Nature’s Gift Permaculture Centre sits on 20-hectares of farmland on the outskirts of Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe. Each part of the Centre stands alone as a demonstration of applicable techniques in various modalities of agroecology and permaculture. Together, the whole of the Centre forms a comprehensive model for sustainable livelihood solutions.
We have utilized the permaculture principle of zones in our design process
We believe in teaching through demonstration. Please visit us for a tour and to learn more.
What are Zones?
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In permaculture design, we zone our land. A zone describes an area of usage and is useful in organising design elements in an environment on the basis of the frequency of human use and plant or animal needs.
Frequently used, managed or harvested elements of the design are located closest to the house or centre of energy. Less frequently used or managed elements, and elements that benefit from isolation (e.g wild species) are farther away. By designating zones, we position plants, animals and elements in our design appropriately.
The descriptions of our demonstrations below are what have worked best for us. Remember, the concept of zones is a theory, and how zones are arranged and what elements are in them will be different for every piece of land, individual, family, or community.
Current Demonstrations
Zone 1 – Intensive
The bio-intensive garden that produces the majority of household vegetable needs. Small fruit species and quiet animals live here too. Commercial vegetable gardens are Zone 1 systems because they are energy intensive. This area is irrigated.
Zone 2 – ‘Memo’
Orchards, food forests, poultry, some staple crops, chickens, bees and other less intensive elements that require less frequent management than Zone 1, but still requires several visits per week. This area is irrigated as necessary.
Zone 3 – Staple Production
This area is not irrigated but rain-fed. It is the place for field crops (household and commercial production). Natural fertilizers and productive trees are integrated, along with larger animals, into an alley-cropping systems. Zone 3 is not visited frequently.
Zone 4 – Woodlots
This is a semi-wild area used for woodlots (fuelwood, building supplies, timber), foraging and fodder production. Larger animals could be put to pasture in Zone 4. It is rarely visited and, after establishment, requires little to no management.
Zone 5 – Nature
Wilderness – nature as the ultimate teacher. There is no human intervention in Zone 5 apart from the observation of ecological processes. Here, we are visitors not managers; it is “where we learn the rules that we try to apply elsewhere” (Bill Mollison).
Kusamala Market Garden
The Kusamala Market Garden is a demonstration of organic and sustainable food production and serves to generate income for Nature’s Gift Permaculture Centre. Kusamala: (1) to look after (2) to cherish (3) to conserve
Natural Medicine
Local trees and shrubs offer an abundant pharmacy for treating common ailments as well as serious diseases like HIV, AIDS, malaria, and cholera. The gardens at the Centre are used to teach about the curative capabilities of locally available plants.
