This week I facilitated an awesome permagardening workshop with the women enrolled in my NGOs economic empowerment project. The goal of the training was to provide practical experience for the women so that they can each start their own backyard gardens to supplement their income. We planted carrots, beets, onions, rape (its like spinach), and swiss chard.
“What is permagardening?” you might ask. Well, it is a combination of permaculture and bio-intensive ….. Basically you control for water better with trenches around the plots, plant more seeds using a hexagonal patter as opposed to rows, and dig twice as deep so that the roots go down further instead of out (thus being less competitive for nutrients).
Honestly, I was actually nervous about this training because I have very little experience with gardening, but thanks to the support of my coworker and a couple volunteers (thanks Rose and Nate!), the training was really successful. Near the end of the practical, a bunch of standard 1 students (equivalent of our first grade) came to watch and we had the women explain everything that they had learned and practiced during the day. The kids even helped us water the plots!
All in all a very successful event!
