Letters from Slovakia – the Homeless Camp Makes a Start

The wind turbine generates some of the site’s power
All photographs copyright © Craig Mackintosh

Since my last visit to the homeless camp in north central Slovakia, it seems some unrestrained enthusiasm for all things permaculture has lead Daniel Diškanec to leap in and try to make a start with his site development. The first design step, to observe, got somewhat overlooked in the rush, so a few errors were made, as we’ll see below. Guiding this enthusiasm will be important to the success of the site and last weekend we made a start to accomplish this.

Bigger must be better? Well-meaning Daniel made a
raised bed of epic proportions….

In addition to having already begun a few site changes over the last month, Daniel tried to organise a kind of permaculture family day for Easter Saturday. The idea was that people could come bearing seeds, seedlings, cuttings and bulbs and spend some time planting, eating, talking, learning and watching their children ride Daniel’s pony. Given that Slovaks traditionally regard Easter as a special holiday, featuring stay-at-home family time, it was arguably not the best weekend for such an event. I was also concerned that this eagerness, devoid of guiding experience, would lead to all the wrong plants being planted in all the wrong places! Accordingly, I was very keen for a designer, competent for this climate zone and region, to come along and help us on the day — someone who might be willing to also develop a short, medium and long term strategy and activity schedule that Daniel and his helpers could subsequently follow. Just when I thought we wouldn’t find such a person, a consultant from neighbouring Czech Republic contacted me. Denisa Müllerova had read my original article on the homeless camp and was inspired to help. Whew – we would not be on our own!

Denisa commented that this artistic creation is too high and not wide enough.
It will get too dry…. Daniel didn’t want to rebuild it, so we’ll plant it out with
dry-tolerant plants like lavender, rosemary, thyme and other herbs.

A traditional practice in this area, when you have cow and horse manure to deal with, is simply to dig a big hole in the ground and toss it in! As we want to show Daniel how to utilise the manure better — think 18-day compost — we’re left wondering what to do with the hole….

Hmm… what to do with this hole? Move it somewhere else, perhaps?

Another too-wide raised bed, and the big hole….

Denisa is turning out to be a real asset. She was an ornamental garden designer for years, but hasn’t looked back since becoming a permaculture convert in 2008. Denisa even went to Turkey in 2010 for the Bill Mollison/Geoff Lawton PDC in Istanbul. Of particular interest to Denisa, as it is for myself of course, is seeing more demonstration sites in the region (she is working to develop a demonstration site and permaculture education centre in her hometown) and so was quick to see the great potential in this particular site. Of all the necessary ingredients — land, labour, vision and knowledge — the site was only missing the last. Determining to help plug that void, Denisa arrived a day early, on Friday, so we could start the education process, and to help ensure the work done on the following day would not be wasted.

Denisa begins planning with Daniel

To ensure the success of this potential demonstration site, educating Daniel in permaculture design approaches is of course the first priority. Like most, Daniel comes with some ‘baggage’ as far as agricultural practices go. His plan for the giant raised bed, for example, was to turn the soil regularly, which would only serve to — in addition to creating extra unnecessary labour — destroy the soil structure, kill the life in it and burn up its humus content too rapidly. When we spoke about the need for worms, his wife spoke up with surprise — she had always believed that worms were bad; that they ate plant roots. In several areas, as we spoke and tried to make plans, it was clear that what we were sharing was not only new, but also quite unbelievable to Daniel at times.

It made me wonder if, on a subsequent visit, I might not see more errors from this determined individual. But, over the course of the two days, Denisa’s patient instruction and obvious wealth of knowledge lent itself to Daniel becoming increasingly mindful of her expertise.

A plan began to emerge. We’d split the large raised beds into multiple double-reach beds, and the big hole in the ground would get promoted to ‘pond’. We’d also reshape the pond, giving it sloping sides that would allow more niche habitats for aquatic life — or more ‘edge’ as permies like to say. The pond would be a heat trap, reflecting light and heat onto the new greenhouse we’d build on the north side of it. The greenhouse’s back (brick) northern wall would also double as the back wall of composting bays we’d build on the other side of it. The greenhouse and the compost piles would thus warm each other. The compost bays would be in close proximity to the cow and pony stalls.

The children play with the self-manoeuvring, self-replicating, biodegradable
compost ingredient generator (aka ‘the pony’)

At the moment the site is a blank canvas, with only grass. Denisa will develop a plant list, consisting of edible plants and support species — with the aim of also growing all the biomass the site will need to close the composting loop.

Saturday arrived and we had about 15 people show up. Denisa explained some concepts to the team, including how to plant trees and touched on soil biology in connection with the raised beds.

The dog took a break from having a rather ‘passionate’ time with a soft toy so
he could watch us plant trees instead.

We ran a string line down the smaller of the two massive raised beds Daniel
had previously made, and set about splitting it into two double-reach beds.

The beds and the new path were covered in cardboard

The path was filled with wood and bark chips

Then the beds were mulched with straw and initial planting began.

…while the children got arty.

The children also got to taste some organic honey from Daniel’s hives.

Denisa will soon send plans and a schedule that Daniel can follow. She also plans to return sometime in June to help oversee progress, and then again in autumn, when we’ll plant a lot of trees. I’ll let you know how it progresses, and if you have good ideas to share, then please do so via comments below.

Further Reading:

• Letters from Slovakia – Kings, Conquerors, Capitalism and Resilience Lost
• Letters from Slovakia – Aggressors, Victims, and Scapegoats
• Letters from Slovakia – The Horse Whisperer