Flores Fruit Farm Permaculture
Goals
1. Food
2. Water
3. Energy
4. Shelter
5. Transportation
6. Security
7. Future
8. Be an example
9. Time
10. Commerce
FOOD Our primary goal is to produce enough high quality food to maintain our family’s health and vitality for ourselves and future generations. The first step in this process is the acquisition of suitable land for cultivation. This is accomplished by submersing ourselves into the local ecosystem and studying the interactions of weather with landscape features. After making a thorough investigation over several cycles of seasons, it becomes clear what areas can support the various varieties of edible foods. It also becomes clear what elements of the landscape can be removed to allow more sunlight to penetrate into the proposed farm site.
After the acquisition of land, we must remove and reshape it to accommodate cultivation. This is the most labor intensive phase of a permaculture project. This phase involves the removal of massive trees, boulders, mountains and the insertion of drainage and irrigation systems. If done correctly the first time, then the landscape is stable for several generations. However, this phase requires significant upfront costs to both purchase land and the machinery necessary to terraform the raw land correctly.
WATER
Clean water is an essential element of survival for all life forms. Choosing a site with year round running water is crucial to success. After acquisition of the land, it is necessary to create catchment systems and distribution lines to deliver this precious commodity to the entire property. In the beginning it is adequate to use a natural rock pool to collect and hold the drinking and irrigation water; however this should be replaced with a concrete water tank as soon as funds are available. A 5000 liter tank should hold the farm over in the event of a dry summer or other problem with the natural water source.
ENERGY
Beyond muscle power that is generated by will and quality foods, there remains the need for more energy in several forms. The simplest energy is firewood, used for both cooking and heating during winter. Although valuable and free after purchasing and clearing raw land, it is a labor intensive energy source with limited applications. The second and more complex energy system is electricity. In our case, we found that a mixture of hydro and solar with an adequate battery bank to be the best fit for our location. A simple system designed and installed correctly should function with minimal maintenance or labor input for generations. Solar has no moving parts to wear out, while hydro needs bearing replacement annually. Replacing bearings requires an off-farm purchase of 20 Euros and takes about an hour of labor. The battery bank only needs to be topped up with distilled water every six months, a cost of 2 Euros and one hour of labor. The expense is in the initial purchasing and building of the system, but after installation the electricity should function with only 22 Euros annually. With electricity comes the ability to work indoors with lights and to use power tools in place of hand tools, and the ability to cook foods without gathering fire wood or using propane gas that we cannot generate ourselves.
SHELTER
As mammals we need a dry and warm place to sleep at night in order to survive. As humans we need a larger area to store foods, prepare foods and to work while the weather is inclement. Before beginning the construction of a dwelling, a suitable site must be found or created. This is labor intensive, but if done correctly the dwelling will not need farther maintenance other than painting the exterior to keep the humidity from penetrating inside. Whenever possible we work with iron reinforced concrete, as this is conceptually simple to work with and does not degrade in normal weather conditions. Wood is a wonderful building material and often free of charge after clearing the trees from the land, however it is subject to insect and water damage. A thoughtful mixture of these two building materials yields the best results of both strength and functionality.
TRANSPORTATION
The ability to move materials around the property is central to a farm. At the moment we are using a hand cart on the flat areas and hand carrying materials on the steeper terrain. This system is timely, but does not need outside fuel to function. Most vehicles use petroleum products to function, and this is not an acceptable solution for many reasons. A better alternative is the use of an electric vehicle that is simple in design and function, allowing maintenance to be performed on the farm as well as to use farm electricity to charge the vehicle over night for daily use. If the electric vehicle is built correctly and used infrequently, then the yearly maintenance will be minimal and involve replacing tires and bearings.
SECURITY
Security of the homestead from natural disasters as well as man-made is critical to success. Before building a shelter, the area surrounding the building site should be secured from falling debris, tree limbs, mudslides and erosion. A well thought out homestead will have a commanding view of the surrounding farm to view problems at a distance and have time to react.
FUTURE
The aging process is an undeniable if unpleasant reality of physical existence. The farm needs to have well established foot paths, stairways or roadways to all the orchards and garden plots. If the infrastructure is well thought out and created with good building materials and techniques, then the future will only involve the transportation of foods from the gardens to the house and the return of compost from the house to the gardens. These simple tasks should be carried out with ease into the future with no maintenance necessary.
BE AN EXAMPLE
The planet is adjusting to a human population boom that has never existed, while simultaneously adjusting to the Industrial Age. Both of these events are straining our ecosystem in more ways than we can imagine. The current system of civilization is unstable, non-sustainable and potentially disastrous. Rather than write books or give lectures or try to force others to change, we believe the best course is to set an example and model behavior. If two people can create a working system without any formal training or education, then anybody can do it. The planet demands more respect from its inhabitants than it is receiving from the masses, many of whom live in large cities that depend on debilitating practices of industrial monoculture farming. It is up to the individuals to make changes in their own lives and together these individuals will form small communities, which in turn become larger communities, and these will grow and form a planet-wide web of health for all Earth’s inhabitants. After all, we were placed upon this Earth as wardens of the land, seas, flora, and fauna. If we do not safeguard these aspects of our precious and precarious planet, who will?
TIME
We cannot create time, but we can maximize our use of what time we are allotted. A properly functioning permaculture farm should allow the inhabitants enough leisure time to pursue education, invention, philosophy, art, friendships, child-rearing, meditation, and reflection. When the infrastructure is in place and all the ecosystems are interacting harmoniously, then the humans need only give a few hours daily to plant and collect foods; while the rest of the days are free to pursue other interests.
COMMERCE
It is not possible to generate every item the farm needs to function smoothly. Tools, bearings, and plastics need to be purchased along with other small items on a regular basis. In order to acquire these objects, the farm needs to generate a surplus of valuable goods to barter or sell. Ideally there is a larger community near to the farm site that requires high quality foods and has the ability to buy these items at a fair price.
The origins of this project can be found on our first blog located at
http://magnusandkonswan.blogspot.pt/
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