Agroforestry workshop at Espaço dos Sonhos
Published on: February 10, 2018
To learn you have to practice also counts for agroforestry. That’s why reNature and Espaço dos Sonhos organized an agroforestry workshop. Starting from scratch and only three days later the land was transformed and a team inspired. Bare soil was changed into a plot full of promise.
The workshop was given by Felipe Villela and Matias Poli Sperb, supported by the team of the farm. Felipe, Founder of reNature Foundation, has done research about water in Syntropic Farming with Ernst Götsch in Bahia, Brazil. Matias, owner and farmer of Espaço dos Sonhos, had a course with Rômulo Araujo about Agroforestry.
At arrival the group of sixteen were shown around the farm and introduced to the basics of agroforestry. The ‘students’ from Peru and Chile, and – of course – Brazil, even from the Netherlands were of all ages and very diverse. The second day they set up the ground plan and collected organic material by pruning to protect the soil from dehydration and providing organic nutrients for the new plants. The third day the beds were filled with organic matter and planted with fruit trees and such.
The program in short:
- Day 1: Tour around the farm + Presentation about the theory on Agroforestry
- Day 2: Pruning (Collecting organic matter) + Preparing the beds (Weeding & pathways)
- Day 3: Preparing the beds (Adding organic matter & inputs) + Planting (fruit trees + horticulture)
The importance of agroforestry workshops
Besides learning the basics of agroforestry it’s very important to work in the field where theory and practice come together. It’s a way to obtain and transfer knowledge in a group and a shared experience like a workshop will even get a community embrace agroforestry. reNature plans to organize multiple workshops at every project. Not to educate but to learn. Shared knowledge is the key to the agroforestry success. The more you learn, the more you grow, as individual, farmer, team, even as community.
Help us grow.
We want to help local farmers and small communities with setting up sustainable food production. For this we give these workshops and help with the execution of the plan. We need your help to reach more farmers. A small donation could make a farmers future.
About Espaço dos Sonhos
The farm “Espaço dos Sonhos”, located in Praia da Ferrugem, Santa Catarina, Brazil, translated ‘Place of Dreams’, is a cultural agroecological farm. It is managed by a collective of thirteen people and promotes events around varied cultural events. It offers vegetarian organic food, develops practices around health, bio-construction and agroecology.
There will be more workshops organised by Espaço dos Sonhos. Matias is planning to start an international Agroforestry school to teach people how to become agents of the future within the agricultural sector. Do you want to be part of this? Sign up by sending Matias an email: mapolis@gmail.com
