Jakkalskloof Permaculture Farm (JPF)
Many travelers on the R60 between Ashton and Swellendam have probably noticed that the appearance of the farm Jakkalskloof, about 15 km from Swellendam, is changing significantly. Trees have been felled, many others planted, swales have been dug, and the old building has been restored. A nursery has been established and vegetable gardens laid out. What is this all about?
We are experiencing a global crisis. In the 1990′s Cuba experienced a similar crisis when its oil imports virtually dried up. The documentary The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (commercially available) documents how this apparent crisis led to a dramatic social revolution. Mechanised oil-dependent agriculture collapsed, permaculture experts from Australia were brought in, and the Cuban population became much more self-sufficient. Not only did the extreme dependence on oil decline and was much healthier food produced, but human beings started relating to each other as human beings again. Instead of a disaster of gigantic proportions, Cuba experienced a return to a humane and happier society.
What happened in Cuba is inevitable in the rest of the world. The global economy depends on cheap oil, and oil is getting more expensive. We can learn from what happened in Cuba and start preparing for ‘peak oil’, or we can wait until the crisis is upon us and suffer the consequences of being caught unawares.
John Raimondo, a visionary businessman and environmental consultant from Cape Town, saw the tendency and decided to act proactively. He traveled all over the world to visit intentional communities and eco-villages, which generally aim towards self-sufficiency, in order to learn more about them. Then he decided to buy the farm Jakkalskloof (Kliprivier 190/54) with the specific aim of developing it towards self-sufficiency, based on the principles of permaculture. (See the separate document What is permaculture?)
Although thousands of intentional communities and eco-villages have been established all over the world, only a few of them exist in South Africa, and these are still in their infancy. John wanted to see if he could facilitate the process of the formation of such a community by buying the land, having it designed and developed along permaculture principles, and then encouraging interested people to establish an intentional community. The land has been put in trust and will remain so indefinitely. Participants will pay a basic joining fee for further development of the land, but will not pay for the land.
Who will eventually stay there and on what basis? A number of people have expressed interest, and a few of us are already staying on the farm. Present legislation, however, is geared towards maintaining the very economic system that has largely been responsible for our global crisis. Although the present government has identified self-sufficiency as a priority in South Africa, self-sufficiency does not fit into the present legal system. There is therefore no legal precedent for establishing such communities. Fortunately the present government is addressing this (eg. In the form of the Co-operatives Act of 2005). We trust that, in cooperation with various levels of government, we will find a way. For now existing buildings serve as accommodation for the first members.
Apart from fulfilling the needs of community members, JPF is also intended as a demonstration model, and possibly a resource for other local communities. Courses in self-sufficiency and other topics will be presented. Various options for emotional healing experiences are being explored. Nowhere is the need for self-sufficiency more critical than amongst the unemployed – a rapidly increasing sector of the population under present economic conditions. Although a considerable amount of money has been spent to establish the infrastructure at JPF, partly in order to speed up the process, permaculture principles can often be applied with minimal expenditure. One of the leading authors in the field of rainwater harvesting, Brad Lancaster, obtained much of his inspiration from a water harvesting system that had been developed in rural Zimbabwe by one man – Zephaniah Phiri Maseko – without any external funding.
JPF is registered with WWOOF, which stands for ‘World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms’. This organisation facilitates people from all over the world to work on organic farms such as JPF in return for free accommodation and food. We hope to be ready to host WWOOFers by March 2010/
Eventually we work towards JPF becoming not only a thriving community, but a demonstration model of an alternative way of living that is largely self-sufficient, less stressful, far more in harmony with nature and ultimately much happier.
For more information contact Andrew McLachlan at 071 678 3457. John Raimondo can be contacted at raimondo@telkomsa.net.
