Ina and the Effort to Turn a Home Yard into a Permaculture Garden

Since developing the farm with a permaculture system, Ina and her family have never bought vegetables again. Ina realized that the concept of permaculture does not just teach farming, but teaches her to work with nature, not against it.

Various kinds of vegetables and fruits appear in front of Paskalina Kornelia Olung’s house or familiarly called Ina. There are eggplant, kale, peanuts, corn, bitter melon, basil and chili to papaya fruit. This 25-year-old woman has turned her 6m2 yard into a garden since October 2022, when she first became familiar with the concept of permaculture.

Permaculture is a concept of sustainable agriculture that promotes natural interactions in a farming ecosystem. Farming with permaculture does not use chemicals, but only utilizes the interaction of organic matter from nature to grow crops.

The permaculture farming method was first known to Ina during training on farming with the permaculture method from Yayasan Plan International Indonesia (Plan Indonesia) in October 2022. At that time he was surprised to find out that the concept of permaculture farming was different from the concept he had known so far. As an alumnus of an agricultural student, Ina considers this concept easier and suitable to be applied in her environment.

“I was surprised and happy because there was a new method of permaculture that I had never known. I think the concept of permaculture is very easy, because the plant residues and leaves can be the soil that becomes a planting medium,” said the woman who studied agricultural science at the Kupang Agricultural Polytechnic.

Starting her permaculture garden, Ina made beds as a planting medium first. The remaining wood of the building is put together into a rectangular shape in the yard of his house. After that, sawdust and manure are put into the beds. Next, dried leaves, banana stems, food waste and other organic waste are put into the beds. “I also mix gamal and lamtoro leaves which are natural pest control. So, I don’t use pesticides anymore,” he said. The planting media that has been mixed earlier and then allowed to stand for several days will then undergo a humification process. This process is a decomposition process of dead matter and organic matter resulting in the formation of more complex organic matter, called humus. Humus is what makes plants can grow in permaculture planting media without using soil as a planting medium. After the form of humus soil, then plant seeds are put into the planting medium and take care of them until they are ready to harvest.

More Economical A number of benefits were felt by Ina since she started gardening with the concept of permaculture. He admitted that his garden had saved him and his family to buy vegetables.

“In the past, every time we bought vegetables, we could buy five thousand for the morning, we bought it again in the afternoon. Now, since the garden in the garden, we have never bought vegetables again, no longer think about what to eat because it is available in the garden, “he explained.

In addition, according to Ina, gardening with the concept of cultivators is right to be developed in her settlement. The lack of land for gardening makes permakuktur suitable to be applied in narrow land such as the yard of the house. Plants produced from permaculture gardens also do not know the season for planting so they can harvest at any time.

Ina’s permaculture garden has now become a model for the surrounding environment. Many residents are interested in developing permaculture. Ina and the agricultural extension team who have also developed permaculture then socialize and invite local residents to be able to develop permaculture in their homes.

In the future, Ina will continue to focus on developing permaculture. He wants to invite many more people to apply permaculture which means not only planting but also protecting nature and the environment. “This permaculture doesn’t just help me economically and for other benefits. But with this permaculture, it invites me to learn to work with nature, not against it,” he said.

Author: Muhammad Reysa