Permaculture is described as “an ecological design system based on the philosophy that aims to create a sustainable human habitat by observing or mimicking natural ecosystems.” When you hear that, you may be scratching your head, wondering what that actually means, and I was in a very similar boat. It was only after I spent the summer working on a permaculture farm that I really understood how the philosophy of permaculture is put into practice.
My name is Owen Peer and I am currently studying sustainable agriculture through the Institute of Applied Agriculture. Over the summer, I worked at Chicken of the Woods Permaculture Farm (COTWPF). Through this, I experienced and learned all aspects of not just farming sustainably but also living sustainably. COTWPF is a relatively small, family-run farm around 4-5 acres. Over the season I worked there, I got to meet and work with a wide variety of people. For most of the season, I worked with three other volunteers: an automotive engineer from Argentina, a psychologist from Argentina, and another college student. Along with them, there were a lot of other volunteers who helped, including a carpenter from Quebec, a hairdresser from India, and a school teacher. Through working and talking with all these people, I gained an understanding of different aspects of their culture and philosophy, including their reasons for wanting to work on the farm and why permaculture is important to them. One of the most eye-opening stories I heard was from Adrian, who was from Argentina. He told me a story about farming practices in Argentina, near his hometown, where they would spray a lot of pesticides. These pesticides spread to a nearby town, which led to many kids developing cancer. He also stated that there were no regulations surrounding pesticides, which was the primary reason this incident occurred. Since I had only lived in America, where there are a lot more regulations surrounding pesticides, it had never really crossed my mind that they could have such a detrimental effect on people's lives.
Another great thing about COTWPF was the size. Since it was a relatively small farm with few staff, I got hands on experience with every step of the planting from seed germination, prepping beds, planting, harvesting, weeding, among many other jobs. I had the good fortune to start my internship at the beginning of the summer season, so I got the opportunity to prep the beds and do the first big planting. Across the summer, I got to see the growth of three different cycles of crops. I got there, and crops like kale, mustard greens, and cabbage were ready to harvest. Then, as those died down, we moved on to summer squash, okra, and tomatoes, and finally, only a few weeks before I left, we started harvesting peppers, watermelon, and winter squash. It was very satisfying seeing all the plants that I remember germinating slowly turn into massive flourishing walls of greenery.
COTWPF is much different from a traditional farm. For instance, we used no pesticides, which meant we spent hours and hours weeding, a most tedious task. Many times we would spend the whole day weeding, and by the time we had finished weeding, the weeds would just pop back up, and we started all over again. We joked it was just like Sisyphus. We also had food forest buffers that were strategically placed between different plots to help reduce soil erosion. We also used sun hemp as a cover crop to properly prepare beds and food forest buffers . Along with all the work we did on the farm's fields, I also spent time renovating the farm’s barn, assisting a carpenter from Quebec. We worked on building two walk-in fridges that would be used to store the produce. But this was not just any normal renovation, for this, we were using sustainable building strategies For example, I was in charge of installing the roof (which took much longer than I thought it would), but instead of using normal insulation, I was using trash such as styrofoam. Overall, the construction was a very interesting job and a nice change of pace.
Overall, I would rate my summer working at COTWPF a 10 out of 10. I learned so much about farming and got to relate what I learned from school to the real world. This experience helped me reinforce my knowledge. Along with just farming, I learned about some different cultures and the philosophy around permaculture that I could use and apply in my everyday life. I would gladly go back to work there again.
