Our World in Food

Mata Atlantica, Atlantic Rainforest

Agroforestry is a type of agriculture that I am starting to see a lot more of on this trip. It is the combination of trees and shrubs with agriculture to create self-sustaining, productive systems.

Conventional agriculture is characterized by monoculture, mechanization and agrochemicals. Trees are almost always eliminated in order to maximize production of a certain product; as a result, agriculture is the main cause of deforestation. From the moment a forest is destroyed the soil suffers, leading to further deforestation in search of fertile soil. Furthermore, outside resources and energy are required to remove pests, weeds to fertilize and to harvest.

In forest systems biodiversity exists. There are tall trees, shorter trees, shrubs and the soil is always covered in organic matter such as fallen leaves and wood. Interrelationships are observed among plant and animal species and the ecosystem functions on its own. The idea behind agroforestry is to build a productive agricultural system that mimics a forest. It is a type of reforestation that will allow the farmer to harvest from the forest, and if planned out well can allow the farmer to harvest immediately and consecutively every month for decades.

An agroforest will vary depending on the biome it is located in. It is important to observe primary and secondary forests in the surrounding area to see what species to plant. Eridani at Sitio Baru was just starting to plan and plant agroforests, while Murielle at Sitio Galeria had already managed to reforest her land. Murielle harvests various fruits, nuts and tubers including mandioca, citrus, berries and baru nuts. Eridani has planted an agroforest where he has already harvested beans and tomatoes but will have to wait several months and even years to harvest some fruits and nuts like pineapples, bananas and jabuticaba berries.

An example of a baby agroforest. The soil is cleared, compost is added and several different species are planted. Some survive some don't. It is important to have nitrogen fixers others, flowers and native species as well as plants to harvest from.

Both Murielle and Eridani bought land that used to be used to raise cattle. In Brazil this generally means that nearly all large trees are cut for lumber and the rest is burned to clear the land for pasture. Without the shade of trees grass thrives, allowing cattle ranchers to let their cows roam freely. The soil erodes little by little and loses nutrients. Murielle and Eridani both had to clear patches of grass, mix in large amounts of compost and plant several species of plants. Not all plants survived, but they both found that native plant species did best. Go figure. After planting, neither one of them had to spray pesticides because there was so much biodiversity that pests were deterred. They always keep the soil covered with plenty of organic matter to prevent weeds, to maintain soil moisture and to fertilize the soil.

When Murielle and Eridani bought their land this is what it looked like!

When raising animals, agroforests are most useful as windbreaks and riparian buffers. Despite the fact that cattle ranching can be destructive to the environment, there are agroforestry models that include cows, they are called silvopasture. There are models with pigs as well, as forests are their natural habitat. Chickens are difficult though, as it is in their nature to uncover the ground in search of food, leaving the soil bare, though they would do fine in larger, older agroforests.

In the end, agroforestry is an intelligent type of agriculture that reforests, restores soils, allows farmers to produce a variety of products, is self-sustaining, and requires little maintenance and energy use.

La dueña de Sitio Galeria es una chef francesa, ella esta reflorestando su terreno con plantas nativas para recuperar la salud de la tierra.

Named after the type of forest that grows alongside a creek or river bed, Sitio Galeria is located about 12 km from the town of Pirenópolis, Goais. It is my 8^th WWOOF farm and the first time that I stay on a farm run by a single mom (her two kids are 12 and 10 years old)! Her name is Murielle and she moved to Brazil from France many years ago. She speaks perfect Portuguese like a Brazilian, it’s remarkable, and her two kids speak perfect French and Portuguese too. I came to stay here because I found it very interesting that Murielle is a member of Slow Food and runs a restaurant on her farm.

Slow Food, a movement founded in 1986, stands for food that is good, clean and fair. Good refers to food that is flavorful, healthy and culturally appropriate. Clean means that the food was produced, prepared and consumed without harming the environment (that includes humans!). And lastly, the price and access to this food should be fair and equitable. Slow food calls for people to take more time and care in the preparation and consumption of their food. Now there are 153 member countries and thousands of producers, chefs and advocates who plan projects and events for Slow Food. The founder, Carlo Petrini, wrote a book that I read in college called Slow Food Nation: Why our Food Should be Good, Clean and Fair. A great read if you are looking for a good book!

