Dude, Crystals Dude

After spending a week in Gorkha with anarchist natural farmer Maki, I made my way back to Kathmandu to spend my birthday (the 25th) with my family. After that I made my way to Pharping, where I was meeting a friend. There's an NGO (non-profit, Non-Government-Organization) there that runs a school and does some organic farming. My friend grew up there, and asked me to come by to help out with the farm.

The place is called Crystal Earth Community, started by a Finnish woman named Diane who moved to Nepal some time back. Pharping is on the edge of the valley, and Crystal Earth is on top of one of the hills that surrounds Kathmandu.

Though the school is quite old, the agricultural activities are newer and they are facing some challenges, and so that is why my friend asked me to come help. Though I could only stay for a week (my time in Nepal is coming to an end...), I told him I'd be happy to come by and help. Upon arriving, I saw what my friend meant by "challenges." The soil is very, very poor. There is virtually no organic matter and the soil retains very little moisture. In addition to that, there is a shortage of water for irrigation also. And because it is so high up, the climate here is challenging too: very hot during the day, and extremely cold during the night and mornings. There even is a frost from time to time.

I am only here for a week, so I am limited in the amount of work I can get done, but I've been at least talking and planning with the people at Crystal Earth about working with the land here. The biggest thing that needs to be addressed is soil regeneration, so I've been working to improve the compost and manure, and also mixing compost into the soil to try and improve the organic matter content.

We also talked about turning potential challenges into opportunities, for example planting apple trees which would do quite well in the colder climate here. Also we talked about taking advantage of microclimates: the southern facing side of the hill gets enough sun to be warm enough to plant avocado, and the shaded side of the same terrace can hold apple and pear trees.

After digging compost out from an old pile, I realized there
could be a small pond to harvest rainwater. I dug channels
from the terraces that will bring the water

In addition to collecting water, the channels I dug serve as runoff channels for
rainwater, so the water does not run off of the terrace itself

Run-off channels prevent soil erosion, by guiding rainwater
through a single pathway, thus protecting the terrace topsoil

Though I am only here for a week, it feels good to know that I can come back
and continue to help the folks here grow from the land. And I have a feeling
I'll be back