Apologies for the delay guys. We could blame it on the cholera and hurricane but really we’ve just been getting lost in building delicious soil on the hospitable bochara we live on and building our nursery!

So we’ll try and fill you in on what happened during the Seedball gathering back in November. The event coincided with the switch over of long term volunteers Jack and Hannah with Tom and Helen just as the madness began! Just in time for the event we also moved onto our land which involved lots of amazing helpful volunteers teaming together to set up a main tent, toilets and showers in just a few very busy days!

People travelled from all over Haiti and the world to live and learn together and share their knowledge and skills with one another. One of the highlights of the event was the Permaculture workshop given by Steve Whitman. After introducing the basic concepts of Permaculture and how it came about everyone split into smaller groups to focus on creating a base map of SFH and working on a possible design. The resulting designs were imaginative and practical and have already inspired how we are planning the future of the land.

There was also a day of sharing skills during the event. There were workshops throughout the day including the ancient secret of Humus Vivus; a compost technique designed for poor, arid land, the philosophy of Deep Ecology and recycled plastic mats and rope. During the event everybody also helped to prepare, make and throw seedballs on our land which we will hopefully start to see emerging in the next rainy season in May.

The end of the event was slightly anti-climatic as plans were abandoned in favour of seeking dry safe shelter as Hurricane Tomas approached! Although the hurricane was simply strong winds and a lot of rain by the time it hit us we all camped together in the school next to our land until the rain passed. Popcorn, movies and guitar-led sing-alongs kept spirits up!

A big thanks to everybody who came to be with us for the event and shared in whatever way they could.

If you want to try out seedballs for your land this is our recipe:

1 part seeds to 30 parts clay/compost mix and Coconut Fibre (or another fibre available in your area)

We collected a mixture of seeds from trees in our local area and mixed them 1:30 with red clay and compost. The compost provides nutrients to the seedling when it begins to grow. We then mixed in coconut fibres to help the mixture to bind and added water. We added water slowly whilst stirring until we had the consistency of playdough. Once we had that we rolled the mixture in small balls about 5 centimeters in diameter and laid them out to dry in the sun. In our climate the seedballs only took 1 or 2 days to dry. When finished, the seedballs should be able to be thrown without breaking upon hitting the ground. When enough rain falls the seeds within germinate and attempt to take root. The best time to throw seedballs is before a rainy season, however if you throw them in a dry season they will simply lie dormant their until enough rain falls. This method is particularly useful if you’re working on heavily degraded land such as we are!

Written by Tom and Helen