naughty children had eaten half of each strawberry, an impromptu lesson in wire straining, feeding and watering pigs, remediating a slip on the hillside, solar cooking, a formal lesson on plant propagation, and eating lots and lots of fresh plums.

The eight-week internship programme immerses learners in farm living and eco-design thinking. Here is what a recent intern had to say after his experience:

Forever thanks! This is exactly the kind of experience that makes me feel that quiting my job to travel and learn new things, was absolutely worth it. I will always be thankful for making me feel at home so far away from mine. You are definitely one of the most amazing and authentic families that i have ever met!

I am taking with me the best memories and also the inspiration i needed to keep on following my goals! And be sure that i will never forget of how i started this voyage on Permaculture at Kaitiaki Farm with my kiwi-american family =)

 Much love and my best wishes to all, Manu, Verti, Dani and Nelson.

Always count on me on anything! – Mario.

Details of the programme can be found here: http://www.theecoschool.net/workstudy-permaculture-design-certificate.html

Eco Thrifty Life, permaculture, Uncategorized

2017 in Review: Success Breeds Success

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2017 was a year of extremes worldwide in terms of weather and politics. It has been tough on farmers in our region. But is has also been an incredibly successful year for The ECO School and Kaitiaki Farm.

Some highlights include:

Our PDC internship programme is the first of its kind and we are receiving amazing interns from around the world.

Our pre-school outdoor programme was a finalist in the WWF (NZ) Conservation Awards.

Our Eco-Thrifty Renovation project has been included in permaculture co-founder David Holmgren’s new book.

We surpassed 2,000 trees planted on the farm.

We ran a hugely successful Curtain Bank in Whanganui providing free curtains to nearly 100 families in two weeks.

For the fourth year we provided free workshops during Adult Learners Week.

We hosted the 5th Annual Whanganui Permaculture Weekend – attracting people from around the lower North Island.

And we are still growing the World’s Best Garlic.

A huge thanks goes out to the interns who have helped us achieve the vision of a resilient and productive farm. We couldn’t do it without you!

Peace, Estwing

Uncategorized

First World Problem (Appropriate Technology)

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This is a guest post written by Mario, an intern from Chile, who has just completed his Permaculture Design Course here at The ECO School.

IMG_2692Usually, travellers from rich occidental countries who visit places like India, end up being more thankful for their lifestyles after seeing how people live with so little.

“I really wish that they could access to the same opportunities as me” was one of the quotes that I will never forget, said by an American girl while traveling around the Rajastan state, considering how radically different her life is compared with most of the people in that region.

And don’t get me wrong, I know that she said it with the best intentions (and I even agreed with her back then), but years later and after researching about our current environmental crisis, I have realized that if the people of India lived like most of us, the world would be in an even bigger crisis than the one we are facing right now. So maybe our planet would actually wish for us to live a little bit more like the people from India instead. Funny ah?

Here is one example: In the United States there are 965 motorized vehicles for every 10.000 persons, while in India there are only 12. Can you imagine how much extra pollution there would be if a country with 1.324.171.354 habitants would increase their amount of cars from 12 to 965 for every 10.000 of them?

For some people, cooking with gas, owning a car, and changing their smartphones every year, is being part of “The bright side of the World”. But the truth is that the abuse of these technologies is absolutely part of a non-smart and non-sustainable lifestyle, because most of them use non-renewable energy that is destroying our planet.

An Appropriate Technology is any device that takes advantage of renewable energy in order to work and also have a long useful life. Here at Kaitiaki Farm you can see many examples such as solar cookers, manual power tools for gardening and rain water collectors, among others.

screen-shot-2017-11-06-at-5-04-58-amMy personal favorite example of an appropriate technology is a bicycle. I think it has so many benefits against a motorized vehicle. It takes you from one place to another using human energy which allows you to exercise. If you use it in the city it helps you to avoid car traffic, saves you lots of money in gas, produces no air pollution, reduces your footprint and is part of a non-stressful lifestyle.

Appropriate Technology allows us to live ethically, be resilient, save money and be prepared for catastrophes.

