Designs

Here are reasonably high-resolution scans of the designs we've completed to date.

Overall Site Zone Analysis, placing the things that need to be visited the oftenest the closest to activity centres.


Design for our initial mandala vegetable garden (which has been implemented and is in production). From above...


And from the side...


Design for 'Freedom Park' - the current washing line area in the middle of the home. The first design is for 2009 and the second is for 2039 when the fruit trees are mature. So far we have put in a small swale, planted most of the fruit trees and put in a temporary shadehouse structure. For the boundary we sourced some Kenyan Guavas that grow tall but only 4 feet wide!



Design for the driveway orchard we created by moving the giant football field 17 metres west. Again the first design is for 2009 and the second for 2039 when the mainframe trees are up to size. So far the swales are in and fully planted out and all the fruit trees are in and protected.




Design for the large area west of the old cow shed.



Big thanks to Amanda for her amazing skills both on the design front and in making them look so beautiful!

Notes from Namibia...

After three wonderful months at Sabina, ‘Auntie Amanda’ as I have become known by the students and staff at Sabina, is now in Namibia and missing the children and project terribly. A huge thank you to everyone who made my time at Sabina so very special and big gratitude especially to the amazing Auntie Jan Smart for her continued and generous support.
The permaculture team experienced a set-back a month ago when our project laptop and cameras (with all of our images) were stolen. That said, (‘Uncles’) Dan and Mike have done a wonderful job updating all that’s taken place over the last little while.
I wanted to add some documentation of a community outreach project that took place in Kibale, deep in the West, for a group living with or affected by HIV/Aids. The workshop, facilitated by local NGO, Network for Holistic Community Development, included a presentation by our wonderful Peacecorps volunteer Sarah on mother-to-child transmission of HIV, a discussion on nutrition by NEFCHOD director John Robert and a hands-on demonstration of sack-garden building by Amanda and Dan. The success of the day was just another example of how permaculture practices are being eagerly embraced across Uganda. Here’s an image of the cabbages going in…

And here's a gorgeous shot of the most talented drummer, and diligent planter, Victor (P6) with one of his first flowering marigolds in the garden…


Aaah! Students welcome relief from the equatorial sun when eating lunch or doing their laundry. This is the well-used shade structure that’s been erected in freedom park, complete with its own small garden to utilize grey water…


Our paw-paws don't grow poorly! Here's Angel with one of the trees in the paw-paw circle adjacent to the mandala vegie garden...


And just to reiterate how phenomenal the young Kayanga Andrews is… here are some more words from a card that he presented upon my leaving.

Thank you for having me and thank you to Mike, Kim and Clive who will continue work on the project for the next year - the seed of something truly wonderful has germinated here at Sabina, and I so look forward to watching it grow from strength to strength.

In his own words: Kayanga Andrew - Our Agricultural Whiz Kid

My name is Kayanga Andrew. I am ten years old. I study from Sabina. My best subject is maths and English. I like working in permaculture. I have many gardens and watermelons, sugar canes and many others. If they grow, I will send you some. The plants in the main garden are growing well. They have planted fruit trees, for example mangos. They have been planted by Uncle Dan and Uncle Mike. Permaculture will design Sabina Home and we will eat a balanced diet of fruits and vegetables. I send this to Aunty Amanda and Aunty Rowe. But we are missing Aunty Amanda. Aunty Jan, Joseph and Silas are missing you. We enjoyed the permaculture party, it was so marvellous. Sabina has many permaculture gardens made by the Aunties. They are interested in permaculture. The library has been designed and has many interesting books. I greet you in the name of Jesus Christ – goodbye.



Note - Kayanga leaves us in awe. Every day he comes up to me and says "Uncle Dan, one of the new oranges is flowering," or "someone removed one cucumber," "or let me transplant these cabbages, they are in the wrong place." Then last week we asked if he would be comfortable managing other children in the garden he nodded. When we visited the garden a few hours later he had about eight boys and an older girl working hard and in three hours they had planned, dug, fully planted, mulched and watered a large extension to our vegetable garden. This boy is truly amazing - thank you Kayanga!

Veggie Garden / Forest!

Aunties' Garden

We were overjoyed when, after watching us circumspectfully from a comfortable distance for the first three months, the 'aunties' or house mothers approached us and asked if they could make their own vegetable garden in the central turning circle of the main entrance area. We said yes please and have done nothing - they have marked it out, dug it, and are about to plant it all on their own initiative. And they are planning more! What's more, shortly we'll add pix of Uncle Jospeh's wife's garden (Aunty Mirembe) - she has also decided to copy what we've done at her own home. This stuff is slowly starting to spread out across Uganda!

Earthworks

So here are some recent pictures of what's been happening on the water-harvesting earthworks front over the last month...

Marking out swales using an A-frame and Bunyip level...


Our hired boys digging (we're developing a great working relationship with them and they do an excellent job)...


Here they are, looking like rap stars ;-)...


Here is the freshly-dug top driveway orchard swale (the driveway orchard was created in the space gained by moving the football field 17 metres west)


and from another angle...


and the one below it, which is now full-sized, planted out with fruit trees (jackfruit and mangos), maize, beans, sweet potato, comfrey and hopefully tomorrow vetiver grass...


See later photos of them holding water here.

OutReach WorkShop

Last week Mike and Dan visited a rural site on the Eastern shores of the bay of Lake Victoria closest to Kampala, where we ran two days of workshops with a new woman's community gardening group. Here are some pictures:

Making compost was out main focus and it went great - the women really got it, and arrived in the morning carrying basins of animal manure on their heads...


Here Dan works with the women to help plan their planting and transplanting to ensure a continuous harvest for sale and to nourish their families...


Here's the group on Thursday. On Friday even more came along and they are just the most lovely amazing people ever!


Here they sang and danced for us to welcome and then to thank us for the workshop. It was just beautiful and everyone in the room was up and dancing...

Pump House gets a Trench Job

So when we arrived outside the pump house was a wet slippery big trench that all the children walked through every day to fetch water for drinking, washing and bathing...



So we got our friend Patrick to mix up some concrete and knock up a covered waterway that feeds into a little pond just uphill of our vegetable garden. Collecting water by dipping in a watering can is so easy some of the children water the vegetables just for fun!

Permaculture Sabina

A close up of Amanda's fine mural...

Uncle Richard

Uncle Richard is the truck driver at Sabina and a lovely character in the Sabina cast. He observes the permaculture activies between driving stints (his room looks out on the garden) loves his football and basketball, and in an upcoming entry you'll see him planting a mango tree. Go Uncle Richard.

Design Visit

Adam was recommended to us by Godfrey, the Rakai District Agricultural Officer. He has much expertise in local fruit trees so we were delighted when he visited us to give us feedback and advice on our orchard designs, here flanked by Dan and Mike...