Wa Samaki Ecosystems - Permaculture Trinidad

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Permaculture Design Courses 22June-1July 2012 and9-18 Nov 2012Sign up early.See 'workshops'The El Socorro Center for Wildlife Conservation moved to Wa Samaki in July 2011. Details under Wildlife

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Care for the Earth, care of People, care for Community....

Welcome to Permaculture in Trinidad. Wa Samaki Ecosystems, created in 1997, offers a working example of a Permaculture operation producing cut flowers for the local market, organic food for our household consumption, wildlife conservation, watershed rehabilitation, Permaculture Design Courses, workshops and volunteer and internship opportunities.

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Follow us on Facebook at our fan page Permaculture Trinidad - Wa Samaki Ecosystems -click here

Page 1 What is Permaculture?Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is a term created by Australian Bill Mollison to describe a land use system that is modeled after natural eco-systems. Mollison defines Permaculture as 'the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems that have the diversity, stability and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, shelter, energy and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way'.The Permaculture philosophy is one of working with rather than against nature, of looking at systems in all their functions rather than asking only one yield of them, and allowing systems to demonstrate their own evolutions. Permaculture is applicable in urban, suburban, and rural environments and offers a proactive approach to addressing the escalating environmental crisis.Permaculture design is a "whole systems" approach to land use planning based on the patterns of symbiotic relationships between land, water, wind, soil, animals, and people inherent in natural eco-systems.

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11. zone 4 - production orchard or forest

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Now and Then

History

The original layout of the farm in 1997 consisted of a large farmhouse surrounded by approximately 15 acres of citrus laid out in a 20ft square grid. The fields were maintained by brushcutting with a tractor and by applying weedicides and herbicides around the citrus trees. The other 18 acres consisted of bulldozed land that was being prepared to plant more citrus and a large flat area where a goat shed and hydroponics shed once stood and two other flat areas that were earmarked for sheds to mass produce chickens. Three streams run through the property that carry water during the rainy season (June to December) but quickly dry up during the dry season (January to May). Almost all the trees along the streams had been cut down to allow maximum sun exposure for the citrus. A few ponds had been excavated within the streams and one stream had been dammed to produce a large pond that was earmarked for irrigating the citrus. The topography of the farm is undulating with a ridge running through the centre of it in an east west direction. Bush fires on unused lands surrounding the farm are a constant threat throughout the dry season which requires the constant monitoring and clearing of firebreaks. Wildlife on the farm was minimal due to a loss of habitat and a manager that was an avid hunter.

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Page 3 ZonesA good permaculture design will organize its layout according to priorities. This is called zoning. It will also take into account any external forces that are affecting the site. This is called a sector analysis. At Wa Samaki Ecosystems we have been fortunate enought to have a site that allows us to demonstrate all the zones quite effectively. Take a virtual tour with us.......Zone 1 Intensive House Garden (light blue)This zone is closest to our house occupies about 1/3 of an acre. It is currently being used for producing vegetables for the home as well as for nursery propagation for the farm.Zone 2 Landscape garden/orchardThis zone includes ornamental plants as well as some fruit trees. Plants in this zone occupies about 1 acre and are focused on improving soil fertility. As such nitrogen fixing plants such as tamarind, flambouyant and glyceridia are grown. Zone 3 Production beds (green) organic vegetable beds (red) nursery (pink)This area occupies between 3 4 acres of land and is concentrated on flower production. The farm has close to 30 different varieties of heliconia, 8 varieties of ginger lillies and torch lilies as well as 4 varieties of ornamental bananas. This production sustains the cash flow on the farm. On a weekly basis over 1,000 blooms are sold on the local market. The production beds are integrated close to water sources (man made ponds) and are shaded by larger tree crops which produce shade and mimimizes the need for shade houses.Zone 4 - ForestryThis zone occupies about 15 acres and is comprised of a variety of lumber trees including, teak, cedar, poui, mahogany and fiddle wood. Systems put in place to manage our orestry include:Close spacing of trees encourage trees to grow straight, once the trees start touching each other they are thinned outTrees are pruned regularly to encourage them to grow straight and tallLitter from the trees are incorporated into the farm to make compost as well as for mulching to conserve waterFire trails are well maintainedWater is trapped using contour drains which encourage the water to percolate into the water table instead of running off the landZone 5 wild areaThis area occupies about 5 acres and indigenous trees and wildlife are encouraged to grow here. These areas are our reserves in case of any catasrophe. These areas help with biodiversity as well as with the rehabilitation of the watershed.

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overview of farm

seasonal rivers through farm

main travel route (red)

boundary-internal fire traces

zone 1 (light blue)

zone 2 (yellow)

zone 3 (green red pink)

zone 4 (white)

zone 5 (yellow)

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sea grape

timit and mauriche palm seed

diverse garden beds

nest created by a bat

jacfruits rolinias and others

marang or tarap

calabash

salak palm seed

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matissia

jacfruit

bilimbi

forest fungi - important recyclers

nymphia

mauciche palm seed

l'epinet spikes

wing bean

suriname cherry

sooknanan collection

tania

pimento peppers puerto rico

companion planting

bananas

diverse herb beds

Biodiversity
Wa Samaki Ecosystems is slowly collecting as many fruits trees and other flora that are disappearing within Trinidad. These are pictures of the fruit we have or the fruit that have provided seed for our plants in our nursery. We have a collection of over 20 varieties of rootcrops including dasheen (3 varieties) tannia (10 varieties) cassava (4 varieties) cush cush yam (4 varieties) african yam (3 varieties), eddoes and topi tambo . We are also in the process of expanding our collection of edible tropical greens including sweetleaf, suriname tania, chaya, moringa and ibica (edible hibiscus). Our fruit tree collection is growing as we collect more seeds and successfully germinate them. The birds are briniging in whatever seeds of wild trees they like, we just have to be observant enough to leave them alone and let them grow wherever they fall. Our new collection of ponds are giving us some great microclimates to work with and expand our biodiversity even further .

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Wildlife

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The El Socorro Center for the Wildlife Conservation (ESCWC) moved to Wa Samaki Ecosystems in July 2011. They will take in and rehabilitate all types of wildlife, releasing what can be released and retaining unreleasable animals to use for educational purposes here on the farm. for details, please viit their fan page on facebook or call them at 868 358 8534. Some of their wildlife has been released here on our farm. They are currently working with capuchin monkeys, ocelots, agouti, morocois (tortoises), macaws, parrots and a large assortment of reptiles. They are in the process of trying to replace many of their cages with much larger ones and are looking for donations of cage materials, roofing materials, volunteer welders or just general volunteers....please help.... At Wa Samaki, over 40 varieties of birds have been surveyed on the farm by the Forestry Department. Some of the birds, normally only observed in deep forest, are making Wa Samaki Ecosystems their new home. Other wildlife observed on the farm include otter, squirrel, manicou, pygmy manicou, caiman, iguana, matte, a variety of snakes, turtles, agouti and tatu

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email: wasamaki_tstt.net.tt Tel:(868)-673-4180 Corner of La Cuesa and Freeport Tods Rd, Freeport Trinidad

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