And no, I am not saying that India is even close to be a perfect example of a society, but maybe this controversial article can make us consider changing our perception of what a first world country should be like, basing it on societies with smart and ethical consumption of our natural resources, instead of the ones with more people accessing motorized vehicles, new phones every year and all other kind of garbage products that increases our footprint damaging our planet.

Eco Thrifty Life, permaculture, Uncategorized

Solstice Permaculture Update

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We’ve had challenging weather the last nine months: a record wet winter and now eight weeks with essentially no rain. This is exactly what climate change looks like and it’s extremely stressful for those in agriculture. Nonetheless, we’ve managed to get an annual garden in and we’re minding our 200 fruit trees carefully.

Tomatoes are ripening.

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Heaps of zucchinis.

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And beans.

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The corn is thriving in this hot, dry weather.

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We can’t pick and eat the strawberries fast enough.

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The same will soon be true of plums.

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Trees are laden even after significant thinning.

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Not so many peaches this year, but we look forward to a better peach season next year.

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We’re approaching 100 ducklings on the farm with more on the way.

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Sadly, it’s been our worst growing season for garlic. It was on track to be the best but rust set in during the last five weeks and stunted growth right when it is most important. It’s hugely discouraging to put in so much effort and not achieve the yield I was expecting.

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But in a world of climate change, this is ‘the new normal.’

 

Peace, Estwing

Eco Thrifty Life, permaculture, Uncategorized

Kaitiaki Permaculture: 2018 Programme

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Tours – Workshops – Events

Autumn 2018 Programme

 

28th January – PDC presentations & Shared Meal

 

3rd – 4th March: Farm Weekend. Accommodation & meals also available.

3rd – Workshop Blitz: Backyard Chickens; Organic Gardening Master Class; Innovative cookers and dehydrators. 90 minutes each. $20 each or $50 for all.

4th – Farm Tour: Best Practice Holistic Management. Kaitiaki Farm is an exemplar permaculture farm just outside Whanganui. The tour will cover: market gardening; hot composting; the best tools for farm and garden management; tractoring fowl; water management; building soil fertility; wind breaks; orchard planning; erosion control; slope stabilisation; stock rotation; wetland restoration; alternative energy; and, eco-building. 9 am – 3 pm. Includes lunch. $75 individuals, $120 couples.

 

25th March – PDC presentations & Shared Meal

 

* Easter Weekend – How to Build an Affordable Eco Home…Legally. 2 days to be confirmed. $170 individuals; $250 couples. Includes lunches.

 

22nd April – Chicken Tractors; Growing Great Garlic. 1 hour each. $10 each.

 

20th May – PDC presentations & Shared Meal

 

9th June – Garlic Workshop. 1 hour. $10

10th June – Garlic Workshop. 1 hour. $10

 

Registration: theecoschool at gmail.com

Eco Thrifty Life, Uncategorized

Making a Tractor Tyre Farrowing Crate

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I have been meaning to build a farrowing crate for about six months now, but it turns out my boar has been sterile. We got a new boar so the clock is ticking. I built this farrowing crate in about an hour.

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I got the idea from a colleague at work and then did an online search, which brought up this article.

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The tyre came from a Kindy – that’s why it’s painted pink and purple.

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I followed the advice in the article from the Farm Show magazine.

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Pretty easy to cut the sidewalls.

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Not so easy to cut through the treads.

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All set for a mum and her bubs

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Peace, Estwing

Eco Thrifty Life, permaculture, Uncategorized

Big Picture Permaculture: A Watershed Perspective.

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The world faces crises of both water quality and quantity. While water quality is almost continually in decline, water quantity both rises and falls – meaning an increase in both severe droughts and major rain events. Extreme rain events are increasing worldwide and we’ve had two here in the last three years, causing flooding and land slips – both of which are made worse by common land use practices in this region.

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This older slip is on a neighbouring farm, leaving this fence suspended in mid-air. 

The big picture approach to permaculture on our farm is to drought-proof and flood-proof the land simultaneously, while also improving water quality for everyone downstream of us. High on the property we’ve done heaps of water management, including building swales and ponds, and on the steep slopes planted over 100 poplar poles.

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On the valley floor we have fenced the stream to exclude stock and planted the riparian corridor with over 1,700 native plants.

