Our eco life

Now that the shortest day has passed, Katie has been busy in the garden getting the onions and garlic into the ground - apparently the best time to do so. Hopefully we'll have a good crop from these. However I'm really thinking of doing some guerrilla style planting instead, ie. just planting these things anywhere and everywhere there is fertile soil in areas that are more or less suitable and seeing what happens. This could go nicely with our idea of planning our entire site as a food forest, a permaculture design idea where the fruit trees and the undergrowth complement each other and work together to support each others survival. This means that after a few years of baby sitting, hopefully the place will take care of itself. The traditional planting of an orchard just sounds like too much hard work to us ... however before we put any of it to practice, there is much reading and consultation to still do. We will need in some areas to recondition the soil and bring up t

The beat of time rhythms on as we percuss our way through winter. It is of little surprise that the Winter Solstice looms, our shortest day of the year. Here at Atamai we celebrate this time of reflection with a Lantern Festival . In the week prior, there is a buzz of activity as the lanterns are prepared for the event. The children of the village (both young and old) gather to make their lanterns at one of the villager's abode. The children are given sheets of painted paper (which were painted by some dedicated adults a few nights before) to draw patterns on. The aim is to cut these patterns out and glue some translucent material (coloured tissue paper) to the inside of the lantern, so that the light from the candle shines through the pattern. The kids are given free reign on what they like their lantern to look like, these were creative works of art. The lending hand of a supervising adult gently nudges them along if they get stuck. Here you can see the tissu