noelrodriguese Hatfield

Correct Bumbu Regina, it seems that way that 'permaculture in action' seems to be experienced in the course offered. Personally speaking for myself, it is so not very often that to have come across a farm that has principals of permaculture in action AND at the same time producing quantities of food in decent practical amounts. I myself having voluntered at many farms/facilities in Asia have come across only one place on Borneo where the owner was (and still is, so I have been hearing) walking the talk so to speak. His farm despite having poor soil was able to produce more than enough to feed everyone concerned. Back then he still had about half of the land undeveloped but see lately on his website photo's that it all has been cleared and already producing. Strangely enough when I first met him he was already practising permaculture despite never having even heard of the word!

So, i guess that it would be fantastic if you could get a project going to demonstrate on site, permaculture in action. And if PDC's are held there too even better. It would give everyone attending the course a good and practical idea of the various stages of development, maybe even demonstrating what worked and what didn't work plus more importantly what went wrong. It will also be important to show what is possible with the number of hands at work on the property. Students will be able to gauge for themself's the possibilities when they put in practice what the have learnt and what they saw for themself's at the permaculture demo site or working farm. Let's be honest, being at a PDC gets you excited and motivated. The real work begins when you are alone on your own plot of land not looking forward to the amount of work ahead.

I will have a look at the link you gave but do you happen to have another link to what you are doing? It seems I need to register first.

But yes, would be interested to join up to get something going. And maybe even hook up with that farm in Borneo. Might learn a lot and more importantly hear from his mistakes. He did say once to me that if he was told what he was doing right and wrong he would have not wasted 50% of his time. But it is statements like that we should value more so when they are teaching and showing you from their own experience, experience which is so much more valueble than attending as a course.

Hi Bumbu Regina,

I too have been looking out for Permaculture projects in South East Asia. Unfortunately most if not all I find is more involved in pushing PDC's rather than showing what their farms actually produce in terms of crops and such. Plus there is so little in sharing experiments, successful or otherwise related to farming.

Send me more information on your project in Bali. Might never know, take up the travelling bug again and help out. Almost 2 years since I volunteered in Borneo.

When I wwoof'ed on this farm in Kuching on Malaysian Borneo, the soil was basically about 4 inches of 'good stuff' and the rest was barren, a combination of white clay and sand. The farmer still had good trees that bore many varieties of tropical fruits and had a fantastic range of native vegetables.

I was curious because working on the newer area of the farm I encountered just clay/sand. The owner said he buried charcoal (which he used mostly from the fire pit) and bones from whatever lifestock that was processed for food or what ever died, from chickens, ducks to goats and even some farm dogs. He also had huge bins for vermicomposting but this was used for composting but he wanted to use the earthworms to release in the gardens. His logic was that earthworms burrow creating tunnels in the soil bringing in air and natural fertiliser aka earthworm poop.

But he said that all this was not enough and the biggest contributor to a healthy garden was compost which came from the leaves and whatever organic matter. He had planted grass to 'hold the earth together' to avoid soil washing away and to keep the soil cool and moist. The grass was never left to grow more than an estimated 4-5 inches and the cuttings were left on the ground serving as mulch. During the dry hot season the grass was left to grow taller up to 8-10 inches because the longer the cooler it was for the ground and moisture was kept in. During the rainy season the grass was left to grow long too.

I do not know if you can use these ideas for your seaside place but one way also to adopt his method is to use raised beds. In this case he used tyres which he picked up from the dump and filled with planting medium which was a mixture of soil, organic matter, mulch, raw dung which is left to sit for a few weeks before being used as a planting medium. It is a succesful plan because all our vegetables came from the garden.

Good luck!

pzokes wrote:
Would you tell me if I'm eligible for wwoof?  I have hesitated joining, thinking that it might be another computer scam, with just some outdated listings.  I'm thinking of taking an early retirement at 62.  I was a member of MOFGA for years, before spending the last 15 years on the road supervising the construction of hospitals, hotels, and jails.

I don't see any reason why anyone with your age and extensive experience should not be able to wwoof? Going wwoof'ing does not all the time mean hard manual work. It can also include a lot of other things from seed sowing, vegetable transplanting, grafting, fertilising and so forth. With your case there is always many thing that need fixing around a farm from sticky doors, loose planks, extra shelves in the work shed or even building simple sheds. Always lots to do!

I encourage you to become a wwoof'er and put the word out that you have all that experience to share with us.

Happy wwoof'ing!

paul wheaton wrote:
The wwoof stuff is not only legit, but it strikes me as bizarre that there is an abundance of wwoofers and a shortage of farms!

