Over the last few years of studying, designing and installing syntropic agroforestry systems, I have picked up a few small tips and tricks. Some of these are very practical and specific to species or management, others are based around the design concepts and principles. Regardless, I hope they provide some insights so that your work might move forward in succession.
Scott Gallant, one of the co-founders of Porvenir Design, will be collaborating with Javan Bernakevitch of Regenerative Living Online in the creation of a Syntropic Farming Primer Course.
I’m not interested in defending permaculture, nor defining it; not in an encompassing way at least. It is certainly not a silver bullet and it certainly has its flaws. It will not save the world.
What I am sharing here is why I believe permaculture and specifically permaculture education is useful in this complicated world. I am writing this article to move you closer to action, to change, to crossing some threshold where you trust your hands and their impact.
En Porvenir Design estamos comprometidos a apoyar a la comunidad de permacultura costarricense, y como parte de esta iniciativa, queremos ofrecer un premio de $1000 con junto con AVER y tres premios de $500 (USD) cada uno para proyectos activos de permacultura ubicados en Costa Rica.
As we look to find niches and stack functions in our tropical permaculture homesteads, one often overlooked group of plants include the edible flowers. With a focus on Costa Rica, this blog, authored primarily by Katie Browning, a certified herbalist, explores the many common and uncommon edible flowers available to us in the tropics. Most of these plants fit comfortably within the principles of permaculture and they can be described by the following set of patterns:
This article is about Holistic Management and decision making as a tool and how we use it in our business, Porvenir Design.
“Hi, I found your website researching vanilla. I want to know if you think my property would be good for growing vanilla to sell. I don’t need to get rich, I just need for it to cover the property expenses. I’m located near Quepos. Please let me know if you can help me set up my vanilla farm? Thank you!”
What to make of a client inquiry such as this? In some ways it is quite a simple question: can we help them set up this farm enterprise? There is a problem, though.
As usual our calendar is filling up! We have been running around the country with work, making mistakes, getting some things right, and learning and learning and learning. We been in Pavonnes, Parrita, Nosara, Santa Teresa, Turriabla, La Fortuna, Mastatal, Monteverde, Upala, and more for all sorts of projects big and small. Below is a peak at our main work over the last few months.
There’s nothing like the smell and flavor of real corn, baked into cornbread or roasted on a skillet as a tortilla. Corn has been grown and eaten in these ways for thousands of years throughout the Americas. Unfortunately, in many areas, genetically modified, chemical-dependent corn monocultures have given this plant a dicey reputation. But older corn varieties, grown organically on small farms and cooked using traditional methods, are a beautiful expression of corn’s real and wonderful legacy in the human diet.
Mentorship may be one of the biggest opportunities for growth in our fledgling permaculture movement. There is interest in professional careers as permaculture designers, but the field lacks quality mentoring opportunities. By these I mean mentoring in a specific field, by a professional who has years of experience, with the goal of developing a specific skill set and livelihood.
