Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge is a beautiful expression of respect for the Konso people and culture. The world-famous stone terracing, the authentic tukuls made with traditional materials and methods and the unique and delicious food grown the Permaculture Demonstration Garden and cooked by local skilled women are just a couple of things that make it an out-of-this-world (or, at least, out of MY world) experience.
In April of 2008, I arrived at Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge as a first-time "Third World" traveler and was welcomed heartily and shown overwhelming hospitality. After a month-long stay which included guided tours of villages, the opportunity to work on the farm with the local women and a Permaculture Design Course of which I was the first graduate in Ethiopia, I left Konso with a profound appreciation of their culture and a deep desire to return.
Sounds like a great entry. I think a great addition to it would be to explain a bit more about what permaculture farming is so that people can understand why it is such an important part of this organization. Also, in the personal bio part it would be a great addition to hear a bit more about Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge got started.
This is really an awesome initiative! It is great to see your organization is helping Karat Konso Ethiopia and the well being of their standard of living. I heard about Konso Ethiopia back in 2000 and it is great to see that an organization has stepped up and helped develop that community. I love that your company is not just taking travelers there to do work and then leave, but you are training the community to learn and be able to take care of themselves even when tourist and your organizations are gone. The unique trait I like about your org is that is has a twist, which is promoting food security in Konso and not just building homes or schools but really aiming to help people learn how to take care of themselves to live!
Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge is a truly inspiring place. It not only bring hope to the people of Konso in Ethiopia, but more importantly inspires others to make positive sustainable change.
The world is going through major changes at the moment, both environmentally and sociologically, and a scheme like this which encourages sustainability through a practise such as permaculture should be widely endorsed. The positive effects of such a project will be felt both in Konso, and in other parts of the world. In short, it has the capacity to inspire others to make positive change in the world. It is for this reason that Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge gets my vote
I spent two months at Strawberry Fields Ecolodge in May-June 2008, helping facilitate two permaculture design courses, compost-making workshops, and with some earthworks design and implementation for harvesting, channeling and soaking in rainwater runoff for tree production.
This project is amazing, an oasis of a food garden drawing much interest and support from the local community. By employing local people, selling vegetables to local people, providing free education to local people, and coordinating ethical, environmental tourism activities in Konso the project is and will continue to make a significantly positive impact on the lives of the magnificent Konso people in a way that so many development aid projects I witnessed in my time in Ethiopia have and presumably will continue to fail to do.
Hi there Ariene,
Thanks for your questions, the word limits make it hard to get it all in there, so we can go over your questions here:
“it would be to explain a bit more about what permaculture farming is so that people can understand why it is such an important part of this organization”
Permaculture is the design of ecological systems to support human life and design of human life to fit within ecological systems without degrading them. It is an applied design science which integrates Ecology, Agriculture, Energy, Water and Waste Management. For the impoverished farming communities of Africa Permaculture offers an answer to the twin problems of food insecurity and environmental degradation; brought about by population growth, deforestation, soil erosion and over-grazing. It includes the design of nutrition gardens for rural and urban communities, nursery establishment and operation, seed bank operation, soil building and ecological conservation through food production.
Our course curriculum covers:
? Ecology as the basis of Permaculture
? Resource Assessment
? Principles of Design
? Soils
? Uses of Plants and Herbs in Permaculture
? Nature Patterns
? Productive Landscape Design
? Productivity and Sustainability
? Self-sufficiency and Appropriate Technology
We follow up on this training by implementing in schools and are currently working in 3 schools in Konso in partnership with Save the Children Finland, an international NGO.
“it would be a great addition to hear a bit more about Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge got started.”
SFEL was started off with the director’s personal funds. He was a naive liberal white boy with a penchant for travel and a bit of cash in the bank. He came to Ethiopia in 1997, found a site and got down to work. Various people have come along to get involved in his mission, for various different reasons, along the way. Key players in the formation of SFEL as it stands today have been: Mr Alimeldin Abdurahman Galgal from Sudan, Mr Perinpranathan Nirupan from the UK, Mr Guy Rees from the UK, Mr Bojok Beltran from the Philippines and Mrs Rosemary Morrow from Australia. A host of other people have come in and had their input along the way including local characters, volunteers and other’s most recently Mr Ticafa Makovere from Zimbabwe has arrived on the scene as our resident Permaculturalist, and has contributed wonders to the project in recent months. SFEL finally began business in December 2009 and we kicked off with a Konso cultural music festival which was joyfully attended by well over 500 locals (and a few foreigners). Now we are working on steadily upgrading our services and improving our facilities. SFEL’s growth is an organic process which continues and relies on the continued input of volunteers, friends and active professionals.
I've always been interested with permaculture farming. I would love to visit Strawberry Fields Ecolodge for more info about it. Dr. Dan Palmer, is there any chance that you will conduct another project in there this year?
Dear Andychun,
Dan has left the project for now though we hope he will return one day. However we have a resident PC trainer and consultant who is implementing Permaculture here and in the local schools. We can also run PDCs for foreigners such as yourself. Please refer to these pages for more information: http://zionbytheabbay (dot) blogspot (dot) com/ www.permalodge.org
Dear Andychun,
Dan has left the project for now though we hope he will return one day. However we have a resident PC trainer and consultant who is implementing Permaculture here and in the local schools. We can also run PDCs for foreigners such as yourself. Please refer to these pages for more information: http://zionbytheabbay (dot) blogspot (dot) com/ www.permalodge.org
Comments
Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge is a beautiful expression of respect for the Konso people and culture. The world-famous stone terracing, the authentic tukuls made with traditional materials and methods and the unique and delicious food grown the Permaculture Demonstration Garden and cooked by local skilled women are just a couple of things that make it an out-of-this-world (or, at least, out of MY world) experience.