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Murielle is a member of Slow Food. She bought her 5 acres of land 10 years ago and for years had to battle to restore the soil to be able to grow anything. The land was used to raise cattle, meaning everything was cut and burned, leaving just pasture. Murielle has been able to reforest the area, mostly with native plants, restore the soil in order to cultivate minimally, and run a small chalet and restaurant on the property. Over the past few days she has been telling me stories of her struggles. She had to work through droughts and floods, out in the middle of nowhere and on top of that she had to deal with prejudice. Because she is gringa, not native to Brazil, and a woman, many Brazilians would not help her. Nevertheless, Murielle persevered. She is what my mother would call a power woman!

El mini restaurante de Murielle, donde ella antes cocinaba con ingredientes de la huerta.

Unfortunately, the restaurant has not been running for quite some time, but just from our day-to-day cooking I’ve been learning how Murielle combines her French cooking techniques with Brazilian ingredients to create delicious meals! She even taught me the secret to bread making! The secret is that there is no secret! She believes that pastry cooks, either because of superstition or secrecy, have overly complicated recipes. Essentially all you need to make good bread are quality ingredients, hot water and the proper mixing and kneading techniques.

Una de mis primeros almuerzo en Sitio Galeria: lentejas, arroz integral, zuchinni y zanahoria. Murielle es practicamente vegetariana. Solo come carne cuando sabe que se crió de una forma sostentable y respetuosa.

Una tarta de limón que preparé para Murielle, ella produce varios citricos.

Out on the farm I’ve mostly been pulling grass. Such a pain! Murielle’s been doing this for years though. She pulls grass in an area then plants native plants, fruit trees etc… Grass doesn’t grow in the shade of the trees that grow, the leaves that fall from the trees increase the organic matter in the soil, and thus the land is restored. Also, because Murielle does not have any dogs, she gets visits from tons of wild animals, her least favorite of which are monkeys! They like to climb on her roof, pull off the ceramic roof tiles and watch as they break into a thousand pieces on the ground. Still, my least favorite wild animals are bats. They sneakily swoop in at night and poop all over everything! Thankfully, neither bats nor monkeys are much of a problem anymore at Sitio Galeria, now it’s just grass we have to worry about!

Eridani's front garden was planned using permaculture design. It is my favorite area on the farm. This pond maintains moisture in the air and attracts birds who feed on pests in the garden. The banana trees growing in a pit behind the pond purify our kitchen and bathroom sink water.

I used to think that permaculture was a type of agriculture, like biodynamic, organic or conventional agriculture, but I was wrong. Agriculture is only one facet of permaculture. Permaculture is a design strategy used to create sustainable communities by studying ecology and mirroring natural systems. Permaculure is used to design buildings, water sanitation systems, waste treatment facilities, agricultural areas, community spaces and ultimately entire villages.

It is difficult to summarize permaculture, but I will try to at least present the guiding ethics, basic principles, and a few rules of design that I read in Permacultura Passo a Passo by Rosemary Morrow. I think that permaculture is an interesting tool that should be used to help create more sustainable societies.

Guiding Ethics of Permaculture

• Care for the earth, care for people, care for all living things
• Reduction of consumption
• Distribution of production

Principles of Permaculture Design

• Search for solutions, not problems
• Cooperation rather than competition
• Work only when and where it’s worth it
• Start small and progress slowly
• Think in the long term, design a system that is self-sustaining
• Think locally, in terms of knowledge, materials, resources and species
• Before commencing a project observe and carefully study the environment
• Become familiar with and respect traditional techniques
• Be aware that the impacts of new technologies, systems, and interrelationships will be more complex than predicted

These principles apply to everything from building a house to planting a garden. While bioconstruction is very interesting and important, agriculture interests me more, so I will focus on that aspect of permaculture.

