My homestead
About me...
PERMACULTURE PROJECTS – SUSTAINABLE HOMESTEAD AND RE-CULTIVATION OF SOIL
Although it is the very focus of my activities, permaculture is not just a project for me.
Every time I see a forest burnt off to clear space for an industrial facility, whales killed or horrified koalas fleeing a fire, a part of me within dies with them. I oppose a world in which people’s rapacity driven by corporate profit is more important than natural habitats and valued more than life of any living creature on our planet. In fact, few realise that ecosystem is THE most important thing that humanity has and has ever had. I find the greatest inspiration in the work of Charles Eisenstein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bwkwsO2E3s.
The very essence of permaculture design and the core of my work is to protect and support LIFE: its diversity, sacredness, and beauty, regardless of how uninteresting some of its forms may seem. Food self-sustainability is the most vital objective to be followed by anyone thinking seriously about engaging in permaculture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50Rv2RSGcsw
Permaculture is about creation of ecosystems that are energy self-sufficient. In other words, the system should self-maintain: fertilise, water and reproduce on its own. This functionality is achieved by the way of:
- observing the relationships residing in the particular site,
- tapping into the existing energy sources: the sun, wind, water, and land,
- designing synergies among components of the system.
A well-designed system will create a homestead which is sustainable in terms of food and energy (i.e. nothing is imported into the system (e.g. fertilisers or feed), no water is sourced from the ground, and electricity is generated from wind or photovoltaic cells).
Food self-sustainability is a culmination of the correct arrangement of all these elements into a coherent system, achieved by observing and following Nature.
HOMESTEAD PROJECTS: RE-CULTIVATION OF SOIL AND FOOD SELF-SUSTAINABILITY
Around 70% of our soil cannot be used anymore unless artificial fertilisers are utilised. Deforestation, which destroys the natural water cycle in the atmosphere, may be an even more important factor contributing to the killing of life in the soil. That is why re-cultivation of soil with natural methods is one of the most important permaculture processes.
Back in 2017, when I was just starting up my own farm, re-cultivation of soil was the first task I took on. In those days I was still unaware that soil production is a never-ending process. Every year, I laboriously add something new to the soil, always trying to ensure that the amendments (woodchips, hay, comfrey) have come from the farm itself.
I am not a theoretician. Everything I teach and design is something I have tried in my own farm in Beskid Wyspowy in the south of Poland, where creation of a sustainable homestead is one of my main objectives (see the photographs). My farm is mountainous land of the area of 1.4 ha and comprises:
- 500 m2 of vegetable beds,
- 4 ponds of the total cubature of 200,000 m3,
- a greenhouse with seedling beds,
- 28 photovoltaic cells, of the capacity of 8.6 kW,
- a utility room built from tyres into a slope,
- a house for three families, of the surface area of 290 m2,
- a system of water tanks to protect against drought,
- a system of on-site water harvesting,
- a system of roof water harvesting,
- a drip irrigation system,
- an orchard,
- a meadow of 3,000 m2, and
- a forest of 2000 m2,
The plans for 2020 include:
- a chicken coop,
- a phragmite sewage treatment plant,
- starting of fish farming,
- starting of rice growing.
PERMACULTURE DESIGNS FOR FARMS AND GARDENS
The core of my work is creation of permaculture designs for farms, traditional gardens, forest gardens, recreational allotment gardens, as well as consults for independent permaculture projects. Whenever the client’s objective is to create a sustainable homestead, all my mind and heart go into the project, as I do realise how important it is for the protection of Life.
Copyright Leszek Frankiewicz