Part 4b: Cultivating Community to Build Regenerative, Local Food Systems
Ok, But What Can I Do? Information and Inspiration towards Nature-Based Land Stewardship Perspectives and Practices
Anne: Next up, we’re going to hear from Carolina Putnam. Carolina, Can you tell us a bit about your work?
Carolina: Hi, I’m Carolina. I live in the Sacred Valley in Peru in a pueblo called “Huaran”. It is a rural farming community. I have a piece of property that is 1,130m^2, which is the normal size of a family small-holder farm here. We’re creating a botanical sanctuary. We’ve got a couple of elements that many people haven’t seen before -- we’re creating a constructed wetland to bring habitat to frogs there. There are a lot of mosquitos, so I’d like the frogs to eat the mosquitos. And I also just like to hang out with frogs. Ha ha. Originally we were planning to grow food, but I decided to plant perennials, and plant in a really well-designed and thought-out way, show the process of soil building, show the process of regenerative agriculture, and show a model to think outside the box of monoculture — that we can diversify our crops in many different ways. If and when this goes well, I’d like to extend the herbs growing on the land to be border plants for other properties that we’re in association with. Our soil is totally depleted -- it's like white rock. So it’s been really interesting for people to see our soil start to turn black in different areas. I have a lead Quechua herbalist who is my partner in this work -- and we’re about to be planting this week, so the ground is cleared and ready. I made a lot of rookie mistakes in the meantime.
The Sacred Valley, Peru
(image source: https://www.chamellephotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/peru-huaran.jpg)
Anne: Sounds like lots of fantastic challenges and opportunities for learning. How has your community dealt with the COVID-19 food system pressures?
Carolina: During quarantine, we started to form an organic farmers association. Our farm is a member of that organic farmer’s association. We’re creating a regenerative model to show diversity, and the transformation of plants into products, and really explore the market. Right now we’re working with around 40 farmers, 26 are at the top of our glacier. They’re primarily potato farmers and alpaca herders. Then down below, we have a more diverse ecosystem here that can grow fruit and vegetables — so a lot of these farmers are kind of making a shift over from monoculture corn and potatoes, to diverse vegetable and fruit varieties. Most of them are just testing the waters with us — so they’re only applying these models to 300m^2 or 500m^2 of their land, but we feel strongly that as soon as we can show it is possible and viable for their lives, they’ll probably put more of their properties into organic agriculture. Ideally, we want to help determine each person’s essence. So my essence is that I love medicine and herbs and hanging out and drinking tea — so that’s what our land is going to be about. We’re collaborating with an architect to support each farmer and bring out their essence. Maybe someone loves children, so we can build a playground there. I think that in this way we can really inspire each person to be proud of their sanctuary and also that inevitably, they’ll invite everyone to come and see it, and other people will be inspired to create their little piece of heaven.
At first, it was kind of “our project,” where the authority figures in this area came to my house and asked us to start this association and so we kind of did it in our own way. We were thinking about regenerative design and organizational structure, then as soon as we signed a document forming the association, we found out (the hard way) that they have their own governance model. So as soon as we formed a board of directors, they stepped into “association mode”, and there was an abrupt change. There was some conflict and misunderstanding around getting organic materials for the associated farms, and our making decisions without the board of directors are no longer valid. So we’re in a process right now of learning how to coordinate with each other and understand that we’ve got complementary gifts to bring to the table. So I have almost no autonomy in the association -- as they have a heavy trauma around foreigners, NGOs, and specialty projects. So they were very clear, “We don’t need you. We can cut you out at any time. But let’s collaborate.”
Anne: This is kind of like intervening in nature. We make this decision that we’re going to make our mark on the land, and we’re going to grow a garden, etc. And once we put our plans in place, it isn’t really up to us anymore. We can try to push it in a direction and make suggestions, but the outcome is really what the land decides.
What are your top considerations when making land management decisions?
