A young man looking for advice on permaculture, because he is new in that kind of stuff.

Hi, everyone.
I hope you all are getting good things from life.
This is my first post in this forum so I will start introducing myself.
My name is Alberto, born and raised in Colombia, South America. It is actually my homeland, which means that my mother language is Spanish, so, first of all, I profoundly apologize for my (possibly) brutal use of English language.
The thing is that, in recent months, I've had the incredible opportunity of getting access to a land where I'm allowed to cultivate my own food. But, well, I have always lived in the city, under the mechanism of the current economic system, which means that I know nothing about working a land or about agriculture. However, It has been like a goal to me learning how to work on one. And, again, I have that opportunity right now. So, yeah, I have no idea of what to do with this land, I mean, I've been reading a lot about permaculture and his philosophy, but I don't know yet where to start. I will be tremendously grateful if you people can give me some advice on the topic. What kind of things must be done first, how can I plan the work with the soil, something like that. Like, imagine that you have a visitor from other planet and he wants to know how to grow his own food, How will you teach him to do it?

Thanks for giving me your time reading this
Have a nice day!

Welcome Alberto! I want to give your questions some thought but also want to make sure you know people here want to help you succeed.  I also would ask what you are interested in, what your feel you are good at, and what you think are unmet needs in your community? I think answering these questions is a good start to figuring out where you want to go. Even more than the other important questions of how much land and what resources (time, money, help from friends, compostable waste streams from your area) you have available. I wish you luck and am confident you will find great people to help you here.

Welcome indeed Alberto
You are lucky that you have some land . That puts you ahead of the game for many people.
May I suggest you have a look at the land . Stuff like , what type of soil have you got ? What is growing there at the moment ? Where is the water ? Is it flat ? Any fruit trees ? Are you going to live on this land ? Lots of questions lots of decisions :-)

David

Hey Alberto, welcome to permies! My suggestion is to read a few books on permaculture to gather an understanding of some of the principles, such as companion planting, using natural land contours to your advantage in water management, improving habitat to encourage beneficial insects and other wildlife, etc. I'd like to suggest books by Bill Mollison & Sepp Holzer to name a few, just to become familiar with techniques. Permaculture techniques can be applied almost anywhere on the globe, and what varies are the kinds of plants that thrive in your climate. I don't know anything about what grows in tropical Colombia, with the equator going through part of the country, but you and I can employ the same principles living in different regions, like making soil microbial inoculants from our native forest soils. Hope this helps!

Ben Zumeta wrote:Welcome Alberto! I want to give your questions some thought but also want to make sure you know people here want to help you succeed.  I also would ask what you are interested in, what your feel you are good at, and what you think are unmet needs in your community? I think answering these questions is a good start to figuring out where you want to go. Even more than the other important questions of how much land and what resources (time, money, help from friends, compostable waste streams from your area) you have available. I wish you luck and am confident you will find great people to help you here.

Hi, Ben!
Yeah, I also think that your cuestions have a radical importance to begin with, and that's why, I think, they have, at least, a partial solution. My main interest with this land is to achieve self-sufficiency in relation to food, and I think that goal starts with having a land, which I already have. Then, I need to acquire knowledge of how to work with the land, but not only that, I also need to know how to live a sustainable life. I'm good in understanding theory and planning things, that is, in acquiring knowledge and making it practical. I live in a country where this kind of stuff (permaculture, sustainability, etc) is merely rising as a topic of discussion, so it is absolutely necessary to make it more public and getting more people involved, and, in my opinion, it requires study and work. That's what I'm trynd to achieve

I appreciate very much your words.

Good luck!

David Livingston wrote:Welcome indeed Alberto
You are lucky that you have some land . That puts you ahead of the game for many people.
May I suggest you have a look at the land . Stuff like , what type of soil have you got ? What is growing there at the moment ? Where is the water ? Is it flat ? Any fruit trees ? Are you going to live on this land ? Lots of questions lots of decisions :-)

David

Hi, David!
Thank you very much for your answer!
Definitely, that will be the first thing to do. I'm not living in this land, unfortunately, but I will use it as a way to learn practical stuff of permaculture. And, more important, it will help me and the other people around to get food grown by his own hands, with no chemicals and no polutants.

