you have to meet Shad! I could hardly do him justice here, but he is one of the most fascinating people I’ve met in a long time.
permaculture… organic farming… social responsibility… local grassroots nutrition… ecological sustainability… biodiversity… community gardening… experimental nursery… indigenous agriculture… food forests… edible landscaping… medicinal herbs… community development and education… grey-water and soil remediation… natural irrigation… intensive small-plot farming… call it what you will, he does it all.
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| this is where Shad and Colleen lifed for 5 months! |
Shad has a steep plot in the mountains around Lake Atitlan, less than one acre, with which he educates, sustains, and feeds people. he and his wife Colleen started off in new jersey with traditional jobs and ended up in their dream situation. it’s not an easy existence: there’s no electricity and it’s a 5 mile walk for Colleen to go back and forth to work each day. in fact, they lived in a literal shack for the first 5 months they were there.
aside from being completely organic and sustainable, the farm is absolutely beautiful. it doesn’t look anything like a traditional farm. and, unlike commercial farms that focus on only a few different crops, Shad has at least 200 species of plants, animals, and fungi on his small acreage. among other things, as mentioned in my long list above, he has a plant nursery he uses to help other small local farmers establish or expand their crops and to experiment with new ones. beyond food and herbs, he cultivates symbiotic plants that help reinvigorate the soil, bond with and release nitrogen/hydrogen/carbon dioxide, and bunches of other things that I know are important but which sailed past my brain nonetheless. oh, and he also has chickens, rabbits, goats… he’s pretty much completely self-sufficient.
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| yes, this is a farm! photo by Craig Harvey |
in a prior post, I talked about having lunch there at his place – the fresh eggs, the morning-made goat cheese, greens, taro, things I had never heard of. that was a treat, but the really impressive part, for me, was the tour of the farm and the never-ending font of knowledge that is Shad. not only does he know this stuff, he LOVES it!
and he teaches it. he is active in the community, teaching local farmers, being involved with community nutrition programs, creating community gardens, acting as an advisor to whomever wants it. the man is a one-person agri-god.
he describes what he does as “Small-Scale, Highly Diversified, Super Low-Input, Direct-to-Consumer, Downright Ninja Farming.” and as my friend John Barrie said, “Shad is the man!”
for more, read this article about Shad: The Improbable Campesino
or see his webpage, Atitlan Organics.
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| their house now |
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| more of the farm |
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| part of an elaborate natural water system on the farm |
Man you can just tell the amount of hard labor that has gone into this place! Nice to see some people really put their money where their mouth is.
ReplyDeleteyeah, and he totally does. what he does and what he gives back to the community is really inspiring.
Deletehe talked about leap-frogging innovations in regards to farming. for example, cell phones in developing areas have completely leap-frogged land lines, which were never installed and are now completely unneccesary. he was talking about going from a small, individual home farm to a self-sufficient food forest that supplies a whole community without the middle step of commercialized farming. it is a remarkably sustainable idea, but not driven by profits, which means it is not "commercially" viable. if he and like-minded people could spread the word, developing areas could completely revolutionize how people are fed and how farmers are supported.
Fantastic ideas! Since he's not trying to convince the Monsanta's of the world, it might just be what's needed for small communities to remain self-sufficient.
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