Banana circles! - lessons on the land
Instead of planting banana saplings in straight lines, we decided to plant them in circles. There are a number of reasons why we chose this approach with the main one being, because Mani did some actual research on applying permaculture principles to our land (as opposed to she-who-shall-not-be-named's usual approach of haphazardly planting things and leaving it to 'nature', a.k.a the goats - a story for another time!).
Coming to those permaculture principles, banana circles help with two things mainly,
1. Growing food easily
2. Using organic waste you don't know what to do with to nourish the food that's growing
It's a regenerative practice, meaning it helps plug the soil that's currently a shadow of its former self, with a cartload of nutrients that turns back the clock to when the soil was lusciously life giving.
Here's a series of steps of what we did and what we've learned so far.
Step 1 - We tilled the land
Now most folks (cult members) will gasp in shock at the word 'till' when you're talking about permaculture and natural farming. Yes 'no till' is where we hoped to head to in the future* but in the now, when we began working with our land which was as firm as a cement pavement, we needed tilled land to not break our backs and our spirit. There's a lot of digging involved and if your land is hard as rock, you're going to be digging till next Tuesday!
So first, we watered and then tilled our land (using bulls!) which churned up the soil, making it simpler to start digging our banana circle pits.
Step 2 - We measured and marked our circles
We chose to dig seven consecutive pits along the slope and flow of the land to make watering them simpler. When it rained, water would slowly flow past each of the pits. Also with the centers curved inward, water would also collect here from the rain directly. The eighth pit we dug under our house's overhead tank to catch the water when it overflows (when someone forgets to turn the motor off).
We measured a radius of 3ft from the center and marked our circles. We dug from the centre, stacking up the edges of the circles with soil till the pits were roughly 2ft deep. The idea being, the edges would have to be a decent height to plant our saplings and seeds.
Step 3 - We filled the centers of each pit with manure and straw
Having horses means having shit loads of manure to cart for your farm! (Use this line anytime someone asks "but why horses on a farm? what profit do you get?"). Honestly, our daily efforts of cleaning the stables meant all eight of our banana circles were filled to the brim with organic waste. This is what helped all the saplings and seeds planted in the circle grow so well! You can also dump your daily kitchen waste in these pits, any organic waste really which slowly composts and feeds your soil!
Step 4 - We planted and watered our circles
Each circle had a minimum of 6 banana saplings between which we sowed seeds of mochai (beans), karamani (cow peas), ladies finger and cassava to keep weeds down. We watered our circles with water from our well and equally, we had a nice spell of rain! Usually, waste water from the kitchen is used to water banana circles - something we're looking to work out given that summer is approaching.
Our keen eyed observations!
The bananas grew quite quickly! With a lot of rain the past three months we didn't even have to water our circles ourselves. The mochai too have grown into wild clumps, so much so they've overpowered the ladies fingers and the bananas! On one hand, our idea to keep the weeds down by growing our own 'weeds' has helped immensely. Also, as nitrogen fixers, mochai is a solid bet for our soil's health. On the other hand, the mochai's burst of growth has meant some trimming is required (understatement). These trimmings we add to the organic waste in the pits.
Insects are present on our plants but we haven't had an outright 'attack' as such. This is thanks to having so many different plants planted together (polyculture!) and having a chicken crew patrolling our circles (and adding much needed chicken poo to the soil). However, we aren't heartless and if any of our plants look like they're being murdered, neem oil will be sprayed.
Chickens, bananas and a messy garden - A permaculture snapshot!
There's still a couple of months for our bananas to mature. We've learned not to enthusiastically plant so many mochai seeds the next time and if we do, maybe think of a trellis!
Meanwhile, these banana circle 'structures' as such will be left to be. Yes, no tilling will be happening in this patch again (the *future is now - mind boom!). Permaculture is all about permanent agriculture and banana circles are a brilliantly simple illustration of just how efficient it is to follow our forests in creating our own food forests and growing our food, one banana at a time.
A note :
Permaculture and its teachers Bill Mollison, David Holmgren and Geoff Lawton from Australia who learned and shared so much from the indigenous tribes of their land have played a huge part in shaping our lives. (Also every Animal Planet presenter including Steve Irwin). As we watch the fires in Australia wipe out so much of what we loved and wanted to grow up and protect, there is pain and a numbing helplessness that is difficult to move from. To feel like we don't have any say in what is happening. I'd like to believe that we still do. For those of us who can't afford to pay for any kind of aid but are doing what we can in reading up, sharing articles, talking about what is happening around us, growing our gardens and looking to include any kind of difference to our daily lives in the midst of this climate crisis, I hope to extend solidarity that we are doing the best we can. For those of us who can afford to pay for aid, I hope this link including many sources of relief work helps.
