Green Friends at the MA Center

Green Friends Amma's GreenFriends along with Common Vision, an environmental education non-profit based in Northern California, recently held an exciting environmental workshop at the MA Center. Geoff Lawton, considered by many to be one of the world's foremost Permaculture Designers and Teachers, flew in from Australia to teach the 3-day course titled "Permaculture and Reforestation: Harvesting Rainwater, Growing Food Forests, and Planting Ecosystems." Over fifty course participants, including MA Center Residents as well as environmentalist from across California and Oregon, gathered at the MA Center grounds to learn from Geoff how to create a sustainable ecosystem by harvesting water from the land surrounding the Ashram.

The inspiration for the workshop was sparked back in November of 2007, when Amma urged everyone to plant one tree each month, offering MA Center as an obvious location. Over the years, Amma has repeatedly talked about humanity's relationship with nature, giving us countless ideas on how we can help the environment. In response, the Green Friends Tree Planting Project was born.

Green Friends Over 150 acres on the MA Center grounds are treeless with a clay soil that has been compacted from at least a half century of cattle grazing. During the rainy season, the ground can become unstable and is subject to mudslides. However, by the end of the summer the hillsides are crusted over with a think shell of dry, hardened clay.

Faced with the challenge of regenerating this landscape, the Ashram explored a number of methods in hopes of finding ways to follow Amma's instructions. Neighboring groups had been using expensive, pesticide-based options that had poor results. It soon became clear that planting trees was going to require more than just seeds, seedlings, and shovels; help was needed.

In hopes of finding a more natural and successful approach, Green Friends called upon Common Vision to help design a plan. Together, they decided to invite Geoff to offer his expertise. Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is the creation of diverse and stable ecosystems that mimic the natural processes of nature. Geoff is the Director of the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia and has helped create ecosystem restoration projects in over 30 countries over the past 30 years. In one of his projects, he was able to successfully create a food forest in the Dead Sea area on a salty landscape that receives only 4 inches of rain annually.

Green Friends During the 3-day workshop, Geoff noted that it could take hundreds or thousands of years for the land around the Ashram to return to its natural state. But by introducing Permaculture, humans can greatly quicken this process without harming the land. The first step, said Geoff, is water design - without water there is no life. Before cattle grazing and tree cutting damaged the land's ability to hold water and support life, rainfall soaked into the ground and the surrounding land was abundant with wildlife and forests. Now most of the rain washes away into the valley and out to sea, leaving behind a dry, almost barren landscape.

Geoff led the group around the ashram and located the best place to begin the permaculture project that will eventually help revive the ecosystem, On a western facing hillside, they began digging a 500 ft long trench known as a 'swale'. With each rain, the swale will capture and allow over 10,000 gallons of water to sink back into the soil rather than run off. This water will slowly travel under the soil, and remain available throughout the dry season for plants and trees to utilize. Geoff also proposed planting many trees and plants over the coming months - especially in the winter when the rains are heaviest. Eventually, the land will be covered with fruit and timber trees, shrubs, and grasses - providing abundant food and shelter for wildlife and people alike.

Through the understanding of how ecosystems evolve and a willingness to support nature's processes, human beings can truly be a positive force in the environment. With the collective help of Geoff, Common Vision, the workshop attendees, GreenFriends, and MA Center residents, MA Center has begun its journey of realizing Amma's dream of inspiring people to live in harmony with Nature.

If you would like to participate in the Tree Planting Project, or would like to receive the email newsletter, please visit http://ethreemail.com/e3ds/s.php?g=60b68a51

To learn more about permaculture, visit http://permaculture.org.au/what-is-permaculture.

To learn more about Common Vision, visit www.CommonVision.org

GreenFriends Newsletter