Permaculture

5eyesfarm is based on permaculture design. As part of the permaculture farm we include Natural farming and 100% organic processes. What we grow is varied, abundant and deliciously healthy.

Permaculture means setting things up to look after themselves, permanently! Here is the beginning of a forest garden set-up we started a few years ago. Can you see a forest here yet? Keep looking below 👇🏽

[2020]

After mapping out the ‘design’ of this area we start to develop it. The design includes water sources (irrigation), drainage, and some other permaculture principles like using edges effectively where mineral build up is strongest and a swale concept that catches water and directs it to trees.

As the set-up gets underway, the most important part is the soil itself. Did you know that balanced organic soil has the power to prevent harmful insect infestations, not to mention the power to bring life and growth to healthy plants?

The layout for this part of the forest garden is well underway, and the balance of water in and out helps regulate soil health in preparation for planting. Next we will plant support trees. These are fast-growing ‘umbrella’ trees that will produce fruit quickly and also provide shade for the permanent fruit trees we plant while they are saplings.

Support trees we have planted include papaya and banana as well as guava and lemon. There are a few permanent trees in already including jackfruit and avocado. As this forest garden develops it will have layers of root crops, ground cover plants, herbaceous plants, vine plants secondary and primary trees.

Flowers are added to attract pollinators, and one of the secrets to developing this kind of garden is to let nature take its course and to not interfere too much. Therefore, it looks a bit untamed, but this is purposeful, especially in the early stages.

After a couple of years there is real growth and the original design is disguised by the garden itself establishing in a bio diverse way with interactions between harmonising plants, endemics, and productive growing. There are many species of productive plant establishing and some larger permanent trees growing stronger.

We have a harvest every day now from a wide range of foods and fruits, medicinal plants and exotics like coffee, cacao and vanilla. The forest has developed so much that it is difficult to take pictures of it. The focus now is sharing sunlight by pruning and still not disturbing things too much. We do not dig (no till farming) and we only weed carefully so as not to disturb the microorganism life of the soil.

Some of the produce from this forest garden includes: varieties of pumpkin, varieties of banana, varieties of pineapple, varieties of ginger, jack fruit, long tong, lemon, papaya, cacao, coffee, vanilla, passion fruit, durian, soursop, long beans, avocado, and many more. The verticals design of a forest garden allows for abundant production and adds to what we produce from other areas of the farm.

Come and explore, discover, experience learning in Nature – between the trees

This forest garden is one small area and example of permaculture at 5EyesFarm-Lab. There is also our integration with raising animals, the aquaponics, the other gardens and the many fruit trees we grow around the farm to explore. If you want to know more, we invite you to book a stay, take a workshop or bring a group for a day tour of the farm.

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