1. Growing food easily
2. Using organic waste you don't know what to do with to nourish the food that's growing
It's a regenerative practice, meaning it helps plug the soil that's currently a shadow of its former self, with a cartload of nutrients that turns back the clock to when the soil was lusciously life giving.
Here's a series of steps of what we did and what we've learned so far.
Step 1 - We tilled the land
Now most folks (cult members) will gasp in shock at the word 'till' when you're talking about permaculture and natural farming. Yes 'no till' is where we hoped to head to in the future* but in the now, when we began working with our land which was as firm as a cement pavement, we needed tilled land to not break our backs and our spirit. There's a lot of digging involved and if your land is hard as rock, you're going to be digging till next Tuesday!
So first, we watered and then tilled our land (using bulls!) which churned up the soil, making it simpler to start digging our banana circle pits.
Step 2 - We measured and marked our circles
We chose to dig seven consecutive pits along the slope and flow of the land to make watering them simpler. When it rained, water would slowly flow past each of the pits. Also with the centers curved inward, water would also collect here from the rain directly. The eighth pit we dug under our house's overhead tank to catch the water when it overflows (when someone forgets to turn the motor off).
We measured a radius of 3ft from the center and marked our circles. We dug from the centre, stacking up the edges of the circles with soil till the pits were roughly 2ft deep. The idea being, the edges would have to be a decent height to plant our saplings and seeds.
Mani and his mum measuring the next banana circle
Mani, Thenmozhi and Muthiah digging the pits with Diana
The circles taking shape
Having horses means having shit loads of manure to cart for your farm! (Use this line anytime someone asks "but why horses on a farm? what profit do you get?"). Honestly, our daily efforts of cleaning the stables meant all eight of our banana circles were filled to the brim with organic waste. This is what helped all the saplings and seeds planted in the circle grow so well! You can also dump your daily kitchen waste in these pits, any organic waste really which slowly composts and feeds your soil!
Thenmozhi transferring manure and straw collected from the stables
Step 4 - We planted and watered our circles
Each circle had a minimum of 6 banana saplings between which we sowed seeds of mochai (beans), karamani (cow peas), ladies finger and cassava to keep weeds down. We watered our circles with water from our well and equally, we had a nice spell of rain! Usually, waste water from the kitchen is used to water banana circles - something we're looking to work out given that summer is approaching.
Banana saplings positioned and ready to be planted after the pits were filled
Our keen eyed observations!
Our banana circles a month after planting
The bananas grew quite quickly! With a lot of rain the past three months we didn't even have to water our circles ourselves. The mochai too have grown into wild clumps, so much so they've overpowered the ladies fingers and the bananas! On one hand, our idea to keep the weeds down by growing our own 'weeds' has helped immensely. Also, as nitrogen fixers, mochai is a solid bet for our soil's health. On the other hand, the mochai's burst of growth has meant some trimming is required (understatement). These trimmings we add to the organic waste in the pits.
Three months later - Present day - banana circles interspersed with abundant mochai plants!
Look at those leaves!
Our red ladies finger - huge thanks to Mirrabelle from Horse2Human Auroville for sharing with us these ladies finger seeds!
Fully matured ladies finger is the size of my palm!
Rice growing in the pits from the hay we'd filled it with
The pods growing in the cow pea plants
The infamous mochai (beans) with flower and fruit
Insects are present on our plants but we haven't had an outright 'attack' as such. This is thanks to having so many different plants planted together (polyculture!) and having a chicken crew patrolling our circles (and adding much needed chicken poo to the soil). However, we aren't heartless and if any of our plants look like they're being murdered, neem oil will be sprayed.
Chickens, bananas and a messy garden - A permaculture snapshot!Meanwhile, these banana circle 'structures' as such will be left to be. Yes, no tilling will be happening in this patch again (the *future is now - mind boom!). Permaculture is all about permanent agriculture and banana circles are a brilliantly simple illustration of just how efficient it is to follow our forests in creating our own food forests and growing our food, one banana at a time.
No till means these citizens of the soil are happy!
A note :
Permaculture and its teachers Bill Mollison, David Holmgren and Geoff Lawton from Australia who learned and shared so much from the indigenous tribes of their land have played a huge part in shaping our lives. (Also every Animal Planet presenter including Steve Irwin). As we watch the fires in Australia wipe out so much of what we loved and wanted to grow up and protect, there is pain and a numbing helplessness that is difficult to move from. To feel like we don't have any say in what is happening. I'd like to believe that we still do. For those of us who can't afford to pay for any kind of aid but are doing what we can in reading up, sharing articles, talking about what is happening around us, growing our gardens and looking to include any kind of difference to our daily lives in the midst of this climate crisis, I hope to extend solidarity that we are doing the best we can. For those of us who can afford to pay for aid, I hope this link including many sources of relief work helps.
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