Your comment is something interesting to a conversation i had when wwoofing in kuching, sarawak on malaysian side of borneo with the owner/farmer of the place i was with.

On average he said there were an average of 3-6 enquiries a month. Most had long and detailed personal information as in their resumes. Many had questions in relation mostly to accomodation and the type of food that was served. Most also asked about working hours. Some had the oddest questions as far as asking if the toilet was 'modern', off because this was asked even though he gave them his website as a kink for them to see themself's.

Of these enquiries he has only got a total of a dozen wwoof'ers and of these there were also 'horror' stories one of which i was a witness of. The majority fall silent after the first email and some even confirm and give flight details weeks ahead and then they are a no show when he waits at the airport.

There are the wwoof'ers who work very hard and there is still one on his property for 2 months now and will be there until november. This wwoof'er also mentioned of the 'quality' of wwoof'ers that he has seen pass through the farm. There are those who wake up way pass the hour and only put in a very few hours. There are those who seem very spoilt even just standing around waiting for the meal to be served not lifting a finger even if it is laying the table or helping to clear later after meals. He laughed when telling me where some wwoof'er found it difficult to even help hold the wheel barrow while goat droppings were loaded to fertilise the garden. Let's not mention he said of a couple whose wife held on to the nail cup while her husband nailed the wire fence for the garden. This went on for 3 days! You do not need help to have someone hold the nail cup for you!

I think many wwoof'ers think think that wwoof'ing is perhaps a romantic notion but many come from backgrounds that do not mean they have come from an enviroment that suits them to a farm where manual labour is the norm and long hours is the usual not to forget farms in the tropics have a climate that might be too much for them.

The owner/farmer was asked how was he going to tackle wwoof'ers and these problems from no shows and 'softies' as he put it from then on? He said no one is perfect and he did not expect much from wwoof'ers in term of the quality of their contributions as they all come from different backgrounds and upbringings. His door is open to anyone who is respectful but beware. He tells all new incoming wwoof'ers that they are welcomed for as long as they don't see him digging a hole big enough to bury them, which had me a good laugh!

Interestingly enough the long term wwoof'er i was mentioning about was given a weekly allowance. Bit surprising but the owner/farmer said the bloke deserved it as he put in as many hours and worked as hard as anyone on the farm.

paul wheaton wrote:
My impressions is (and folks, please correct me if I'm wrong):

For wwoofers:  they expect the place to be PURELY and PASSIONATELY organic.  They will stay for a few days or maybe a few months.  The better the digs, the longer they want to stay.  More wwoofers there usually leads to longer stays.  Way, way, way out in the sticks is usually more fun than being really close to town.

For interns:  If you have a super permaculture situation, they might pay you to be there.  If you have a wimpy situation (just getting started, or not too many other interns) you might need to have a stipend.  The norm for most organic farms is 35 hours per week and in return you provide room, board and a $30 per week stipend.

I think that if you are getting more than 90% of your food from your land, you are doing better than most farms!  I think there will be lots of interns/woofers that would REALLY enjoy some time in a place that is REALLY living off the land.  Most places get less than 10% of the food they eat from their own land.

Totally agree with you on this...

Brian, yes they love their goats but they had cut down their number drastically to only 40+ as their other farm animals were doing well and numbers increasing. Accordingly they are also an organic farm and hence since going slowly into permaculture i suppose there are limitations in numbers = practicality = setup.

The good thing is they share whatever knowledge they have on their goats and everything else, information that is sorely lacking in their end of the woods for farmers even on their goverment agriculture linked websites.

Hope you realise your dream in Borneo, Cheers, Noel

I have enjoyed almost every moment of WWOOF'ing. Naturally there are some unpleasant experience that better be forgotten but these are a result of myself not finding out more about the farm before appearing at their doorstep.

WWOOF'ing does not only open yourself to other culture's but is really satisfying. If you are open to sweating hard from hard labour from time to time or willing to learn by helping build (and clear) an organic toilet then this might be for you. There are many fond memories gathered and more importanty good friends made.

I returned from Sarawak (Malaysia Borneo) a few months back and had 'introduced' WWOOF'ing to an expat there who has an organic farm which is also his home. From what i can tell he had begun to use principals in permaculture on the property which is actually very pretty. He had not even heard of permaculture before i visited him and he seems to have a pretty good idea of the concept. Perhaps you can contact him and see what you can work out just in case you decide to visit that area. His email is thekebun@yahoo.com and he does have a blog of which i have forgotten the address. Sorry! p/s the name of his farm is 'The Kebun'