In April of 2008, I arrived at Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge as a first-time "Third World" traveler and was welcomed heartily and shown overwhelming hospitality. After a month-long stay which included guided tours of villages, the opportunity to work on the farm with the local women and a Permaculture Design Course of which I was the first graduate in Ethiopia, I left Konso with a profound appreciation of their culture and a deep desire to return.
Sounds like a great entry. I think a great addition to it would be to explain a bit more about what permaculture farming is so that people can understand why it is such an important part of this organization. Also, in the personal bio part it would be a great addition to hear a bit more about Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge got started.
This is really an awesome initiative! It is great to see your organization is helping Karat Konso Ethiopia and the well being of their standard of living. I heard about Konso Ethiopia back in 2000 and it is great to see that an organization has stepped up and helped develop that community. I love that your company is not just taking travelers there to do work and then leave, but you are training the community to learn and be able to take care of themselves even when tourist and your organizations are gone. The unique trait I like about your org is that is has a twist, which is promoting food security in Konso and not just building homes or schools but really aiming to help people learn how to take care of themselves to live!
Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge is a truly inspiring place. It not only bring hope to the people of Konso in Ethiopia, but more importantly inspires others to make positive sustainable change.
The world is going through major changes at the moment, both environmentally and sociologically, and a scheme like this which encourages sustainability through a practise such as permaculture should be widely endorsed. The positive effects of such a project will be felt both in Konso, and in other parts of the world. In short, it has the capacity to inspire others to make positive change in the world. It is for this reason that Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge gets my vote
I spent two months at Strawberry Fields Ecolodge in May-June 2008, helping facilitate two permaculture design courses, compost-making workshops, and with some earthworks design and implementation for harvesting, channeling and soaking in rainwater runoff for tree production.
This project is amazing, an oasis of a food garden drawing much interest and support from the local community. By employing local people, selling vegetables to local people, providing free education to local people, and coordinating ethical, environmental tourism activities in Konso the project is and will continue to make a significantly positive impact on the lives of the magnificent Konso people in a way that so many development aid projects I witnessed in my time in Ethiopia have and presumably will continue to fail to do.
Regards,
Dr Dan Palmer, PDC.
Director
http://www.VeryEdibleGardens.com/
Melbourne
Australia
Hi there Ariene,
Thanks for your questions, the word limits make it hard to get it all in there, so we can go over your questions here:
“it would be to explain a bit more about what permaculture farming is so that people can understand why it is such an important part of this organization”
Permaculture is the design of ecological systems to support human life and design of human life to fit within ecological systems without degrading them. It is an applied design science which integrates Ecology, Agriculture, Energy, Water and Waste Management. For the impoverished farming communities of Africa Permaculture offers an answer to the twin problems of food insecurity and environmental degradation; brought about by population growth, deforestation, soil erosion and over-grazing. It includes the design of nutrition gardens for rural and urban communities, nursery establishment and operation, seed bank operation, soil building and ecological conservation through food production.
Our course curriculum covers:
? Ecology as the basis of Permaculture
? Resource Assessment
? Principles of Design
? Soils
? Uses of Plants and Herbs in Permaculture
? Nature Patterns
? Productive Landscape Design
? Productivity and Sustainability
? Self-sufficiency and Appropriate Technology
We follow up on this training by implementing in schools and are currently working in 3 schools in Konso in partnership with Save the Children Finland, an international NGO.
“it would be a great addition to hear a bit more about Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge got started.”
SFEL was started off with the director’s personal funds. He was a naive liberal white boy with a penchant for travel and a bit of cash in the bank. He came to Ethiopia in 1997, found a site and got down to work. Various people have come along to get involved in his mission, for various different reasons, along the way. Key players in the formation of SFEL as it stands today have been: Mr Alimeldin Abdurahman Galgal from Sudan, Mr Perinpranathan Nirupan from the UK, Mr Guy Rees from the UK, Mr Bojok Beltran from the Philippines and Mrs Rosemary Morrow from Australia. A host of other people have come in and had their input along the way including local characters, volunteers and other’s most recently Mr Ticafa Makovere from Zimbabwe has arrived on the scene as our resident Permaculturalist, and has contributed wonders to the project in recent months. SFEL finally began business in December 2009 and we kicked off with a Konso cultural music festival which was joyfully attended by well over 500 locals (and a few foreigners). Now we are working on steadily upgrading our services and improving our facilities. SFEL’s growth is an organic process which continues and relies on the continued input of volunteers, friends and active professionals.
I've always been interested with permaculture farming. I would love to visit Strawberry Fields Ecolodge for more info about it. Dr. Dan Palmer, is there any chance that you will conduct another project in there this year?
Dear Andychun,
Dan has left the project for now though we hope he will return one day. However we have a resident PC trainer and consultant who is implementing Permaculture here and in the local schools. We can also run PDCs for foreigners such as yourself. Please refer to these pages for more information:
http://zionbytheabbay (dot) blogspot (dot) com/
www.permalodge.org
Dear Andychun,
Dan has left the project for now though we hope he will return one day. However we have a resident PC trainer and consultant who is implementing Permaculture here and in the local schools. We can also run PDCs for foreigners such as yourself. Please refer to these pages for more information:
http://zionbytheabbay (dot) blogspot (dot) com/
www.permalodge.org
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