Wild Tobago

Conserving living soil is not new; sustainable agriculture depended on knowledge of soil for centuries. Simple guidelines for retaining and replenishing the life of soil are provided by John Stollmeyer and Erle Rahaman-Noronha who founded Caribbean Permaculture Consultants. Pat Ganase reports.     Healthy soil is the essential foundation on which to grow healthy foods. The practice of permaculture helps us to build soil on degraded lands so that farming takes place in a continuous loop in which soil is replenished naturally. It is possible to produce food without destroying other ecosystems. Permaculture processes aim to rehabilitate soil, trap water and grow food on small-scale intensive systems which are labour efficient and which use biological resources instead of fossil fuels. Permaculture is based on design: perfect for home gardens in which you consider topography, how water flows and what is already growing there. Remember, in a forest, there is no waste, everyth...

Home may be a box cottage or a mansion on a hill; make the most of it by integrating with the outside, sky, sea, wind and trees. An approach and philosophy called permaculture assures every householder and land-owner a nurturing and sustainable environment around “home.”  P at Ganase talks with Erle Rahaman-Noronha in Tobago Newsday, February 8, 2017 To Erle Rahaman-Noronha, the design principles of permaculture are home grown – on his own farm – and to be shared. In Barbados, Mustique, Grenada and Dominica, permaculture is reshaping citizens and landscapes. A permaculture approach takes care of water and soil resources, and builds resilience in the face of extreme events (storms, flooding) and climate change. We take a walk through the permaculture principles that Noronha lives. Erle Rahaman-Noronha of Caribbean Permaculture Consultants. Photo by Anjani Ganase Noronha’s home is Wa Samaki (Swahili, about fish) – so named because his first business (1997) was breedi...