Carolina: When making decisions I consider my herbalist, and a middle way — between Quechua environmental wisdom — traditional ecological knowledge, and knowledge that I’m learning through regenerative agriculture, biomimicry, and permaculture. I don’t necessarily only listen to a traditional person here because there’s a lot of wisdom that has been forgotten. But with indigenous wisdom, they know the time, the place, what kind of seed, what seed is better, how to save seeds here, and how to exchange it with your neighbor. They know exactly when the rain is coming. There’s lots of very localized knowledge.
A farm in the Sacred Valley, Peru
(Image source: https://adrift.ca/content/images/2016/11/sacredvalley---1.jpg)
With the association, we can make suggestions, like, “Hey, we should be planting soon — so we should think about soil health. Let’s go with a super-duper king bokashi instead of just compost because we can add all these micro- and macro-nutrients. We can get more done with less material.”
Anne: In biomimicry, we say that growth and development are integrated, and in a similar way you have 2 very separate cultural lifeways — the old wisdom, and the modern knowledge. By taking the 3rd (middle) way, you can incorporate both sides of this guidance into your work.
Are there other small projects that you’re working on that cultivate a collaborative community?
Carolina: We have an ecozoic toilet. It’s a closed system where air doesn’t get into the microbes — you put bokashi or IMOs into the hole after use, and it uses a solar panel to run a really small fan to push air out. The microbes end up digesting all the material and you end up with a microbe nutrient-rich liquid that goes into a holding tank, which can then be metered out and used on plants as a natural fertilizer. The reason I chose that model was because you don’t have to touch the waste. There’s no handling of anything at any point. I came to find out, my neighbors think it is a public bathroom. I’d like to be able to finish up that project and show it to the neighbors and maybe get more of these toilets installed. There’s a large project planned for putting a sewage plant here, right on the river. This is not good, first, because nothing works as it should 100% in Peru - so we know it’s going to get messed up. Secondly, that system doesn’t work well in other places, so it probably won’t work well here. So it would be cool to bring the idea of composting toilets to the council and say, “Hey, what if we invested in these instead?”
The Ecozoic Toilet Cycle - Turning Waste into Liquid Fertilizer
(image source: http://ecozoicresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/How_It_Works.jpg)
Anne: Humanure to the rescue! The great thing about this option is that you can take a toxic “waste” product and turn it into a value-added input for growing plants! Nature doesn’t make waste, only inputs for other systems. Are there other ways you’re composting?
Carolina: We just made 6 tons of 15-day bokashi. We had to hire some huge trucks and get on a lot of phone calls, to find that much material. Once the farmers saw what we did, they were upset that we made the bokashi, but then they were saying “That was a good idea”. Thanks, we thought so, too! Next time we’ll work to get our materials closer, but because of the COVID-19 quarantine, we had to work around the restrictions.
Conventional vs. Bokashi Composting
(image source: https://emrojapan.com/images/how/p_how02-l.png)
Anne: Does your team see additional ways to build a stronger food system?
Carolina: Beyond the limitation of the organic farmers association, we’re more involved with a network of farmers that are small bubbles. And the organic farmers association is just one bubble because we’re starting to see other organic farmers associations pop up. I think my skill set would be useful in supporting each association, if they wanted, to have their own business running. This is what led to us starting the bokashi. In this area, it is challenging to get organic amendments, so we can set up an organic amendments bank. If you’re part of the association, you have a deeply discounted price, as a benefit. If you’re not part of the association, you still have the convenience of having organic materials, tools, and resources around.
In another community, we could help them set up a different self-sustaining business that fills a different niche in the system. I’m starting to see that rather than working with one small group, there might be a network instead that we’re supporting. So I have a couple of meetings coming up with other nodes that already exist. How do we start connecting those and create a service that’s beneficial for farmers that can unite that network? One of the services we’re going to be testing out is, as a farmer, it is impossible to have the perfect schedule to take all the in-person courses, so it would be valuable to support digitizing the training courses, by filming the classes. Just like us, if we miss a Zoom we can review the recording on our own time schedule. The COVID-19 quarantine made it so the farmers were required to get their children online for school, so they actually have some technical skills now. We can do virtual visits to other farms. We’re also looking at how to help form a network to connect everyone with other farmers and other learning opportunities that might not have been an option before. I want to support farmers to become entrepreneurs, so they don’t have to depend on the distribution channels that usually take advantage of them. So part of the training curriculum isn’t just on farming, but also entrepreneurism, quality of life, and family financial planning. We want to show how being part of the association can help us achieve life goals.
