Project Proposals

1. TPRF Permaculture Playground2. TPRF Food for People Permaculture

Demo Site3. TPRF Permaculture Peace Garden

Co-Created by Josh Gomez & Rosie Stonehill

TPRF Permaculture Playground

Project GoalsThis project has children at its centre,encouraging them to observe and work withnature to create more abundant andecologically stable environments for thefuture. The ultimate goal is for them todesign, implement and maintain aPermaculture landscape in and around theirschool, providing the needs of the entireschool and serving as an example for thelocal community. These children will be theones to inherit their family’s lands and withthis knowledge they will be fully prepared toturn any degraded land into highly diverseand supportive landscapes.

“Applying the principles of permaculture in schoolyard projects reinforces values of resourcefulness, stewardship, and sustainability” Patrick Praetorius

Time FrameIn the first three months we will teach a

Permaculture Design Course at the schoolattended by the children and twelve volunteersfrom around the world. At the end of the coursethey will work in groups to design a Permaculturegarden for the grounds of the school.

During the next three months we will help themimplement the design. At this time, thevolunteers will work closely with us and some willbe chosen to help in the continuation of thisproject.

Over the next five years between us and theselected volunteers we will take it in turns to beposted on the project to help the school in themaintenance and development of the site.

After this time responsibility for the site will bereturned to the school and local community. Bythis point, as well as supplying the school withfood and various other resources, a small surpluswill be produced which can either be exchangedor sold to generate an income for the benefit ofthe school.

VolunteersWe suggest that there would be 3permaculture diplomats present in the sixmonths with the 12 other English speakingvolunteers from all different countries. Thesevolunteers could pay their fairs for travel andpossibly a fee for the design course whichwould go directly into the running of theproject. They would need to show interest andcommitment to the project and have a keeninterest in permaculture. The group of thesevolunteers who are selected to continue onwith the project after the first six monthswould hopefully use this period as aninternship working towards their diploma.These people would then become the idealcandidates to help in subsequent projects forTPRF.

If you would like to see more, here are some websites where you can find other examples.http://www.permacultureusa.org/category/permaculture-projects/aid-projectshttp://permacultureglobal.com/projectshttp://permacultureglobal.com/projects/447-dewe-school-of-practical-arts-and-sciences

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa2Kp6Q095g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn7RHgIbF8o

Here are two examples of permaculture school gardens. Click to play

TPRF Food for People Permaculture demonstration siteProject GoalsLinked with Food for people, the primary function of this project is to sustainably grow the food for the centre on a near by site in such a way that it only improves the local environment, building soil, replenishing the water table, encouraging biodiversity and bringing together community. Its other function would be to demonstrate to other local producers some of the applications of permaculture. All workers on the project will have taken the Permaculture design course and will understand and be able to explain the workings of the system. Some of them will become confident designers and will be able to lay down other permaculture systems for local farmers, who can in turn produce more food for the centres.

Time FrameIn the beginning, the site will be chosen and the design course would be offered to any of the local people interested to be involved. It could be only a small acreage at first and then expanded as needed. This project could function in a similar way to the school playground proposal in that the course could also be attended by other people from around the world who would pay to do the course thus helping fund the project for the local people. At the end of the course, between us and the course participants, a design would be drawn up and everyone involved would be invited to volunteer their effort to implement this design with our help.During the first year we would recommend the constant presence of an experienced designer but over subsequent years the system and it’s caretakers will need less and less external help, ultimately only requiring a small group of local workers to continue production of a large and diverse quantity of yields though out the year.

28 min video on Permaculture in the tropics, that has examples of projects both in India and Africa. Click to play

Part1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9fhCEzWS04

Part2http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayj-7FCbdow&feature=related

Part3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChZWl2L_TtQ&feature=related

TPRF Permaculture Peace Garden

Project GoalsWe propose the establishment of a globalconference / event centre that is both a place forthe presentation of Prem Rawat’s message and thework of TPRF and is also a setting in which to runworkshops, seminars and talks on various subjectsincluding environmental and humanitarian issues,sustainable agriculture/ permaculture, ecobuilding,aquaculture and ecological commerce.The setting up, maintenance and running of thiscentre would provide a wide range of serviceopportunities and training could be given onsite.To enable wide access to the centre werecommend that a location is found which isglobally centralised , with sensible land prices anda bureaucratic system favourable to ecologicalprojects.

Sustainable and productiveThe site will be designed to be as selfsupporting as possible, supplying all its ownneeds and the needs of all guests and staff: egenergy, water, food, shelter. At the same time itwould produce no waste or pollution taking allsurplus energy back into the sysytem. Toaccomplish this it would utilise anddemonstrate a wide variety of the techniquesand strategies of Permaculture.Once established the site will not only cease torequire financial input, but through the manyother activities and events happening there, itwill raise money for TPRF. Once it has reachedthis point of economic stability, a niche willopen for other similar centres to be created inother parts of the world .

A multi functional spaceThe centre can also serve multiple extrafunctions providing an educational space forall generations, a venue for fund raising eventsand concerts, a centre for the local communityeg, running local markets, wild food walks etc,and a place for international culturalexchange.When there are no functions underway thesite will be able to tic over with a minimalworkforce. Otherwise the site could doubleup as a small organic farm producing fruit, veg,eggs etc, creating employment opportunitiesand generating a continuous income by sellingproduce in markets or weekly veg boxes to thelocal towns.

The Potential Is EndlessThese are just a few of our ideas which could be applicable to the work of TPRF. Permaculture design is an incredibly diverse and adaptable system which is applicable to basically any climate or situation. It is also possible that there are already projects underway which TPRF could partner up with. We hope that this presentation clearly puts across the potential of Permaculture as a tool for humanitarian aid with the ultimate goal of getting communities back on their feet and empowering people to live their lives. Whether any of these proposals are taken up or not it has been really enjoyable working on this and seeing a way in which we can bridge our passion for doing service and our profession.If you have any questions or need further details on any of the proposals feel free to ask. Also, if you have any other ideas of ways in which we could help the foundation with the skills we have we would love to hear from you.

Email: rosiestonestar@yahoo.co.uk Tel: 00351932039085© Copyright 2011 Rosie Stonehill and Josh Gomez