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Setting fence posts, August 2016.

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Planting Coprosma robusta, 2017.

The photos below are before/after shots showing change over the last 16 months.

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August, 2016

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November, 2017

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July, 2016

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November, 2017

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July, 2016

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November, 2017

But despite all of this work, our creek flooded six times this winter compared with once most winters. From what I can tell, this is down to two factors: the first is an extraordinarily wet winter and the second is recent logging of the slopes immediately upstream. Where pines once absorbed rains and held the slopes now water runs off quickly and fills the creek bed. It almost feels like all the work we have done has been undone by someone else 400 metres up the stream.

What this also means is that in dry spells the stream will be even lower because the water from winter rains has not been stored in the earth to be released slowly in the spring and summer. Clear-felling slopes is a lose-lose situation for everyone downstream.

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Permaculture is about big picture thinking, holistic problem-solving, connecting the dots and four-dimensional design. When designing, we need to look beyond our own properties for factors that may have significant impacts. As the saying goes, “We all live downstream.”

 

Peace, Estwing

Eco Thrifty Life, Uncategorized

Inch by Inch, Row by Row: Building Annual Beds

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A common misperception of permaculture is that “it is a messy form of gardening” – or that it is a form of gardening at all. Permaculture is a system of design. Growing annual vegetables can be a small part of a much larger farm system. For small-scale organic growers, annual veggies are an important source of income especially during the first years on a property.

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We took a totally different approach. Annual beds have mostly (except for our commercial garlic crops) been on the back burner for the last three and a half years while we’ve focused on water management and drainage, planted over 2,000 trees, fenced 400 metres of stream, renovated the house, and improved soil quality in the paddocks. With off-farm income and a fully-booked internship programme we were able to take it slow, which also happens to be the best way to convert paddocks to no-dig beds.

We lay polythene down for six months…

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…and then broad fork the beds.

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Everyone helps.

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We shift the plastic to a new area every six months and cover it with grass or branches to reduce UV damage from the sun. After forking we form raised rows and plant out the annuals from our nursery.

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Garlic takes up bed space for six months each year, which has meant we’ve not been able to grow much else until now.

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Three more large annual beds will go in over the next 18 months and then we’ll have the market gardens fully up and running – after five years.

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Slow and steady wins the race.

 

Peace, Estwing

Eco Thrifty Life, Uncategorized

Slow learning in an age of instant gratification

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It takes eight weeks to earn a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) on Kaitiaki Farm. We are slow learners.

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Holmgren’s 9th Principle, Use small and slow solutions, should especially be considered when it comes to teaching and learning. Humans learn slowly, and as our digital worlds speed up, the need for slow learning only increases.

Many PDC classes happen too fast with little time to reflect on the learning and little experiential learning. As someone who has spent their entire life as an educator with multiple education degrees, I steer clear of two-week residential PDCs.

That’s one reason we developed our eight-week PDC internship programme that includes total immersion in the patterns and flows of a permaculture farm. Alongside learning permaculture our interns are living permaculture.

Cultivating learners is what we do.

We start by pulling and straightening nails.

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Holmgren’s 6th Principle, Produce no waste, is experienced by transforming materials that others have destined for landfill into valuable resources for future building projects.

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We often straighten a nail and reuse it within a matter of minutes on the farm. Going back seven years, all ECO School interns have learned this as an essential first lesson.

Another skill taught on Day One is managing hot compost. We usually have three individual piles running: one we build through collecting materials; one that is ‘cooking’; and one that is finished and ready to use. Interns turn the active piles three times each week.

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Finally, we emphasise the permanent in permaculture by planting and caring for trees, whether in the orchard or the zone 5 wetland we are establishing alongside Purua Stream.

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Without fail, four to five weeks pass before we see lightbulb moments happening when interns really begin to understand holistic and four-dimensional design. That’s the payoff as an educator – when you know they get it.

Our PDC internships consist of a thousand teachable moments. 

One insightful intern said, “You really need to learn to do things properly because there is no control+Z function on the farm. You can’t Undo something with your fingertips.”

Indeed.

 

Peace, Estwing