Developments at Curaçao

Permaculure develops at Curaçao 

Band'abou is the western part of Curaçao. Here used to be the agriculture. Nowadays there isn't much left. Roland's family still owns an old 'kunuku'* with lime house, but the land is overgrown with Neem and Noni trees and Kadushi, an edible cactus. The good news is: Roland has permission to start a permaculture project there!
*Kunuku means something like 'vegetable garden'.

Locally grown veggies 

Looking for organic food in the supermarkets Roland didn't find much. There are imported products, the same brands you see in Dutch supermarkets (organic brands too). No local organic vegetables or fruits … yes, one exception: fresh sprouts (micro-greens) with the brand 'Nos Kunuku'. He bought a box. At home he googled and found the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nos.kunuku/. He made an appointment with the owner, Henny Barbolina. 

Nos Kunuku 

Four years ago Henny changed from regular agriculture to organic. He knows the permaculture principles and tries to apply them as much as possible. It's a way of development. He says permaculture is like nature in the tropical rainforest. There is always an abundance of food, not grown by humans, but by nature itself. No energy is wasted. He discovered 'aquaponics', based on old knowledge combining culture of fish and vegetables. In this video Henny tells about aquaponics, about the importance of local production and exchange with other permaculturists (in the USA mainly): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZXq9_1z-O8

Eco Village SOL 

From the Netherlands Roland had e-mail contact with Salomon Bomberg of Eco Village SOL (facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ecovillagesol/ ). Salomon wants to start Curaçao's first 100% self-sustaining community. It's not only agriculture, but a centre for development and exchange of knowledge. Salomon did research on green techniques as well as personal growth. He is very interested in Fibonacci's findings on numbers in nature.

Numbers and permaculture 

Salomon showed Roland the land he is cleaning, together with some volunteers. In the past it was a junkyard, full of rusty car parts. A part is already cleaned and changed into Salomon's own specific sort of permaculture. He experiments with numbers, trees planted in pentagon and hexagon shape. In this video he tells about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPoB_Of2UBs

He has some cows too, for them he is making stables and grazing fields in a hexagon shape. It is divided in six parts, while the cows graze one part on the other parts new grass grows. You can see it in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y8hL9_c0O8

Salomon's greenhouse is a double dodecagon, or a lemniscate, the shape of 'flowing energy'.

Info, photos and videos by Roland van Reenen, (v)ITAL, facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/V-Ital-Biologisch-in-Suriname-en-Curacao-706528842781626/