Permaculture in Thailand

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 221-365

Thailand

WWOOF Thailand located in Nong Weang, Buri Ram and WWOOF Thailand Permaculture and organic projects located thru out Thailand, are sustainable living training, demonstrating and teaching centers of permaculture principals, courses, hosting and workshops in both English and Thai. In 2013, WWOOF Thailand has hosted over 1000 organic and permaculture students, interns and volunteers in permaculture certificate design courses and WWOOF Thailand organic and permaculture projects.

 WWOOF Thailand is a Permaculture Research Institute of Australia certified member,and offers many high quality Permaculture certificate design courses, consulting, design and teaching projects and courses every year. WWOOF Thailand uses permaculture to demonstrate how to regenerate degraded land, improve farm yields, transform mono crop land into ecologically sound "bio-diverse food systems and forests and create organically sound permaculture farms and education demonstration farms and centers across Thailand.

 WWOOF Thailand also has many projects teaching "natural building" using Earth bag, Adobe brick, wattle, cob and bamboo construction techniques. They also host interns, volunteers and courses each year they deliver, low cost courses in Permaculture Certificate Design, Urban Permaculture, broad acre design, sheet mulching, aquaculture, food forests, vermiculture, hugelkulture, solar energy and other self sustainable skills. We aim for low cost, high value for students, groups and professionals visiting and/or living in Thailand.

Mindfulness Project,The Mindfulness Project is an ecological forest preserving charity in Khon Kaen, Thailand. The 34 acres is a monastery land built in order to preserve and extend the forest as well as making an example of sustainable living and natural building. The special feature is, that every house is covered with artistic mosaic. The Mindfulness Project now hosts volunteers, student groups and courses.

Rak Tamachat Permaculture Education Center is located in North East Thailand near Korat. Begun in January 2012 using a master plan created by Christian Shearer the founder of The Panya Project. Beau and Lin Wickboldt founded Rak Tamachat as a permaculture education center to achieve their goals of creating a sustainable future for their family and others. The center is built on a 50 acre corn and rice farm that is using conventional agriculture techniques. A wide variety of elements are used to meet these goals, including natural building, sheet mulching, aquaculture, food forests. Rak Tamachat hosts visitors, volunteers, interns and courses.


The Panya Project, located in Mae Taeng, Chiang Mai, Thailand, is a sustainable living project implementing permaculture principals and hosting workshops in English and Thai. In fall 2006, the project hosted a permaculture design course taught by Geoff Lawton of the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia, and subsequently installed over 500 meters of swales and a 2 million liter pond. The Panya Project used permaculture to help regenerate what used to be a mono-crop mango plantation, transforming it into what is called a "biodiverse food forest, organic farm and education center". The Panya Project also incorporates what they call "natural building" into their design, e.g., wattle, cob and adobe brick. The Panya Project now hosts volunteers, student groups and courses.

Daruma Eco-Farm is a sustainable permaculture project located in Bang Phra, Thailand, approximately 1.5 hours drive from Bangkok. Daruma offers courses permaculture design and natural building courses, has an artist-in-residency program, internship, and volunteer program. The farm utilizes integrated aquaculture and is working on a project to generate methane from buffalo dung. Rice paddies are planted according to the System of Rice Intensification (SRI). Resident animals include cats, chickens, ducks, fish, pigs, sheep, and a dog.

Permaculture in Indonesia

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 220-365

Indonesia

The Indonesian Development of Education and Permaculture assisted in disaster relief in Aceh, Indonesia after the 2004 Tsunami.They have also developed Wastewater Gardens, a small-scale sewage treatment systems similar to Reedbeds.

Reed beds are natural habitats found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions and estuaries. Reed beds are part of a succession from young reed colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As reed beds age, they build up a considerable litter layer which eventually rises above the water level, and ultimately provides opportunities for scrub or woodland invasion. Artificial reed beds are used as a method of removing pollutants from grey water.
 
Reed beds with water levels at or below the surface during the summer are often more complex botanically and are known as reed fen. Reeds and similar plants do not generally grow in very acidic water, and so in these situations reed beds are replaced by other vegetation such as poor-fen and bog.

A bog is a mire that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses, and in a majority of cases, sphagnum moss.It is one of the four main types of wetlands.

Jiwa Damai (meaning Peace of Soul), based in Mambal, close to Ubud in Central Bali, Indonesia is a retreat centre and organic permaculture garden, designed in accordance with nature.

They offer permaculture courses and courses in organic farming and demonstrate sustainable practices using biological gardening techniques and EM (effective microorganism) technology to recycle biological waste and to grow fruits, vegetables, forest, medicinal herbs and plants for Balinese ceremonies.
 
They also cultivate coconut palms for the production of Bali Extra Virgin Coconut oil.
 
A focus is to preserve rare species of indigenous plants. One area of the garden contains a variety of medicinal herbs, in other areas we grow plants for Balinese ceremonies as well as organic vegetables and fruit.

Forests Blossoms

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 219-365

Since we need to plant a lot of land with forest why not plant with trees that bloom once a year and will create a beautiful view will attract tourists just for the pleasure of seeing the trees blooming.

Here are few example: 
Rhododendron bloom


During march and April the rhododendron trees are in full blossom.  

A Gulmohar Tree in Bloom

 

The purple blooms of Dipteryx panamensis can be seen in this image of the tree canopy of. Barro Colorado Island, Panama.  
 

Cherry Forest/ Orchard

Almond Blosson

Orchards are not forests. Forests imply a combination of different trees. Fruit and Legume trees are good option for planting forest on private and government properties.
I never understood why  the cities do not plant fruit trees in parks. 
Seatle is the first one in USA that has a orchard park. And is such a new ideea. So much space that is not used for the free benefit of people.
And the price of fruits is so.. high while large amount of land is unused at the maximum potential.
 
What about a rose forest.?

Gingko biloba is a highly venerated tree in Japanese culture. Six ginkgo trees survived the Hiroshima bombing, continuing to grow despite facing so many challenges, and are still alive today. Therefore, the Japanese regard the gingko as “the bearer of hope”. It is also known as “the survivor” or “the living fossil.”

Beautiful wisteria trees

The largest and oldest in Japan, the tree is the main attraction at the flower park as visitors flock to see it in full bloom.