Comfort Farm - A Jamaican farm for the Future

MY land has a rich agricultural history. From being a sugar plantation for decades to planting everything from pineapples to cocoa, potatoes, bananas almost everything you can think of was planted on my land for hundreds of years. All that history has gone into making the soil especially the burning and decomposition of sugar cane which is rich in various minerals and many other nitrogen fixing plants. A section of land was left to the mercy of nature to see how it would naturally evolve overtime. A very big part of Permaculture is to understand the natural evolution of the environment, so one could identify the positives and the negatives. The beneficial and the non-beneficial that make up the ecological system and micro-climate. To observe how it affects the development of the land over time. Nature knows best and is the perfect teacher if we take the time to observe, learn and respect it. We must use nature as a guideline and teacher of true sustainability.

Dense Food Forest, almost impossible to walk through

After one year, when I am looking from the outside at the forested area that was left to the mercy of nature, one sees the natural development of a thick jungle canopy, a bush land but it was not until I enter the middle of that forested area, finding a nice comfy spot, sit quietly and observe, that I realized just how wonderful and powerful the natural world can be. The first thing that impressed me was just how alive this area was, filled with various birds and insects going about their daily business, doing what they do best. It takes a while for your eyes to adjust to your surroundings as the brain begins to identify the various plants and animal life, the patterns that exist and their inter-connectivity and inter-dependency, all of which comes together to define this unique area. I really love nature, there is nothing like the natural world.

Two Independent natural Off the Grid Source of Water
During the dry season, it trickles, during normal times it flows and during the rainy season as they say "the river come down" but it is never, ever dry. The size of the fish, shrimp and various aquatic life varies with the amount of water flowing at any one time.  

Another thing that impressed me was that the forested area that was left to the mercy of nature was full of "food", a variety of food that no one planted. That area had different types of food to supply a farmers’ market or market food stalls. One could easily full one’s belly without having to do huge amount of work, apart from reaching out and picking from the branches or pulling food from the soil and it was all free. No human work went into the process, the area was not maintained. It seems seeds that were below the soil for decades, some brought to the location from all around by birds and insects germinated, sprang to life and produced food. Unpicked food fed the wildlife and fell to the ground, decomposed to form natural fertilizer and soil. The ground was covered in biomass, rotten foods, leaves, branches that all went into the natural production of fertile soil. Which in turn created the perfect environment for the trees and plants to grow and produce more food.

Organic Farming and Self-Sufficiency

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Everything that was anything was growing in that forested area from pineapple, Otaheite apple, cocoa, yam, pumpkin, oranges, breadfruit, mangoes, guinep, ackee, plums, star apple, bananas, jack fruits just to name a “few” and again no human work went into that process, I had nothing to do with it. Another thing that got me was the natural Vertical development of the land, from the food producing canopy layer such as mangoes and ackees, to the small bushes with berries and fruits like cherries apple and oranges, right down to the ground layer with pineapples. Everything seems to find the optimal location for survival. they all seem to occupy the same physical space and still thrive.

 

Love sitting under this tree

I sat there and marveled at life, listening to the wind as it blew through the trees and listening to birds then came to the conclusion that life is good! Not because of money or wealth but because it was peaceful. I have grown to dislike this murdering chaotic world and here I was alive and away from that murdering chaotic world... I had found my happy place.

Jamaican Farm For Future - In the Beginning