Have a great day. buddy!

James Freyr wrote:Hey Alberto, welcome to permies! My suggestion is to read a few books on permaculture to gather an understanding of some of the principles, such as companion planting, using natural land contours to your advantage in water management, improving habitat to encourage beneficial insects and other wildlife, etc. I'd like to suggest books by Bill Mollison & Sepp Holzer to name a few, just to become familiar with techniques. Permaculture techniques can be applied almost anywhere on the globe, and what varies are the kinds of plants that thrive in your climate. I don't know anything about what grows in tropical Colombia, with the equator going through part of the country, but you and I can employ the same principles living in different regions, like making soil microbial inoculants from our native forest soils. Hope this helps!

Hey, James.
I'm glad to read your answer and I thank you for it.
Any suggestions on a specific book? I'm planning to start with "Permaculture ONE" by Bill Mollison. But any suggestion will be welcome!

Thank you very much and good luck!

Welcome the the forum Albert..
My suggestion is to immerse yourself in your land and 'permaculture' .. What do I mean  by that? Well....

All parcelas of land are unique unto themselves, as you are unique also. So, there isn't a 'one size fits all' answer.. Your questions are broad, and therefore the answers coming back to you are are reflecting that.

Let us know more specifics.. Like soil type, orientation, gradient, altitude, temperature varients, percipitation, what there is already growing, and what it is you want to do specfically etc..

'Permaculture'(from my perspective) is a wonderfully, massive, broad and complex topic, that all fits together through a unique symbiosis between the individuality of all the things listed above plus how you (the human) intergrate and communicate what you require..

Step by step, no rush, meditate, learn to ask the land itself, what is best, and learn to listen to the answers.

We are all learning everyday, and we are sharing our understandings as best we can.

Best regards and happy learning!
Marcus

Marcus vandell wrote:Welcome the the forum Albert..
My suggestion is to immerse yourself in your land and 'permaculture' .. What do I mean  by that? Well....

All parcelas of land are unique unto themselves, as you are unique also. So, there isn't a 'one size fits all' answer.. Your questions are broad, and therefore the answers coming back to you are are reflecting that.

Let us know more specifics.. Like soil type, orientation, gradient, altitude, temperature varients, percipitation, what there is already growing, and what it is you want to do specfically etc..

'Permaculture'(from my perspective) is a wonderfully, massive, broad and complex topic, that all fits together through a unique symbiosis between the individuality of all the things listed above plus how you (the human) intergrate and communicate what you require..

Step by step, no rush, meditate, learn to ask the land itself, what is best, and learn to listen to the answers.

We are all learning everyday, and we are sharing our understandings as best we can.

Best regards and happy learning!
Marcus

Dear Marcus.

I appreciate your answers and your advices.
And yes, I think I'm going to follow the first principle of Holmgren, which is observation. I don't know the specifications of the land because, as I say in the post, It's a new opportunity given to me in recent months. I'm going to observe and kind of experiment with the soil itself, planting little things here and there as I get more knowledge about Permaculture, because there is a ton of information out there and so many people is hungry for teaching as much as I'm hungry for that tasty knowledge.

Thank you so much for your words. Good luck!

A good place to start would be finding your land on a map and understanding where you are in your watershed. Within that context, I’d then map your parcel out with what’s there, first just as a rough sketch. ultimately measure dimensions and elevation changes to get a scaled map with an idea of how water flows. Then you can dig some test holes to understand your soil and geology. You can learn a lot about what has happened on your land just by looking at soil strata and deducing when and where water has flowed in the past and what subterranean paths it wants to follow now.

Hi Alberto... Are you still around? We're located 2 hours out of Bogotá, in La Mesa, Cundinamarca. If you like to talk PM me!