Olive, lemon and palm trees provide shade over the small garden where Abu ElHajj recently started growing carrots, tomatoes, beans and herbs.Surrounded by arid cliffs and a harsh desert landscape, it seems an unlikely place to start cultivating food. 'Geoff taught us how to work with nature, not against it'- Abu ElHajj Facing drought and rising temperatures, Jordan is on the frontline of climate change. Overgrazing and inappropriate cultivation practices have contributed to increasing … [Read more...]
Celebrating 10-Years at the Greening the Desert Project, Jordan.
The Greening the Desert Project started with the purchase of land about ten years ago, and it expanded slowly until that mounted into exponential growth. Things started at the top, literally, with a large water tank that feeds a shower/toilet block just downhill. The toilets are dry composting, supplying fertilizer for plants on site, and the greywater from the showers and sinks goes to a nearby reed bed. The reed bed, still high in the landscape, is then able to send gravity-fed irrigation to … [Read more...]
Energy Globe Award
National ENERGY GLOBE Award Jordan 2015 Has been won by Geoff Lawton and The Permaculture Research Institute for the Permaculture sites featured inGreening/Re-Greening the Desert "To be honored with this award is a great recognition of our work for a better environment and motivates us to continue our endeavors in the future" Geoff Lawton, National Energy Globe Winner JordanAbout the AWARD With more than 170 participating countries and over 1500 project submissions annually the Energy Globe … [Read more...]
Supporting SOILS on International Permaculture Day with Geoff Lawton
https://vimeo.com/168714775 Geoff Lawton talks "What you can do with Soil in a Desert", supporting the Soil theme on this upcoming International Permaculture Day from The Greening the Desert Sequel Site in the Jordan Valley (PRI Jordan). Join us worldwide on Sunday 3rd May for International Permaculture Day: In Support of Soil! … [Read more...]
Permaculture for Pastoralists in the Jordan Valley – Part II
Note: If you haven't already, you can read Part I here. A Dead Sea Valley family home with their typical front ‘lawn’. Photo © Craig Mackintosh The title may lead you to think we are talking about people who manage pasture or have access to wide areas of rangeland. In fact, we are talking about people whose parents and grandparents were nomadic pastoralists that ranged flocks of animals across vast areas of land with the changing of the seasons. Rangelands in the Middle East were … [Read more...]
Permaculture for Pastoralists in the Jordan Valley – Part I
Awassi sheep ready to go to market (and random standards inspector) I’ve been to the Greening the Desert “Sequel” site three times now. Once was in 2011 when we were at the IPC in Jordan. Once was in 2012 when I went there to take an internship with Geoff and Nadia. This year I was able to go back there to teach a PDC myself. So I’ve seen some of the development of the site over the past three years as the trees have grown up, formed a canopy and started to alter the microclimate of the site … [Read more...]
A Report on the April 2014 PDC at the “Greening the Desert Sequel” Site (Jordan)
I am in Jordan, where the monthly average wage is 300 Jordanian dinar. To put that into perspective, a phone card for one month cost me five dinar. But buying a car is the same as it is everywhere. Their major issue here is water. They have little rain, with an average of under 300mm a year. They use underground aquifers, and they say that will only last for another 20 years. Jordan is also one of the most peaceful and hospitable Arabic countries, so they take in many refugees -- with the last … [Read more...]
My Visit to the Greening the Desert Sequel Site, November 2013
The Jordan Valley Permaculture Proejct (aka ‘Greening the Desert – the Sequel’) in November 2013. (Photo: Geoff Lawton) I experienced a very diverse range of activities during my two weeks in Jordan, teaching a tree care course and helping in the farm activities, at the PRI Jordan Valley Permaculture Project (aka 'Greening the Desert - the Sequel' site) at 400 metres below sea level in the Dead Sea Valley. I also took side trips to a wadi on the edge of the Dead Sea, and an organic farm at … [Read more...]
Rough, Ready, But Very Real – a November 2013 Update on the Jordan Valley Permaculture Project (aka ‘Greening the Desert – the Sequel’ Site)
Project from above, featuring a garbage-accumulating fence edge Well, you would be hard pressed to find a tougher block of land -- a 400m below sea level, West facing slope, in an extremely hot, arid climate, with extremely poor, shallow highly alkaline top 'soil', covered in rocks, with a limited water supply and in a mostly Palestinian refugee-populated village. When we first started working on the site local farmers thought it was just ridiculous to even try to produce any kind of result on … [Read more...]
Greening the Desert (the ‘Sequel’ Site) Project – Spring 2013 Photo Update (Jordan)
It's spring time for the Jordan Valley Permaculture Project (aka "Greening the Desert - the Sequel"), the lowest place on earth (400 metres below sea level) and one of the hottest and driest, and our trees and gardens are full of produce. During the internship that was held at the project in November 2012 the students worked on installing a new irrigation system that has obviously made a big difference! … [Read more...]
Greening the Desert Internship 2012 – Greener than Ever
Our one month long internship at the Greening the Desert Project (the 'Sequel site') just ended. Ten students arriving from seven different countries were part of the first internship to take place at the project site in the Dead Sea Valley in Jordan. This will be a journey through pictures on what Geoff, Nadia, the interns and the WWOOFers were up to. … [Read more...]
Jordan Valley Permaculture Project Update: Post IPC Happenings
An aerial view of the site Although the landscape here could be seen as a model for scarcity, what there is an abundance of is rocks. The baked dusty earth barely passes for soil and during the summer there isn’t rain here for over six months. With valuable agricultural resources seemingly at a minimum, rocks can be incredibly valuable in the design of a sustainable human settlement. In the case of the Permaculture Research Institute of Jordan’s site (PRIJ), rocks have formed the main building … [Read more...]