Anne: I love your ideas for further helping the farming community make connections, incorporate collaborative initiatives, and build niche opportunities to support the community. Do you have any advice for new land stewards?
Carolina: Water first. Know where your water is coming from and do what you need to do to install the water system. Design the water to meander across the land so you can keep your water deeply percolating. And have some redundancy in the system, if one way gets cut off, then you wanna have a backup. It seems more and more that water is going to continue to be quite the issue. Also, focus on soil health. Focus on growing microbes and soil fertility, rather than growing food, at first.
The information that really “plugged in” for me has been regenerative development. For me, the application of both organizational structures, business and social systems, with the same language for land, water, and soil -- that for me was the realm that really hit home; it made me wanna learn from people, and take classes.
It is really hard work to do land stewardship. It is nice to create a team, and not always do it all on your own. Understand your team’s skill sets. I am not built for or passionate about chipping away at the Andean rock to dig a garden bed -- but I can make sure everyone has a choice, and facilitate intercultural events so that we can share wisdom together, impact more farms, and more land to make that shift.
At the same time that you’re stewarding land, it is very important to steward social systems. It isn’t regenerative to be an individual part, it needs to be interconnected with all of the ecosystem there. I think it is really important to include people in the process, not just the result. I think it is great for the community to see my white dirt now, and have people ask me, “How did you get THIS big carrot out of THAT soil?” I’m like, “Taste it, it’s awesome.”
Family in Traditional Dress, Sacred Valley, Peru
(image source: https://i0.wp.com/www.ayni-peru.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Homestay_Sacred_Valley_Peru.jpg)
Forgive yourself for rookie mistakes, it is going to happen. The mistakes and the challenges can point to the solution. Those challenges are usually the situations that create enough friction for you to create a different route, or to expand the perspective. As hard as it is, be ok when challenges come up, and have a process for reflecting upon them.
Anne: This is such a valuable point you make, Carolina. Progress happens when we step forward into uncomfortable challenges. We grow and develop at the same time learning and stretching and adapting to the exact context of our lives.
Thank you so much for being part of this discussion, Carolina.
Both Rose and Carolina’s work to support land stewardship and improve the local food system leverage network building to contribute to a more robust and resilient model.
In the Biomimicry Resource Handbook, by Dayna Baumeister, “Resilience is the capacity of a system to maintain function following a disturbance.” It requires variation, redundancy, and decentralization.
For variation, the design needs to have a diversity of solutions to provide different opportunities for adaptation. For redundancy, the design must have duplicate backup options, so that if one fails, the entire system can continue to run optimally. For decentralization, the design must not have one central location, but many spread out for greater access to resources across the system.
Mālama Kaua‘i’s work uses a variety of programs to meet various and changing needs. The additional food hubs will support various producers with differing needs, and act as redundant spaces for the farm communities. These locations will be decentralized and scattered all over Kaua’i -- so no one is ever very far from hyper-local farm fresh food access.
Carolina’s team is looking to support farmers’ associations with different value-added products and services that can make the community more interconnected and with diverse resources to contribute to the region. They are connecting the multiple (somewhat redundant) organic farmers’ associations, and those associations are spread all across the region.
The land stewardship of both of these organizations will have a powerful impact on building resilient community food systems through interconnecting networks. Just as life creates conditions conducive to life, these projects create conditions conducive to regenerative food communities.
This is part 4a of the manuscript I drafted for the final project of my Biomimicry master’s degree. I feel it could help you to understand the impact that each of us can have on our hyper-local ecosystems as we step toward stewardship practices that heal the soil.
— Anne LaForti —
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