Recently Eco Venao has undertaken an ambitious “Permaculture” initiative. Permaculture is a complimentary design centred on simulating natural ecosystems. The project began in 2015 and lots of work has been done to produce organic food, transform and recycle any usable waste resources into productive organic material, increase consciousness among the community and demonstrate ways to lead a more sustainable life.
If you are interested in getting to know more about our innovative Permaculture project, we have Permaculture Tours every Saturday at 9 a.m. in Eco Venao. During the two-hour tour, we walk you through our farm and show you the project while discussing the philosophy and principles of permaculture that we have adopted. One of the main objectives of this tour is to demonstrate alternative techniques to conventional agriculture, which make it possible to produce food in a sustainable way. Amongst other things, you will learn how we take care of all our fruits and plants without the use of fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides. We also demonstrate how our sustainable irrigation system works.
We have been able to transform rubbish into organic compost, to grow vegetables and fruits such as; moringa, sweet potatoes, sorrel and papayas. These plants do well in this part of Azuero where the land is not particularly fertile. By using our own organic compost along with the “Permaculture” model we have managed to convert arid soil into fruitful land after only two years of hard work.
Since starting our permaculture initiative, Eco Venao has received more than 35 interns from all over the world through our volunteer program. We have planted over 3,000 fruit trees, dug more than 300m of swails (trenches) to control erosion and efficiently irrigate the land, created three ponds to provide microclimates at the farm and enhance biodiversity; produced around 70 cubic meters of organic compost and removed one hectare of an invasive grass species.
We feel very proud about our Permaculture project and look forward to keep growing and maintaining the farm with the support of the local community and international volunteers. As we get deeper into the concept of Permaculture we have discovered many more ways for its application – more synergies, more solutions, more interactions and definitely more hope.
Join us for a Permaculture Tour during your next stay with us at Eco Venao!