A bee enjoys one of many flowers in the garden at Sitio Baru. The house at Sitio Baru is an example of bioconstruction under permaculture design. The materials are almost entirely local: adobe, rocks and wood.

I watched two Brazilian videos showcasing farmers practicing permaculture on their land. One was called Nesse Chão Tudo Da, and the other Policultura na Bahia no Semi-Arido. Some of the farmers were subsistence farmers trying to provide for their families, while others exported their products. They all described what they were doing in this way:

“Through permaculture we are growing ecosystems, not individual crops”

“We encourage diversity through policulture and plant many native species”

“We are restoring soils. Each year our land becomes more fertile as moisture and organic matter increase in the soil”

Here at Sitio Baru, Eridani is organizing his 4 hectares of land based on permaculture design. That means that after studying the land, climate, native species, ecosystems and water he has divided the land into 6 zones. From zone 0, the house, to zone V, a natural reserve that is kept largely untouched. In zone III Eridani is planting agroforests. Agroforestry is fascinating to me; I’ll dedicate a post just to explain this better.

Every time Eridani plants, he follows these Rules of Agriculture under Permaculture:

• Mulching: the number one rule. A thick mat of organic matter (branches, grass, dry leaves etc…) is spread over the soil to maintain moisture and reduce weeds
• Green compost: a cover crop that is grown to be cut and left on the soil to increase organic matter, nitrogen fixers are great for this
• Curvy and circular garden beds and paths  following topography to prevent erosion
• Diversity and rotation of species cultivated
  

  One small garden bed in zone I at Sitio Baru. Eridani has planted: aςai, lemon, papaya, pineapple, lemongrass, guandu (a nitrogen fixer), jabuticaba berry, flowers and aloe. Now that’s biodiversity!

During this trip on other farms, I’ve heard people scoff about permaculture. Some say that it does not produce enough, others say that is it a lazy type of agriculture where the farmers don’t work. And yet others claim that permaculture is not accessible to most farmers because courses are too expensive.

I understand where this criticism comes from. Permaculture farms do not produce as much of one product as conventional or even organic farms do; instead, they produce many different products. And it’s true, we don’t go out in to the garden to work every day here at Eridani’s farm, we leave things be most of the time. But really, is a little more free time so bad? While working on traditional organic gardens where rows and rows of single crops were planted on exposed earth, I had to pull weeds for hours every day, and we had serious pest problems. If we save energy and restore soils by planting a diversity of species and by covering the ground with organic matter to protect the soil from pests, weeds, sun, wind and water erosion, then I think these permaculturists are really on to something!

In terms of the expensive courses, it’s true, permaculture courses are expensive. But Eridani argues that they should be; the professors have been studying permaculture for years, and their knowledge should be valued. Permaculture is a way of thinking, something that takes time and experience to master. I would argue that I am learning about permaculture from books, by observation, volunteering and simply through conversation. There is no cheaper education than that!

Eridani has not been farming here for very long, and he will have to wait to harvest many of the crops he has planted (especially fruit trees). But he has organized the land in a way to be able to harvest at least a little all the time. He is reusing household water in the garden and he has already improved the fertility of the soil on his property. His garden is always full of bees, butterflies, birds and lizards. And his 4 hectares are a pleasure to live in; it is much greener and more humid than in the surrounding hot, dry cerrado.

This Friday I am going to visit one of the first permaculture institutes built in Brazil. It is right here in Pirenópolis and serves as a resource center for Permaculture design. It is called Ecocentro IPEC, Instituto de Permacultura e Ecovilas do Cerrado, The Institute for Permaculture and Ecovillages of the Cerrado. At IPEC there is a biodigester, composting toilets, water catchment tanks, a worm garden, agroforests and everything was built with natural materials. They offer (expensive) permaculture courses but I will be going on a two hour tour with a group of international students.

Yesterday I visited another WWOOF farm that practices permaculture here in Pirenópolis and by the end of the week I am going to be WWOOFing on yet another farm. I hope that by the time I leave Pirenópolis I will have a good grasp of permaculture design, and I hope that this post served as a basic introduction.